We decided to explore the Tamhini region this saturday (31st March 2018), and it was very typical of Tamhini – some really good sightings but hardly any clicks. We saw 40+ species in total with one of the highlights being a flock of White-rumped Munia feeding in dry grass as well as 4 pigeon/dove species – Niligiri Wood Pigeon, Oriental Turtle Dove, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon & Emerald Dove.
Location: Tamhini, Pune
Date: 31 March 2018
Time: 0730 hrs to 1030 hrs
eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44141646
We were at the foothills by 0700 hrs and stopped for breakfast at the new Hotel Green Hills. The Poha (local breakfast) was really delicious and the views were stunning as the sun was just rising up behind the hill! (This probably is the best shot we managed to capture in the entire outing 😛 )
We were off on our drive by 0730 hours and could immediately hear a lot of chirping around. We sighted a good number of Common Rosefinches and a couple of Indian Orioles as we drove through the winding roads. We could also hear the very typical calls of Grey Junglefowls as well as the Indian Scimitar Babblers, did not see either of them though.
Halting at various points wherever we felt the bird activity was good, we came across some really good species. The 1st point we halted, we were greeted by these Red Spurfowls. I had to bump up ISO upto 8000 here to get this exposure, the light was that low!
The activity seemed to be quite good at this point so we decided to walk around a bit when we accidently spooked a flock (over 10) of White-rumped Munias feeding in dry grass. We did wait in hiding to see if they would return back but guess they had spotted us and only returned when we went back to car.
The entire road is also lit up with the spring flowering of Erythrina Stricta (locally known as Kate Pangara) and we did get to see few birds feeding on these flowers. 1st we came across a pair of Jungle Mynas…
followed by this beautiful Common Rosefinch…
We moved on to halt at another point where we saw a Black-headed Cuckooshrike and also a Long-tailed Shrike. The activity was really great here as we saw atleast 4 pairs of Square-tailed Bulbuls, a pair of Orange minivets and 4 pigeon/dove species – Niligiri Wood Pigeon, Emerald Dove, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon and the Oriental Turtle Dove.
We had to return early so we decided to head back by 1030 hrs. It was a very typical Tamhini birding session, some really good species but hardly any good clicks. We still keep going to this place regularly as we enjoy forest birding the most 🙂 and we do manage to get good images once in while. Will share them once we blog about Tamhini which is pending for a long time now.
Signing off until next time, ciao!
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– Rudraksha & Shraddha