Since the day I had planned for this trip, I was scared as well as super-excited; and finally the day was here. I had always been wary of snakes.. hence did take me sometime to convince myself that I have to do this trip. So how was the trip..? All I can say is that it is the closest I have been to nature till date.. As soon as I entered Goa, the fresh air, the green landscapes and cloudy weather greeted me; Read more
It was our 1st 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 1st 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.