Mail:
Yogesh Wadadekar
I-1 Rajat
968/20 S Bapat Road
Pune 411 016
India
Email yogeshw \at/ iitbombay.org
May 1995
We gratefully acknowledge the help and cooperation received from Project Tiger authorities at Corbett Tiger Reserve particularly the Field Director, Mr. A.S. Negi, and the Deputy Director, Mr. Rajiv Bhartari. It was their unstinting help and cooperation that made our stay at Corbett a most educative and memorable experience. We also take this opportunity to thank Dr. N.K. Khosla (Chairman Cultural) and Dr. G.K. Sharma ( Dean Student Affairs) for support and assistance for our trip. Mr. Rajiv Bhartari deserves our special gratitude for his assistance, and for sharing his knowledge, enthusiasm and perspective on conservation with all of us.
Our encounter with the big cats was restricted to spotting pug marks, first at Lohachaur and then at Sultan. At both locations we found tiger pugmarks. At Dhikala, we were treated to a number of heart rending tiger roars during our visit to the Gulargatti watch tower. We found no evidence of any other member belonging to the cat family.
The Deer family representatives at Corbett gave us the pleasure of a thousand sightings. Barking Deer were ubiquitous at Lohachaur and we sighted them at Dhikala and Bijrani too. Sambar were sighted at Dhikala, Bijrani, Lohachaur and at numerous places along the Ramnagar Dhikala road. Chital herds were spotted all over the park. The largest herd we saw numbered 115 animals. They were placidly grazing on the dry river bed of the Ramganga at Dhikala.
Wild Pig were spotted by us at Dhikala. Corbett's wild pigs are huge, probably due to the abundant food supply. Boars have been known to tip the scales at an imposing 100 kg.
At Lohachaur, we frequently spotted troops of langurs around the Mandal river. Rhesus macaques were also spotted by us in this region.
We were unable to record the presence of hog deer, leopard, and mugger etc. that have been previously recorded in the areas of Corbett that we visited. There are two main reasons for this: the first is the short duration of our visit and the second is our extremely limited experience in the field.
Useful Addresses:
181 | Himalayan Griffon | O |
139 | Shikra | O |
311 | Common Peafowl | C |
294 | Kalij Pheasant | C |
299 | Red Jungle Fowl | C |
366 | Red Wattled Lapwing | C |
369 | Spurwing Lapwing | O |
401 | Common Sandpiper | F |
506 | Green Imperial Pigeon | O |
516 | Blue Rock Pigeon | C |
534 | Indian Ring Dove | C |
537 | Spotted Dove | C |
546 | Alexandrine Parakeet | C |
558 | Blossom Headed Parakeet | C |
573 | Common Hawk-Cuckoo | H |
576 | Indian Cuckoo | H |
675 | Longtailed Nightjar | F |
680 | Common Indian Nightjar | F |
680 | Common Indian Swift | C |
750 | Small Green Bee-Eater | C |
755 | Indian Roller | F |
717 | Himalayan Pied Kingfisher | O |
719 | Lesser Pied Kingfisher | C |
735 | White Breasted Kingfisher | C |
722 | Small Blue Kingfisher | C |
763 | Hoopoe | F |
778 | Great Hill Barbet | C |
782 | Large Green Barbet | C |
788 | Blue Throated Barbet | C |
Golden Backed Woodpecker | F | |
Pied Woodpecker | O | |
804 | Rufous Woodpecker | C |
809 | Black Naped Green Woodpecker | F |
813 | Large Yellow-Naped Woodpecker | F |
952 | Golden Oriole | F |
958 | Black-Headed Oriole | F |
Common Swallow | C | |
1081 | Scarlet Minivet | F |
