Forsyth Lodge - Wildlife Log

Alarm Calls of Chital, Langur and Sambar (with the Sambar indicating they could see the predator) at 13:00 hrs. from the doob area next to the SonBhadra Mail Camp. Predator not seen. Evidence of a hollow possibly dug by a Pangolin under the base of a tree in the doob area next to SonBhadra Mail Camp (Inference by Ram Singh)- 8-10 ft. Crocodile seen basking on the bank of the river between the camp and the Pattan forest at 15:00 hrs.
A large Sloth Bear observed digging for ants etc. for 20 min. at 15: 20 hrs. in the short woodland forest of the doob area 50-60m from the Mail Camp.- Fresh Tracks of an Adult Male Leopard found 150m from the Mail Camp going up Umarghat at 15:45 hrs. Alarm Call of Sambar indicating the movement of the Leopard there at the same time.- Jungle Cat Tracks found on the road in between the doob and the Lacchuwala grassland plot going towards the Sonbhadra Mail at 16:30 hrs. A 5-6 ft Leopard jumps across the road 20-30ft ahead of us crossing from the doob into the grassland and disappearing there 16:30 hrs.- 6 Chital (3 does and 3 fawns) seen 20-30m from the road in the Lacchuwala grassland plot.-A dead 1 ft Bronze-back Tree Snake found lying dead across the road.
Fresh Pugmarks of a very Large Male Leopard found on the Driver Sun road next to Khapa Phutan (where we saw the Leopards mating). 20min later at 17:40 hrs frantic alarm calls of Sambar and Langur and later Chital were heard indicating the Leopard’s Movement in the forest there.

16:00 hrs- 18:30 hrs. Participants- Ram Singh (forest guard) Hari Prasad (guide).

Old Wild Dog Tracks found in a nala in the Peelia area- Sambar spooked at the base of the Siddhbaba Pahari- Evidence of Sloth Bear (termite mounds dug and old scat as well as a possible temporary den dug amidst rocks on top of the hill- Changeable Hawk Eagle heard calling from the forest below.

A Unidentified water snake swallowing a common toad in the back verandah of the VIP guest house in Madhai.

A very Large Owl (possibly Eurasian Eagle Owl owing to the light contrast in the tubelit night perched above room 4-5 and then flying into the Peepal tree in the vicinity of the rest house.

Participants- (Ram Singh (forest guard), Harilal(guide), Jagdish (guide) Hariprasad (guide)

Sambar seen in the Woodland behind Lora Pahari at 7:30 hrs while crossing towards Khapa Road- Old Scat of Sloth Bear and Gaur found while going up Babapaani Pahari- Grey-headed Fishing Eagle pair calling to each other from Baaga Nala area- Very fresh scat and tracks of Wild Dogs found along Babapaani Road and at the Jamunjhiria waterhole and going onto the road along Umarghat towards the Sonbhadra- Sambar Alarm calls from the Pattan Area at 12:30 hrs- 5 Chital, 2 Wild Boar, 2 Sambar (1 female and 1 young stag) spooked while resting in the grass along the water. Rhesus macacque troupe alongside Langur troupe. Seen along the submergence road from the mail camp to Lacchuwala grassland plot- 6 Gaur seen crossing the Baaga Nala-Khapa connecting road at 15:30 hrs. 1 Sloth Bear seen digging for ants in the forest at the same time. Bear seen for 20min.

After watching the morning flight of the Hornbills to the rest house fig tree we took the straight road to Kharer Nala. It was a slightly chillier today, and all the water I must have drunk the previous night to keep from falling into a dehydrated delusional sleep made us stop more frequently than otherwise. The first stop being at the point where we had been watching the Arthiritic Sambar stag. A lone Langur could be heard barking an alarm steadily from the Jamun Jhiria area to our left. Funny! I thought, sounds like its calling for a tiger (not something you would expect from Jamun Jhiria). We got to the Kharer-Lagda-Piparpani tri-junction and stopped to listen once more. We saw the first of the elephants hurtling toward us from the direction of Kharer. As he got close to us he pointed to the ground and then in the direction of Jamun Jhiria, saying the tiger had run in that direction a few minutes ago (possibly the tigress they had been finding in Kharer over the past few days). In a hurry another two passed us following the first. We decided to leave them to the chase and continued down the road to Lagda. We found the gaur herd we had seen two evenings prior to that slowly dispersing into the Piparpani hills ahead of the Bhuri Maati dam (where we had also seen all those Sambar sitting together). A few minutes later we entered the grassland plot and stopped close to the banks where we had stopped last year to listen to the calls for the tiger. The plot was calm, but the distant bell of a Sambar from the direction of Lagda let one know of a suspense trailer playing elsewhere.”

a) (29th October)- 8 Wild Dogs seen chasing Chital and Blackbuck in the Madhai meadow at 8:30 hrs before heading into the forest bordering the water to the east.
b) (29th October)8 Juvenile Eurasian Hobbys hunting dragonflies in the meadow.
c) (31st October)A Unidentified water snake swallowing a common toad in the back verandah of the VIP guest house in Madhai.
d) (31st October)A very Large Owl (possibly Eurasian Eagle Owl owing to the light contrast in the tubelit night perched above room 4-5 and then flying into the Peepal tree in the vicinity of the rest house.
e) (29th October)A Ruddy Mongoose climbing down from a Bhiria tree at 9:30 hrs (with new forest guards Dubey and co)