Noggan Man - This Week in Birdland 8-14th Feb

This Week in Birdland

8th - 14th Feb 2026

We started the week in Panjim and stayed near to the Mandovi riverside promenade. Early mornings and sunsets there are quite beautiful and there’s a lot of nature to take in along the route. Starting from the Miramar end and walking down towards Campal Gardens. I quickly spotted one of my favourites, a Western Reef Heron, wading close to the shore. It’s a stunning creature and I used to see one most mornings last season where the footbridge bridge at ‘Dunes Restaurant’ crosses the creek on Mandrem beach.

Scroll down to get to the photos & skip the babble

The promenade is lined in parts with trees, bushes and flowers and the African Tulip really caught our eyes. Once we got into Campal Gardens and the Art Park you could hear Barbets, Coucals, Magpie Robins and Bulbuls. At around 7:30am it was empty and even with the traffic starting up you could hear the screeches of the huge Indian Fruit Bats as they jostled for their place in the canopy. The Peacock Flowers were blooming and looked so utterly lithe and elegant.

I have only the one Orange-headed Thrush on my patch back on the dunes in Arambol and it’s quite timid, but here in Campal Gardens I saw no fewer than 6 and they were very social and happy to pose. A Greater Coucal made its usual gate-crashing appearance managing to ram its huge body into a tight gap in the bush. It popped out though and gave me a moment to focus and get a nice couple of shots.

I am sure there are lots more to be seen in the gardens (I have seen a Spotted owlet there before) but to be honest I was completely transfixed by the bats and the various fights going on between them to notice much else. What also distracts you in Panjim are the stunning trees and I am thinking in particular of the gargantuan Rain Trees which can be seen lining the road around the gardens and at other places all over the city.

We did go on a dolphin spotting trip at sunset, which is a whole other story and gave new meaning to any previously held ideas I might have had as to what constitutes a nature trip. Suffice to say, we did see dolphins albeit briefly and had a brilliant time on board with some of the most joyous passengers you could hope to meet.

The second part of the week I hunkered down in the grass at Giroba Temple here in Arambol where I managed to get three new ones for The Arambol Project , a Vigor’s Sunbird (F), a Crimson-backed Sunbird and a Blyth’s Reed Warbler along with some cracking pics of Purple Sunbirds (there’s quite a few) with their breeding plumage on display. There are at least two, ultra-bright, male, Black-hooded Orioles worth looking out for who aren’t too shy to be seen or heard. I could hear Barbets, Koels, Coucals and Merlin (bird app) is picking up a lot more besides.

This is a place to just sit and wait and you don’t need to wait very long. The sunbirds in particular are just drawn to the nectar in Ukshi bushes which are in flower at the moment . You just need to be very quick to snap one, and patient to get a clear shot, as they flit around ceaselessly.

On Saturday morning we did the Global Backyard Bird Count at the temple and just recorded what we saw and heard as we sat on the grass. In a little over an hour we recorded 28 species. Just as we were leaving a troop of Langur monkeys decided to come for morning worship.

All together, another amazing week in Birdland!

Ali