Chalo bulawa aaya hai !

Chalo bulawa aaya hai !  

This literally came true for me last week. Not in the generally understood religious context, but in a more contemporary context of the call from the wild !

Our office had planned an outing to Goa, and being a relatively leaner season, I thought of trying out some photography detours on the way to Goa. And suddenly in course of my googling, I stumbled upon a peculiar type of name – OLD MAGAZINE HOUSE (OMH). On going through the almost reverential reviews for this place in Ganeshgudi, the mind was made up in an instant. The bulawa had come !

Walked across to the desk of Mahendra, who is a keen birder and photography enthusiast and broached the idea to him. We could leave a day in advance, spend one day at OMH and then proceed to Goa. As they say, when the bulawa comes, everything falls in place. He agreed in an instant. Next few minutes, the hotel and train reservations were done.

For some unavoidable reasons however, it so happened that I had to miss the journey that night and had to join a day later. Reached OMH at Ganeshgudi at around 9 am in the morning. Immediately on reaching there, Mahendra showed me the awesome clicks that he had captured the earlier evening – the reds and the blues and the yellows and the whites, all types of amazing birds ! Boy, I missed big time. The next instant however, heard excited screams all around. Shh, shh…there is a woodpecker on a nearby tree and the clicking sessions started for me.

The great thing about OMH is that you need not go out to find the birds. Rather the birds come around to a sighting set up, which consists of a few strategically placed bath trays filled with water, and the birds come about to drink and bath, and in the process you get the chance to click them at close quarters. The next hour or so, there were many more birds which made their morning show appearance, and I started feeling better. 

                                                                        

                                                                           Orange capped Thrush

Brown fulveta

                                                                     Yellow browed bulbul

Around 11.00 am it was stage wrap up time, and Joma, our experienced JLR guide suggested that we walk down a few kilometres down the road to a place where there could be other sightings. The walk down the forest road was quite refreshing and we reached a road crossing where there were already some cars lined up and excited photographers all around. Everyone was pointing towards a fruiting tree and the cameras were rolling to capture Malabar barbets, vernal hanging parrots, starlings and hill mynas. Managed a few clicks myself.

Malabar Barbets (up and down)

Around lunch time, we were back towards the lodge. Trudged along on the pathway in the shining sun and just as we reached, saw the manager running down the office and telling us that Joma had sighted a Malabar trogon near the main road. The excitement in the crowd was palpable. Malabar Trogon seems to be a rare bird and everyone started running in that direction. On reaching the spot, Joma pointed to some trees in the distance where the Trogon was last seen. It seemed to have fled the scene leaving us disappointed. We were going back and hardly had taken a few steps when Joma was back in action.  “There it is!” And strained necks tried sighting the bird. Only the back portion was visible. 

More clickings but the bird remained still. Someone, suggested a different viewpoint and then lo and behold, a frontal view emerged.

Proceeded for lunch on a happy note. Post lunch, it was time to check out and move to Bison resort. After seeing all the excitement at OMH, I decided to extend my stay till late evening and Mahendra moved on.

It turned out to be a great decision. The evening show was the centerpiece of the entire visit and it was a literal parade of colourful birds which ensued in the next few hours. Will let the pictures do the talking.

Red whiskered bulbul

Crimson sunbird

Dark fronted warbler

Dark fronted warbler

Emerald dove

Flame throated bulbul

Forest wagtail

Grey wagtail with yellow rump

Indian yellow lored tit

Black headed munia

Oriental white eye

Paradise flycatcher Female

Blythe starling, or is it Rosy starling

Blythe starling, or is it Rosy starling

White rumped Shama

Tickle's blue flycatcher

Verditer Flycatcher

Blue flycatcher Female

blue flycatcher male

  

The only remaining desire was to be able to see the “king”. The male Asian Paradise Flycatcher is virtually considered as a the King catch amongst photographers. It was 6.00 pm by now and we were about to pack up. And suddenly, there was a whirr and a white silky bird floated into the scene.  The angel had made its appearance. Frenetic clicking followed and here is my dream come true!

A fantastic evening.

Awesome ! Amazing ! Fantastic ! all superlatives came to mind about my experience at OMH. Need to be back here again.

The night was spent at Bison resort and the next morning, it was the hornbill show. Walked around the property with Muthu, a local guide, who tried his best to spot the pied hornbills. Sighted a few, but they were in low lights and clicked some record shots. The grey hornbills, however, more than made up and provided some lovely shots.  

All in all, it was a wonderful experience in and around Ganeshgudi, with Old Magazine House clearly being the icing on the cake.

Off to Goa later in the day. It was now party mood and yet within all the teaming and other activities over the next couple of days, I still managed to sneak out for a few hours and got some Goa birds, especially the Goan kingfisher.

More than enough for one trip, isnt’t it ? Afterall, when the bulawa comes, it is has to be something special !


Logistics - Old magazine House is a property owned by Jungle Lodges. It is situated at Ganeshgudi, which is approx 30 kms from Londa junction on the Bangalore Kolhapur line. The property has 5 cottages and 1 dormitory with 20 beds. Decent and clean rooms. Good food and more importantly very helpful and courteous  staff who have great knowledge of birds.