Goa 2013

Goa 2013

Jungleland III

29th January  - 15th February  2013

Species Total For Trip 172

Introduction

The pull of Goa once again had us hankering to return. We have had a few bad experiences with illness, cancellation and delays so we are hoping that all that is behind us as we look forward to another trip to this wonderful country. It finally edged it when a friend recently returned and had picked up a few birds I had not seen over there so whilst we would have liked to have gone for 3 weeks work commitments and cost had us settling for 2 weeks instead. We will be once again flying with Thomson which has been in general quite a good flight although the flight times this time are a little bit on the negative side.

Cost Breakdown

Booked with Althams on the 17th March 2012.

Holiday cost inc hotel, flight and transfer to and from the Marinha Dourada hotel £1730 (2 people)

Flight upgrade to premium £530 (2 people)

Transport to and from Manchester airport £50 (2 people)

Insurance cover (annual worldwide exc USA & Caribbean) with 2 pre existing medical condition £73.76 (2 people)

Visa Costs. £103.45 incl the 3 SD envelopes needed. (2 people)

I feel it necesary to make mention of the company that seems to be bending over backwards to help people with health issues when it comes to travel insurance. Travel insurance is one of those things that a lot of coughing and er hummming brings on for the reasons those coughers only know best. I have at least one serious medical condition Lymphoma and another less serious Lichen Planus. I have used this company before and I like their ethos very much....and that is not often I say about companies I deal with. I was amazed to hear that they have new underwritters for insurance and I could not believe it when they were happy to insure me for my conditions that I declared with no addition to the premium. I have been without cancer for 3 years and the Lichen Planus, whilst recent, is not classed as risky so I felt pleased that the fair approach to my health was explored rather than the usual, Cancer......sorry we don't do that.......yes we can cover, have you the deeds to your house handy? that a lot of insurers use. Anyhow the only drawback is that at present the health screen is only via phone and not online but it was a painless excercise and all done and dusted. The company is called World First and the link is>HERE<

VISA: Filled in the visa forms online and although we have done them 3 times before it's always a concern as some of the questions and requests are ambiguous at best. You have to search the net to get the info you need to fill one in properly and I would advise that anybody whom has no experience of the visa saga then I suggest you look at some of the links below. The turnaround this year of the applications was amazing as you can see by the timings below. Taking into account Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

 Sent Visas away on the 22nd December

Returned Visas On Friday 28th December

Visa Costs. £103.45 incl the 3 SD envelopes needed. (2 people)

HCI LONDON

VFS GLOBAL

VISA FORM FILLING GUIDE

I always put links to the items I use and find very useful. I have to say that I am looking forward to using the Trailcam at backwoods and also hoping that the mapping I have done will be useful with the Android system on both my phone and tablet, but am sure how well it will work. Google now allow you to download areas of maps to use offline so this is something that may help me navigate.

  

           

      

If you are looking for this well out of date publication I have photocopied this and can be found >HERE<

General Observations Of The Trip

FLIGHT: It has not started as you would like having left the booking of our seats to late. We are now having to travel apart for both the outward and inward journeys. We just forgot to choose our seats at the correct times and having checked online there were only seats apart avaiable. Quite annoying but it seems life is like that now and again. We did the usual and ask Thomson about this having booked premium seating costing over £500 over 8 months previous, as a couple and sharing the same name? Why would we want to choose our seats? It seems odd, but there we have it. We have been told the staff onboard will be notified of seat changing if possible but can you see somebody swapping or indeed not turning up? No nor can we. And we are in the aisle seats! Well having returned we can ellaborate on the flight with it all going structurally well as the most important thing of getting their on time or there abouts occured. It was a delight to reach check in and to be told we would be seated together and have a window seat....that was refreshing. The down side was that my TV was broken and I had placed my tablet in the hold. It could have been fixed as it was a mechanical failure but staff on two occasions had no interest in helping. Everthing went superbly including flight times, passing through security (20 mins enter to exit) baggage retrieval and on coach with all of us on board and ready...just the coach was not ready and would not start...1/2 passed but it was in truth a minor irratation unlike the man that came up to us on the coach asked where we were staying and than stated "hah you will be last off and we will be first"...speechless at such an introduction Mandy had to stop me from being as juvenile when getting of the coach at our hotel 1st...blowing a raspberry seemed the only thing to do!

