The Sri Lanka Frogmouth - Backwoods Camp

My trip to Goa's Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary this March was very fruitful from a sound recording point of view. I stayed there from 6th to 8th March and recorded many species. The general recording quality, due to my better equipment this time as compared to the previous outing, was quite decent. In terms of species too, I got a decently wide variety. 

Like in March 2013, this time round too, I stayed at Backwoods Camp. However, in terms of total number of birds seen or heard it wasn't as good as last time. But in terms of variety of species I got quite a mic full of them. 

The most notable and memorable experience for me this year was getting to first see and then record the Sri Lanka Frogmouth. 

Last time in 2013 I had "apparently" seen the Sri Lanka Frogmouth. They took me to a darkish corner in their campus and pointed to an even darker corner inside a tree. The others in the group said they could see it. I could see nothing except a lot of darkness. I had nodded my head on being asked "can you see it?" but in my heart of heart I knew I had not seen it.

The frogmouth is like a nightjar. It stays perched at its favourite location and does not fly off easily. 

This time they said the bird was a lot more easily visible and indeed I could see it very very clearly when one of their boys took me to the tree behind the kitchen. I could see the female only though. They said the male and female were both perched together till a couple of days ago and could be easily seen but now the male is perhaps sitting on the eggs in the nest. 

They did not know where the nest was and the male remained illusive to me. 

I asked Pramod (one of the co-owners of the property and an experienced naturalist) on how difficult or easy it is to record the call of the bird. He said the birds would call just once between quarter to seven and seven. That is, just after sun down when it starts to get dark. So go prepared to spend 15/20 minutes in the jungle. 

I did exactly as told. Went there with one of the boys in the lodge and waited with the microphone targeted in the direction of the female. The recorder was on. I started at 6:40 and waited patiently. Contrary to what I had thought initially, I found it is very exciting to stand like that in the middle of the jungle (with the lodge nearby) when you know that something is going to happen or might happen. A duffel bag with the recorder in it hanging from the left shoulder, microphone over your ears and a blimp in your right hand. Standing like a statue. 

At around 6:50 I could hear a young boy whistling somewhere in the distance. I asked the boy from the lodge if there was a village behind the forest in the direction of which my blimp was pointing. He said yes but added, "what you hear is a white-rumped shama though". I was quite amazed and regretted speaking in the middle of the shama's singing. 

Just when I was wondering whether Pramod was right about the timing and mentally thought I would switch off at 7 pm,  I heard this long shrill call - a series of high pitched notes - coming from the other direction. It was the male calling from the nest, I was told later. As soon as that call ended the female responded with a similar but monosyllabic sound. These two together lasted for a few seconds only and I am glad that my recorder was still on. It was 6:57 pm.

The next evening around the same time we were waiting a little distance from this spot, waiting for the Oriental Scops Owl to appear and call. With an eerie precision, the Frogmouths called exactly at 6:57 once again. First the male and then the female. Apparently after this call exchange the two of them set off to go hunting for food. I haven't seen this but only heard. 

The recording might be a little low because a. I did not know what to expect. b. the male called from behind the microphone. I have only normalised the recording in soundforge. The equipment of course is Marantz PMD 661 Mk II, Sennheiser K6/ME66, Sennheiser PRO 280 and Rode Blimp.

I heard the same call the next morning at 5:55 am when I was getting ready to leave. 

Someone told me that Frogmouths are so difficult to see because they can hardly be heard. But after this experience, I realised that they are extremely predictable if only you know their habits. 

Northern Lapwing, Kaziranga, January 2015

I saw my first Northern Lapwing in Kaziranga National Park, Assam where I spent 3 days from 23rd to 25th of January, 2015. I got lucky with the bird's call as well. However, the credit for the call ID goes to our guide cum driver Jhunnu who told me it was a Northern Lapwing that was calling. I saw the bird but couldn't make out if it was calling.

It is funny that although Xeno-Canto has a lot of Northern Lapwing calls, all of them are from Europe. There is almost nothing from their wintering grounds like India. There is one of zero second and another of one second. I could hear nothing when I played them.

I recorded this call with my Marantz PMD 661 Mk II and Sennheiser K6/ME66 combination in a Rode blimp. 

Laughing Dove At Keoladeo National Park, October 2014

The laughing dove is plentiful in Rajasthan. Wherever you go you see them. They look very pretty. They are not quiet at all and it is very easy to record their vocalisation. I recorded this particular bird in the morning of October 2, 2014 at Keoladeo National Park with my Marantz PMD 661 Mk II and Sennheiser K6/ME66. There was some wind and the noise is audible as I was using only the foam cover as windscreen.

The accompanying image of the bird was shot during our previous Rajasthan trip in 2011.

