Viva Goa! Part 2 – A top birding destination in India

Discover the beautiful birds of Goa

Elegant beauties, aren’t they? The Eurasian Oystercatchers in the picture above, I mean. My son Nikhil clicked this photo one breezy morning in January 2012 when we were out bird watching along Goa’s Cavelossim beach. I’m sure many Goans reading this are thinking: But we’ve never noticed such birds in Goa.             

Happens all the time. People admire pretty pictures of birds from other parts of the world; but the ones in their own backyard remain undiscovered.

How many Goans know that Goa is one of the top birding destinations in India? Or that it is located in one of the 25 bio-diversity hotspots of the world and has diverse bird-rich habitats within easy reach of each other?

Goa is a bird paradise, and that, my friends, is one more reason to holler – Viva Goa! 

Discover why Goa is a bird watcher’s delight

Let’s start with a quick Q & A session. What is Goa’s state bird? No idea? OK. How many species of birds can be spotted in Goa? Again… not sure? Never mind. For the sad truth is that most Goans don’t know the answers. And till a couple of years ago, I didn’t know either.

Well, Goa’s state bird is the Ruby-throated Yellow Bulbul. A colourful, though elusive, bird, it prefers areas undisturbed by human habitation.  So it can mostly be spotted deep inside the jungles of Goa’s Western Ghats.

Moving on to the variety of birds here, Goa’s habitats support over 425 species (residents and migrants). Let me put this in perspective for you. If you went bird watching all across the length and breadth of the United States (that’s thrice the size of India), or even all over India, you would spot around 1000 species of birds. But tiny Goa, India’s smallest state, is a haven for around 425-450 diverse bird species.

Unfortunately, while birders from the UK and other parts of the world have been travelling to Goa and feasting their eyes on our winged wonders for years, most Goans and Indian tourists remain blissfully ignorant about the abundance of birdlife thronging our shores and water bodies, and nestling in our trees. And so, this treasure trove of glorious birds in a variety of colours, shapes, and plume patterns remains for the most part unacknowledged and unappreciated. How tragic is that?

As for me, I’m so annoyed about flapping my birdwatching wings rather late in life. Just imagine. Till that wonderful experience of birding in January 2012, after umpteen visits across almost six decades, I had only seen around 10 kinds of birds here! Over 400 species… and all I had seen were mainly kingfishers, woodpeckers, eagles, kites, and sea gulls.

Nonetheless, I was overjoyed that my sons helped me discover common birds of Goa like the little green bee-eater for the first time in my life. Better late than never, right?

And listen to this. After just three half-day bird watching sessions across different habitats in Goa – along the shore, along lakes and rivers, and in jungle terrain, I spotted around 50 kinds of birds, all for the first time! Over 50 lifers (that’s how birdwatchers refer to the birds they see for the first time) in just three days.

Diverse landscapes within a short distance of each other

Many of us may not see the advantage in having varied habitats within a small geographical area. But from a birder’s standpoint, that’s a big bonus.

The habitat in Goa changes dramatically and rapidly from the coastal belt, large river estuaries, and mangrove swamps in the west, to the central plateau and inland lakes, and from there to forests at the foothills of the Western Ghats along the eastern border, all within a short span of around 70 kms. Meaning, the distance between any two bird watching zones can be covered in less than an hour! No wonder Goa is a bird watcher’s delight.

In fact, since the state’s diverse habitats are spread across a compact area and support a rich and varied bird life, Goa is a highly recommended destination for spotting the maximum number of bird species in minimum time.

The best time and the best places for birdwatching in Goa

Winter is the best time for birding in Goa for that’s when thousands of migratory birds of different species flock here from the Himalayas, and from even as far as Siberia. Not surprisingly therefore, that’s when ardent bird watchers book their tickets to Goa and follow them here.

I had two home-grown, serious bird watchers as my guides. But nowadays, there are several birding camps and expert guides in Goa, and bird watching tours too are aplenty. A simple google search would throw up enough options for going bird watching in Goa.

Some of the many good places for birding include:

• The Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary (also includes the Mollem National Park) in Sanguem taluka
• The Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary close to Ponda
• The Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary in Canacona taluka
• Carambolim Lake in Tiswadi taluka
• The Mhadei (Mandovi) Wildlife Sanctuary that includes the river basin forest area
• Morjim Beach in north Goa
• Batim Lake in Old Goa

My first few avian encounters

The places my family had explored were Bondla, the River Sal around Cavelossim, the southern coast from Mobor beach to Varca beach, water bodies around Betalbatim, and the area around Old Goa and Fort Aguada.

The bird that took my breath away was the Little Green Bee-eater. We were strolling along a jungle path outside the Bondla Sanctuary when I noticed something bright green flitting around in a large almost leafless bush. Looking through my son’s binoculars I saw this fluorescent green bundle of energy with a reddish-brown head, a tiny splash of bright blue around the chin, and a dramatic black line stretching across its eyes. The combination of green and blue was so striking.

Then suddenly, a shrill cackling resonated from deep within the canopy of trees just ahead. My sons suspected it could be a Malabar Grey Hornbill. And right enough, there it was. A magnificent bird with an enormous, bright orange bill perched on one of the higher branches of a tall tree. Another lifer for me! We stood still for several minutes watching the bird as it let out a series of hysterical cackles.

Here’s a short 1.25 mins. video I found absolutely fascinating. It’s of a male Malabar Grey Hornbill feeding its mate wild berries it has carried in its throat! (The female has sealed herself inside their nest to hatch her eggs.)

Looks like a magician pulling stuff out of thin air, doesn’t he?

Another spectacular sighting was a flock of tiny Scarlet Minivets that seemed to have taken over an entire flowering shrub. I had never seen birds with blood red splotches all over before.

A few more birds we saw:

Read more about my experiences of bird watching in Goa here and look at some of the pictures we took. Check if you’ve ever seen any of these other feathered beauties I spotted.

I had a wonderful time exploring Goa’s great outdoors. If you have never gone bird watching here, all I can say is, don’t deprive yourself of a memorable Goa experience. So when you’re next visiting with your family, just do it. Go fall in love with the birds of Goa.

Look out for more interesting facts about Goa in Part 3!

(Bird photos from Wikimedia Commons: Ruby-throated Yellow Bulbul – Karunakar Raikar; Green Bee-eater – K. Hari Krishnan; Malabar Grey Hornbill – Dhruvaraj S.; Scarlet Minivet and Common Iora – J. M. Garg; White-cheeked Barbet – J. Sudheesh; Common Kingfisher – Munish Jauhar; Red-throated flycatcher – Suresh V. S.)

Cheers!