Konkan Coast - Jan 2016

Spent the long Sankranti weekend at a farm in the Konkan coast in Maharashtra. Both at the farm and on the way to and back, sighted a lot of birds new to this blog.

The first stop was at a beach called Kashid in Ratnagiri district where we spotted the Greenshank and the Redshank.

352. Common Greenshank (Tephrodornis pondicerianus)

353. Common Redshank (Tringa totanus)

The next set of birds were clicked in the farm where we stayed. 

354. Common Woodshrike (Tephrodornis pondicerianus)

357. Red-breasted Flycatcher (Ficedula parva)

358. Black-headed Cuckooshrike (Coracina melanoptera)

359. Eurasian Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus)
This Marsh Harrier was surveying the landscape for a hunt when we got stopped on the road to take a closer look. Just when he was getting comfortable with our presence, and auto-rickshaw showed up, honked incessantly, and made his fly away. 

356. Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)
On one of the days during our stay in the Farm of Happiness, we made a short tour to a completely untouched beach near Ganapati Pule. This Curlew was eating the tiny translucent crabs that were dashing about on the sand.

357. Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)

On the way back from the farm to Mumbai, we found a couple of raptors that were soaring over the highway.

360. Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus)

361. Oriental Honey Buzzard (Pernis ptilorhyncus)

At Mumbai we came across a stretch of mangroves near Airoli that we decided to explore. This turned out to be home to thousands of waders among other birds. 

362. Greater Spotted Eagle (Clanga clanga)

363. House Crow (Corvus splendens)

Among the waders that we spotted by the edge of the mangroves, there were huge flocks of flamingos, godwits and plovers. 

One of the most memorable sightings of this trip had to be the nightjar that we spotted during a night drive near the farm we were housed in.