Sarus Cranes @ Keoladeo National Park

In September-October of 2014 I had gone to North India and among other places visited Keoladeo National Park. Here I got lucky with the mating calls of a pair of Sarus Cranes - the star attraction of the park. The first time when I heard this call I got a start, because I couldn't see the birds and was certainly not prepared for the sound. After that I took out my recorder and waited ready for it. After about six minutes they suddenly called out. It was really worth the wait. The time shown in Xeno-Canto is wrong. It was recorded in the late afternoon at around 4.30 pm on 2nd October, 2014.

The recording turned out to  be very clean, clear and crisp. I didn't do any editing whatsoever. Not even volume push up. This is the first time I used the new Marantz PMD 661 Mk II with the Sennheiser K6/ME66. It's a fantastic combination. 

Black-hooded Oriole

I love the Bengali name of the black-hooded oriole. Bene Bou. It means the goldsmith's wife. Traditionally they wear a lot of gold ornaments. With its golden colour the bird is quite aptly named. These birds have a wide repertoire of calls. Here are three of them from my collection. 

I recorded the first one at Shyamkhola on a quiet morning. One of those rare occasions when there was no loudspeaker playing in the distance blaring some religious song. 

This is another type of vocalisation recorded at Dhakuria Lake And this is yet another different vocalisation.  CKBS.

Oriental Pratincole

As we were coming back from Kharibari (31st March, 2013) through Rajarhat we decided to check out if the Oriental Pratincoles could be seen. Construction activity in Rajarhat has increased considerably and we weren't too hopeful. Suddenly one of our friends spotted a flock of them swoop down on an open grassland. We immediately got out from our car for a good sighting. With the recorder on I was lucky to get the vocalisation of a lone bird that was encircling a small area overhead. Later, while uploading on Xeno-Canto I was surprised to find that this is the first recording of the species from India !!!
Incidentally this photograph was taken in Manglajodi in January 2012.
To listen to the recording click here

Wood Sandpiper

Went to Kharibari on Sunday, 31st March and made a number of recordings. This species offered both - an opportunity for a good photograph and a decent sound recording that I uploaded today (the pic and the vocalisation is not of the same individual) on Xeno-Canto. I must confess that when I saw and heard the bird in flight I couldn't identify it but knew it was some sandpiper - from the shape of its body. Later, while matching the calls I realised I had recorded a Wood Sandpiper :) That's the beauty of internet and modern technology. 

To listen to the recording click here or the embedded file below

Flame-throated Bulbul

My first bird in Goa's Backwoods Camp on 8th March 2013 was this bird. Light condition being very poor I couldn't get a decent image of the bird. After that it remained elusive for the rest of my stay there only to reappear on the last morning when a pair sat on a branch right outside the main building of the resort and happily sang for a long time.

This bird was earlier considered a sub-species (Gularis) of Black-headed Bulbul. Now it has been split.

White-throated Kingfisher

This is a very common call for anyone from this part of the world. In fact often it is difficult to avoid this bird's call (possibly territory marking) from the background.

A note on the photograph. I had taken it almost full frame in Santragachhi. 

Spotted Dove

I recorded the vocalisation of the spotted dove long ago. This was perhaps one of my first recordings made with the Edirol. No matter where in the world I hear this sound, it always reminds me of an idle afternoon in Calcutta.

Common Hawk Cuckoo - Juvenile Begging

In Piyali Island (near Sunderban) I saw this wonderful sight of a juvenile common hawk cuckoo begging for food (often successfully) from its foster parents - jungle babblers. The photograph and sound is of the same individual. This was in November 2012.

Common Iora

I saw and recorded this common iora at Shyamkhola on March 17, 2013. The common iora has a large repertoire of calls. This is one of them. This bird responds very well to playback. However, it is unethical to do so during the breeding season. The common iora's display flights is unique. It looks like a fluffy blackish ball when it does that. Hope to catch that sight with the camera some day.

In the background there is a trill of a lineated barbet and the song of a blue-throated barbet in this recording.

Lineated Barbet

Recorded these calls of Lineated Barbet at Shyamkhola last Sunday, 17th March 2013. These are two different vocalisations. While one is common and is often heard, the other one isn't so common. 

While the call above is quite common, the second one isn't as commonly heard. The first one has too much of a blue-throated barbet also calling incessantly, as is their wont. It is impossible to record anything in Bengal during spring without the background sound of this extremely commonly heard bird :-)

Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker

Last Sunday, 17th March 2013 we went to Shyamkhola and Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary near Narendrapur. Here I saw and recorded this fulvous-breasted woodpecker's vocalisation and also the sound it made on the tree trunk with its beak.

Those who might not know - the very first sound that you hear is the call of the woodpecker. It is a very soft chuck chuck sound. Unless you are careful you will soon be drowned in the other calls of background species. The sound of the beak on the trunk is like a creaky door being opened. I hope this helps.