Birding with Ram Gopalakrishnan: February 2026

How often have you traveled a long way to get a glimpse of a rare bird, and the first bird you see and photograph was that very one! We gazed reverently at the Forest Owlet against a blue sky, it's long repetitive call, white belly and glowering white eyebrows easily distinguishable by call and lack of stripes from the Jungle Owlet which we saw nearby. Soon enough, the female joined it and they conversed with each other with brief calls. A moment likely to be remembered for a lifetime.

We were on the outskirts of Vansda National Park, South Gujarat, reached after an hour's drive from Valsad. Re-discovered in 1996 after first being described more than a century earlier, the Forest Owlet (Athene blewitti) can be seen only in a few isolated patches of the Northern Western Ghats in Maharashtra and Gujarat. This crepuscular owlet favors the higher reaches of straight, tall trees at the edge of the forest, where it tends to merge seamlessly with the tree below. When I heard you could see it relatively easily in the Dangs forests, the southernmost district of Gujarat, I signed up immediately for the trip with Adesh Shivkar of Nature India.

After a stopover at Vansda for a hearty Dangi thali lunch loaded with local delicacies, we headed on to Purna Wildlife Sanctuary, the northernmost extent of the Western Ghats. The floor of the relatively open dry deciduous forest crackled underfoot with leaves of teak and Terminalia trees. A second sighting of the Forest Owlet followed, the bird cautious of our approach and usually flying away when we got within 50m. The twilight resounded with its decrescendo ko-ko-ko-ko call. Other birds were of course there: Yellow-footed Green Pigeons, Tickells Blue Flycatcher and White-eyed Buzzard. The exotic and the plebeian co-habited a single slightly degraded habitat: White-naped and Black-rumped Flameback, Racket-tailed and Black Drongo.

We went owling after dark: two personal lifers were the big Brown Wood-Owl with its lugubrious dark eyes and pleasant hooting call, and a pair of Barn Owls which continued to screech away loudly unmindful of our proximity and flashlights on them. A Russell's Viper, a highly venomous snake, calmly crossed the road in front of our cars. We had just spent the previous hour trampling in the dark in the leafy undergrowth after the owls…..hmmm!

Morning bird calls rang out all around us in the bamboo forest around the Mahal Eco-tourism camp. The camp is beautifully located and constructed most esthetically in the bamboo forest on the bank of the Purna River: sadly reports of filthy, rat-infested rooms forced us to stay elsewhere. It's a shame that the Forest Dept doesn't keep this superb property in good functioning order for tourists: they need to publicize it better and perhaps lease it to a private party for this purpose. One never gets tired of seeing the long flowing white tail of the Asian Paradise-Flycatcher fluttering in the undergrowth. An Emerald-Dove zoomed overhead and Puff-throated Babblers called all around us. The elusive Forest Wagtail showed off its broad black and white wing and breast markings. We watched transfixed as a Wolf snake gradually swallowed a house gecko, almost twice its diameter.

We did one more drive to its typical forest edge habitat of tall straight trees to listen carefully for its call and hey presto: one more Forest Owlet sat for a good half hour as we approached close for photos. Owling after sunset was a glass half full: the Mottled Wood-Owl and the Boobock did not show up, but an Oriental Scops-Owl which was finally seen after a prolonged period of hearing it calling. A brief sighting of a crossing leopard in our headlights as we headed back brought a broad pre-dinner smile to our faces!

Vigor's and Purple Sunbirds competed for the best flowers in the morning sunlight while we competed for the best shots. We focused on Vigor's, seen only in the Sahyadri's. A Black-headed Bunting “Zorro mask” glinted in the sunlight. As we headed back, we hoped this unique home for the Forest Owlet remains preserved for future generations. Development pressure and creeping habitat loss, as usual, is the main threat to this unique bird and the region has enormous potential to develop as an eco-tourism and birding hotspot, centered around this flagship species.

So head there before it's too late!