Casual Birding Trip
By BCP member Saad Nawaz Qaisrani
Dear All,
I am back from 3 trips to different
places. I did some birding, but it was really casual. I didn't venture
into jungles to find birds, just did some trekking and biking and
whatever come in front composed my birding. All began with a trip to a
place that is a few kms from Dir. It was a one day trip. We began the
journey from Risalpur where we had an overnight stay. Took us no less
than 6 hours to reach our destination. The roads were in a pathetic
condition, and I know that I'm not going there again till the roads get
better.
However the bad roads were compensated
by the beautiful sceneries. Initially most of the hills were barren. Now
I don't know if this is b/c of deforestation or naturally so. However as
we moved ahead, some kms before the junction which lead us away from
Dir, the sceneries took a drastic change. Hills covered with short but
nonetheless very beautiful trees stated becoming visible. Now let me
tell here that this part of NWFP is nearly completely devoid of Pines.
Pines were scarce. The peak of Lowari TOp was visible and still covered
with snow. This peak did have some Pines. All in all, the area was
beautiful and a big change from what we commonly see in Murree Hill
Range.
Birding wasn't really special, as I
didn't stop any where. A bird new for me was the White capped Bunting.
Other common birds were Russet Sparrows and Asian Paradise Flycatchers.
However I salute the efforts of the Pathans of NWFP, the way they had
planted different trees on barren slopes was in stark contrast to what
we are seeing is happening in Murree hill range at the hands of
Punjabis. The second trip was to Murree Hill Range for 2 days. The stay
was in Baarian. Birding wasn't really special b/c of continuous rain
these 2 days. However on the last day, the weather cleared and the few
hours I had produced a good number of species. Some were new for me like
Black throated Jay. The most interesting and enjoyable was a journey to
my hometown in Dera Ghazi Khan. From Pindi u have to catch a bus that
passes through my area. The journey is no less than a 9 hour sit (7 if u
have your own car). In no way is the journey boring. I can bet that I
saw and identified no less than 40 species while sitting in the bus and
passing at speeds of 80+ kms/hr. in The journey one passes through some
very scenic places. For example on the motorway u pass along some hills,
then come the beautiful rivulets. After u get off the motorway u come to
a hill range that is so beautifully covered completely by trees. Its
fascinating. Then before Mianwali comes, u get a touch of Namal Lake,
and pass through a completely barren Hill Range. After Mianwali, u move
towards Chashma, and in the way come the dense and probably protected
tree plantations. After Chashma Barrage, u move to D.I Khan, in the way
of which u find beautiful swamps and hills. These swamps produced 2 Rail
species and a Little Grebe this time that I could not see in my own
area. And from D.I Khan to D.G Khan, come the huge fields of Rice and
Cotton amidst the settled dust of what used to be a huge semi-desert
steppe only a decade ago.
I spent about a week in my area. In
mornings used to go out on a Motorcycle with a cousin. I used to drink
Mugs and Mugs of Lassi daily. My Uncle there has a lot of cows and
buffalos, so milk was also in abundance. The hot daytimes were spent
playing Ludo with my cousins. Very close to the house of my Uncle were
Cotton fields, that supported a large number (More than a dozen) of
Button Quails. I couldn't i.d them, but they looked really beautiful
running in the Cotton Fields right in front of us. Me and my cousins
flushed lots of them. And there were many Juveniles among them too. One
even ventured onto the road. And the ripe dates and Injeer and the fish
we caught had their own charm.
All in all some 101 bird species were
seen. The list does not include those I could not identify, including a
huge duck i flushed out of rice fields on 21st of July. This date is
very early for any migratory duck and the area seemed too unlikely for
the bird to have been a resident breeder. These trips also produced
some mammals. In Baarian and Near Dir I saw some Jackal species. In my
own area I came across 3-4 different rat species and also a hedgehog.
The trips and birding was great. Hope it always flourishes
like this.
Thx
Saad
