In this note I hope to acquaint you with one of our enigmatic birds - the Spotted Creeper- and in the telling also describe the layout of one of Jaipur's hidden gems where we have often gone birdwatching.
Grass Farm Nursery.
Yes, the appellation is not the most inspiring, and if I were to describe the location, many of you would scoff at the mere suggestion that any interesting birds could actually be seen here. But this very 'Nursery' is home to several special birds that you could ever hope to see in Jaipur. And it is right in the city.
For the moment let's just go straight to the heart of the story, and leave the directions how to get here to the end of this post.
The Spotted Creeper is one of those elusive birds that rates fairly high on the Birdwatcher's target list. Coupled with the fact that it is endemic to these regions and also that there is not another bird which is similar looking in Rajasthan (unlike the Tree Creeper found in other parts of India), it is also quite rare and difficult to find. For many months I had been keeping a sharp lookout for it in many locations in and around Jaipur but without success.
But let's just backtrack for a moment and lead you through the lie of the land.
Grass Farm Nursery as the name suggests is both a nursery and it was a grass farm. During Pre-Independence India, grass was grown here for the Cavalry horses, then it became a State Nursery, before finally being christened a 'Reserved Forest'.
As soon as you enter the Main Gate you are confronted by a magnificent Sausage Tree (Kigellia pinnata). For several months of the year, long single rope-like strands hanging down from the branches, bear at their ends, either the curious sausage-shaped fruit or a strangely-coloured and powerfully-scented flower that opens only at night. To your right are three towering pines ! These are Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii). They have no business growing in this climate. One grizzled veteran who works in the Nursery recounted to me the story of how these trees came to be in these parts. Amongst the special care in rearing the saplings was the occasional use of large ice slabs to cool the scorching earth and provide succour to the fledgling roots in the hot summer months of the late 1950's.
It is difficult to draw your eyes away from the fantastic trees all around you. Even though it is a Nursery and not a natural forest, the phrase that springs to mind is that this is an 'ancient grove'. Several trees are decades old at least - Arjun, Kachnar, Aretha, Churail, Semul, Goolar, 5 different Acacias, the list is long.
And the birds love it here.
One star attraction is the Brown Hawk Owl ( Boobook). This individual perches on the same branch of a young Chandan (Sandalwood) tree. As you follow the 'Nature Trail' (marked by a board) you could also hope to spot the pair of resident Grey Nightjars. Again, through the daylight hours these nocturnal birds roost on the exact same spots on outspread branches of Khejri trees. We must have passed by them several times in the past without noticing them before we did, so beautifully are they camouflaged against the mottled grey bark.
Anyhow, let's get back to our first sighting of the Spotted Creeper.
On a Sunday afternoon in late November 2009 I happened to be strolling around here. I was quite pleased to have earlier just seen two of the less common Drongos - the Ashy and White-bellied. As I passed the eastern corner of the Nursery, I heard the pleasant call of a Marshall's Iora. Since I had only once before seen this bird here ( in June 2009) I was quite delighted to locate it quickly in the Khejri trees, the bright yellow and white plumage clearly visible in the upper canopy. It was calling repeatedly as it searched through the branches, sometimes hanging upside down.
But wait a minute, the Iora was not alone.
There was a full-fledged 'hunting-party' in attendance, some birds silent and others calling softly as they moved from one tree to another. I counted off Small Minivets, Great Tits, Common Woodshrikes, White-browed Fantails, Red-breasted Flycatchers amongst other common birds. And there was a stranger ( to me) in their midst.
A small dark bird with whitish spots suddenly flew across and alighted directly on the trunk of a Khejri tree. My first thought was that this was a Yellow-crowned Woodpecker. And then I saw through the binoculars the unmistakable thin long curved bill.
The Spotted Creeper, finally !
I was able to observe this individual for several minutes as it crept along the trunk and thicker branches, prying and poking away at deep fissures and knots in the bark and in the hollows. The bill obviously is a superbly adapted instrument for just this job, and a few grubs were extricated expertly.
But there was more excitement in store that afternoon. As I relayed the Spotted Creeper sighting to other Birders to entice them to join me, I was alerted again to the calls of the Oriental Honey-Buzzard that I had heard calling earlier a short distance away.
