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Participation in Shendurney WLS Survey
Camp: Kattilapara Team: Pavendhan A, Nishanth CV, Rama Warrior, Baburaj PV Narration: Pavendhan A
The team to Kattilapara consisted couple of us from Coimbatore and a couple from the city of Bangalore. Although most of them are familiar with birding, were primarily into butterfly chasing now and hence had to double up as both birders and butterfliers for the survey. The camp was a forest guest house with basic facilities.
Kattilapara derived its name from a couple of carved frame in a nearby rock( which resembled more like an attempt to carve some idols from the marked area). The area is a mixed deciduous forest with rubber plantation present here and there and the dam backwaters a short distance away. The very unique Myristica swamps a mile away.
As soon as we landed on the AN from Thenmala, we took a walk towards Kurunthotti road until the spot where the road to the right takes you to Myristica. We did not go to the swamp which was reserved for the transect, and rather we took the left path which is cutting the forest onto the backwaters. Being an afternoon, just into the evening, we could not get to see many a butterfly species, however, species like Common Cerulean, Indian Dartlet, Psolos fuligo, Chestnut Bob, Glad-eye Bushbrown and Rustic made their presence in reasonable numbers immediately. The water level in the backwaters was high too and not much is seen in the after noon within the forest. The light fade away quickly around 6 PM.
On the day, narked for the transect, all of us were ready and were fortunate to witness a good number of birds on the high canopy of the tall trees present in the camp and that included species like Black Baza, Indian Paradise Flycatcher, Scarlet Minivet, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Bronze Drongo, Bulbuls, Flamebacks and Jungle Babblers. We were soon joined by couple of Beetle Research students and we began our 3 hours transect towards Myristica swamp.
Either side of the roads were the primary targets and we were concentrating areas where sun was sneaking through the canopy and that paid dividends as far as the sightings, and we could notice Coon, Chestnut Bob, Indian Dartlet, Common Snow Flat and a lone Pygmy Scrub Hopper which was really tiny. Common Cerulean was abundant and a few Banded Blue Pierrots were seen from the blues. Grass Yellows represented the Pierids. Chocolate Pansy, Dark-branded Bushbrown and Glad-eye Bushbrowns represented the Nymphalids. A few Tamil Yeomans were seen on the canopy. Malabar Rose and Malabar Banded Swallowtails were flying past. We have reached the point where we now need to take the path leading to Myristica Swamp. We could add only a Brown Awl and a Malabar Tree Nymph to the list and the transect ended when we touched the road again.
Our decision( or rather my forced one) to walk towards Kurunthotti instead of the path to Choodal proved to be very effective as we were able to many species to the list. This was the most productive part of the survey. The walk was a further 4 Km. Immediately after we walked a few meters we saw a few Banded Blue Pierrots, Common Albatross and a Grass Yellow were feeding on a millipede carrion and that Grass Yellow later turned out to be the pricy Nilgiri Grass Yellow. Yellowjack Sailer was the next to make appearance and a quick and unsettled approach by it. Other species sighted and added to the list include Tamil Catseye, Grey Count, Tamil Lacewing, Long-banded Silverline, Commander, Clipper, Chestnut-streaked Sailer, Monkey Puzzle, Quaker, Lineblues, Angled Pierrot, Common Pierrot, Rustic, Southern Birdwing and Blue Mormon. The Ypthima species Common Four-ring and Common Five-ring were omnipresent.
We have reached the Forest Guest House at Kurunthotti and relaxed for a while. The debate of taking which route back to the base camp was finally in favour of the road on which we walked up, since the lunch time was nearing. It was a 6 Km walk again and we could add Yamfly and Tawny Rajah( which encircled all of us for a few minutes before vanishing). We witnessed the courtship act of Malabar Tree Nymphs. Immediately after the lunch, we were forced to take the Choodal path, which was through a Rubber plantation behind the campsite and this 5-6 Km total walk did yield just a solitary Dark-branded Bushbrown which actually looked different in the filed. Near the camp, we added species like Treebrown, Dingy Lineblue and Water Snow Flat. The day ended with a long 18 Km walk and about 50 + butterfly species. Malabar Trogon, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Indian Grey Hornbills were the significant addition to the birds list( we ended with 31 species of birds for the camp).
Our plan to walk on the road side / dam side on the last day was changed since Dr Kalesh joined us and we took a different path to Myristica Swamp and Choodal. The focus on the walk on early stages of caterpillars and host plants and we were benefited greatly from the knowledge of Dr Kalesh. We could see caterpillars of Malabar Raven and Malabar Rose and a pupa of Blue Admiral. On the adults, only Notocrypta species were the additions. The rubber plantation however gave us species like Glassy Tiger, Grey Pansy, Tawny Rajah, Grey Count, etc. Our final attempt before leaving to Thenmala to locate Dark Pierrot sighted by the other team failed, but an Autumn Leaf was added to the list from the same location. After concluding meeting and discussion, we departed our way back to Coimbatore and the rest of the team members to Bangalore and Trivandrum!
PATTAMPOOCHI A TNBS MAGAZINE WINGS 2 VEINS 1
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