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Bird show
Hop of a Barking Deer, darts of Kalij Pheasants and flirt of a Whistler’s
Warbler… Bird shooting in Dara Janglan is quite an experience
By Saad Qaisrani
My friend Nausherwan and I decided to try our luck once again at shooting bird pictures in Islamabad. So, we arranged for another adventure in the hills.
Dara Janglan trail has been our preferred spot since long, however the birdlife witnessed there has mostly been constant with sightings of rarities nearly never been made. We decided to try our luck at a different spot this time. The choices were narrowed down till we finally settled for the Faisal Mosque ravine for our endeavour into the hills in the pursuit of birds. That nature did not want us there; we would come to know of later on.
Being the only persons in the hills could become dreary, so for that morning I asked two cousins of mine, Shahid Qaisrani and Shahbaz Qaisrani, to give us the pleasure of their company. To my good fortune they obliged and so we found the four of us heading into the hills early in the morning.
Our stop was the Faisal Mosque, where we parked the vehicle and ventured into the wilderness. That we were all new to this place had its effects; half an hour into the hills and we turned back, finding not a living soul in the dense jungle astride the ravine. A precious early morning hour was thus wasted due to a faulty decision.
The always-reliable track of Dara janglan was only a 15 minutes ride away and so we headed straight for it, without wasting any more time. If we wanted to get bird photographs, we had better hurry as time is a critical factor in finding them.
Once at the parking spot, we were in for a surprise. Although we were late by all standards, there were no cars parked, meaning that trekkers had not disturbed the birds this morning. This was the first sign that the morning might be quite an eventful one.
I have always heard people say that the early bird catches the worm, but I have never had an experience of putting it to test. That this idiom is not complete dawned on me on this morning, when out of the blue, right at the start of the track we stumbled upon a lone Barking Deer. None of us was prepared for such a rarity to show up, and so the joyously dancing creature hopped right in front of our eyes from the open into the surrounding jungle. By the time I could get the camera to work, it was too late and the deer was all but gone. From here I realized, to catch a worm, you must not only be an early bird but you also have to be ready for it!
Could we have had a better start to the photography trip, I say yes we could. But could we want anything more from this trail, I suppose not. This deer was the first game animal larger than a hare that my two cousins and I had ever seen in our lives. For a nature lover, it was like the ultimate sighting.
With such an auspicious start to the trek, our hopes suddenly shot up. However late we were, if not late for a deer, we weren’t late for any of the birds either.
As we moved on, we kept encountering the common Himalayan Bulbuls, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babblers and Black-chinned Babblers. We however were on the lookout for the more circumspect Kalij Pheasants, which were our first choice for shooting pictures.
In a short while two females were sighted in the middle of the track, basking in the early morning sunshine. We managed to separate both, forcing one to make an attempted crossing of the track. The female emerged in such a way that no photograph could be had. After a short dart, the female disappeared for good in the surrounding forest.
The forest astride this track is so dense that any attempt to take photographs of Kalij Pheasants in the woods is bound to fail. The only option left is to patiently wait for these fellows to cross the track, during which, for a short while, the birds are fully exposed.
Things began to change for the better, when we came across a visibly hungry (or angry?) Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler sternly picking at the ground. Now this is the only way one can get close enough to this fellow to get a picture, when it is busy elsewhere. If it’s observing you from the forest canopy, it would never allow a picture, but while its busy searching for food (or insects to batter) you can have as many pictures as you like. And so we took a couple of pictures that bettered all our previous attempts.
Kalij Pheasants in the meanwhile kept showing up inside the forest. We couldn’t take pictures, but I got to introduce my cousins to this splendid creature, something they had never seen before. For them, as well as for Nausherwan, and me it was fun just looking at the ‘Jangli Murghis’ flee in all directions.
Soon a Red-billed Leiothrix showed up, foraging in the middle canopy of the forest, at a height perfect for us to take its photographs. In no time a few shots of this little fellow were also bagged. Close to the water point, which is our last stop for bird photography, we caught sight of a little Whistler’s Warbler. After the Barking Deer, this was the zenith of the day, for Whistler’s Warblers have been recorded from Pakistan less than a dozen times before. To our good luck, the tiny fellow was quite tame and allowed close approaches. Luckily we shot a couple of pictures of one of the hardest birds to find in Pakistan.
On our way back we came across a family party of Kalij Pheasants once more. A few pictures were taken, but because of the adverse sunlight conditions on the way back, we couldn’t get the perfect one once again.
The bird shooting finally ended with a few pictures of a lone White-throated Fantail, another bird with a restricted occurrence in Pakistan.
Near the parking lot we encountered young college lads heading into the trail for what I presume would be a hike in the hills. Nice place it was to be for the lads, but I wonder if any of them too would get to see and be able to cherish the hop of a Barking Deer, the darts of Kalij Pheasants and the flirt of a Whistler’s Warbler.
The last piece by the writer (dated Jan 3, 2010) underwent volte face mutations; somehow ‘shots taken’ became ‘shots fired’ and the writer and his friend Nausherwan were transformed from casual bird photographers into gun-totting bird hunters. What happened? It was probably a perfect case of misinterpreting the writing. The error is regretted – Editor