ANSHI NATIONAL PARK, KARNATAKA
Dates of visit: 16 th. To 22 nd October 1998
Person's visiting: Sanjay and Anchal Sondhi, Sanjay Thakur

Anshi National Park
Anshi National Park is located in Upper Karnataka and was part of the
Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary till quite recently. The Park has an area
of approximately 250 sq. km. The area has semi-evergreen and moist
deciduous forests. The Dandeli WLS borders the Park on its eastern
side and the Cotigao WLS (in Goa) on its western side. We stayed at
the Park for 6 days, spending 3 days each at Ulvi and Anshi..
How to get there:
We drove down by car from Pune. The distance by road is approx. 480
Km. From Pune there are 2 routes one can take:
The common part of both the routes is  Pune- Kohlapur- Belgaum.
From Belgaum, you take the NH4 to Londa and then drive on NH4A to
Kumbhawada. From Kumbhawada, you can drive either to Anshi (20 Km.) or
to Ulvi (20 Km.)
The other route is from Belgaum to Dandeli and then to Kumbhawada.
The first route is recommended.

Ulvi: Ulvi is a small village with a temple which is a popular place
of worship and has quite a few visitors. On account of this,
accommodation is available in the form of a small 40 room lodge, an IB
and dharmashalas. The village is on the border of Anshi National Park
and Dandeli WLS. From Ulvi, we trekked through a number of villages in
the Park, namely Thulusgidi, Pasoli, Khamshetadi (spent the night
here), Bidoli and Patne.

Anshi: Anshi is a small village in the middle of the Park and is on
the road to Karwar (NH4A). It is much smaller than Ulvi. The only
place to stay is an Inspection Bungalow (IB).

Till recently, the only way to get to Anshi from Ulvi was by a metal
road from Ulvi to Kumbhawada and then to Anshi (approx. 40 km.). Now a
road that runs through the Park has been constructed from Ulvi to
Khamshetadi to Anshi ( approx. 20 km.). Khamshetadi is the midway
point between Ulvi and Anshi. This road is currently "kuchcha" but is
being upgraded. Once this road is complete, road traffic through the
Park from Ulvi to Anshi will commence.
The entire protected area consists of dense semi-evergreen forest and
moist deciduous . The most typical forest classification would be West
Coast semi-evergreen forest (classification 2A/C2 of Champion and
Seth) The common flora that was identified was Terminalia  and Ficus
ssp., Macaranga indica, Salmalia malabarica, Semecarpus anacardium,
Bauhinia ssp., Mytragyna parviflora .Dense clumps of Bamboo (Bombax
ssp.) in most parts of the forest. Cane brakes abounded in some areas.
At the lower level, Strobilanthes ssp. abounded along with
Chlerodendron ssp., Ixora ssp.. Mimosa pudiceps lined the paths in
most parts.
List of birds seen at Anshi National Park
42.	Pond Heron	Ardeola grayii
Ulvi and Khamshetadi
Pond Herons seen in the cultivated fields in both the villages.
44. 	Cattle Egret	Bubulcus ibis
Ulvi, Kumbhawada and Anshi
Cattle Egrets seen in the cultivated field in the villages. Flocks of
10 to 20 birds seen flying at dusk.
62.	White-necked Stork	Ciconia episcopus
16/10/98	Ulvi
2 birds seen at the edge of the forest near the village. The birds
were disturbed by our presence and flew from the grassy patch on which
they were feeding and settled on a nearby tree.
20/10/98 Between Anshi and Khamshetadi
Three birds seen sitting on a tree next to a stream on the road
between Anshi and Khamshetadi.
133.	Pariah Kite	Milvus migrans
Ulvi and Anshi .
Seen occasionally near the villages.
138.	Shikra	Accipeter badius ?
17/10/98	Near Khamshetadi
Spotted an accipeter, possibly a juvenile Shikra on bamboo clumps. The
bird was making harsh screeches and appeared to be unable to fly yet
(?), even though the bird was close to adult size.
Field characters: General color grey-brown. Heavy streaks on the
breast. Tail feathers spread and at least 3 to 4 bars visible. Iris
red. Unlikely to be the Besra Sparrow-Hawk because of lack of rufous.
Unconfirmed sighting.
161.	Crested Hawk-Eagle 	Spizaetus cirrhatus
17/10/98	Ulvi
Spotted the Crested Hawk-eagle in dense forest close to Ulvi. The bird
seen sitting high up in the branches of a tree.
165.	Rufous-bellied Hawk-Eagle Hirraaetus kienerii kienerii
19/10/98	Near Kumbhawada
Spotted a raptor in dense forest on the 2 nd day. Caught only a
fleeting glimpse of a bird with a dark head and white throat through
the trees. On the 19 th , while driving from Ulvi to Kumbhawada, we
spotted 2 raptors in flight. The raptors had a very dark head with a
glistening white throat. When the raptors banked, a clear rufous belly
was visible. The rufous shown in the PG is much brighter. The above
field characters make me quite certain that the bird we saw was indeed
the Rufous-bellied Hawk-Eagle.

