2015 Monsoon Birding

After a brief gap during the summer months, I was back to Sundarban is June again. Generally the months of April and May are little unpredictable as this part of India faces some severe storms during that time.

The first tour itself was extremely successful as we could document few of the rarities of this mangrove forest which can be seen mostly during the monsoon season only. The top ones among those were the Ruddy Kingfisher and Buffy Fish Owl. I could not make any decent image of both of the species; but was lucky to get another elusive one, the Mangrove Whistler. This is one species which is more heard than seen, forget about getting a good image of! We also observed and documented the White-browed Scimitar Babbler, a bird which probably existed from long back but hardly noticed. Though quite a common occurrence in the Himalayan hills and foothills, this Scimitar Babbler is a surprising find in a mangrove forest.

Ruddy Kingfisher (record image)

Mangrove Whistler

White-browed Scimitar Babbler

I did two tours in the month of July and both were extremely productive. Ruddy Kingfisher, Lesser Yellownape, White-browed Scimitar Babbler, Mangrove Pitta and Striated Babbler were the highlight species.
This was my 4th sighting of Ruddy Kingfisher and the duration of the sighting was long. The bird was there preening itself for almost 20 minutes. But it took me nearly 19 minutes to find out a suitable opening through which I can focus and make an image. Overcast conditions too was another problem.
Lesser Yellownape is a not-so-common species of woodpecker in the mangrove forests. Though the field guides say about it's isolated records from the Bangladesh sundarbans, proper data regarding  it's distribution in Indian counterpart is still lacking.
On this occasion I got a much better image of the White-browed Scimitar Babbler as it sat on the eye-level position in good evening light.
Mangrove Pitta is one another star attraction for the birdwatchers and bird photographers during the monsoon season in Sundarban. This species has been one of the extremely difficult to photograph in this mangrove forest as tourist movement is mostly restricted to the boats. Even at the camps where tourists are allowed to get down, movement is restricted within a specific fenced area. Hope to make a better image sometime in the future.
Striated Babbler is one of the common babbler species in it's range; however, not so commonly seen in these mangrove forests. During this monsoon season we were lucky to have got a glimpse on number of occasions and make a decent image during this one.

Purple Sunbird (eclipse male)

Ruddy Kingfisher

Lesser Yellownape

White-browed Scimitar Babbler

Shikra

Red Junglefowl male and female

Mangrove Pitta (record image)

Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker

Striated Babbler

Collared Kingfisher

The month of August saw me thrice in Sundarban. The only highlight during this month was the sighting of Red-necked Falcon which can be presumed as a passage migrant over this mangrove forest. The other highlight was the arrival of Brown-winged Kingfisher. Though this kingfisher is a resident breeder in this forest, the sighting generally becomes infrequent during the summers and early monsoon.

Eastern Jungle Crow

Brown-winged Kingfisher

Red-necked Falcon (record image)

Lesser Whistling-duck pair with brood

Lesser Whistling-duck pair with brood

Indian Cuckoo

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

In the month of September, I visited the park twice and the big highlight was the Buffy Fish Owl. This species was seen for just a few days and I was lucky enough to be present during that time span. Few good images were managed during that birding session. Apart from that, I could also manage some images of the Brown-winged Kingfisher. We also observed and documented several winter migrant species which had arrived, towards the end of the month.

Buffy Fish Owl

Arrival of winter migrants

Brown-winged Kingfisher

My First Five Tiger Sightings in Sundarban

It has been almost 15 years that I have started visiting the forests of India. Like many others, I too have always been a tiger fan. But during my early days luck has not been with me, and it took almost 9 years of roaming around in the forests to see my first tiger. It took another one year to get my first tiger photograph in wild. However, off late the lady luck has been on my side and my sighting and photography rates have increased. But then, I was yet to see a tiger in Sundarbans. My previous sightings were from Bandipur, Nagarhole, Pilibhit, Nagzira, Tadoba, Bandhavgarh, Corbett and Ranthambore.

This was my 8th visit to this mangrove forest and  finally I get to see and photograph the most feared predator on earth. 19th Dec 2014 9:29AM at Bonbibi Bharani we saw it crossing the creek. It was a sighting of mere 6-7 seconds, and like a ghost it came from nowhere and vanished into nowhere!

PS: Light was extremely poor and hence the quality of the image is not very good. But I don't care about the quality here. Also, if someone feels that tiger sightings in Sundarbans depends completely on luck, then that feeling is not absolutely correct. There are various factors which needs to be taken in to consideration so that the chances of sighting increases.

