PELAGIC Birding Trip off Kochi

The Second Pelagic Birding Trip organized by CNHS is scheduled to flag off from Marine Drive Jetty,Kochi on 04th November 2012.

If you are new to Pelagic Birds here are a few bits of info:-

Definition:

Pelagic Birds are birds that spend a significant portion of their life on the open ocean, rarely venturing to land except to breed. Pelagic birds may be found hundreds or thousands of miles offshore and are powerful fliers that can remain aloft for hours while gliding or soaring. When the birds rest, they do so floating on the water. Pelagic birds typically feed on fish, squid and crustaceans as well as offal from fishing ships or trash dumped into the ocean.There are dozens of pelagic bird species with a great range of sizes and ranges. Types of pelagic birds include shear-waters, albatrosses and petrels.

Some of the Pelagic Birds are:

Persian Shearwater,Flesh-footed Shearwater, Frigate Birds,  Tropic birds and Noodies,Redbilled tropic bird,Pomarine Skua, Arctic (Parasitic) Skua ,Masked Booby, Flesh-footed Shearwater, Bridled Tern, Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Wilson's Storm-Petrel, Sooty Tern, Persian Shearwater, . Swinhoe's Storm Petrel, Jouanin's Petrel,Streaked Shearwater, Red-necked phalarope etc.

Some Pelagic surveys conducted from Kerala and Karnataka coasts:

1. First Pelagic Bird Trip off Kerala- 27^th & 28^th Sept 2010. (Kannur)

2. Pelagic Trip 28^th & 29^th May 2011.(Kannur)

3. 3^rd 4^th April 2011.Kannur& Mulki

4. 31^st July 2011.Chavakkad

5. 24-25 Sept. 2011 Kannur coast

6. 15-16 Oct. 2011 west coast-Karnataka

7. 26-02-2012 Kochi

8. 30/09 -01/10 2012 Vizhinjam coast.

The cost of the trip planned on 04^th November is expected to be 1200- 1500.This includes the rent of the boat and the cost of food. The trip starts at 07.00 am from Marine Drive Jetty, Kochi and return in the evening.

Please book your slot immediately by calling me/mailing me.

Regards,

Vishnu

9446437410(m)

Bhoothathan Kettu-Idamalayar Birding Trip

Dear friends,
CNHS held a one day birding trip to Bhoothathankettu-Idamalayar region on 5th December.We started from Perumbavoor early morning and had breakfast at Bhoothathankettu and started our birding there.We saw a group of Grey Jungle in the fields behind the dam.On our way to old Bhoothathankettu we saw many birds including,a large flock of White Bellied Tree pies flying in a group.It was a good omen as it is our logo.Many chestnut headed bee-eaters were seen and photographed there.We also saw a guy with 600mm Nikkor lens on a strap around his neck.It was amazing how he could carry it so effortlessly;should be having a neck of steel!!!We next proceeded to Idamalayar at about 11.30am. We saw the eclipse male of Purple Sunbird on the way and all of us clicked it to the heart`s content in the scorching sun for some time....We reached the Dam site at about 2.00 and had a spartan lunch at the KSEB Canteen there.We went up to the tunnel , birding till about 5.30pm there and returned.
This is the complete list of birds sighted:

1. Darter 2. Cattle Egret 3. Indian Pond Heron 4. Little Green Heron 5. Crested Serpent Eagle 6. Shikra 7. Changeable Hawk Eagle 8. Grey Junglefowl 9. Red-wattled Lapwing 10. River Tern 11. Whiskered Tern 12. Blue Rock Pigeon 13. Pompadour Green Pigeon 14. Mountain Imperial Pigeon 15. Indian Hanging Parrot 16, Plum-headed Parakeet 17. Blue-winged Parakeet 18. Brainfever Bird 19. Drongo Cuckoo 20. Indian Edible nest Swiftlet 21. White-rumped Needletail Swift 22. Malabar Trogon 23. White-breasted Kingfisher 24. Lesser Pied Kingfisher 25. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater 26. Oriental Broad-billed Roller 27. Malabar Grey Hornbill 28. Greater Golden-backed Woodpecker 29. Heart-spotted Woodpecker 30. Dusky Crag-Martin 31. Red-rumped Swallow 32. Large Pied Wagtail 33. Large Cuckoo Shrike 34. Black-headed Cuckoo Shrike 35. Ruby-throated Bulbul 36. Yellow-browed Bulbul 37. Common Iora 38. Brown Shrike 39. Blue-headed Rock Thrush 40. Malabar Whistling Thrush 41. White-throated Ground Thrush 42. Black-headed Babbler 43. Jungle Babbler 44. Common Tailorbird 45. Greenish Leaf Warbler 46. Large-billed Leaf Warbler 47. Asian Brown Flycatcher 48. Brown-breasted Flycatcher 49. Asian Paradise Flycatcher 50. Plain Flowerpecker ( Nilgiri Flowerpecker) 51. Purple-rumped Sunbird 52. Small Sunbird 53. Purple Sunbird 54. Chestnut-tailed Starling 55. Common Myna 56. Jungle Myna 57. Eurasian Golden Oriole 58. Black-headed Oriole 59. Black Drongo 60. Ashy Drongo 61. Bronzed Drongo 62. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo 63. Ashy Wood Swallow 64. Indian Treepie 65. White-bellied Treepie 66. House Crow 67. Jungle Crow

68.PlainPrinia
69.Little Cormorant

70. Egret

71. Gold-fronted Chloropsis

72. Red-whiskered Bulbul

73. Crested Tree-Swift

74.Cheeked Barbet

75. Crimson-throated Barbet

76. Grey Wagtail

77. Oriental Magpie-Robin

78. Southern Hill Myna
79.Green Imperial Pegion.

Participants:
Dr.Dileep K G,Ginu George ,Jai P Jacob and his son,Dr.Prasanth,Dr.George Moti,Prasad M George,Anna George,Gopinathan Nair,Madhukrishnan,Binny V A,Jayesh,Rifaz,Manjesh,Rajsree Bhatter,Firoze,Prof.Muthafa, Ramanathan and myself.

Vishnu