172.	Black Eagle	Ictinaetus malayensis perniger
20/10/98	Between Anshi and Khamshetadi
Spotted the Black Eagle from the path in flight on 2 occasions close
to noon. Seen in dense forest between Anshi and Khamshetadi.
196.	Crested Serpent Eagle	Spilornis cheela
20/10/98	Anshi
A possible sighting of the Crested Serpent Eagle on the edge of the
road along Tectona grandis plantation near Anshi. Later in the day, we
spotted the bird soaring over the same area. Heard the birds calls on
a few occasions in the same area.

301.	Grey Junglefowl		Gallus sonneratti
19-21/10/98	Anshi
Heard the birds calls in forest close to Anshi in the morning and in
the evening. Also heard the birds call in the forest between Anshi and
Khamshetadi
366.	Redwattled Lapwing	Vanellus indicus
Ulvi and Anshi .
Seen occasionally near the villages.

521.	Nilgiri Wood Pigeon	Columba elphinstonii
Pigeons seen flying overhead on quite a few occasions in the jungle.
No clear sightings of the birds. However, in forest close to Ulvi we
heard the Nilgiri Wood Pigeon calling.
537.	Spotted Dove	Streptopelia chinensis
Ulvi and Anshi .
Seen occasionally near the villages and in the forest.

542.	Emerald Dove	Chalcophaps indica ?
19/10/98 	Ulvi
Unconfirmed sighting of a Emerald Dove in flight. No calls heard in
any part of the forest.
558.	Blossom Headed Parakeet	Psittacula cyanocephalus
Ulvi and Anshi .
Seen occasionally near the villages.

564.	Blue-winged Parakeet	Psittacula columboides
Ulvi and Anshi .
Seen frequently near the villages and in the forest. Calls of birds
flying overhead heard very frequently. A comment on the plat in the
PG: the head of the parakeet is a pinky grey and not the color shown
in the book.
566.	Indian Lorikeet		Loroculus vernalis
17/10/98	Patne and Thulusgidi
Spotted the a single Indian Lorikeet at both villages on Banana trees
and coconut palms.

600.	Crow Pheasant	Centropus sinensis
20/10/98	Anshi National Park Spotted the Coucal on the outskirts of
Anshi village.

627. 	Indian Great Horned Owl	 Bubo bubo
17/10/98	Ulvi
Spotted the owl at dusk in forest about half a kilometre from Ulvi.
Also heard the bird calling with its typical call- a 3 syllable "who
hoo hoo", the last note being the lowest pitch.
659.	Brown Wood Owl		Strix leptogrammica
20/10/98	Anshi
Heard the owl calling at approx. 7:00 p.m. on the outskirts of Anshi
village. The birds call was a typical metallic bell like 3 syllable
call "tonk=85.tonk tonk"
709.	Crested Tree Swift	Hemiprocne longipennis
17/10/98	Ulvi
A large flock of Crested Tree Swifts seen flying over head. Area:
dense forest in the Thulusgidi area. Call notes: "creeyu" or "keeyu=
"
711.	Malabar Trogon 		Harpactes fasciatus
Numerous sightings of the bird. In all the Malabar Trogon sighted on 5
different occasions in forest in the Ulvi area and the Anshi area. All
sightings of the male bird only. As aptly mentioned in the Handbook,
all the initial sightings were of the bird's back!
On one occasion, we spotted 3 male birds quarrelling. The birds were
seen chasing each other (?) quite agitatedly. After the chase, we
heard some of the birds calling. Could this have been a territorial
fight with one of the males establishing its territorial rights over
the other males? Call notes: A muted "qur-r-r-r", uttered with a
backward flick of the tail.
The Hbk. Mentions that the Trogon utters a low, rolling "krr-r-r" whe=
n
alarmed or apprehensive. Obviously, this is the call note I heard.

735. White Breasted Kingfisher	Halcyon smyrnenesis
Ulvi and Anshi
Seen occasionally close to villages and streams/ water bodies.