Within a few minutes I had located a pair of the Buzzards perched on an Ardu (Ailanthus excelsa). This was an opportunity to compare the male and the female, and as I scribbled notes, I was joined by N. We noticed that only the female was calling. Soon two other Buzzards tumbled down from the sky - perhaps offspring - they looked like juveniles.
We were careful in their vicinity because there are several bee-hives here and many of these had been cleaned out by the Buzzards lately. On one occasion the disgruntled bees from a destroyed hive attacking a Forest Guard and a Morning Walker - the latter being chased and stung several times, and this experience keeping the gentleman away for several weeks.
However, the female Buzzard was still calling, and seemed to be peering constantly at a dense Neem ( Azadirachta indica) tree next to the Ardu. This tree was literally mobbed by Rufous Tree-Pies, Shrikes, and Babblers. As we shifted position to get a closer look, an enormous brown-feathered owl flew off from the same Neem. It flew quite low to the ground, dodging between the trees to another perch a short sprint away. It was relatively easy to find its new location which was soon given away by the raucous Tree-Pie and the Buzzard family. The latter constantly chased and dive-bombed the intruder. Even though the owl spotted us from afar, we were able to get good views of the plumage, the 'horns' or ears that stuck straight up, and the fierce red / orange eyes. The Eurasian Eagle Owl.
It was instructive to observe the Owl's behaviour when being mobbed by other birds at a daytime perch. This individual was quite unconcerned by all the commotion and aerial sorties aimed at its head, confident in its power and size ignoring all this harassment. I thought of the (relatively diminutive) Collared Scops Owl that we had observed for several months at another location, which relied more on camouflage and concealment, and on being discovered by other birds in the day, assumed a Buddha-like stoicism and ignored all the verbal abuse being thrown at it. The (large) Barn Owl, on the other hand, employs a curious head and upper body side-to-side 'sway' when a Babbler gets too close in its face - an obvious 'stay-away' warning signal.
How to get there ...
Located on the main Hasanpura-Khatipura road in the Army Area. Well marked by a Board stating 'Grass Farm Nursery'.
Do check at the Office and take permision before going around. The Nursery Staff are helpful and quite used to Birders and Tree-Spotters.
Grass Farm Nursery.
Yes, the appellation is not the most inspiring, and if I were to describe the location, many of you would scoff at the mere suggestion that any interesting birds could actually be seen here. But this very 'Nursery' is home to several special birds that you could ever hope to see in Jaipur. And it is right in the city.
For the moment let's just go straight to the heart of the story, and leave the directions how to get here to the end of this post.
The Spotted Creeper is one of those elusive birds that rates fairly high on the Birdwatcher's target list. Coupled with the fact that it is endemic to these regions and also that there is not another bird which is similar looking in Rajasthan (unlike the Tree Creeper found in other parts of India), it is also quite rare and difficult to find. For many months I had been keeping a sharp lookout for it in many locations in and around Jaipur but without success.
But let's just backtrack for a moment and lead you through the lie of the land.
Grass Farm Nursery as the name suggests is both a nursery and it was a grass farm. During Pre-Independence India, grass was grown here for the Cavalry horses, then it became a State Nursery, before finally being christened a 'Reserved Forest'.
As soon as you enter the Main Gate you are confronted by a magnificent Sausage Tree (Kigellia pinnata). For several months of the year, long single rope-like strands hanging down from the branches, bear at their ends, either the curious sausage-shaped fruit or a strangely-coloured and powerfully-scented flower that opens only at night. To your right are three towering pines ! These are Chir Pine (Pinus roxburghii). They have no business growing in this climate. One grizzled veteran who works in the Nursery recounted to me the story of how these trees came to be in these parts. Amongst the special care in rearing the saplings was the occasional use of large ice slabs to cool the scorching earth and provide succour to the fledgling roots in the hot summer months of the late 1950's.
It is difficult to draw your eyes away from the fantastic trees all around you. Even though it is a Nursery and not a natural forest, the phrase that springs to mind is that this is an 'ancient grove'. Several trees are decades old at least - Arjun, Kachnar, Aretha, Churail, Semul, Goolar, 5 different Acacias, the list is long.
And the birds love it here.
