Mumbai Bird Race 2008 - Desert Wheatear

Yes, Desert Wheatear was the name of our team (Venkat, the captain, Vidyut, Harsh, Yogesh) that participated in the Mumbai Bird Race 2008. Desert Wheatear is a small migrant songbird from North America and Eurasia having a distinctive white rump. Venkat had spotted this elusive bird, a day prior to February 17, on one of the open lands at Uran. We were lucky to spot it again at the same location, a little towards late afternoon, trying to proclaim its territory, among the resident larks and warblers.

We started the bird race at the Karnala Bird Sanctuary. As we entered the sanctuary, the sunbirds: Purple Rumped, Purple, Loten’s greeted us. They were fleeting in the morning sun. Some paused for a while for Venkat’s lens. Close to these birds was a male Paradise Flycatcher, following us for a few meters, eager to be noticed. Once we noticed it, perched on a twig, we saw another juvenile flycatcher attempting to gain our attention.

As we approached a steep climb, we saw, to our surprise four types of Drongos: Ashy, Black, Racket-tailed, Bronze, all trying their luck for an early morning meal. Some of them were trying hard to mimic other birds; as if they wanted to help increase our bird count. Venkat, a seasoned birder, was quick to point out that we are been fooled by the Drongos. I later found out (and this is interesting), the literal meaning of the word Drongo is a fool. So, here we had some fools trying to fool us!

On reaching a certain height, we were trying to regain our balance and our breath when Venkat’s trained eyes spotted a Puff-throated Babbler, silently foraging in the dry leaves. Looking at it, so very well camouflaged, I was wondering whether it was from this bird that the army learnt the art of camouflage; the leafy dress code that the army sometimes sports.

Jungle owlets were the next on our wish list. Venkat had spotted them the previous day at a particular spot but they were nowhere to be seen. Owlets are very difficult to spot. Well! If you ask any birder, he will agree that most jungle birds are difficult to spot, except when they voluntarily greet you with their calls, pose in front of you, just as the Paradise Flycatcher did, or are bright colored.

In between, during our climb, we heard the Crested Serpent Eagle’s call and hoped to catch a glimpse of this magnificent bird once we reached a clearing. On our way to Karnala, we had seen the Black Kites, which is a common site in Mumbai. We also hoped to see other birds of prey. While this thought lingered in our minds, we suddenly spotted a Rufous Treepie, eating its way to glory. We were enjoying this site when the Large Green Barbet’s call distracted us; the call seemed to come from a nearby location. I have always heard this bird but never seen it. This time too, I could only hear and not see!

Black, Purple, Rufous, White, Red were some of the colors that we had seen until now. We anticipated some more colors. A flash of yellow suddenly crossed our sight. It was the Black-naped Oriole, bright yellow in color. Its harsh call was interjecting the Large Green Barbet’s call.

As we moved on, we intermittently noticed a pair of Bronzed Drongos following us. The Black-naped Oriole also tried to remind us of its presence once in a while. It was almost afternoon and we could feel the heat. A covered tank at the beginning of the Hariyal trail served as a good resting spot. Food and water were next on our mind. We guzzled some water but had to wait until we were outside the sanctuary for food.

Mornings are generally believed to be the best time for bird activity as it’s when the birds are on the look out for food. When we were about to consider moving to our next destination Uran, there was a sudden flurry of activity in a nearby bush. It was a blue bird and then a white bird followed by another light blue bird. Was it the blue effect of the water we drank I wondered? In between all this commotion there stood a black bird with a chestnut colored belly, almost as if it was meditating. Well the blue birds were the flycatchers: Black-naped Monarch, Tickell’s Blue, and Verditer, all female. The white male Paradise Flycatcher was trying his tricks to impress them. The black bird was everyone’s favorite Whiterumped Shama. Believe me it was a treat to our eyes, almost a well-orchestrated silent show. We enjoyed it to our eyes content.

It was time to move to Uran. We had to increase our bird tally and the open-field and water birds were our next target. On our way we waited at a fruiting tree and got a glimpse of the Yellow-footed Green Pigeon and the male Asian Koel. The Green Pigeon is the state bird of the Maharashtra. It was gobbling juicy figs, while the Koel watched it.

The next destination, before we reached Uran was an open-field. The Common Hoopoe, a bird that I had seen at Bandhavgarh in Madhya Pradesh, was swinging its fan-shaped crested head. On the gound, near the bushes, were the Ashy Prinias. The Indian and the Magpie Robins, House Sparrows, Rosy Starlings, and Chestnut shouldered Petronias were interspersed in the habitat. The open-field had more in store for us; the Greenish Warblers, Stone Chats, Asian Palm Swifts, and Barn Swallows, all made our day. Overhead flew the Plum-headed and Roseringed Parakeets. Unlike the forest habitat, birds in an open-field are quite obvious.

We reached Uran at around 2.00 pm. The sun was almost hitting the water at an angle that made it very difficult to distinguish the birds. But with great patience and with the help of our binoculars we could identify the following birds (10 to 50 in number): Indian Cormorant, Spot-billed Duck, Northern Shoveller, Gargeney, Ruddy Shelduck, Cattle Egret, Lesser Flamingo (Juvenile), Black-headed Gull, Brown-headed Gull, Indian Pond Heron, Grey Heron, and Black-headed Ibis. Water birds just like the open-field were busy foraging and waiting to greet us conspicuously.