750.	Small Green Bee-eater	Merops orientalis
Ulvi and Anshi
Seen occasionally close to villages and in light forest.

753.	Blue-bearded Bee-eater	Nyctyornis athertons
17/10/98	Forest in Ulvi area
Spotted a solitary bird sitting on a branch high up on a tree in dense
forest. The bird flew out of sight after we watched it for a few
minutes.
20/10/98	20/10/98	Between Anshi and Khamshetadi
A much better sighting. The bee-eater was seen in the afternoon close
to a large stream along the road.

763.	Hoopoe			Upapa epops
768.	Malabar Grey Hornbill	Tockus griseus
Surprisingly very sightings when compared to a previous trip to
Dandeli WLS.
18/10/98	Forest close to Ulvi
Sighting of a pair of birds near a village.
20-21/10/98	Anshi
A few sightings of hornbills in light forest.
785.	Small Green Barbet	Megalaima viridis
Forests in Ulvi and Anshi
Commonly seen and heard in all areas.
790.	Malabar Crimson Throated Barbet	Megalaima rubricapilla
17/10/98	Between Khamshetadi and Ulvi.

A large flock of birds seen feeding on Ficus ssp. fruit along with
other fruit eating birds, namely Grackle, Small Green Barbets and
Chloropsis. Its "wok" calls heard in the forest on numerous occasions.
816.	Small Yellow-naped Woodpecker	Picus chlorolophus chlorigaster
19-20/10/98	Anshi
Two sightings of the woodpecker in the Anshi area. One sighting near
the Inspection Bungalow at Anshi and the other in the forest.
825.	Malabar Three-toed Golden Backed     	Woodpecker	Dinopium
javanense
Ulvi and Anshi forests
Very common in all areas. Typical metallic trilling call indicating
its presence in the forest. Call recorded.

A comment on Woodpeckers
We saw only 2 woodpeckers mentioned above during our visit. On a visit
to Dandeli WLS previously we had seen 8 different woodpeckers- the 2
above and 6 others namely, Lesser Golden-backed  Woodpecker, Indian
Great Black Woodpecker, Heart Spotted Woodpecker, Mahratta Woodpecker,
Brown-crowned Pygmy Woodpecker and the Rufous Woodpecker.

921.	Wire-tailed Swallow	Hirundo smithii
21/10/98	Kumbhawada
Saw a flock of birds in flight from the car close to the road.
927.	Red-rumped Swallow	Hirundo daurica
Ulvi=09
A few sightings of the birds in flight.
946.	Rufous-backed Shrike	Lanius schach
Anshi and Ulvi
Commonly seen at most villages and lightly forested areas. The only
shrike seen on the visit.
952.	Golden Oriole		Oriolus oriolus
Ulvi and Anshi
Only a few sightings of the bird. Oriolus chinensis, the commoner
oriole.
958.	Black Headed Oriole	Oriolus chinenensis
Ulvi and Anshi
Commonly seen in the forest. Call note heard: A nasal "craw".
965.	Ashy Drongo		Dicrurus leucophaeus
Ulvi and Anshi
Very common. Typical drongo behaviour with a lot of raucous calls.
971.	Bronzed Drongo		Dicrurus aeneus
Ulvi and Anshi
Very common. Much flutier calls compared to the Ashy Drongo. Calls
recorded.
977.	Greater Racket Tailed Drongo	Dicrurus paradiseus
Ulvi and Anshi
Very common. Melodious calls echoing in the forest with a lot of
mimicking . Commonly heard mimicking the tree pie. Calls recorded.
982.	Ashy Swallow Shrike	Artamus fuscus
Ulvi and Anshi
Commonly seen in both places. Seen at virtually every village, sitting
on wires. Also seen foraging in the forested areas.

988.	White Headed Myna	Sturnus erythropygius blythii
Ulvi and Anshi
Commonly seen in both places. Seen sitting on the top of tall trees in
small flocks.
994.	Brahminy Myna		Sturnus pagodarum

