6 days at Nagzira Wildlife Reserve; day 3
Feb 21st, 2008 by andrew skeoch
I go down to wake the dynamic duo. Satish sleepily winds down the window. “Sorry Sir, program is cancelled”. “Why?” “Permissions not granted”. India strikes again. Disappointed we nevertheless get up and spend some time looking over the beautiful lake in front of the lodge. With the first light a haunting series of calls come floating over the waters, from a pair of Grey-headed Fish Eagles roosting on the far shore. They call a few more times, and I obtain a great recording of these wonderful birds.
Over breakfast Rajeet explains the debacle: his family is friends with the local Range Field Officer, who originally gave him permission for our excursion. However a few months ago a new Divisional Field Officer had been appointed, and to assert his superiority he had decided to countermand this permission. So we are indeed grounded for the day. With nothing better to do we sit around the canteen, I get some nice photographs of Flameback Woodpeckers patrolling nearby tree trunks, and we are shown a pair of Collared Scops Owls roosting right outside our lodge.
That evening, on the balcony of our accommodations, we have Nightjars circling us and calling in the twilight. Another nice recording. Our lodge is turning out to be a better recording location that the forest!
I am becoming fascinated by the diversity of Indian owls in this area. Every dawn and dusk there is an owl ‘happy-hour’; a chorus of Jungle Owlets, Spotted Owlets and Scops Owls calling near and far. After hearing these calls at various locations across India over recent weeks, I am now able to recognice which species is calling.
After our enforced rest day, we are looking forward to making up time with an early start in the morning.
Established in 1993 by nature sound recordist Andrew Skeoch and photographer Sarah Koschak, Listening Earth offers a range of beautiful nature sound recordings from around the world.
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