A few minutes later the water invited a lone Marsh Harrier. Then there were numerous White-throated Kingfishers and to our viewing pleasure not 5 but 10 to 12 Red Avadavats. We also spotted the Yellow Wagtail, Ruff, Long-tailed Shrike, Purple Moorhens, and the Sanndpipers: Common, Wood, and Curlew. We had to later visit another water body to spot the Jacanas: Bronze-winged and Pheasant-tailed.

At the end of the day, we submitted our logbook with a total tally of 110 birds at the Maharashtra Nature Park in Mahim. All in all, though we didn’t win the race, it was a great first time experience for me-actually an experience of a lifetime!

Mahul-Kurla, the Pink experience!

Brilliant Pink Band!

Finally!! I saw it, the brilliant pink band, from very near, with my wide open eyes (also through a friend’s binoculars). In fact, there was not just one, but many bands, formed by the migratory Flamingoes. It was a great experience to see them live and a good opportunity to capture them through my lens.

Last year's Flamingo experience at Sewri was a starting point in my birding life. Almost 9 months later, I got an opportunity to meet the Flamingoes again, this time at Mahul village at Kurla East.

The Colgate factory back yard at Sewri provides a small area to see and limits the distance between the birds and the birders. I was a little disappointed with that. Then I heard about Mahul village. We took the creek route on a boat, now possible, thanks to Waman Koli, a fisherman.

We gathered at Mahul village bus stop (from Kurla East we took 361, 363 no. buses and got down at Mahul village, the last stop) and proceeded to the small jetty through a village. People in the village seemed like they were used to visitors like us on weekends. After meeting Waman, we had to wait until the water level increased in the creek. At this point, we could hear chirping birds in the near by area and spotted Magpie Robins and Bulbuls in the bushes.

Then we went near the water, where the boats were parked, We found many water birds welcoming us—actually preparing us for journey.

We started clicking pictures but limited the number of clicks to save camera memory for the pink visitors. After a brief wait, Waman and his men gave us green signal to get into the boats. We went by the boat which runs on diesel (it’s very noisy). Four main diesel boats started moving through the creek carrying 40 to 50 passengers.

Most of us started immediately looking ahead to spot the Flamingoes. On our way, some of us spotted other birds on the shores. Among them was a Blue Kingfisher, quietly sitting and waiting for its prey. There were common sand pipers and little egrets near by.

When we were busy photographing these resident birds, the boatman suddenly changed our focus to the faraway mudflats. We started looking through camera lens and binoculars and were amazed to see 5000 to 6000 pink birds, spread across the mudflats near the edges of the creek, feeding in separate groups.

I couldn’t resist the temptation to go nearer to one group. We were in the center of main creek area and fortunately, we had a chance to go nearer by a small boat, attached to the main boat. I jumped to the opportunity and along with three others got into the small boat. One of the fisherman was directing it along with the help of small boy. It seems these fishermen are very much used to these things as guides. They know the timings, locations, and how much distance to maintain when the birds are on ground and when they fly, The fisherman also know where the birds go and from where they come (within Mumbai creek limit of course). We approached nearer to the birds and they started noticing us. Then we stopped there and started clicking their pictures and watching them directly face to face. It was just awesome experience, which is difficult to describe. I’ll recommend you to be there to feel the experience. There were both the Lesser as well as Greater Flamingoes. Many of the Lesser Flamingoes were Juvenile. The Greater Flamingoes towered above the rest when they stood erect, perhaps they were keeping an eye on the water and us.

Earlier I used to see such sites only on wild life TV channels. But this time it was direct experience. As the high tide started bringing more water, the water started filling the mudflat area. The Flamingoes started moving like herds, getting ready to fly. The birds ran a few meters and then took off in the air like jet planes. They formed a fantastic line, some of them were flying in pairs.

I wanted to see more and on our return to the main boat we could see a group near the Sewri bay. It looked like if we would have been to Sewri at this time we could have seen this particular group from a close distance. But my assumption may be wrong because It was low tide and the beginning of high tide and we were at the opposite side of Sewri and the distance between the Colgate factory back yard and the birds seemed to be very small from the boat. You can understand this better if you have been there on low tide day.

We were there in the boat until all the birds flew away. As per the fishermen they went to the BARC area, where nobody can disturb them since it is highly secured area, even fishermen are not allowed to go in that area for fishing.

On our return journey we noticed jumping fish, snakes popping their head up from water, and many other water birds.

All of us were prepared for the cold season since Mumbai is experiencing a chilly weather, but we were wrong about the temperature at sea, it was quite different. In fact we experienced the heat like it was summer. For some of us photographers, it was a different experience. We were traveling on moving boat, each time we had to balance our selves and make sure the camera shutter speed is fast enough to avoid the shake or boat movement.

After alighting from the boat, I felt like going back (once more) but knowing that all of them had flown away to other locations, I had no choice but to head toward my sweet home where my little ones with pink cheeks must have wondered where my daddy disappeared early in the morning even on a Sunday. On returning home, I shared the pink pictures with them and enjoyed the rest of the day at home.

Here is the link for the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/girishanagha/MahulKurlaBirds

Team [Vidyut, Girish Chonkar, Chetan Patil, Abhijit Kale, Mithila Kale, Ashwini, Deepak Mohite, Madhavi Mohite, Vaishali Patel, Tanya Singh and Vidyut's Parents] photo credit to Chetan Patil]