1010.	Jungle Myna	Acridotheres fuscus
Ulvi
Seen at the village itself.
1016.	Hill Myna	Gracula religiosa
Forests around Khamshetadi
Flocks of Grackle seen feeding on fruit (Figs) along with other fruit
eating birds in the forests around Khamshetadi. Quite frequently seen.
1032.	Indian Tree Pie		Dendrocitta vagabunda
A solitary sighting of the Indian Tree Pie in the jungles close to
Anshi.
1036.	White-bellied Tree Pie	Dendrocitta leucogastra
16-17/10/98	Forest near Khamshetadi
Two separate sightings of the White-bellied Tree Pie in clumps of
Bamboo close to Khamshetadi. The birds calls heard and recorded. The
call note is quite distinct from the Indian Tree Pie. The call of the
White-bellied Tree Pie is sharper and less fluty than the Indian tree
Pie. Difficult to describe the difference in calls, but once heard,
the calls can be easily told apart.
1057.	Jungle Crow		Corvus macrorynchus
1065.	Black-backed Pied Flycatcher-Shrike	Hemipus picatus picatus
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
A few sightings in the forest.
1068.	Malabar Wood Shrike	Tephrodornis gularis
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Quite common in the densely forested area, not so common in the
villages and light forest. Call notes quite distinct- a series of
harsh chuckles followed by a pleasant fluty warbling sounding like
"reeyu, reeyu, reeyu".
1070.	Indian Wood Shrike Tephrodornis pondicerianus
1081.	Scarlet Minivet				Pericrocotus flammeus
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Very commonly seen in all parts of the forest. The "tweet" call notes
announcing the presence of the birds well before the flash of scarlet
revealed their whereabouts.
1093.	Small Minivet	Pericrocotus cinnamomeus
1100.	Common Iora	Aegithina tiphia
1104.	Gold-mantled Chloropsis	Chloropsis aurifrons frontalis
1116.	Ruby Throated Yellow Bulbul 	Pycnonotus melanicterus gularis
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Very commonly seen in the forest, often on bamboo clumps. Much
commoner than in Dandeli.
1120.	Red Whiskered Bulbul	Pycnonotus jocusus
1128.	Red-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus cafer
1144.	Yellow-browed Bulbul	Hypsipetes indicus Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Very common in most parts of the forest. Normally seen in pairs, often
with Ruby-throated bulbuls.

1154.	Spotted Babbler	Pellorneum ruficeps
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Not very common. A sighting each at Ulvi and Anshi. Surprisingly, did
not hear them calling other than on a few occasions.
1173.	Slaty-headed Scimitar Babbler	Pomatorhinus schisticeps
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Common in most parts of the forest, their presence announced by their
calls. Call heard very often. (Recorded). Only one sighting of a pair
of birds in bamboo clumps.
1224.	Black Headed Babbler	Rhopocichla atriceps
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Very common of the forest with suitable habitat, specifically clumps
of bamboo. Normally in small flocks. Normal call notes: a harsh
scolding "churr-r-r ". Also heard a "chik, chi chik" call.
1263.	Jungle Babbler	Turdoides striatus
Anshi 
Not seen in the Ulvi area at all. However 2 sightings of a flock of
birds in light forest.
1390.	Quaker Babbler	Alcippe poioicephala
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Very common in most parts of the forest. The Quaker Babblers heard
calling very frequently. Possibly the most common bird call to be
heard in the forest, without actually seeing the bird. Often hunting
in bamboo clumps along with a hunting pack of other birds. The bird
also has a call which is a squirrel like "chirrup" which I heard.
Recorded its normal fluty and melodius song.
1407.	Brown Flycatcher   Muscicapa latirostris?
Unconfirmed sighting of a flycatcher in the forests of the Anshi area.
Spotted a flycatcher active in the forest canopy and the associated
undergrowth. Could not get a very good view but did see a brown
colored flycatcher with a prominent white eye-ring and whitish throat
and a  whitish vertical partition in the centre of its belly.
1411.	Red-breasted Flycatcher	Muscicapa parva
20/10/98 	Anshi
Saw a bird early in the morning in the forest patch behind the
Inspection Bungalow at Anshi.
1435.	White-bellied Blue Flycatcher	Muscicapa pallipes
1461.	Paradise Flycatcher	Terpsiphone paradisi
17/10/98	Thulusgidi
Sighting of a female bird at the edge of the village of Thulusgidi.
The flycatcher was part of large hunting pack consisting of drongos,
flycatchers, shrikes and chloropsis.
1465.	Black Naped Blue Flycatcher  Hypothymis azurea
1538.	Tailor Bird	Orthotomus sutorius

1574.	Chiffchaff	Phylloscopus collybita
Ulvi
A solitary sighting of the leaf warbler at the forest's edge near the
village. Field characters: Dull grey-brown above with buff underneath.
Black streak through the eye. No wing bars. Call note: A sharp,
piercing " chiwee" or possibly a "chwee". Typical leaf warbler
behavior up on a tree.
1590.	Yellow-browed Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus ?
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Quite common. Field characters: Above: Greyish-olive with a prominent
wing bar. Prominent yellowish supercilium with black streak through
eye. No coronal bands visible. Below, buff colored with V notch in
tail. Call notes: A sharp noted  "wheecheechee "or also a single
"chwee". Possibly the Yellow-browed Leaf Warbler. However absence of
coronal bands a mystery. Could this be the post nuptial moult showing
up. The Hbk. mentions the post nuptial moult is completed between
September and November.
The commonest warbler in the forest.
1601.	Large-billed Leaf Warbler	Phylloscopus magnirostris ?
Possible sighting. Recorded the Leaf Warblers call, a piercing " see,
see see, see see" ( which I recognize as I have heard and recorded it
in its breeding quarters in the Himalayas). No sightings of the bird.
The Hbk. Mentions records of the bird in winter quarters from October
onwards. Also records of the bird from Londa, Belgaum etc are
mentioned, which are quite close to Anshi National Park.

