Top Birds in Satpura | Satpura Bird Survey

To beat the Corona lockdown blues, I would like to go back in time to the month of February 2020 as I recall one of my favorite trips into the unknown. 

Naturalists are often asked lots of questions related to birds. And why not? They are indeed quite fascinating. Let it be any corner of the world, the most common and yet easily the most interesting aspect of wildlife you come across in daily life is birds. Being in this field for many years, birds have a special place in my life. 

Satpura is well-known among wild lifers as ‘Paradise for bird watching’. We have some residents and some visitors to this park. Thus, keeping their record is imperative. Not only for Forest Department but also for everyone who is associated with the forest, it is important to keep updated with the number of species of resident and migratory birds. To do so, Forest Department organizes a bird survey. It was the third bird survey being conducted in STR (Satpura Tiger Reserve), from 6^th February to 9^th February and I was happy to contribute in survey as a Naturalist of Denwa Backwater Escape. 

Satpura Bird Survey 2020 was conducted by Satpura forest department and Wildlife and Nature Conservation (WNC), Indore. Ninety participants from all the corners of India joined this day at Madhai, Madhya Pradesh. We had an orientation followed by which we were split into teams. Soon we were informed about our designated areas to go birding, spread across the entire tiger reserve (approx 2600 sq.km). Without any further delay, we boarded boats to reach our destination.

Nestled deep inside the heart of the tiger reserve is Bori wildlife Sanctuary, India’s first ever wildlife sanctuary. Bori is a complete package of open meadows and massive thickets of bamboo. I was one of the few lucky people to get this lifetime opportunity to explore this hidden gem of a place on foot. Pure, untouched and magical wilderness is what it offers. Other than forest officials and researchers, not many get a chance to explore this safe Eden. The day ended very well with exploring the forest and recording bird observations.

The next day we hiked for about 16 km in one of the largest bamboo forests of Bori and came back witnessing about 50 species of birds, in just few hours. We were lucky enough to spot some of the rare birds like the Green Imperial Pigeon, Bar Winged Flycatcher Shrike, Black Eagle, Rufous Fronted Prinia, Ashy Wood Swallows and many more down the list. Being a rich and densely wooded area, it is indeed a tiger country, so coming across tiger, leopard or sloth bear pugmarks and listening to them vocalizing was not unexpected. After scouting few more areas of Satpura, we completed our walk of about 45 km. 

The final show-stopper of our entire survey was watching one of the most highlighted creatures of India, a herd of swamp deer, seven of them in wild. We couldn’t be any happier. Bori is one of the first places to introduce Hard Ground Barasingha/Swamp Deer, a highly endangered creature that comes under the Schedule 1 category of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Many of us know the success story of this introduction, but to see it happen in front of our eyes was absolutely remarkable.

This survey taught me a lot. It was amazing to understand how the virgin forest is different from to the ones we go every day as naturalists. The benefits of having 70% of core area unexplored and not to forget how the forest guards, like Madan Lal (our companion for entire survey). I would call the unsung heroes of the protected areas, live inside the isolated parts of wilderness and protect those with their sweat and blood. 

Keeping these memories with me for lifetime, I am back to my life by the forests of Denwa Backwater Escape.

Contributed by: Swanand Deshpande, Naturalist- Denwa Backwater Escape