Rare Whooper Swan spotted from Basunti & other bits and bobs.

I had the very great privilege of spotting what I first thought was a very large pair of Geese flying over Basunti. Something did not seem quite right, as the necks were to long and they seemed to be bigger than any Geese that I had seen before. Forgot about this sighting for a while, until I was informed yesterday that a pair of Whooper Swans had been spotted on the Pong Dam, after an absence in India of 113 years. The last recorded sighting was on the Beas near Talwara, just across the border in the Punjab, in 1900. This sighting brings the number of bird species spotted, in and around the Pong Dam, to 418. A recent census, done by various North Indian bird societies, put the number of migratory birds on the Pong Dam this year at 127,000; 32,000 of these were Bar-headed Geese, the largest concentration in India.

The weather at Basunti has been overcast and a bit drizzly, although when the sun does come out it is lovely and warm. Regardless of this, my creepy crawly neighbours seem to think that a change is on the way. This morning I spotted the first scorpion of the season, ambling along the road that runs past the property and also a shed snake skin on the way down to the lake. On close examination, as far as I can tell, the shed skin was of a non-venomous variety snake, as it was about a metre long and quite thin; very likely to be a Bronzed-back Tree Snake, a species which is fairly common in the area. This is a Snake that I have had dealings with before and it is best left well and truly alone. Although it is not poisonous, it can be extremely aggressive and has another very disconcerting habit, of being one of the few Snakes in the world that has the ability to spring.
The early flowering of my Peach trees was a bit worrying, as I was wondering how they would be pollinated, as not many insects are around at the moment. This problem was solved by the morning and evening arrival of a flock of about fifty Oriental White-eyes, who gave the flowers a very thorough going over. Will be interesting to see how many fruit set, as the White-eyes have now moved on to the Plum and Pear trees, which have also started to flower.
A lot of new birds are starting to appear in the garden, as they are coming up from the plains on the way to the Himalayan foothills. Brahminy Starling, Purple and Crimson Sunbirds and Scarlet Minivet are just a few of the species spotted. My favourite at the moment is the Blue-capped Rock Thrush, an extremely pretty bird, that has decided to spend some time in the Basunti Gardens.