1661.	Magpie Robin		Copsychus saularis
1728.	Malabar Whistling Thrush Myiophonus horsfieldii
Anshi  
Heard the bird quite often but had only one sighting of the bird close
to a stream in the forests on the Anshi area.
1734.	White Throated Orange Headed Ground Thrush	Zoothera citrina
cyanotus
19/10/98	Ulvi
Spotted a solitary bird in the forests near Ulvi. Did not hear the
bird calling on too many occasions.
1811.	Yellow-cheeked Tit	Parus xanthogenys
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Quite frequently seen as part of hunting packs in the canopy of trees.

1838.	Velvet Fronted Nuthatch		Sitta frontalis
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Very common. Sightings of pairs of birds at almost all areas.
Typically part of hunting flocks consisting of woodpeckers ,Tits, Pied
Fly-catcher Shrike and Wood Shrikes and Warblers.
1874.	Forest Wagtail	Motacilla indica
20/10/98
A single sighting of a bird at the beginning of the path to the
village of Mayagani, roughly midway between Anshi and Khamshetadi. The
wagtail was sitting high up on a tree, wagging and swaying, as though
to the beat of some music. The wagging and swaying continued for
almost 15 minutes at the same spot.
1884.	Grey Wagtail	Motacilla cinerea
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Commonly seen along the path.
1891.	Large Pied Wagtail	Motacilla maderaspatensis
1902.	Plain Colored Flowerpecker Dicaeum concolor
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Flowerpeckers seen and heard very commonly in all parts of the forest.
However we were able to get a good sighting of a flowerpecker just
once and identified it to be the Plain Colored Flowerpecker.
1908.	Purple Rumped Sunbird	Nectarinia asiatica
1909.	Small Sunbird		Nectarina minima
Forests of Ulvi and Anshi
Commonly seen and heard in the forests.
1911.	Loten's Sunbird		Nectarinia lotenia
19/10/98	Anshi village
Spotted a male Loten's Sunbird at Anshi village in the evening. Easily
identified by its large sized bill and its dark colored undersides.
Also the bird's call is a bit different. The sunbird was feeding on
flowers from a Date palm and then settled on a Mango tree.
1931.	Little Spiderhunter	Arachnothera longirostris
17/10/98	Ulvi village
The first sighting of the Little Spiderhunter was at Ulvi village. The
bird seen feeding on nectar of a flower. Quite a typical call- an
abrupt nasal "chenk, chenk", uttered in flight or while foraging.
18/10/98	Patne village
Spotted the bird in the village. The bird seemed to be frequenting a
Banana and Date Palm plantation in the village.
20/10/98	Forests of Anshi area
Spotted a Spiderhunter in the forests close to a large stream
1933.	White-eye		Zosterops palpibrosa
A few sightings of the bird.
1938.	House Sparrow		Passer domesticus
1968.	White-backed Munia	Lonchura striata striata
20/10/98	Anshi village
A large flock of White-backed Munia's seen in the evening, apparently
settling down to roost at the edge of a cultivated field. We had
another sighting of a pair of birds in dense clumps of bamboo in the
forest near Khamshetadi. I was quite surprised to see the munia's in
dense forest. Call notes: a shrill, nasal " keee, keee, keee".
1971.	Rufous-bellied Munia	Lonchura kelaartii
Villages of Ulvi and Anshi
Very common. Seen commonly near all villages and cultivated fields.

Reptiles seen:
Snakes
Green Vine Snake
Rat Snake
Humpnosed Viper
Beddome's Keelback

Gecko's etc
Draco 	Draco dussummieri
Gecko ?
Mammals seen:
Jackal  Canis aureus
Indian Wild Boar Sus scrofa
The Three Striped Palm Squirrel  Funambulus palmarum
The Indian Giant Squirrel  Ratufa indica
Barking Deer (call only)
The Blacknaped Hare Lepus nigricollis nigricollis
Common Langur Presbytis entellus
Bonnet Macaque Macaca mulatta
Bats?

Other interesting sightings
Cicada ssp.
Dung Beetle
Scorpion
Pentatomid Bug
Tortoiseshell Beetles
Bark Mantis (breeding pair)