Text : Moushumi Ghosh | Photographs : Dhritiman Mukherjee . . . . . . . . . .Sardarpur Florican Sanctuary
Text : Moushumi Ghosh
Travel Consultant, Travel Writer
Photographs : Dhritiman Mukherjee
Nature and Wildlife Photographer
Carol, Dhaval, Dhriti, Rutika and myself were having a small departing party in Dinesh’s room with lots of mouth-watering Indori bhujias, sweets and soft drink.
It was the last day of our field trip of BNHS Ornithology Course at Chilka. Dinesh announced “If you guys come to Indore, I will treat you with mouth warering Indori bhujias and a glimpse of Lesser Floricans at Sardarpur.”
I was rather new to bird watching; lesser florican and bronzed winged jacana sounded almost the same to me. I was not at all interested; I really found no reason to travel 1700 kms to Indore just for either of the reasons.
During our journey back home, I found Dhriti bubbling with excitement about the invitation to Sardarpur to view the lesser floricans. Dhriti is a keen bird watcher and photographer. I was somewhat surprised by his wild excitement.
After few days, incidentally I came across an article on Bengal Floricans in an old issue of a Sanctuary magazine, written and illustrated with photographs Dr Asad R. Rahmani. I still remember the first line of the article “They have come to see the floricans, not tigers.. ”the statement was about Dudhwa National Park,this line gave birth to my interest in the floricans. I just gulped the article..then started collecting information about the floricans from internet and books available, and decided to go to Indore to have a glimpse of the lesser floricans. Immideately I called up Dinesh and finalized the dates.
The Lesser Florican (Sypheotides indica) is among the smallest bastards in the world and is endemic to the Indian subcontinent. Fewer than 1,000 of these birds survive today, making it one of the most endangered birds in the world.
It was mid-August, a hot and humid 36-hours train journey from Kolkata. Shipra Express reached Indore early in the morning at about 4.00 o’clock. A smiling face peeped through the window of our compartment. It was good old Dinesh Kothari, who started cracking his jokes before we could say “Hello”. We were touched, we really didn’t expect him that early in the morning. We went to his house, his wife greeted us with a welcoming smile, and served us lovely “poha “(made from washed bitten rice with spices and onions) for early breakfast.
At about 6.30 we started for Sardarpur in a Maruti Gypsy..
Sardarpur Kharmor Sanctuary is 125 kms away from Indore and 55 kms away from the district headquarters Dhar, near Rajgharnagar on Indore-Ahmedabad road in Madhya Pradesh. We took three hours to reach the sanctuary.
This area was notified as sanctuary in 1981, on the recommendation of Dr. Sálim Ali, who had personally visited this place in the early 1980s. Lesser Florican is included in schedule 1 of Wildlife (protection) Act 1972 and classified as a highly endangered species.
The first glimpse of the sanctuary was really a treat for the eyes. Undulating grass land. Lush green all over. It was like nature’s huge green carpet.
I got down from the vehicle, wanted to feel the velvet green under my feet.
Dinesh took us to a spot from where he had last sighted the bird. We waited there for some time; no trace of the bird. Meanwhile a forest guard came up. Luckily he was known to Dinesh;he took us to the other side of the sanctuary. We were waiting silently on the road. Suddenly the guard shouted in a low voice “kuda”..I was wondering kaha kuda..again he said ..”kuda”
“kuda” means the display or the frequent vertical take-off of the male Lesser Florican from a single grassy spot, to draw the attention of the female. This nuptial display of constantly jumping up above they perform even 500 times a day. A loud rattling or clapping sound they make with every jump.
Now I could locate the spot. It was a sight to remember, a small slim long necked beautiful bird with spatulate-tipped head plumes, black head, neck and underparts and white collar across upper mantel. Its size is roughly 46 to 51 cm. The bird was jumping in a straight line, six to seven feet high from the ground. The display was so elegant that I couldn’t shift my eyes from the location of the jump. One more thing I noticed, that the bird was shifting the place a little bit after each jump. In the mean time another bird started jumping from another location. A loud rattling or clapping sound they were making with every jump.
Lesser Florican is a migratory bird, belongs to the family of Otididae, The bird is of the size of domestic fowl, with long black neck, black beak and grey coloured body and arrives in this area during the rainy season for breeding, at the end of June or the beginning of July every year. The birds lay eggs, rear the young ones and once again leave the place during end of October or beginning of November. This cycle repeats itself every year.
Since floricans show up in the morning till 11.00 o clock and in the evening from 4.00 O’clock,( The guard said ,after that “dab jata hai.”), in the afternoon we drove around the sanctuary.
The sanctuary forms a part of the Deccan trap with varying soil depth. The soils are loamy in texture. Mainly the soils are red and black. The area here is gently sloping with a general gradient towards north east. Most of the streams of the sanctuary drain to Mahi River.
This area is highly deficient in water resources. Most of the surface water sources dry up after February. Important water sources are hand pumps and wells. Since the birds arrive during monsoon there is not much of a problem.