Birdlist - https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49347686

26th MBC Birdwalk & Spotting the Spotted Flycatcher, through Spotting-scope !!

The 26th Mumbai Birdwatchers Club (MBC) walk started on a cheerful note after a brief introduction of each other (35 plus participants) and to this new site. The NRI Seawood pond is quite a revealing place with a large brackish waterbody on one side and mangroves on the other.

A Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher and White Spotted Fantail were already singing from inside the Mangroves and Eurasian Spooonbills were seen flying overhead accompanied with small flocks of Northern Pintails looking agitated by something. While all of us appreciated the female Small Blue Kingfisher through the spotting scope with the orange lower mandible et.al....a lone Striated Heron flew past and sat on the opposite bank almost merging with the twigs on which it sat. A “brood” of Spotbill ducks was seen swimming along with a pair of Little Grebes. There were atleast 7 juveniles and we later saw even smaller, barely 10 days old ducklings preening indicating that this species breed in this place. A “Raft”(Google the word to know the meaning) of Pintail Ducks were “up-ending” in the deeper part of the pond, while most of them were in eclipse plumage, we could still able to get good views of the males with white breast. There were a few Gargeney, Northern Shovellers & Common Teals also sprinkled amongst the Pintails. Both Indian & Little Cormorants sat on the submerged shrubs preening their feathers. A lone male Paradise Flycatcher (Rufous morph) decided to hide in the thicket along the trail, frustrating the photographers for a decent image.

The Northern Pintails continued to get disturbed intermittently and the reason was soon revealed as a Peregrine / Shaheen Falcon (ssp.peregrinator) flew overhead trying to flush an injured/weak individual for a hearty meal. It later sat on the top of the highest building far away and showed its back from the scope. There was another commotion from the Mangrove side, where a large flock of Eurasian Curlews (atleast 50+) took flight because of a female Eurasian Marsh harrier. Having a Spotting Scope in such habitat helps as we had lovely views of Common Redshank, Purple Heron, Common Sandpiper, Long-tailed Shrike and a distant flock of Lesser Whistling Ducks, thanks again to Amey-Rujuta and Mayur Shinde to share their Scopes for the benefit of others. A lesser Whitethroat and Sykes’s warblers gave fantastic views as they sat on a bare tree closeby along with fleeting glimpses of Paddyfield & Blyth’s reed Warblers. Both the Lesser & Greater Flamingos were present interspersed with Painted Storks, Grey Herons, Brown & Black-headed Gulls, Gull-billed Terns and Egrets. The end of the trail had reeds close to the path, where the light was good to see the birds from Scope.....the Common teals sat effortlessly on the exposed branches of a submerged tree, while a Clamorous Reed Warbler showed up very well, the Painted Storks sat drying up their wings and a group of Blue-tailed Bee-eaters were seen on a cable wire far away.....a flock of Alexandrine Parakeets created a ruckus on the adjacent building, while a couple of Caspian Terns flew right over our head. What a wonderful day.....

We started back assuming we had a great birdwalk.... But wait..... Something else, something more....something incredible, store in wait for all of us. A smallish looking bird just crossed our path from right to left and disappeared in the grey-brown branches. As we scanned through those branches, hoping to see a warbler or maybe a woodshrike ..... my binocs focused on a bird that looked different.... was it a flycatcher?..... Yes, it did look like a flycatcher, but which one?..... In that fraction of a second, I realized I have never seen this species....rather was longing to see this for years and least expected at this site....a species that is probably seen for the 1st time in Mumbai region.... Yes it was a Spotted Flycatcher !!

Spotted Flycatcher is a passage migrant to India mostly seen around Sept-Oct in Western India chiefly Rajasthan & Gujarat whilst travelling from Central Asia to Africa. An easily overlooked species because of its drab plumage and also because it looks similar to any other brown flycatchers of our region, but for the streaked breast, crown and slightly larger size. There was a visible excitement in the group for this super exciting find, not just because its rare, but this bird was quite confiding and gave photo ops to almost all the photographers (atleast 25) in the group and allowed all of us to view through the scope..... we celebrated the sighting with a group photo at the very spot. What a Grand finale to the already wonderful walk.

Some of us, went to check the waterbody behind TS Chanakya which had some birds including few Flamingos, many Gullbilled Terns, Caspian Terns, Painted Storks, some waders, Wire-tailed Swallows, Egrets and a few “Grape-Lovers”....

Thanks to Amey & Rujuta as usual for tirelessly explaining the features of various birds through spotting scope and to Subbu (Krishnan Subramanian) for taking us around the place....Yet another wonderful new site for birders, another new lifer for all ....Spotting the Spotted Flycatcher, through Spotting-scope :-) ;-)

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