Flamingo watch!

Written on 5:30 AM by Tushar

'Bird watching' is a the most favorite sport among all teenagers. You know what I mean:)I had not been trekking since past six months and was dying to go for something exciting.I was aware of the bird watching activity conducted by Insearch Outdoors at Bhigwan dam which is located at 100 kms from Pune. We were supposed to get a glimpse of greater Flamingoes (if we were lucky!)and other birds which stay in the wet grassland habitat. This sounded something I had never done before and I said to myself ``Lets try this thing too!''

There were 2 buses loaded with amateur bird watchers which was unexpected. We were a group of 8 friends namely me, Minu, Ramu, Ankur, Riyaz, Nikhil, Mrunal and Uttara.I had to try really hard to convice the organizers to reserve our seats. On Sunday we all gathered at Garware College at 6 am in the chilling cold.The bus was full of 'senior' citizens and amateur photographers who were carrying their really expensive cameras . We occupied the last seat in the bus.As the bus took off we started cracking PJs and I felt pity for the PSPL guy who was sitting with us.

The bus waited at a hotel on the way and we had breakfast which was provided by the organizers. This is when we saw the first animal in our journey which was none other than a cockroach! Ramu was the lucky one to find it in his dish:D. Soon we reached Bhigwan Dam and I beg to differ when somebody calls it a dam...it was no less than a ocean. I AM exagerrating but the quantity of water was enormous because of the monsoon in 2005.The water is spread on the both sides of the bridge which is supposed to be the center line of the water body.Greater quantity of water has attracted more species of birds this year.

There were boats arranged to take us to the Flamingoes which were on the other shore of the dam. Greater Flamingoes come from Gujrat and Iran. These
migratory birds are really beautiful. They are about 4 ft in height and have pink shade in the inner side of their feathers.They feed on the algae and insects which can be found only in the shallow water and that's why they are always found on the shore of the water bodies. Bhigwan has suitable i.e. warm climate and food for 'visitors' is plenty.

My friend from VIT , Vishal Gokhale was our guide who is a amateur bird watcher and was volunteering with Insearch. The boat was really small and could accommodate only 9 to 10 people. It was shaking continuously and the 'boat captain' was making us change places to achieve the balance.On our way to Flamingoes we saw different types Herons [especially the Grey Heron is bigger in size], terns, cormorants and sea gulls. Till that day I knew only one seagull and no prize for guessing _ Jonathan Livingston Seagull:)...I had seen this type in Goa as well and I like the flair with which they fly. We saw many seagulls sitting in a line on the electric wires running from one pole to the other which were immersed in the dam water. Thanks to the fantastic camera [Canon IXUS]that Uttara had got I clicked many pics. Mrunal was ofcourse there with his mindblowing Canon S2IS camera clicking the pictures wildly:)

I saw thousands of ducks on the water and one could see black dots on the horizon in all directions. Brahmani ducks caught my attention in particular because of their brilliantly colored feathers. As we reached near Flamingoes Vishal told us to observe the silence strictly. These birds are very sensitive and fly off whenever they sense any danger. We were about 200 mtrs away from those beauties who were busy fishing. We clicked pics frantically and I was happy on my decision to get my binoculars along. As we were observing them closely some jerk tried to come near them from their back and the whole flock flew... It was an amazing site. Thank god Mrunal could capture those memorable moments in his cam. The whole flock flew and went to the opposite side of the dam thankfully exactly near to the place where our buses were standing. We turned our boat and starting our return journey. We spotted painted and other varieties of storks as we again approached Flamingoes. This time we were lucky and spent 15 to 20 minutes observing those birds.

As we reached the shore after two hours of fantastic and memorable boat journey we headed off to the sugarcane field nearby to satiate our appetite temporarily. There was a calf which was 2 to 3 days old and I could do some wild life photography as well:)

After having lunch in a dhaba we headed towards Matoba dam. We saw Baya weaver bird and other types names of which I don't remember:)...Sunset at the dam was fantastic site and m glad to capture it in the cam.After a journey of 3 hours we reached Pune. We had dinner at Nisarg Hotel near Nalstop and were rolling on the floor laughing while listening to Nikhil's anecdotes.

Epilogue:
Mrunal and Uttara are goin to upload the snaps soon.
Bird watching is really cool and shall do that again given a chance.
Made some new friends and we have decided to cook some more plans in coming days.

I came across a really nice link where one fellow who accompanied us to Bhigwan has uploaded pics taken during the trip.

The fun has just begun!