Return trip again went to plan with timings having being told of a delay and then not! We held the room on for free which saved us £30 due to the mix up over the delay. The flight service on way back was terrible from staff to food. We sat apart as expected but it was OK. Just poor and with my seat having a sticky substance all over it along with the floor it was then made worse when the whole plane lost all tv and ability to contact the flight crew as the system failed. The staff must have loved it as they took advantage and really did nothing. We received 1 drink through the whole flight other than the regulation tea coffee. We complained to Thomson and they agreed a £70 voucher. In truth that is an insult as the upgrade cost £500. The planes are now very tired indded and the new dreamiliner is not a luxury but a must.

Outbound Details
Plane Type Boing 737-300 Seating 2-3-2  Flight Number TOM166
Brochure Flight Time Tues 29th Jan  Man-Dabolim 09:30 - 00:45 +1 dayActual Flight Time Tues 29th Jan Man-Dabolim 10:00 - 00:25 +1 day
Inbound Details
Plane Type Boing 767-300 Seating 2-3-2  Flight Number TOM167
Brochure Flight Time Wed 13th Feb Dabolim-Man 02:45 - 08.15
Actual Flight Time Wed 13th Feb Dabolim-Man 03:00 - 07:50

HOTEL EXPERIENCE: Marinha Dourada. The hotel again proved a hit with us. Don't get me wrong they are not perfect in anyway but they tick our boxes of importance whilst failing in the not so important areas. Importance for us is Loacation, outlook, cleanliness, and communiation of requests. These were all catered for and it was just great. We always ask fro a high room down the bottom end and we got it. The only real issue was the rooms view were obscurred by two huge palm trees so little view could be seen as the palm trees were about 15 feet away from the rooms. The not so good is the water stains down walls with cracking plaster and general tiredness to the rooms. The hotel itself is kept very well with the gardens being constantly fettled. The pathways around the hotel, particularly those on the far side, are a real problem as huge cracks have opened up and the paths are left very dangerous due to the change in levels. It is something Thomson need to look at quickly.

We would use this hotel again as it just sits well with us but I would say it is in need of tarting up in the rooms.

CURRENCY: I preordered some Indian Rupee before we left and taking into account the delivery charge we in effect got 79.39 rupee to the £

When changing money with the changer just outside the hotel we got between 83-86rps to the £ so it was a lot more than we had managed in years previous.

CULTURE: We mostly have nothing but good to say about this topic. The coulture is a mixed bag with religion still playing a major role in shaping the people. It does seem like the world over that the old and new generations are seeing a change in this regard but as yet it still has a massive role in most peoples lives. Both Mandy and myself do not feel our feeling od safety is not a false one as we mainly encounter village people rather than beggars whilst out and about. 

BIRD WATCHING: The bird watching is as expected, wonderful. We love the amount and diversity it provides with different species seen in different locations on every trip we have had. We miss some and gain others. We decided not to use a guide as such and did not go out to some of the known birding areas as you will note with our day log of birding below. We still managed 172 species which whilst nowhere near our first visit total is a very good total considering we did not go to hot spots futher afield apart from Backwoods.

We still managed lifers on this trip with my bogey bird the Blue Faced Malkoha being seen!

    LIFERS THIS TRIP

1 Painted Stork Marinha Dourada Hotel, Goa, India IN-GA 11 Feb 2013
2 Richard's Pipit Arpora Prawn/Saltpans, Goa, India IN-GA 08 Feb 2013
3 Blue-faced Malkoha Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 06 Feb 2013
4 Tawny-bellied Babbler Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 06 Feb 2013
5 Crested Goshawk Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 05 Feb 2013
6 Green Warbler Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 05 Feb 2013
7 Jerdon's Leafbird Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 05 Feb 2013
8 Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 04 Feb 2013
9 Large-billed Leaf-Warbler Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 04 Feb 2013
10 White-bellied Blue-Flycatcher Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 04 Feb 2013
11 Rufous-bellied Eagle Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 03 Feb 2013
12 Plain Flowerpecker Backwoods Camp, Goa, India IN-GA 03 Feb 2013
13 House Swift Arpora Wood, Goa, India IN-GA 01 Feb 2013
  14 Black-headed Cuckooshrike Arpora Wood, Goa, India IN-GA 01 Feb 2013

BUGS We always take advice on what precations on medication but this trip having sought a specialist NHS travel clinic for the malaria tablets we were very annoyed to find the doctor gave us the wrong amount of tablets leaving us short by 4 days. When I questioned this on return his reply was "you should be ok" I made and official complaint about this as it could have proved serious. We received a call from the same doctor who was apologetic but the only real eplanation he gave as to why he choose to give the wrong advice even when I asked him to check was "it is a very busy place" that is not on and is symptomatic of the whole ethos encountered on occasion and why we often try to empoer ourselves with information.

