Nannaj Birding
Its been
more than a month since my last birding trip. The monsoon is on the peak in
Mumbai and very few opportunity to spot a bird.Last couple of weeks just wanted
to go out and try my luck with birds again . August long weekend would be ideal
for short trip. So this time I decided to go to some other area in Maharashtra.
Fortunately I got a invitation of Nannaj
Bird trip from one of my friend.
Location: The Nannaj Wildlife Sanctuary is located 22
Kms away from the main city Solapur, Maharashtra.
Details of GIB Sanctuary:Great
Indian Bustard Sanctuary (established in 1979, also known as the Jawaharlal
Nehru Bustard Sanctuary of Maharashtra) is a wildlife sanctuary for the Great
Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps) at
Solapur,
Maharashtra, India. The total area covered under sanctuary is 600 hectares.Nannaj
is a great place to see a number of other grassland and scrubland species of
birds like Larks, Pipits, Quails, francolins,Shrike, Lapwings, Raptors,
Coursers, Munias, and Doves etc.
Nannaj Bird
Sanctuary is only 6-7 km away from Solapur railway station and better place to
find the
Great Indian Bustard and some grassland birds. It is sad that very few GIB
eft in the wild because of
loss of
their habitat.
Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary
I booked 1 pm Sidheshwar express train and reached
Solapur at next day 7 am . Our driver was waiting outside Solapur sation. He took us to hotel, we checked-in, fleshed up
and left for birding on the outskirts of Solapur. Our first birding destination
in Solapur was Hipparga lake . Since there was very less rainfall current year
, the lake was totally dried up and very few water left in it . However I could
see lots of water birds near the bank of lake . In my first sight I saw Pied Kingfisher making his
trademark sound . First lifer for me , I was very happy , what a great day to
start . Also there were lots of Purple Swamphen , Purple Heron, spot billed
duck and
surprisingly Flamingoes could be seen from long distance .
Pied Kingfisher
Woolly-necked Stork
After spending good
time in capturing and observing
waterbirds we decided to take a lunch break . The food was simple and delicious
especially Solapur delicacy Sengapoli and that remained unique desert in all
our lunches and dinners thereafter. After lunch session we headed towards a location were we Could spot Indian Eagle Owl. But fortune was not on
our side as we could not spot the Indian Eagle Owl however we spotted Backbucks
gazing in green carpet . It was damn close range.
Backbucks
On the way we saw Bay-backed Shrike, Scaly-breasted
Munia, Indian Silverbill, Brahminy Starling and other common birds .
Indian Silverbill 
Bay Backed Shrike
Southern Gery Shrike
Bramminy Starling
After a Tea
break we had decided to go GIB bird sanctuary to try our luck to see GIB. We reached our destination where we had nice
birding session. Indian Bushlark, Southern Grey Shrike, Larks, Bay-backed
Shrike and many more birds in good numbers. However we could not spot any The
Great Indian bustard around , the forest officer had told us GIB was got
disappeared since last two days .So we decided
to come back the next day morning to check the place.
Pied Bushchat
Pied Bushchat
Paddyfield Pipit
Collared Dove
Indian courser
Indian Peafowl Male and Female
Grey Francolin
Grey Francolin Family
It was time
to return back to hotel after a long graceful day.Without any
other thought we had good dinner (Thali) followed by shangapoli to end the day :).
Early to
bed to early to rise was what we had in mind. By 0630hrs we were on the road
again. We headed straight to a Dreamland, a vast green portion of grassland.
While travelling, We stopped a Ashy-crowned
Sparrow Lark, Rufous-tailed Lark, Indian Bushlark, Barn Swallow (resting on the wire).
Indian Bushlark
Large grey babbler
Our
driver had amazing eyesight, he suddenly stopped the vehicle at a point and
shown us a rock bush quail which was completely camouflaged in rocks .
Rock Bush Quail
Bush Quail 
Rufoused tailed Lark
Suddenly
driver had a mobile call from forest
officer that they had spotted GIB. Immediately we rushed to the sanctuary and
within 15 mints we reached to the hut without making any noise. Each of the
team member were told strictly to maintain silence . The majestic Great Indian
Bustard was roaming inside long grass. It was far away to capture in camera however
my canon hs 50x managed some nice snaps , I kept my camera aside and I
was just observing beautiful GIB. We had spend 3 hours inside the sanctuary and
captured some good pics of other birds too. Apart from GIB we had seen Indian
courser, Sandgrouse,
lizard monitor too.
Tiger of Indian grassland -Great Indian Bustard
Tiger of Indian grassland -Great Indian Bustard
Monitor Lizard
We decided
to check our luck if we could spot and yes this time very are lucky we found Indian Eagle owl.
Great big bird , we managed to reach bit closer
to owl by taking help stone hide and had captured good images too.
Indian Eagle Owl
Indian Eagle Owl
Now its time to pack up the tour, wepacked our bag, had dinner and reached the Solapur station. The tripwas full of extements, some life time moments, saw many lifers. I was deep in sleep dreaming the majestic tiger of grassland, the Great Indian Bustard and suddenly somebody shouted '"Bhai ! Dadar aa gaya:)"
| Bird list | ||
| Babbler, Large Grey | Pipit, Paddyfield | Kingfisher, Common |
| Bee-eater, Green | Prinia, Ashy | Kingfisher, Pied |
| Bulbul, Red-vented | Prinia, Plain | Kingfisher, White-throated |
| Bushlark, Indian | Quail, Jungle Bush | Kite, Black-shouldered |
| Bushlark, Singing | Quail, Rock Bush | Kite, Brahminy |
| Bustard, Great Indian | Robin, Indian | Koel, Asian |
| Cisticola, Zitting | Roller, Indian | Lapwing, Red-wattled |
| Coot, Common | Sandgrouse, Chestnut-bellied | Lapwing, Yellow-wattled |
| Cormorant, Little | Sandpiper, Common | Lark, Ashy-crowned Sparrow |
| Coucal, Greater | Sandpiper, Green | Lark, Rufous-tailed |
| Courser, Indian | Sandpiper, Wood | Minivet, Small |
| Crow, House | Shikra | Munia, Scaly-breasted |
| Crow, Jungle | Shrike, Bay-backed | Myna, Brahminy |
| Cuckoo, Common Hawk | Shrike, Southern Grey | Myna, Common |
| Dove, Eurasian Collared | Silverbill, Indian | Owl, Indian Eagle |
| Dove, Laughing | Sparrow, House | Parakeet, Rose-ringed |
| Dove, Red Collared | Spoonbill, Eurasian | Peafowl, Indian |
| Drongo, Black | Stilt, Black-winged | Pigeon, Rock |
| Duck, Spot-billed | Stork, Painted | Tern, River |
| Egret, Little | Stork, Woolly-necked | Waterhen, White-breasted |
| Egret, Intermediate | Sunbird, Purple | Weaver,baya |
| Francolin, Grey | Sunbird, Purple-rumped | Spotted owlet |
| Grebe, Little | Swallow, Barn | Plover ring |
| Heron, Grey | Swallow, Red-rumped | Ibis, Glossy |
| Heron, Indian Pond | Swamphen, Purplehen | Jacana pleasAnt |
| Heron, Purple | Ibis, Black | Jacana bronze |
