A rising mercury offers splendid wildlife viewing

Place: Jim's Jungle Retreat
Quarterly Update: by Imran Khan

As the mercury rises, Corbett’s safari timings have also changed accordingly.  Early mornings and late evenings are pleasant and one can stay in the park for a longer time during the peak hours of activity of the forest’s denizens.  Even as the wheat crop gets harvested from the farmlands surrounding Corbett, various fruiting trees like mango, litchi and Phyllanthus emblica (amla, or the Indian gooseberry), have started flowering, providing additional food sources to both insectivores and frugivores.

Meantime, many of the man-made water holes have been refilled, while several more are being created for habitat management. The scarcity of water has been felt all over the Bijrani and Jhirna tourism zones as a number of waterholes have dried up and animals living on the peripheral range of CTR tend to move closer to human habitation.  Infact, tiger sightings have been regular as most of them have chosen to remain in the vicinity of waterholes.

There are several noticeable changes to the forest cover as well, with the topography changing colour from green and brown to light green, indicating leaf fall in many species of tropical trees and the associates of Sal. Some of the species such as Indian Laburnum, Ebony trees and a large variety of ficus have started growing new leaves, providing fodder to wild elephants, primates and other herbivores.  Much of the ground vegetation, comprising the Indian Curry leaf, Clerodendron and Ageratum, among others, have started flowering and now sport a new coat of tender leaves, instigating butterflies to start looking for the nectar.  One can see several butterfly species, including the Common Tiger, Common Grass Yellow, Blue Pancy and the Evening Browns fluttering on the lower strata of the forests.

This also is an important time for birders, as several species descend on the Corbett landscape from peninsular India and the Himalayas for breeding and feeding purposes.  Peninsular arrivals include the Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Blue-tailed and Chestnut headed Bee-eaters and the Indian Pitta, while various cuckoo species fly in from their Himalayan perches into Corbett to breed. The beautiful long-tailed Paradise Flycatcher, ready to breed, and the rufous males with shorter tails, learning to breed, offer excellent photography opportunities.  Nightjars too have come out of their hibernation and one can hear them often, its call similar to the sounds of a wind mill in flow. Most species of Raptors, or birds of prey, begin to establish their territories with loud calling sounds. Even as the males establish territory, the females are courted for the breeding season that begins with the onset of the monsoon in July. Various other bird species, including the Spangled drongo, Golden oriole, Indian roller and Leaf bird, have started pairing up and will begin to breed over the coming weeks. 

Corbett's Platinum Jubilee begins, Imran Khan

2011 marks Corbett Tiger Reserve’s Platinum Jubilee year that commemorates India’s pioneering wildlife conservation effort of establishing Asia’s first protected forest in 1936.

For the first time since Project Tiger’s inception in 1973 an India-wide survey reveals a marked increase in tiger numbers. A 12% rise to around 1800 tigers from 1411 in 2008, despite an overall shrinkage of habitat by 6%, is good news. However, this demands a greater push toward scientific management of the reserves as well as better relations with peripheral human settlements. This may only be possible with the intervention of chief ministers of the 17 tiger states in the country.

The Corbett landscape has been in the limelight recently, especially because of increasing tiger numbers, rising levels of man-animal conflict and a sizeable increase in the number of tourists and tourist facilities operating without a wildlife tourism policy. Positive and wider awareness about conservation at the grass root level, while building up of a strong political will for the tigers may be the main ingredients toward a successful celebration of Corbett’s 75 years of existence. The greatest inspiration comes from the sightings of around 25 - 35 cubs, caught on camera via camera traps laid across the sanctuary.

With the launch of Corbett’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, a number of events have already taken place:

* A tiger monitoring and conservation workshop, held in New Delhi and Dhikala, was attended by some of the greatest field workers, including Dr George Schaller, an authority on big cats and their habitat management; Dr Siedenstiecker, a leading gene biologist on big cat inbreeding and possible repercussions, and a plethora of government and non-government representatives. The outcome of the workshop was to refocus emphasis on foot patrolling, beat management, wide use of camera traps and monitoring of the pugmarks.

* A workshop titled “Tourism & Tiger” with active participation from local politicians, villagers, print media and forest personnel, which resulted in positive and constructive discussions on responsible and irresponsible tourism. The end result of the daylong discussions suggested that responsible tourism is the best tool for conservation.

* A World Bank team of tiger conservation experts from U.S.A., Australia, England and Italy visited Corbett and discussed funding opportunities for better conservation techniques. During their discussions at Jim’s Jungle Retreat, we presented ideas on promoting ecosystem farming to give land back to the tiger for its forest corridors.

Other events will occur through the year in Dehradun and Corbett. By November 15 the Prime Minister is expected to close the year-long celebrations with the launch of a coffee table book on Corbett.