Day 1-6: Arpora and Coastal North Goa
Arrivals into Goa (Goa or North Goa international airports) in the morning of day 1. We will drive to the coastal resort of Arpora, where we will spend the first six nights of the tour. Immediately surrounding Arpora a sizeable stretch of dry fields will likely provide some of the first birds of the tour, including various pipits including Richard’s and Blyth’s, Malabar Lark, Spotted Dove, Indian Roller, Little Green and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Wire-tailed Swallow, Rosy Starling, Black Drongo, Long-tailed and Brown Shrikes, Bluethroat and Spotted Owlet. We have the afternoon and the next five days to explore the varied habitats present in the coastal region of northern Goa, making excursions further inland into the grasslands and scrub jungle of the central plateau. The habitat diversity here is reflected in the variety of birds found in this region, and we can expect a good selection during our stay here, from waterfowl to woodland species and including our first regional endemics. Remnant patches of mature woodland on coastal headlands will offer additional species such as Eurasian Golden Oriole, Vernal Hanging-parrot, Grey-headed and Brahminy Starlings, Loten’s and Vigors’s Sunbirds, Tickell’s Blue, Asian Brown and Indian Paradise Flycatchers, Black-naped Monarch, Jerdon’s Leafbirds, White-browed and Grey-headed Bulbuls, White-cheeked and Coppersmith Barbets, Dark-fronted Babbler, Orange-headed Thrush and the secretive Indian Pitta. Further afield, quieter beaches and Goa’s few sizeable lakes, together with areas of marsh and mangrove, host a good selection of gulls, terns, shorebirds, waterfowl, rails and crakes, including Grey-headed Swamphen, Bronze-winged Jacana, Indian Spot-billed and Comb Ducks, Cotton Teal, Wood and Terek Sandpipers, Little and Temminck’s Stints, Red-wattled Lapwing, Cinnamon Bittern, Greater Painted-Snipe, Baillon’s and Ruddy-breasted Crakes, Painted and Woolly-necked Storks, Asian Openbill, Lesser Adjutant, various egrets, Indian Baya and Streaked Weavers, Indian Reed-warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Citrine Wagtail, gulls including Pallas’s and Lesser Black-backed (Heuglin’s), Greater and Lesser Crested Terns, Greater and Lesser Sandplovers, Small Pratincole, and birds of prey including Indian Spotted Eagle, White-bellied Sea-eagle, Brahminy Kite and Crested Goshawk. A boat ride along the Zuari River will take us into the mangroves of the Cumbarjua Canal, in search of the highly localised Collared Kingfisher, Stork-billed, Black-capped and Lesser Pied Kingfishers and Slaty-breasted Rail. In this coastal area, and its predominantly dry scrub we'll also encounter a selection of dryland butterflies, including Common Crow, Blue, Glassy and Striped Tigers, Lemon, Blue and Chocolate Pansies, Common Jezebel, Common Sailer, Common Castor, Tiny Grass Blue and Grass Jewel, the smallest in the Indian region.
Day 7-10: The Bhagwan Mahaveer and Bondla Wildlife Sanctuaries
We will experience a change in landscape and habitat this morning as we drive inland into the foothills of the Western Ghats for a four-night stay. These hills delineate Goa’s eastern border and are part of one of the most ecologically rich regions in the world, home to 30 restricted range endemic and near endemic birds. We will spend our time here birding on foot within the moist deciduous forest interspersed with cane thickets, bamboo brakes and trickling streams, and in the quiet villages and open fields on the edge of the forest. We will be looking in particular for the up to 18 Western Ghats endemics available in Goa among further peninsular endemics and south Indian forest specialities, including Malabar Grey, Malabar Pied and Great Pied Hornbills, Nilgiri Woodpigeon, Greater Racket-tailed and Spangled Drongos, Malabar Trogon, Heart-spotted Woodpecker, Malabar Whistling-thrush, Asian Fairy Bluebird, White-bellied Blue Flycatcher, Crimson-backed Sunbird, Flame-throated and Yellow-browed Bulbuls, Malabar Barbet, Malabar Parakeet, Dark-fronted and Puff-throated Babblers, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Indian White-rumped Spinetail, Brown-backed Needletail, Crested Serpent-Eagle, Rufous-bellied and Black Eagles, and a good selection of night birds at roost and at dusk or dawn, including Sri Lanka Frogmouth, Jungle and Jerdon’s Nightjars, Brown Hawk-owl, Jungle Owlet and Brown Fish-owl, and if we are very lucky we may have the opportunity to hear or see the elusive Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl. We will also visit the productive patch of forest at nearby Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary looking in particular for Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Blue-faced Malkoha, Rufous and White-naped Woodpeckers, the attractive multi-hued Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, Blue-capped Rock-thrush, Grey Junglefowl, Red Spurfowl and a selection of birds of prey rising in morning thermals over the hills. We will no doubt encounter an impressive selection of butterflies here, with spectacular forest swallowtails and regional endemics that include Tamil Yeoman, Tamil Lacewing, Blue Oakleaf, Paris Peacock and Blue Mormon, with Indian Sunbeam, Leaf Blue, Common Imperial and Common Map along forest streams, mud-puddling congregations of Tailed Jay, Common Bluebottle and Common Grass Yellow, and the striking Southern Birdwing, the largest butterfly in the Indian region.
Day 11-14: Cotigao and Netravali Wildlife Sanctuaries
On day 11, a short drive south will take us to the coastal resort of Patnem in southern Goa for a four-night stay. Along the way we will visit the complex of lake at Maina and Curtorim, looking for Lesser Whistling-duck, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Yellow-wattled Lapwing, and the occasional Grey-headed Lapwing. This afternoon, and over the following three days, we will explore nearby Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary as well as Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary, a little further inland. Cotigao is noticeably drier than other forest reserves in Goa, and we will look in particular for endemics and forest species that favour these conditions, such as Malabar Woodshrike, White-bellied Woodpecker, Yellow-footed and Grey-fronted Green-pigeons, Green Imperial Pigeon, Emerald Dove, Forest Wagtail and Oriental Scops-owl. At Netravali, one of Goa’s least-explored areas, the sanctuary road climbs through primary forest to the peaks of a series of rounded hills, giving us some superb views over the Sahyadri range of the Western Ghats. In this quiet and attractive setting we hope to encounter Indian Rufous-babbler, a Western Ghats endemic only sporadically distributed in Goa. Other key species here include Indian Scimitar-babbler, Speckled Piculet, Malabar Trogon and Indian Blue Robin. Butterflies are diverse in the superb primary forest and we'll look for gems including Gaudy Baron, Red-spot Duke, Common and Crimson Rose, Orange Oakleaf and the delicate Malabar Tree Nymph. Here, and throughout Goa's forest reserves, we will also come across a small selection of mammals, including Bonnet Macaque, Northern Plains Grey Langur, the Malabar subspecies of Indian Giant Squirrel, Indian Palm Civet, and the ubiquitous three-striped Palm Squirrel, with the chance of Gaur and sometimes Leopard at Cotigao.
Day 15: Depart Goa
Depending on group departure plans we may have time for some final birding at Cotigao this morning. Departures from Goa (Dabolim) international airport this afternoon.
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