Rudy, Author at Whistling Trails

Bird-watching trip to Solapur grasslands

Rudy Birding Hotspots, Birds October 14, 2014January 19, 2016birding trip to solapur, blackbuck, chestnut bellied sandgrouse, Great Indian Bustard, great indian bustard sanctuary, Indian eagle owl, Nannaj, Wild India Eco Tours 0 Comment

After a splendid trip to Dandeli, I had another trip scheduled; this time to Solapur with Wild India Eco Tours. This was my 1st birding trip with a group that is into arranging wildlife trips across India. I was not really sure what to expect as I had never been on such a trip before. My journey started with boarding the Siddheshwar express at 2:30 AM from Pune station. Everyone else had boarded the train from Mumbai and fortunately we all were in the same boogie. We arrived in Solapur at around 7:00 AM and were picked up by Kumar; who was our guide for the next two days. Read more

Weekend trip to Dandeli (Jungle Lodges – Old Magazine House)

Rudy Birds, Travel, Treks October 9, 2014August 30, 2015asian fairy blue bird, Birding, birding at old magazine house, dandeli, ganeshgudi, old magazine house, OMH, rufous woodpecker, white bellied woodpecker 10 Comments

The Dushera long weekend was here, and we couldn’t have been more excited. We had planned 2 nights stay at Jungle Lodge resorts – Old Magazine house at Ganeshgudi, Dandeli. This place is around 430 KMs from my place in Pune; so we started pretty early… at 5:00 AM. We drove via Kolhapur and Belgaum. Once you cross Khanapur, you enter the forest area and you will hear birds chirping all around and the coolness in the air. We took a total of 8.5 hours (with two breaks for 30 minutes each) and reach at 1:30 PM. Have to say that the Old Magazine House has a very rustic feel to it and you are actually into the forest. The Old Magazine House has a total of 5 cottages and 1 dormitory (can house 20 people). The staff was super friendly and ensured a seamless check-in. We had reached right at the lunch time; Read more

Short trip to Goa

Rudy Drive, Travel September 14, 2014Chorla, fishing, Ghatprabha, Goa, Mangeshi, Tambi Surla, Windmills 2 Comments

In our recent trip to Goa, not only we managed a whooping 16 lifers from birding perspective but also visited few places in Goa where we captured some lovely landscapes and architectures. Due to Ganesh Chaturthi at home; we were really short on time… and heavy rains did not help, but we still managed to cover places like Mangeshi and Tambdi Surla. We also managed to do a small mini trek at Siddhanath Parvat, which lead us to lovely twin waterfalls.. Majestic indeed.

Our Jorney to Goa was via the Chorla ghat, which also added some lovely landscapes. So here are the pics.. enjoy!

Trek to Neelkanteshwar Temple

Rudy Drive, Travel, Treks September 9, 2014March 26, 2015blog, Drongo, Khadakvasla dam, mahabharata, malabar lark, neelkanteshwar, ramayana, shiva, trek, vishnu 0 Comment

Way back in June we came across this place called Neelkanteshwar on some blog… It was indeed on our list since then, but we decided to do it at leisure as it is pretty close to Pune and also relatively easy. Back from our trip to Goa last week, we decided to go Neelkanteshwar as we wanted to do a relaxed short trip. We started relatively late this time, i.e. by 8:30 AM. We reached Khadakvasla backwaters area by 9:30 AM post which I drove relatively slow hoping to see some birds. Soon we reached Katawadi village, from where you need to take a left. There are huge sign-boards all along the way, which ensure that you don’t take a wrong turn. Read more

Birding in Goa

Rudy Birding & Wildlife Hotspots, Travel blogs September 6, 2014November 29, 2017black kite, black throated munia, brahminy kite, chestnut headed bee-eater, cinamon bittern, common kingfisher, common tern, darter bird, flame throated bulbul, Greater racket tailed drongo, grey headed bulbul, lesser golden backed woodpecker, little spiderhunter, lotens sunbird, malabar grey hornbill, pompadour green pigeon, scarlet minivet, Shikra, square tailed bulbul, vernal hanging parrot, white bellied Drongo, white rumped Munia, wooly necked stork, yellow browed bulbul 0 Comment

It was our 1^st trip to Goa after we got into birding, so obviously we were all eager and geared up to check-out the birds in Goa. Couple of birding friends also suggested some hotspots for birding in Goa; however due to Ganesh Chaturthi and just 6 days at hand, we had to drop quite a no. of these hotspots. We finalized on driving through the Bhagwan Mahaveer Wild-life Sanctuary right up-to Tambi Surla and also check the Carambolim Lake specifically for birding apart from being on look-out for birds at all times. Best part was that we had decided to drive down from Pune to Goa via Belgaum through Chorla ghats, which did turn out to be very eventful!

We started out journey from Pune at 5 AM. Just as we crossed Katraj ghat and sun was rising, I saw a Shikra perching on a branch right next to the road. That was the 1^st stop of the many stops which followed later :D. As we approached Satara, we saw quite a no. of large grey babblers, laughing doves and long tailed shrikes all along the way. We halted at Karad for breakfast and then resumed our journey.

Trip to Shivneri Fort & Pimpalgaon Joga Dam

Rudy Travel blogs August 23, 2014November 29, 2017black shouldered kite, lesser pied Kingfisher, malabar lark, malshej ghat, pied kingfisher, pimpalgaon joga dam, Shivneri fort, trek to shivneri fort 2 Comments

It was the Independence Day; hence we decided to do a relatively short trek to the birth place of Shivaji Maharaj, the Shivneri Fort..! The journey started at around 7:00 am where we took the Pune-Nashik road. The best road to Shivneri is to go via Rajgurunagar -> Peth -> Narayangaon -> Junnar -> Shivneri, however I took a diversion at Peth into village roads in a hope of capturing some landscapes and birds. After taking the village road from Peth, we were in for a surprise. The hot sunny weather in Pune suddenly became cloudy followed by heavy rains. Read more