My second tiger sighting was in January 2015; almost a month after I saw & photographed the first tiger from the mangroves. Though we were able to track this tiger's movements twice, we were not able to get a proper photograph. We saw the fresh pug-marks in a small canal and moved towards the sweet water pond where his movement direction was anticipated. However the tiger reached the waterhole ahead of us and was sighted for almost 15-20 minutes by some tourists. We were a bit late in reaching the spot as the tiger would have taken the straight inland path towards the pond where as we had to move around the island on our boat. However, again after gathering the information about it's exit path, we moved towards a point where we were anticipating it to come to cross the river. We heard the growls as we closed in to the point. But this time it decided to move inside on hearing our boat, offering us just a record shot.



My third tiger sighting opportunity from this mangrove forest happened in March 2015. The rule of the jungle is to never ever neglect any life-form. We saw a Lesser Adjutant on the mudflat (not the first sighting of the tour) and decided to have a closer look for a better image. I asked the boatman to turn the boat to approach the bird and as soon as it turned, the boatman shouted "Sir Tiger! Sir Tiger below the tree!". It took me first few seconds to locate which tree the boatman was referring to, and then I saw this beauty sitting below a Baine (Avicennia ssp) tree, quite some distance away from us, on the side of a small canal. On seeing our boat it went up and gracefully walked into the thickets.

PS: May not be a great quality image as the lighting condition was extremely poor (tiger sitting far away in shade; but the overall frame had brightly lit landscape with harsh afternoon light) , but then who cares when it is a tiger and a tiger from the Sundarbans!

Now when observed closely, one can see the difference in coloration of the leafs of the same tree. Any guesses for the reason?
Sundarbans is a land ruled by the tidal waves. During the high tides the water rises so much that those faint colored leafs too gets submerged (color fades because of aging of the leafs over a period of time). The maximum rise happens during the full moon and new moon days. High tide and low tide happens twice daily, with the change in their timings every subsequent day.


So now one can image, how harsh is the living condition in these mangrove forests where twice a day tiger's territory gets submerged in salt water. And during the full moon and new moon days it even rises over the shoulder height of the tiger itself! Hope the image of the tiger here can provide the sense of scale.
Losing out on part of it's territory daily, constant requirement of scent marking (markings get washed out in tides very quickly) and the water with high content of salt are probably some of the reasons why Sundarban tigers are very aggressive in nature!



On my 15th visit to this magical mangrove forest I saw and photographed my 4th swamp tiger. During the July 2015 tour, we got some fresh pug-marks and were quite sure that a big cat has just crossed the river and got into the island. Looking at the pug-mark directions, we decided to move to a near by canal to check if it has walked along the bank and crossed it, but there were no signs. As we were speculating what to do, the lady emerged out of the bushes and looked at us for few seconds. Then she decided to walk along the canal and move deeper into the mangrove forest. However, before she went inside, we were blessed to have few frames again when she was looking towards us. I have always dreamed of a Sundarban tiger image where the feline is not just looking at me, but is looking back at me and here was my opportunity to fulfill that dream.

My 5th tiger sighting from Sundarbans happened during my 16th visit which was in August 2015. It took me quite some time to absorb the fact that I have seen tigers in back to back visits (my previous tour in July 2015 too had a wonderful tiger sighting). After listening to some Spotted Deer (Axis axis) alarm calls, we were scanning the thickets on the river bank very carefully, when our guide asked us to keep our cameras ready as he has seen the tiger. Focusing was extremely difficult due to the dense foliage, moving tiger and moving boat; hence a not-so-good image. We anticipated that it will cross the river, so moved out boat little back so as to make space for it to cross. However, our assumption was not right and walked in another direction. Later we got the pug-marks in next few canals.

By the way, this is the biggest tiger ever seen by me. It's a complete myth that Sundarban tigers are smaller in size!

Tourism Information

The tourism in Indian Sundarban is broadly divided into three areas/zones: Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary, North 24 Parganas Forest Division and South 24 Parganas Forest Division. The only accessible place of the core area, which is known as Sundarban National Park, is Netidhopani* Camp.

Sajnekhali Wildlife Sanctuary:

The most preferred way to reach Sajnekhali WLS is to travel by road (in a hired cab) from Kolkata to Gadkhali (approximately 90 kms) and board motorized boat. The other cheaper option is to take a local train till Canning (nearest rail-head to Sundarban) and a shared Tata Magic from there till Gadkhali. From Gadkhali, one needs to travel to Sajnekhali Forest Office to obtain entry permit and mandatory guide. The motorized boat, which one gets on to at Gadkhali, is the only mean of traveling in the forest area. It can be pre-booked or hired on-the-spot when one gets down at Gadkhali. Permit for Netidhopani* Camp is also issued from this office.

