My future holds trouble ...

... but I don't know it yet.  

For those who prefer birding blogs with photos and very little narrative my India trip blog will be a disappointment.  Out of necessity, the story of this trip must to be told with words.  Words, words, words.  Lots of them.  For those who don't enjoy reading, abandon now!  

An introduction to how I came to be on the south India and Andaman Islands trip is important background information.  In the early summer of 2011, I took an unaccompanied birding trip to Bulgaria sponsored by the organization, Friends for the Protection of Bulgarian Birds (FPBB is now defunct), founded by an American birder, Yoav, from Philadelphia, whose wife was from Bulgaria.  The goal of the trip was to raise money for the FPBB.  I had not traveled like this before - that is, alone - and I felt anxious.  I called and spoke, at length, with Yoav and was reassured that this would be a good trip and, in June of 2011, I met up with five other American birders for about a ten day birding trip around Bulgaria.  Of the many trips I have been on, the Bulgaria trip remains one of my favorites.  Bulgaria was uniquely beautiful, the places we stayed completely charming, the food excellent and our field guide, Mladen Vasilev, was amazing!  If you scroll back to June 2011 on this blog, you will find several Bulgaria trip entries with my photos and narrative.

On the Bulgaria trip I met a semi-retired couple from northern California.  They commented that they often organized trips - in the states and abroad - and said that they would let me know of upcoming trips.  If interested I could join.  I was grateful for such a generous offer, but my job was busy with long hours and I had to be equivocal about my chances for joining them.  There were a couple of other interactions with them; a wine purchase and I received an entertaining end-of- year email update.  I never joined them for another trip.

Nine years passed and I was in the middle of a busy morning at work when my cell phone rang.  It was the California trip organizer - henceforth  to be referred to with the acronym ATO (for American trip organizer).  Would I like to go to on a birding and tiger trip to north India?  I worked with many Indians and I was always asking them questions to learn about India and I had deep admiration for my Indian colleagues.  Would I like to go to north India?  Yes!

I joined the ATO, his wife, two other couples from Northern California and three others from Massachusetts, Ohio and Oklahoma, on this trip. The trip was so active, the hotels amazing, the food out of this world and the birds and other animals over-the-top.  Of the excellent field guides I have experienced on other trips, our Indian field guide (henceforth referred to as IFG)  was amongst the very best of these - along with William Suarez (Cuba),  Mladen Vasilev (Bulgaria), Vernon Campos (Costa Rica) and Domi Alveo (Panama).  There were a few little dustups, as all trips will have, but by and large the trip went off without a hitch.  I attributed this to the people skills of our IFG and his vast knowledge of his country and its wildlife.  He comes from a family of birders and conservationists.  His father honed his birding skills under the tutelage of Salim Ali, the father of Indian birding, and started a birding sanctuary near their home which thrives today.  Talk and early planning for a south India trip began even before the north India trip ended.  When I returned home, I wrote a few blog entries about the north India trip, but I had to abandon the project.   

What happened next, three days after my return to work following north India - this was March 2020 - is world history.  This was, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic.  Our world was upended.  My work was considered essential and I continued to go to work every day.  Others began working from home.  Some of my colleagues were furloughed.   Some quit.  Many contracted COVID-19.  A number of individuals in my organization died.  There was a period of time when just me and two other colleagues managed the entirety of our on-site workplace activities.  COVID-19 completely upended the way we live and did our work.  As with all travel everywhere, the 2021 south India trip was postponed.           

At the end of 2020 I received my first Pfizer vaccine followed by the second injection a month later.  The grip COVID-19 held on the United States and the world metastasized from a medical pandemic into a political pandemic.  COVID continued to rage in 2021 with second and third waves and new variants.  A 2022 south India trip was also postponed.  Retirement, a complete bathroom remodel, a new U.S. president, booster vaccines and much else occupied my life.  I forgot about the south India trip.

Then around February of 2022, the ATO emailed the South India trip itinerary with the Andaman Islands offered as an extension. It was scheduled for March 2023.  This was thrilling news.  The itinerary email was followed up by another email with details of the trip deposits and due dates.  When I saw the price of the trip, I was stunned.  The cost seemed out of touch with reality.  Additionally, I did not have a roommate to accompany me and was hit by an eye-popping single supplement.  Sheepishly, I discussed the cost with my Indian friend in Bangalore.  She was highly critical.  I spoke to the ATO with my concerns and somehow got the single-supplement slashed by $800 - a drop in the bucket but still something.   In the end, I wanted to go to south India and this overruled all.  I wanted to bird with the IFG again.  I wanted to visit my friend in Bangalore.  I wanted to see south India, the homeland of my colleagues.  I made justifications for the high cost.  Everything also cost more in the U.S.  Why would India be different?  I reduced the sting slightly by making flight reservations with Delta and Air France using frequent flyer miles.  Cost of airline travel had also increased.  

Kingfishers are one of my favorite bird families.  The White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnenis) is common throughout India and I saw it many times, both in 2020 and in 2023.  It's an eye-catching bird with fabulous colors.

The Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) is well-known by all and very common throughout India.  Its vocalization is unmistakable and frequently heard.  The photo is so-so, but the spectacle is great.