1089 | Rosy Minivet | |
1093 | Small Minivet | F |
1106 | Orange-Bellied Chloropsis | C |
1123 | White-Cheeked Bulbul | C |
1128 | Redvented Bulbul | C |
1147 | Brown-Eared Bulbul | F |
1148 | Black Bulbul | O |
963 | Black Drongo | C |
967 | White-Bellied Drongo | O |
1027 | Red-Billed Blue Magpie | O |
1032 | Indian Tree-Pie | O |
1040 | Andaman Tree-Pie (????) | O |
1049 | House Crow | O |
1054 | Jungle Crow | C |
1794 | Grey Tit | O |
1809 | Yellow Cheeked Tit | O |
1830 | Chestnut Bellied Nuthatch | C |
Tree Creeper | O | |
1274 | White-Throated Laughing Thrush | O |
1283 | White-Crested Laughing Thrush | C |
1720 | Indian Robin | O |
1661 | Magpie Robin | C |
1684 | Little Forktail | F |
1688 | Spotted Forktail | O |
1733 | Orange-Headed Ground Thrush | O |
1752 | Black Bird | O |
Warblers(species unidentified) | C | |
1429 | Small Niltava(?) | F |
1442 | Tickell's Blue Flycatcher | O |
1445 | Verditer Flycatcher | O |
1439 | Pale Blue Flycatcher | O |
1440 | Blue Throated Flycatcher | O |
1455 | White-Throated Fantail Flycatcher | F |
1461 | Paradise Flycatcher | C |
946 | Rufous Backed Shrike | F |
1884 | Grey Wagtail | O |
1891 | Large Pied Wagtail | C |
1006 | Indian Myna | C |
Purple Sunbird | O | |
1933 | White-Eye | F |
House Sparrow | O | |
2060 | Crested Bunting | F |
1115 | Blackheaded Yellow Bulbul | F |
1008 | Bank Myna | F |
185 | Whitebacked Vulture | C |
186 | Scavenger Vulture | O |
42 | Pond Heron | O |
49 | Little Egret | O |
1098 | Common Iora | O |
1517 | Ashy Wren Warbler | F |
1538 | Tailor Bird | F |
767 | Grey Hornbill | F |
1917 | Purple Sunbird | C |
C | Common | Seen 5 or more times |
O | Occasional | Seen 2 to 4 times |
F | Few | Seen only once |
Eagle+-, BOP dirty white throat and belly, uniform dark brown back and wings grey head with crest, yellow beak. Broad white band on wings and tail seen in flight. Seen at Lohachaur.
NOTE: The list presented above is merely a fraction of Corbett's rich natural heritage that we were able to sample with the limited amount of time (6 days) and knowledge available to us. It should be noted that we could learn so much in spite of having no background in Life Sciences whatsoever. Students of Botany/Zoology would undoubtedly find it easy to multiply the list many fold. We would also state here that we saw a few bird species than we were unable to identify. There were many reasons for this - wary birds, low light conditions, low magnification on our binoculars and thick vegetation.
7 May: Got up at 0545. Bought provisions. Potatoes, rice etc. Breakfast at 0930. Got into bus for Lohachaur. Extremely crowded. Bus left at 0900. Mud road beyond Dhangarhi gate. Steep ups and downs. Rivers crossed on flimsy looking bridges. Reached Lohachaur at 1130. Great FRH ! British Raj time suites with running water and a fireplace. Surrounded by thick sal jungle. Prepared Maggi noodles for lunch. Had bath in river. Sighted Common Skink. At 1630 left on trail. We walked some distance along the river upstream. Not too many birds. Peafowl, Red Junglefowl on river bed. Also Drongos, Blossom headed Parakeets, Rufousbacked Shrike. Saw fresh elephant dung and tracks. Big troop of Common Langur feeding on sheesham island. Returned at 1845. Ate kheer and rice. Slept at 2100. Night completely silent. No barking deer barks.