Sajnekhali WLS is around 360 sqkm of area consisting of several islands, criss-crossed by numerous waterways. The area needs to be explored on a motorized boat only, as getting down on land inside the forest is prohibited (apart from few camps). Once inside the forest, tourist will move around the Pirkhali block (consisting of 7 islands) and Panchamukhani block (consisting of 5 islands). The only places where one can get down are Sajnekhali, Sudhanyakhali, Dobanki and Netidhopani* Camps.

Apart from obtaining permit and guide at Sajnekhali Camp, one can also visit the Mangrove Interpretation Center and 2 watch towers. There is a sweet water pond and few observation lines (clearing in thick mangrove forest done by Forest Department for wildlife viewing) visible from one of the watch towers, which is a favorite place for animals to hang around. Sudhanyakhali Camp, too, has a watch tower, a sweet water pond and observation lines. This camp has a good track record of tiger sightings. Dobanki and Netidhopani* Camps are similar, however, Dobanki has a 500 meter canopy walk which takes tourists through the thick mangrove forest at an elevated level. The different creeks/rivers which tourist can go through inside the WLS are Sudhanyakhali, Sadakkhali I, Sadakkhali II, Bon Bibi Bharani, Pirkhali, Khonakhali, Dobanki, Nobanki, Deul Bharani, Panchamukhani, Choragaji, Borogaji, Sundarkhali and Netai.

Forest entry timing is sunrise and exit timing is sunset. However, the different Camps have their own timings which vary from season to season.

Places to stay:
There are numerous private options to stay which are there in the adjoining islands namely Pakhiralaya, Bali, Dayapur and Satjelia. One may opt for stay in the boat also which can a very different kind of experience. WBTDCL operated Sajnekhali Tourist Lodge is the only option of staying inside the forest in this WLS. Rooms in this tourist lodge can be booked online.

*PS: Netidhopani Camp permit depends on prevailing weather conditions and may not be issued round the year. Rest of the area in this zone is open round the year.

North 24 Parganas Forest Division:

The tourism zone in this forest division consists of Bagna Range and Bashirhat Range. Like Sajnekhali WLS, entry point to this zone should also be preferably Gadkhali and needs to be explored on a motorized boat only. The entry permit can be obtained either at Sajenkhali Forest Office or at Kumirmari (Bagna Range). There are 3 camps in this zone where one can get down - Jhingeykhali, Burirdabri and Horikhali Camps. Burirdabri is most famous among all as it has a thrilling Mangrove Walk apart from 2 watch towers, 2 sweet water ponds and few observation lines. The Mangrove Walk is a concrete pathway at the ground level, protected by wooden/metal fencing. At the end of this path, located is the 2nd watch tower (wooden) from where a view of the forest on Bangladesh side is possible. Jhingeykhali has a watch tower, sweet water pond and observation lines. There is nothing much to do at Horikhali Camp, though the forest cruise till this place can yield some sightings.

Forest entry timing is sunrise and exit timing is sunset. However, the different Camps have their own timings which vary from season to season.

Places to stay:
Best option is to stay near Sajnekhali WLS and explore this area. The Satjelia island is somewhat closer to this place. Jhingeykhali has a tourist lodge and the bookings can be obtained from the Forest Department office at Canning. Staying on the boat is one another option.

PS: Permit to this area depends on prevailing weather conditions and may not be issued round the year. 

South 24 Parganas Forest Division:

Entry permit and guide for this area needs to be procured either from Jharkhali Range Office or Kaikhali Forest Office. Jharkhali is directly connected to Kolkata by road (approximately 100 kms) and like Gadkhali, can be reached via Canning also. Kaikhali too is directly connected to Kolkata by road (approximately 90 kms) and also can be reached via Canning. Like rest of the areas, this area too needs to be explored on a motorized boat only. Places like Bonnie Camp, Kalash Camp and Bhagabatpur Crocodile Project can be visited. The Kalash Beach which was accessible to tourists earlier, has now been kept off-limits. Both the camps have watch towers and sweet water ponds.

Forest entry timing is sunrise and exit timing is sunset. However, the different Camps have their own timings which vary from season to season.

Places to stay:
Though there are few private options in Kaikhali, staying on the boat is the best for this area. A rest house at Bonnie Camp which earlier was allowed for tourists, have been closed down now.

PS: Permit to this area depends on prevailing weather conditions and may not be issued round the year.