At the time it seemed a UK wide lack of Typhiod injections was evident which made us have to look eleswhere outside our usual local surgery which offer such things for free. That is why we ended up at the North Manchester Hospital travel clinic, somewhere I hope not to need again. Can you imagine a Doctor saying "you should be OK even though I have given you the wring prescription?...shudder.

WEATHER: Daytime temps were between 31ºC - 28.4ºC
Nightime temps were between 24.6ºC - 21ºC. 

View Birding in Goa in a larger map

The Lists on this trip report are the total number of species seen no matter how many times that sight was visited. I normally do a daily trip report but due to all the details being availalble on my other trip reports I thought a more concise reference based report might be a bit more useful. I will list the sites visted in the report and the total species encountered at that location. I will also place a toatl species list from all the visits over the years to show a running total and what species can be seen at certain sites.

Marinha Dourada Hotel & General Arpora Area (51 Species)

This list is a general list where we encounter birds around the hotel and close area including pools and the river running by the hotel. I decided to walk down the back of the hotel on one occasion as previously I could not see how to get over or around the fence. It was easy in truth as the bridge over the river heading into Baga has a set of steps on the left leading to the concrete walkway right around the hotel and following the river down as far as the woods leading into Arpora itself. A few sightings were great with a few hours in the shade on a lounger had me ticking Black Headed Ibis, Painted Stork and many birds of prey. We even had a small party of the not so common Common Myna and a Black Redstart on the hotel lawns one day. I really should have made more time just to look up as when you do it can be rewarding.

Woolly-necked Stork Painted Stork Black-headed Ibis Booted Eagle White-bellied Sea-Eagle Little Swift Asian Palm-Swift Wire-tailed Swallow Common Myna Little Cormorant Grey Heron Blue-tailed Bee-eater Jungle Myna

Great Egret Striated Heron Common Greenshank Common Redshank Red-vented Bulbul Red-whiskered Bulbul Oriental Magpie-Robin Black Redstart Rosy Starling Lesser Adjutant Western Reef-Heron Little Egret Common Sandpiper

Red-rumped Swallow Indian Cormorant Cattle Egret Indian Pond-Heron Besra Black Kite Brahminy Kite White-breasted Waterhen Asian Koel Greater Coucal Common Kingfisher Stork-billed Kingfisher

White-throated Kingfisher Green Bee-eater Indian Roller White-cheeked Barbet Black-rumped Flameback Ashy Drongo Asian Paradise-Flycatcher Rufous Treepie House Crow Barn Swallow White-browed Bulbul Common Tailorbird Pied Bushchat

31st Jan Thurs 

Baga Hill  (28 Species)

This often mentioned place to us is over rated, that is as we have found. This maybe because of the constant building and encroachment of buildings so we can only talk about what we find here and now.  Lot's of people talk about this but I find it full of promise but maostly disapointing. We only visited once as again despite our early morning visit, it was quiet. I would always visit as species on here are often not seen locally at other sites so I would always say do visit it's just several things go against it. First is the neck crane as you look up at the tall trees slightly eleiviated on your way back down. Then there is the people visiting to do things that are a bit anti social. We have never encountered any problems but condoms, drugs and the human defication is evident aplenty. Once on the ridge the views are lovely but that is it...the birds are few and far between although you can get close to the Indian Robin as this seems a regular catch up spot. It is also a reasobal place to see Peacock.

Indian Peafowl Cattle Egret Black Kite Brahminy Kite Asian Koel Greater Coucal Green Bee-eater

White-cheeked Barbet Indian Golden Oriole Black-hooded Oriole House Crow Red-vented Bulbul Red-whiskered Bulbul White-browed Bulbul

Blyth's Reed-Warbler Ashy Prinia Plain Prinia Indian Robin Oriental Magpie-Robin Orange-headed Thrush Jungle Myna

Rosy Starling Golden-fronted Leafbird Thick-billed Flowerpecker Purple-rumped Sunbird Purple Sunbird House Sparrow White-rumped Munia

1st Feb Friday 

Arpora Wood (43 species)

b

Greater Coucal Green Bee-eater Chestnut-headed Bee-eater Brown-headed Barbet Black-rumped Flameback Indian Golden Oriole Rufous Treepie Barn Swallow Grey-headed Bulbul Jungle Babbler Oriental Magpie-Robin

