Noggan Man - This Week In Birdland 16th

This Week in Birdland

16th - 22nd Feb 2026

Another great week birding in Arambol with five new additions for the Arambol Project. On Monday - a tawny-bellied babbler (a first for me) along with a gold-fronted leafbird. On Tuesday I saw a grey-breasted prinia, also new to me. Wednesday we saw (at quite a distance) a verditer flycatcher and on Thursday I finally got a clear shot of a pale-billed flowerpecker. I’ve been picking up the sound of this one for ages but have not been able to get a fix on it until now. Saturday morning I got a not very clear photo of an red spurfowl, also new for me, which I have put on the site as an ID shot. This brings the total number of species photographed in this very small area up to 74.

Scroll down to get to the photos & skip the babble

I mainly stayed around Giroba Temple again this week and I am really glad I did. If ever there was proof that simply stopping and sitting can sometimes bring the best results then this place is it. I’ve seen gold-fronted leafbirds before in Arambol, but never out in the open like I have here on the bank at the side of the temple. When I did stray towards the dunes I got a nice pic of a clamorous reed warbler doing its thing and a parakeet munching on seeds.

In the middle of the week we strolled up towards the metal bridge which crosses over Mandrem Creek and passed a really impressive breadfruit tree which is alongside the creek behind Food Planet. At a glance, and when they are immature, breadfruit looks pretty similar to jackfruit and so it should as they are closely related. It’s generally used unripe in a various ways, for curries, sliced and chipped, boiled and or mashed and it’s not at all sweet like the jackfruit. Talking of which these were being sold in Mapusa market when we went there on Friday and the tree near me is heavy with them at the moment. Alongside the breadfruit tree, I’ve also included a few pics of the jackfriut tree and the fruit, which is delicious by the way, and as well as just eaten as is, makes its way into curries, sweets and basically anything delicious (assuming you like jackfruit). We bought some ripe ones from the market and just scoffed them!

Back at the creek I got a beautiful small egret with a clear reflection and some nice shots of the swallows on the overhead cable. We tried birding in the garden between the creek and the road but didn’t have much joy. Another day perhaps?

We finished the morning on a high and had another fantastic sighting - this time a verditer flycatcher in the trees across from the raised dining area at the Sagar Anand restaurant on the brow of the hill on the main Mandrem to Arambol road. It was at quite a distance so not quite as crisp as I would have liked, but only ever having seen one in the jungle before it was a treat seeing this almost sky-blue coloured bird against the sky-blue morning sky.

For such a big bird the greater coucal is not always easy to get such a great shot of as it tends to jam itself right into the thick of things. However, on Saturday morning it came right out in front of us and posed for a minute before getting distracted. It’s a common, but in my mind, underated and beautiful bird, especially when the morning light catches the almost coppery parts of its wings.

I still can’t quite believe just how many different birds there are to be spotted here in and around the Arambol dunes - and I don’t even feel as if I am trying!

Ali