It was my 3rd trip to Bhigwan and my first outing of 2021 . This trip was going to be a little different as we were going to explore the grassland side of Bhigwan along with the main water body. On 28th January by 1 in the night we left for Bhigwan. We reached there by 6 am and decided to rest for sometime and freshen up. After having some tea and snacks we hit the road towards the grasslands in search of grassland gems. Our main target was to track down the ghost of the grassland – the grey wolf. Wolves are usually seen in packs and are active during dawn and dusk. The day started off with a fox and two chinkaras fighting one another. It was great to witness this behaviour.
CHNKARAS FIGHTING
We saw a raptor flying. It was looking for a spot to settle down. We followed it down as it sat on the rocks nearby . It was a huge steppe eagle . It was followed by another one. We clicked and observed it for a while and moved on towards our main target. A few kilometres ahead , I could hear a screeching noise from a broken hut. When we went near it , there was a pair of spotted owlets calling out loud. While shooting these owlets we realized that our car was giving us some problem . After a quick check we came to know that the brake pads had to be changed . We drove down a few kilometers towards the service center but 14kms before, the brakes failed completely and we had to call out for help.
STEPPE EAGLE SPOTTED OWLET
It was in the middle of nowhere. But I wanted to continue with my birding. So I just went for a stroll nearby and was quite lucky to see a flock of grey necked buntings and ashy crowed sparrow larks feeding together. I spent some time with them and then after 2 hours of work , the brake pads were changed and we were good to go. We went near a poultry farm where there was lot of raptor activity. There were many black kites feeding on poultry remains; one of them was looking unusually huge . On looking closely, we saw it was a mighty eastern Imperial Eagle tearing apart a chicken. We witnessed the whole process of feeding. We had to leave for lunch as the car problem had already cost us a lot of time. Post lunch we were back on field and were waiting for the sun to go down as the activity would go up.
Scanning the grasslands for wolves, we came across Foxes, but this time they were Fox Pups. It was fun to see the 3 pups playing , hopping around and troubling each other. Soon they quarantined themselves into their den. The golden hour had begun. There were sightings of short eared owl in this area. So we tried looking out for one; instead we got a pallid harrier. The bird wasn’t cooperating enough to get good shots. And as the light was low , could manage to get record shots only. It got dark and while heading back , we came across an Oriental Scops Owl on a tree. It was an amazing sighting for me in this region. Also as it wasn’t getting disturbed, we got great photographs of this one. We saw a small Indian Chameleon too. With these sightings our day came to an end!
The next morning we took a boat ride to explore the water body. The water level was high and the bird population was low. It wasn’t different from the last 2 visits so it was kind of dry for me . We started for home post lunch, but took a detour through the grasslands. And what did we came across? A Short Toed Snake Eagle’s nest which was great. The lighting was harsh as it was noon, so we could only click some high key images and observe the bird. We bid the bird adieu and started on our journey back home.
This trip had great raptor sightings. It was indeed a great experience to explore the grasslands of the Deccan region. People consider Grasslands to be Wastelands but maybe after reading this, they may change their mind.
2 thoughts on “Bhigwan 3.0”
I enjoy, result in I discovered just what I was looking for.
You’ve ended my four day long hunt! God Bless you man. Have a
nice day. Bye
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