Bird Watching in the Pachmarhi Region of India's Madhya Pradesh

chillibreeze writer — Kesar Patel

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Pachmarhi is a beautiful place, truly a jewel of the Satpuras. I have visited Pachmarhi quite a few times in the past. But during the visit this time we found that taking a guide through the known paths was proved very fruitful in the terms of knowledge about the area. Though we thought that we knew the roads and it was an unnecessary expenditure on our pockets, we later gave bonus points to the Madhya Pradesh Government for making it mandatory on us.

On the very day that we reached Pachmarhi, Bhagwandas approached us when we were having lunch. He looked sensible and sober and was very soft spoken too. He introduced himself and convinced us that he was an excellent guide by telling us about the beauty of the various points. We thought that a known devil is always better than an unknown one and agreed to go with him the next morning.

He conveniently went to pay and take the permission wherever necessary. Then continuously kept talking with the children and kept giving information about the place. As soon as we reached the spot, he would begin telling us about the flora and fauna of the place. He would caution, warn, and throw a light upon the environmental hazards faced by Pachmarhi.

The flora mostly included the sal trees which are speciality of the jungles almost throughout Madhya Pradesh. Now the children were looking forward to spotting some fauna but the animals were mostly scared away by us the picnickers. Birds were out of reach and so they had an advantage over us and hence spotting them was easier. Probably this topic was not of interest to many and so Bhagwandas did not give us much information about them.

On spotting a beautiful magpie one day I began pestering him for information on birds. It interested Bhagwandas a lot. He immediately began with the statistics regarding the birds of the region. He gave me the number and type of birds found in Pachmarhi. He told us about the migratory birds which came there during the winter season. The different types of sparrows which were found. And he even created a spark of interest by telling me the variety of crows found in Pachmarhi.

My interest had ignited a spark in him and the next day he came with a book on birds. The names of the birds were written in Hindi as well as in English and the sporting type that he was he read the words in English and told me the names. Then it became a sort of game with everyone. If anyone of us spotted a bird, he would ruffle through the pages and tell us the name of that particular bird and other similar types of birds. At times many pictures of almost similar type of birds were printed, so everyone would press their memory for the best recall and try to identify it in the picture. Slowly both my sons started taking an interest. At times my husband would puzzle them by showing them a bird hidden in the branches. Poor souls both would then try their best to spot it among the thickets.

Every single eagle, or sparrow or pigeon or the beautiful rare species that we spotted, or the kingfishers which were in plenty, each one was researched in detail by us.

Bhagwandas also told us about the omens that some birds brought. According to him, the Adivasis believed that one particular species of owl was considered as a bad omen. The owl can speak and tell the time of your death. Finally everyone was too enthusiastic by the fourth day about birds and we decided to go bird watching the next day early in the morning. Sharply at 5.30 am the bird watching party reached the lake. First we spotted some bagulas, then sparrows, then parrots, and then a big owl. But the treasured moment was when we spotted a wild cock and tried to chase it. There were sparrows as little as your little finger. Even the crows seemed different.

That was an experience in itself. I had never seen so many varieties of birds in my life and that too dwelling so nearer to a city. I was happy that both my sons were eagerly spotting birds and trying to find out their names. But the best part came when we were returning. My younger one was deep in sleep. We had almost reached Nagpur, but there were still some fields through which we were passing. Suddenly my husband applied brakes and my younger one woke up from his deep slumber. As soon as he opened his eyes, he pointed towards a bird perched on the electric wire and stated “Mamma, a kingfisher!”

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Kesar writes for chillibreeze.

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