Trip to Tipeshwar

 Tipeshwar : when I heard the name just like you I was wondering where on earth it is. It apparently is a tiger sanctuary which I had not heard of. A friend of mine suggested this as it is a drive-able distance from Hyderabad (~5 hrs) and would be the long deserved break for me from WFH.

Tipeshwar is a wildlife sanctuary that came into being over the last 3-4 years. It's near to Tadoba and  sanctuaries at the border of Telengana and Mahrashtra and not very far off from Pench and Melghat. These fragmented sanctuaries allude to the fact that these entire belt used to be tiger territories. We have now restricted them to a few wildlife sanctuaries and there is movement of tigers between one sanctuary to other. It's a different topic on whether we are able to provide safe passage for them to move.

Tipeshwar sanctuary get's it's name from Tipeshwar Mandir which is next to a beautiful lake. There were three villages in the forest that were relocated once this became a sanctuary. It was great to see the initiative where wildlife for a change took precedence over human settlement.

We stayed at the Foxtail Eco retreat at Sunna gate. The resort is very thoughtfully designed and has tents with all facilities. This is the place to stay if you ever visit Tipeshwar. 

It was Aug end and there was possibility of heavy rains and chances of seeing a tiger was slim. But I guess I was so desperate to get to the forests that it didn't matter what we saw. And we were not disappointed.

At the resort itself there was some birding like the wire tailed swallow

Plenty of baya weavers and this was their nesting season

And grass birds like Zitting Cisticola

During the safaris  the bird life was a bit limited because of the rains and a bit because of not efficient tracking. The guides are pretty new and not the most knowledgeable on birds and their behaviour.

We saw white eyed buzzard almost everyday

Among other raptors were the crested serpent eagle, Common hawk Cuckoo and Shikra

Sirkeer Malkoha, Common Wood swallow (juv), Painted Francolin, Red Naped Ibis 

Common birds like the Indian Rollers, hoards of Parakeet and peacock and peahens and bay backed shrike

Moving over to mammals we saw Nilgais, Langurs and Cheetals

Finally on our fifth safari after a lot of tracking, we finally encountered Jack a male tiger (8 year old)

Who definitely was not expecting us and was not so happy with our presence. Twice he crouched to take a closer look at us.

This was my third visit to a tiger sanctuary (yes I am more of the birding types) and was lucky to see this magnificent cat every time.

Given it's proximity to Hyderabad this sanctuary definitely deserves a few more visits especially in summers

Birding at Hyderabad during lock down

 I am sure most of you are still going through accepting the new reality and getting used to being constrained in our home setup.

I went through the same phase but after sometime felt too restricted and needed some connect with nature to get my bearings right. And thankfully birding and bird photography is socially distant, in open air and with appropriate precautions it is really safe. So we visited Ameenpur lake and Manjeera water tank and explored what's happening to some of our favorite places in Hyderabad.

But before we go there, just a few days before the lockdown, I visited Gandipet lake in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Peregrine falcon which seemed to have created quite a buzz among birding circles. However I was disappointed to not find it but was rewarded with some great shots of common Kestrel

Also got to see some commoners like Oriental Skylark, Paddy field pipit and Drongo

Over to Ameenpur lake we saw painted storks

PS: Note the plastic pollution due to fishing.

Cattle Egret in breeding plumage

Spot billed duck

Purple sunbird vagrant

 Baya weaver

White browed bulbul

A Jacobin cuckoo ( my first shot ever) and apparently the harbinger of monsoons

Common green bee-eater

Oriental garden lizard

Brahminy starling

 

With lot of anticipation, we went to Manjeera tank. But was underwhelmed to see the lack of water.

Saw a few Scaly breasted munias though we were hoping to see the tricolor munia

Indian Grey Mongoose

Indian Silverbill

Blue tailed bee-eater

Baya weaver male

Mr. and Mrs Baya Weaver

and to end the day our national bird.

Will keep getting out once in a while as we all try to keep our sanity in these unusual times.