Long-billed Sunbird Indian PeafowlShikra Black Kite Brahminy Kite Spotted Dove House Swift Stork-billed Kingfisher White-throated Kingfisher Blue-tailed Bee-eater Plum-headed Parakeet

Tickell's Blue-FlycatcherCommon WoodshrikeAshy Woodswallow Common Iora Black-headed Cuckooshrike Ashy Drongo White-bellied Drongo White-browed Fantail House Crow Large-billed Crow

Red-vented BulbulRed-whiskered Bulbul White-browed Bulbul Common Tailorbird Puff-throated Babbler Orange-headed Thrush Common Myna Pale-billed Flowerpecker Purple-rumped Sunbird Purple Sunbird White-rumped Munia

2nd Feb Sat

Arpora Pools & Prawn Beds  (44 species)

b

Purple Heron Great Egret Glossy Ibis Eurasian Marsh-Harrier Kentish Plover Ashy Woodswallow Striated Heron Greater Sand-Plover Little Stint Oriental Magpie-Robin Richard's Pipit

Grey Heron Intermediate Egret Little Egret Cattle Egret Indian Pond-Heron Osprey Black Kite Brahminy Kite Red-wattled Lapwing Pacific Golden-Plover Lesser Sand-Plover

Common Sandpiper Common Greenshank Marsh Sandpiper Common Redshank House Swift Asian Palm-Swift Common Kingfisher Stork-billed Kingfisher White-throated Kingfisher Green Bee-eater Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Brown Shrike House Crow Barn Swallow Wire-tailed Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Fan-tailed Warbler Pied Bushchat Jungle Myna Rosy Starling Purple-rumped Sunbird White-rumped Munia

3rd,4th,5th & 6th Feb Sun-Wed

(cost 5500 Rps per person for 3 nights)

New Species Seen On This Trip 21

Blue-faced Malkoha Tawny-bellied Babbler Indian Cormorant Little Cormorant Indian Pond-Heron Crested Goshawk

Brahminy Kite House Swift Green Warbler Jerdon's Leafbird Changeable Hawk-Eagle

Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher Large-billed Leaf-Warbler White-bellied Blue-Flycatcher Little Egret Rufous-bellied Eagle

Peregrine Falcon Black-headed Cuckooshrike Plain Prinia Red-breasted Flycatcher Plain Flowerpecker

Backwoods Camp 

Total Species Seen At Backwoods

Blue-faced Malkoha Tawny-bellied Babbler Indian Cormorant Little Cormorant Indian Pond-Heron Crested Goshawk Brahminy Kite House Swift Green Warbler Jerdon's Leafbird Changeable Hawk-Eagle Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher Large-billed Leaf-Warbler White-bellied Blue-Flycatcher Little Egret Rufous-bellied Eagle Peregrine Falcon Black-headed Cuckooshrike Plain Prinia Red-breasted Flycatcher Plain Flowerpecker Grey Junglefowl Woolly-necked Stork Cattle Egret Oriental Honey-buzzard Crested Serpent-Eagle Black Eagle Booted Eagle Shikra Black Kite Red-wattled Lapwing Rock Dove Eurasian Collared-Dove Banded Bay Cuckoo Greater Coucal Little Swift Blue-eared Kingfisher Great Hornbill Coppersmith Barbet

Heart-spotted Woodpecker Ashy Woodswallow Long-tailed Shrike White-throated Fantail Malabar Lark Eurasian Crag-Martin Brown-breasted Flycatcher Indian Blue Robin Jungle Myna Chestnut-tailed Starling White-headed Starling Blue-winged Leafbird Golden-fronted Leafbird White-browed Wagtail Black-headed Bunting Baya Weaver Spotted Dove Emerald Dove Pompadour Green-Pigeon (Grey-fronted) Mountain Imperial-Pigeon Asian Koel Oriental Scops-Owl Brown Fish-Owl Jungle Owlet Brown Hawk-Owl Ceylon Frogmouth Jerdon's Nightjar Savanna Nightjar White-rumped Needletail Brown-backed Needletail Indian Swiftlet Crested Treeswift Malabar Trogon Common Kingfisher White-throated Kingfisher Green Bee-eater Chestnut-headed Bee-eater Malabar Grey Hornbill Malabar Pied-Hornbill Brown-headed Barbet White-cheeked Barbet