One star attraction is the Brown Hawk Owl ( Boobook). This individual perches on the same branch of a young Chandan (Sandalwood) tree. As you follow the 'Nature Trail' (marked by a board) you could also hope to spot the pair of resident Grey Nightjars. Again, through the daylight hours these nocturnal birds roost on the exact same spots on outspread branches of Khejri trees. We must have passed by them several times in the past without noticing them before we did, so beautifully are they camouflaged against the mottled grey bark.
Anyhow, let's get back to our first sighting of the Spotted Creeper.
On a Sunday afternoon in late November 2009 I happened to be strolling around here. I was quite pleased to have earlier just seen two of the less common Drongos - the Ashy and White-bellied. As I passed the eastern corner of the Nursery, I heard the pleasant call of a Marshall's Iora. Since I had only once before seen this bird here ( in June 2009) I was quite delighted to locate it quickly in the Khejri trees, the bright yellow and white plumage clearly visible in the upper canopy. It was calling repeatedly as it searched through the branches, sometimes hanging upside down.
But wait a minute, the Iora was not alone.
There was a full-fledged 'hunting-party' in attendance, some birds silent and others calling softly as they moved from one tree to another. I counted off Small Minivets, Great Tits, Common Woodshrikes, White-browed Fantails, Red-breasted Flycatchers amongst other common birds. And there was a stranger ( to me) in their midst.
A small dark bird with whitish spots suddenly flew across and alighted directly on the trunk of a Khejri tree. My first thought was that this was a Yellow-crowned Woodpecker. And then I saw through the binoculars the unmistakable thin long curved bill.
The Spotted Creeper, finally !
I was able to observe this individual for several minutes as it crept along the trunk and thicker branches, prying and poking away at deep fissures and knots in the bark and in the hollows. The bill obviously is a superbly adapted instrument for just this job, and a few grubs were extricated expertly.
But there was more excitement in store that afternoon. As I relayed the Spotted Creeper sighting to other Birders to entice them to join me, I was alerted again to the calls of the Oriental Honey-Buzzard that I had heard calling earlier a short distance away.
Within a few minutes I had located a pair of the Buzzards perched on an Ardu (Ailanthus excelsa). This was an opportunity to compare the male and the female, and as I scribbled notes, I was joined by N. We noticed that only the female was calling. Soon two other Buzzards tumbled down from the sky - perhaps offspring - they looked like juveniles.
We were careful in their vicinity because there are several bee-hives here and many of these had been cleaned out by the Buzzards lately. On one occasion the disgruntled bees from a destroyed hive attacking a Forest Guard and a Morning Walker - the latter being chased and stung several times, and this experience keeping the gentleman away for several weeks.
However, the female Buzzard was still calling, and seemed to be peering constantly at a dense Neem ( Azadirachta indica) tree next to the Ardu. This tree was literally mobbed by Rufous Tree-Pies, Shrikes, and Babblers. As we shifted position to get a closer look, an enormous brown-feathered owl flew off from the same Neem. It flew quite low to the ground, dodging between the trees to another perch a short sprint away. It was relatively easy to find its new location which was soon given away by the raucous Tree-Pie and the Buzzard family. The latter constantly chased and dive-bombed the intruder. Even though the owl spotted us from afar, we were able to get good views of the plumage, the 'horns' or ears that stuck straight up, and the fierce red / orange eyes. The Eurasian Eagle Owl.
It was instructive to observe the Owl's behaviour when being mobbed by other birds at a daytime perch. This individual was quite unconcerned by all the commotion and aerial sorties aimed at its head, confident in its power and size ignoring all this harassment. I thought of the (relatively diminutive) Collared Scops Owl that we had observed for several months at another location, which relied more on camouflage and concealment, and on being discovered by other birds in the day, assumed a Buddha-like stoicism and ignored all the verbal abuse being thrown at it. The (large) Barn Owl, on the other hand, employs a curious head and upper body side-to-side 'sway' when a Babbler gets too close in its face - an obvious 'stay-away' warning signal.
How to get there ...
Located on the main Hasanpura-Khatipura road in the Army Area. Well marked by a Board stating 'Grass Farm Nursery'.
Do check at the Office and take permision before going around. The Nursery Staff are helpful and quite used to Birders and Tree-Spotters.
quite informative
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