Beyond the Big Cat: Birding at Jim Corbett!

The trickling of greenery, the sound of roars and a blanket of the wilderness's mist, everything you envisage when you hear the name Jim Corbett. One of India's leading national parks, Corbett has for long been synonymous to tigers. From the names of resorts to the names of restaurants, from souvenirs to popular tour packages, almost everywhere the reminder of the big cat constantly crops up. And yet this is exactly where the problem begins.

The draw of the mighty tiger is undeniable. But the thought with which national parks came to exist was to preserve the ways of the jungle to the closest possible extent. Children of the wild would procreate, attack and move as they pleased with little to no interference by mankind (unless absolutely necessary). So, a visit here is the closest taste of the their world. Now imagine that visitors decide to fixate on one facet alone. Honestly, it's more of a disservice to our own selves. Why? Well, we're denying ourselves the experience of witnessing so many more marvels. It took me a third visit to discover and fall in love with a whole new activity, birding. Read on and I'm sure you'll be eager to give it a shot as well!

Savour the skies: The wonder of birding!

You often hear people talking about nature as a serene escape. I for one love picking people's minds on what is it about nature that gives them such a respite. Words such as peace and calm usually come to the forefront. And, if we are to truly break it down, we start to notice that lending our ears to the sounds of nothing, the sounds of insects and birds, the sight of greenery and a free world; they all hold within them the capacity of quietening our otherwise racing thoughts.

So, on a cold November morning I decided to give birding a shot with Golden Tusk's Suresh ji. Having stayed at the resort before, there was never a question in my mind to choose it again for my stay. And, in fact, I have their team to thank for piquing my interest in this new activity. Birding means to observe birds in their natural habitat. Suresh ji passionately shared that it remains a niche hobby for it demands more patience.

As we set about in our gypsy, with him kindly narrating facts for my curious self, I increasingly found myself gripped. A streak of a bright wing there, a sudden erruption into flight, a pair of keenly grazing beaks; there is an unexpected thrill in spotting birds.

Highest number of bird species in any Indian reserve!

Jim Corbett is home to over 580 species of birds. Spanning across 8 zones (Dhela, Jhirna, Bijrani, Garjia, Dhikala, Durgadevi, Pakhro and Vatanvasa) along with 2 more areas of interest - Phanta and Sitabani, the region is actually home over 50 species of mammals. Not only that, even 30 species of butterflies can be found here! So, if your eyes cannot get enough of the vibrance of different beings, you're in for a treat. Just like I was. The beauty of the (mostly) air borne life forms in addition to their distinctive traits made the ride one to remember. Some birds we saw included:

Purple Swamphen

Predators in marshy terrains, we saw this one while silently making our way along the boundaries of the lake. This bird is also referred by some as a symbol of loyalty.

Plain Mountain Finch

Would you imagine playing a game of hide and seek in a jungle? That's what the mountain finch was up to! Tiny in its form, you can almost call it palm sized. Found across the Himalayas, these birds were seen in flocks and were swift with their movements, giving our prying eyes quite the workout!

Ruddy Shelduck

It might be my failure as a writer but I have to say that the ruddy shelduck is astoundingly cute! Nocturnal in their behaviour, we saw them gliding across the lake at a slow pace.

Rare hornbill

While anything with the word "rare" thrown in has the capability of captivating our senses, this bird's sharply set out beak would have you gazing anyhow. It is now endangered in a fair part of the world and witnessing it is a sure shot delight!

What is it about birding that stirs the mind?

Fantail, bunting, grey francolin, butcherbird, bronze winged jacana, kingfisher stock beak, etc. more also greeted us on our sunny morning. Although I've visited multiple national parks, this was the very first time that I tried birding in a whole decade. What struck me was that safaris typically did involve a sense of chase while birding required us to seek out something very slowly. Those few hours my mind was completely wrapped up in everything I saw. Binoculars glued to my eyes and ears stretched for any form of movement, all in the hopes of getting one more creature to observe.

We saw migratory to foraging birds. We saw birds that only moved in pairs. We even saw one that posed! The bird would dive right into the water to clean itself and moments later be seen perched upon a rock, with arms outstretched to dry itself. Each tidbit of information had me realizing how little we often know about a species that exists so closely to us. It made me ponder upon something my grandfather would always say to me, that those who are curious will never run out of new interests to discover!

The song of the Corbett landscape

The Golden Tusk resort echoes strong beliefs in bringing back the serious traveller to its homeground, Jim Corbett National Park. Thus, they'd hosted Carol Inskipp, author pf "Birds of the Indian subcontinent" and many other books to conduct a special event. The ornithologist spoke on how Corbett which was had coined for itself the title of the "Land of roar, trumpet and song", had somewhere along the line forgotten about the song, i.e., the birds. 4 hours and countless bird sightings later, I was a changed traveller myself. One who's already eager to plan a visit dedicated to a season suited for birding.

Treading into the unknown!

As our ride was about to conclude, I happened to notice some mud huts in a village below. Suresh ji being the accommodating host that he is informed me that it was a Gujjar community of Kashmiri descent. Wait, what? Yes, that's right, such a community resides here in Corbett. A Kashmiri princess was once married to a local chieftain and as her caretakers a handful of people were sent along. Their lingo, jewellery and even their distinctive noses will tell you that they hail from a different region. They graciously welcomed us into their homes even in the early hours of the day and we were only too eager to drink up their local beverage!

Matters of mindfulness know no age

Savouring my morning's experience I returned to the property to find a group of children being taken away for a trail walk. They'd return after befriending the flora and fauna, some insects and birds as well. It was revealed that one could even participate in a plantation activity, "little green hands". I remembered how back in the city everyone is on the look out for art therapy to pottery, cooking to meditation, all practices that silently ease our mind. And, here surrounded by forests these walks to eco-friendly activities were serving that very purpose once again.

Needless to say, my dinner involved narrating every single detail to my fiancé who'd been too occupied to join us that morning. As he sulked like a little child on learning all that he'd missed out on, the simply scrumptious Kumaoni cuisine lifted his spirits as we began to excitedly delve into birding across India. I have a feeling that this Jim Corbett trip will turn us into quite the birds of a feather you see!