Forsyth Lodge - Wildlife Log

1/1/10- a sounder of wild boar had treed up 2 leopards and were scavenging on their kill. Within 20 mt. of that 3 wild dogs were lurking around aware of this activity. morning drive –Baghe nalla – Nim, Paul Hewitt & Mrs. Hewitt.

8/1/10- an adult sloth bear for 45 mins or more from tonga pathar to karia, aam pani puthan foraging next to the road. Andrea and richard cantor during afternoon drive.

19/1/10- afternoon boat ride spotted 5 or more wild dogs on the edge of the lagda banks on a sambar kill. mike and jannifer davies, nim,jagdish

2/10/09- hen harrier chasing and mobbing a black shouldered kite 8 to 10 ft. from the ground. tekapar sarangpur trijunction.
9:30 am. nim gurung and anant.

13/10/09 – A total of 6 Eurasian Hobby’s seen over several days around Madai meadow and Sarangpur Village.

27/10/09- subadult leopard on a tree from elephant back in kundi nalla. 10:30 am
arjun and gautam khatau, anant, sandeep fellows.

12/11/09- 5 wild dogs seen on the pattan side from the Mel camp. full day walking safari.
jeni and andrew smith , anant, ashish.

23/11/09- sloth bear on foot and hide from madai maidan to baghe nalla(rroda pahari); afternoon walk. Gill and Richard Davison, Nim and Hari Prasad

24/11/09 – 5 wild dogs chasing sambar near rroda pahari while walking back towards madhai . late morning- paul cook, anant,hare prasad, female black buck. The dogs lost interest in the sambar and were curious about our hoofed companion, later.

26/11/09 – Male Northern Goshawk around the lodge. Hashim, Nim and Anant.

30/11/09- sloth bear from elephant back in the morning, leopard and 2 wild dogs in the afternoon drive – stephen mills and group.

16/12/09- Black capped kingfisher at Son Bhadra view point – Durgi Singh, Jyoti, Punam Kumar, Ashish Pandey, Anant while having tea – morning drive

20/ 12/09- 2 rufous bellied eagles over camp soaring fairly low. Nim, Anant

31/12/09- heard tigers mating close to the road in a ravine in the Son Bhadra mel camp area during afternoon drive- Paul Hewitt and Mrs. Hewitt ,Anant, Papu,Hari Lal.

Nim Gurung and Hari Prasad had taken Kevin Rushby for a walk and they immediately found signs of a pack of wild dogs which they followed to come upon a pack of 18 dogs. Hugely exciting. A lot of other wildlife was seen but as they were returning they heard persistent alarm calls and when they moved down to investigate found the fresh tracks of a leopard with cubs which they probably missed by minutes. The walks are really proving to be a fascinating wa to enjoy these forests.

The walking safaris have been really successful. The tracks and sign through the jungle and the actual sightings have been really exciting. Gaur, sambar, wild boar, langur, rhesus and chital being regularly seen. On this walk with John Flew and Arthur Wrigley, we had langur and chital alarm calls and found fresh tracks of a female leopard apart from fresh sign of bear both in the Peeliya area and then again in Kharet Nala near the elephant camp. But the most exciting were two encounters with gaur. The first was a small group of two females and a calf drifting back from the open grassland of the submergence area. We immediately sat down behind some dense grass and watched as they walked past us. The mother and calf disappeared but the other female must have noticed something unusual and her behaviour on finding something that could not be identified was really interesting. She kept watching, tuning away and then returning to watch. Finally, she started making the low hoarse call and loud snorting that is their alarm call. The second encounter was with a large bull also wandering up. Once again we sat down and the bull came to within 20 metres of us, saw us sitting, dismissed us as a threat and carried on past utterly unconcerned. Very exciting being that close to so much wild ox!

LOG 1

Two new birds for me in Satpura: a black-capped kingfisher on a bare snag in the middle of the river. Never seen one before in such an exposed area. Must be on it’s way back East. They certainly spread down through the valleys of central India in the winter being regularly reported from Pench. The other was a pair of black-bellied terns.

LOG 2

Mary Peacock and party reported some really unusual behaviour by Giant Squirrels. One of the pair that is regularly seen near Kharet Nala was caught by a Crested Hawk-eagle upon which its companion attacked the eagle and forced it to release it’s putative prey!