When life gets unrealistically busy, traffic gets on your nerves, and your mundane job routine frustrates you, one needs to get away to a far place for a vacation. A vacation that can make someone forget the meaning of fast life, deadlines, targets, and appraisals. A place that is full of blissful happiness and respite from the busy world. A place where life is slow and people are laid back.
Chiplun is known as ‘God’s own country’ and rightly so. It is bound by the Western Ghats on the east and the Arabian Sea on the west. The region is blessed with unparalleled natural bounty and avifauna. Especially during the monsoon season, Chiplun comes alive with lush greenery. During this time, the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, also known as the “Jewel of Konkan”, breeds.
OVERVIEW
Location: Ratnagiri District, Maharashtra, India
Nearest Airport: Mumbai & Pune airports
How to reach: 6.5 hours from Mumbai airport
Famous for: Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher & Blue Eared Kingfisher
Best time to visit: Jul to Sep
WHAT TO SEE
Birds: Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, Blue Eared Kingfisher, Black hooded orioles, Babblers, Golden backed woodpecker, white bellied drongo, Indian pitta, Blackbird, Vigors sunbird
Chiplun is home to the oriental dwarf kingfisher, a small and colorful bird that breeds in the Western Ghats during the monsoon season. It boasts of a couple of hiding setups for oriental dwarf kingfisher sat a different location and is the best place to see and photograph this unique bird species.
Different local guides have made different hides for photography ensuring minimal disturbance to the birds. The photographers need to move out from the hide from time to time and let the oriental dwarf kingfishers go about their business without any hindrance.
The oriental bird kingfisher nests in mud banks and breeds twice in every monsoon. There are two sets of chicks fledged during this time. In about 15 days, one clutch hatches and the chicks fledge in about 20 days. The birds can be seen between July to early August, at the onset or during the monsoon. It is easy to differentiate between the male and the female. The male is smaller while the female is slightly larger and rounder than the males.
Apart from the oriental dwarf kingfisher, other species of birds like blue eared kingfishers, Black-hooded orioles, Babblers, Golden-backed woodpecker, white-bellied drongo, Indian pitta, Blackbird, Vigors sunbird, and the like can also be found at Chiplun.
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