Crimson-fronted Barbet Speckled Piculet Brown-capped Woodpecker Rufous Woodpecker White-bellied Woodpecker Black-rumped Flameback Greater Flameback Plum-headed Parakeet Malabar Parakeet Vernal Hanging-Parrot Indian Pitta Malabar Woodshrike Common Woodshrike Common Iora Small Minivet Scarlet Minivet Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike Brown Shrike Indian Golden Oriole Black-naped Oriole Black-hooded Oriole Black Drongo Ashy Drongo White-bellied Drongo Bronzed Drongo Hair-crested Drongo Greater Racket-tailed Drongo Black-naped Monarch Asian Paradise-Flycatcher Rufous Treepie House Crow Large-billed Crow Barn Swallow Wire-tailed Swallow Red-rumped Swallow Streak-throated Swallow Indian Tit Velvet-fronted Nuthatch Grey-headed Bulbul Flame-throated Bulbul

Red-vented Bulbul Red-whiskered Bulbul White-browed Bulbul Yellow-browed Bulbul Greenish Warbler Western Crowned Leaf-Warbler Blyth's Reed-Warbler Common Tailorbird Grey-breasted Prinia Ashy Prinia Brown-cheeked Fulvetta Puff-throated Babbler Jungle Babbler Dark-fronted Babbler Indian Scimitar-Babbler Asian Fairy-bluebird Asian Brown Flycatcher Oriental Magpie-Robin White-rumped Shama Tickell's Blue-Flycatcher Verditer Flycatcher Malabar Whistling-Thrush Blue-capped Rock-Thrush Orange-headed Thrush Indian Blackbird Malabar Starling Thick-billed Flowerpecker Nilgiri Flowerpecker Purple-rumped Sunbird Crimson-backed Sunbird Purple Sunbird Long-billed Sunbird Little Spiderhunter Grey Wagtail Forest Wagtail Common Rosefinch Chestnut-shouldered Petronia White-rumped Munia Black-throated Munia Nutmeg Mannikin

 

                                               Kim & Dash                                                                                Loven

Class Of 2013


Pete & Nick

Journey Back Along Coast Road To Arpora (2) species)

b

Lesser Adjutant 1

Western Reef-Heron 1

8 & 9th Feb Sat & Sun

Rice Boat Trip Overnight (23 species)

b

Lesser Adjutant 1 Great Egret 1 Intermediate Egret 1 Little Egret 1 Cattle Egret (Asian) 1 Striated Heron 1

Black-crowned Night-Heron 1 Black Kite (Black-eared) 1 Brahminy Kite 1 White-bellied Sea-Eagle 1 Common Kingfisher 1

White-throated Kingfisher 1 Pied Kingfisher 1 Green Bee-eater 1 Blue-tailed Bee-eater 1 Indian Roller 1 Ring-necked Parakeet 1

Plum-headed Parakeet 1 House Crow 1 Barn Swallow 1 Wire-tailed Swallow 1 Red-rumped Swallow 1 White-browed Wagtail 2

Arpora-Anjuna Road (14 species)

b

Little Egret Striated Heron Oriental Honey-buzzard

Booted Eagle Besra Black Kite

Brahminy Kite Red-wattled Lapwing Common Greenshank Asian Koel

Common Kingfisher Plum-headed Parakeet Rosy Starling House Sparrow

Beira Mar Hotel  (35 species)

b

Cinnamon Bittern Purple Heron Great Egret Little Egret Cattle Egret Indian Pond-Heron Black-winged Kite Eurasian Marsh-Harrier Black Kite

Brahminy Kite White-breasted Waterhen Red-wattled Lapwing Common Sandpiper Wood Sandpiper Spotted Owlet Little Swift White-throated Kingfisher Green Bee-eater

Blue-tailed Bee-eater Indian Roller Brown Shrike Long-tailed Shrike Black Drongo House Crow Barn Swallow Wire-tailed Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow Blyth's Reed-Warbler Ashy Prinia Oriental Magpie-Robin Siberian Stonechat Jungle Myna Chestnut-tailed Starling Rosy Starling White-rumped Munia

Sites Visited on all trips to Goa with year and Total lists included.

b

Site Visited	Total	2009	2010-11	2013
Arpora Wood	75
Baga Hill	47
Backwoods (inc Bondla)	160
Zuari River Trip	34
Marinha Hotel, Pools and General Area	64
Beira Mar Hotel	44
Carambolim Lake	107
Mayem Lake	54
Saligao Zor	35
Parshem	35
Arpora Prawn Beds	46
Morjim Beach	34
Siolim Rice Fields	21
Batim Lake	15
Charoa	41