8 May: got up at 0545. Left for trail on road to Durgadevi with guide who was starting tiger census procedures. Orangeheaded Ground Thrush, Spurwing Lapwing, Small Minivet, Blossom headed Parakeet. Saw fresh elephant dung and tracks. Tracked elephant ~ 750 m. Black Bulbul seen. Returned at 0945. Ate Bhurji and tomato soup. Slept in the afternoon. Evening looked stormy. Went along road on Maidavan side. Saw barking deer, Kalij Pheasant, Lesser Goldenbacked Woodpecker and male Crested Bunting. Within minutes the sky was covered with thick clouds and a howling wind stared blowing throwing up a lot of dust. We ran back to the FRH. Rain started after 1/2 hour. Not very heavy. Ate dal--chaval. Slept at 2130.
9 May: got up at 0400. We were supposed to accompany forest guard on his beat. Tiger census was starting today. The guard had a map of his area. Today he would go around just wiping off the pugmarks that he saw. Walked towards Durgadevi with him. Fleeting glimpses of Redbilled Blue Magpie and an unidentified bird, probably a Great Hill Barbet. The bird would sit on trees with dry leaves and then disappear as we neared. We were not able to get a good look at it. Many butterflies but not much variety. Striped Tiger, Blue Tiger, Common Crow, Common Jezebel. On return journey, saw 4 Redbilled Blue Magpies trying to shoo away a Rhesus Macaque feeding in their area or near their nest (?) . Extremely beautiful sight. When we were watching the magpies, the Forest Dept. vehicle arrived to pick us up. We left for Sultan at 1000. reached at 1145. Lunch of Maggi noodles and soup. Left for a waterhole ~200m away at 1715. Heard dry leaves crackling near waterhole. Turned out to be a small herd of cheetal. All the animals were very well camouflaged and silent even while moving about on a dry leaf bed. Saw bear claw marks on a tree. Saw Broad Billed Roller at the Sultan FRH after sunset. It seemed much smaller than the size mentioned (Pigeon +-). Saw Longtailed Indian Nightjar pair at dusk. At night saw another nightjar sitting on a dried branch ~ 5 feet above the ground. Eyes shine brightly in torchlight, but not as brightly as Cheetal. Also spotted a male Cheetal stag in torchlight. We tried to follow it. It bolted when we were about 50 feet away. Did some stargazing. M44 stunning. Ursa Minor high up and clearly visible. Sisodia bitten inside room by a tiny scorpion, hardly bigger than a cockroach. Gave him a pain killer and applied some antiseptic cream. A little swelling on his toe where the scorpion had bitten him. Rainstorm around midnight. Night colder than usual.
10 May: Got up at 0400. Left with forest guard Naqvi on road to Dhangarhi. New forest guard, inexperienced and scared of the jungle. made so much noise that there was little chance of spotting wildlife. Saw fresh, clear tiger pugmarks in a nearby sot. The pugmarks were only a few hours old. (It had rained around midnight.) He put a glass plate on top of the best pugmark and traced its outline on it, which was later transferred to tracing paper. Walked on with the guide. Guide told us that the pugmarks were of a tigress. (elongated egg-shaped toe marks -- tigress. Circular toe marks -- tiger). We followed numerous streams and soon got lost. Used some rough idea on the direction we ought to take and made it back to Sultan. Then went on mud road towards Gairal. Reached river bed and waited for birds. Nothing seen. Came back and packed up. Lunch of dal-rice. At 1630 Shri. Bhartari arrived and gave a lift to 3 of us to Dhikala. They stopped at Gairal, Sarpduli, Khinnanauli and High Bank, where they saw a Gharial male basking on the river bank. Rest of reached Dhikala by bus. Dhikala complex quite large. Electricity available. Many hutments, loghuts (dormitories), best wildlife library anywhere, dhaba, restaurant, range officers quarters, elephants, mahouts and a shed for screening movies etc. Not much crowd. a herd of 150 cheetal feeding on dried up river bed. Dineer at restaurant. Costly. Slide show by Shri. Bhartari. Some star-gazing done. Slept in anticipation of a fruitful elephant ride the next morning.
11 May: 6 of us on each elephant. My elephant went on chaur side.
Other elephants went across the river. Saw wild pig and jackal
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Last modified on: Tue Apr 5 15:36:02 2005