My first Birding Trip...Bhigwan
When my father surprised me by telling me that he had booked me on a trip to Bhigwan, I was totally overjoyed and could not wait for the day to arrive. The night of 27th, I could barely sleep and was up in a flash as soon as my father woke me up at 4:15 AM. All excited, my sister Tanvi and I got ready in a flash and we set off to the Sahakar Nagar pickup point at 5:00 AM. Most of the fellow campers had already gathered at the meeting point waiting for the bus to arrive. the wait for the driver was killing us all. So, after waiting for almost 30 mins, we decided to move down the street. The bus finally arrived at almost 6 AM and we climbed aboard and set off for Bhigwan. We picked up a few more campers on the way and arrived at a spot close to the backwaters around 8 AM. Excitedly, we all got off only to realize that we were at the wrong spot as we had taken a wrong turn. While some of the travelers took this opportunity to relieve themselves, we did a quick birding and could spot cattle egrets, wire tailed and barn swallows in air and little egrets in waters
Once we were ready, we set off armed with the correct directions to our destination and reached there in no time. On arrival, we were served with breakfast of hot poha followed by tea. Some of us moved towards the gallery, breakfast in hand, and were lucky to spot a magnificent grey heron in flight about to perch a tree. We all ran to fetch our cameras and started clicking away like crazy.
We, the baccha party quickly finished our breakfast and climbed down when we found a mother dog with her three cute pups.
After having breakfast, we started towards the lake for the main course of this trip i.e. birding. The boats were already waiting for us. As the capacity of each boat was around 8-10 people, we were split into 4 groups and each was assigned a boat. Our boatman's name was Kundan and he was very knowledgeable and experienced in birding. As we set off towards the other side, he gave us information on the kind of birds that could be seen at this time of the year. The boat ride was to take around 30-40 mins to reach the spot. On the way, we could spot Asian open bill stork and intermediate egret. We could also spot river terns, whiskered terns, brown headed gulls etc
After half an hour journey, we reached our main spot where we spotted a flock of flamingos. Kundan took us as close to them as was possible without alerting them. This gave us many opportunities to take many photos of these magnificent birds.
While we were clicking away, our guide pointed to a flying bird and amazingly it was a marsh harrier! Finally we had seen a raptor! We also saw many flying birds of which some were
Our guide had a wonderful surprise in store for us. He had brought fishes with him to be used as a bait for the birds. So we started throwing fish in water and gulls started to fight amongst them, and we had good opportunities to take many more snaps, which we obviously did not waste. We saw superb sights which included stealing of food by terns and vice versa.
While we were feeding fish to the gulls and other birds, something alerted the flamingos and they decided to take off. They spread their wings and took off to an unknown destination. it was like paradise for bird watchers.
After spending some more time watching some other birds, it was time to head back. We got to see small waterbirds on our way back. Some on menu were little ringed plover, common sandpiper, grey wagtail etc.
Mayureshwar
We reached the shore in another 30 odd mins, and then set off towards the next destination which was Mayureshwar. On the way, we stopped for lunch which was buffet course of paneer masala, jeera rice, dal tadka, roti and bharla wanga and gulab jamun. Refueled with the energy we left for Mayureshwar sanctuary, which was another hrs drive. Some of the campers used this opportunity to catch up on sleep :) We reached Mayureshwar around 3 PM and there we saw lot of Chinkaras.
Happy and contented, we left for home around 5 PM. On the way, we made a side stop for some hot tea and tasty vada-pav. We finally reached Sahakarnagar at 8:15 PM. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the campers who made this trip full of fun and enjoyment. Thanks all,especialy Kedar kaka and his family. See u in upcoming trips
List of birds sighted on this trip:
When my father surprised me by telling me that he had booked me on a trip to Bhigwan, I was totally overjoyed and could not wait for the day to arrive. The night of 27th, I could barely sleep and was up in a flash as soon as my father woke me up at 4:15 AM. All excited, my sister Tanvi and I got ready in a flash and we set off to the Sahakar Nagar pickup point at 5:00 AM. Most of the fellow campers had already gathered at the meeting point waiting for the bus to arrive. the wait for the driver was killing us all. So, after waiting for almost 30 mins, we decided to move down the street. The bus finally arrived at almost 6 AM and we climbed aboard and set off for Bhigwan. We picked up a few more campers on the way and arrived at a spot close to the backwaters around 8 AM. Excitedly, we all got off only to realize that we were at the wrong spot as we had taken a wrong turn. While some of the travelers took this opportunity to relieve themselves, we did a quick birding and could spot cattle egrets, wire tailed and barn swallows in air and little egrets in waters
 |
| Little Egret |
Once we were ready, we set off armed with the correct directions to our destination and reached there in no time. On arrival, we were served with breakfast of hot poha followed by tea. Some of us moved towards the gallery, breakfast in hand, and were lucky to spot a magnificent grey heron in flight about to perch a tree. We all ran to fetch our cameras and started clicking away like crazy.
 |
| Grey Heron |
We, the baccha party quickly finished our breakfast and climbed down when we found a mother dog with her three cute pups.
 |
| Pups |
After having breakfast, we started towards the lake for the main course of this trip i.e. birding. The boats were already waiting for us. As the capacity of each boat was around 8-10 people, we were split into 4 groups and each was assigned a boat. Our boatman's name was Kundan and he was very knowledgeable and experienced in birding. As we set off towards the other side, he gave us information on the kind of birds that could be seen at this time of the year. The boat ride was to take around 30-40 mins to reach the spot. On the way, we could spot Asian open bill stork and intermediate egret. We could also spot river terns, whiskered terns, brown headed gulls etc
After half an hour journey, we reached our main spot where we spotted a flock of flamingos. Kundan took us as close to them as was possible without alerting them. This gave us many opportunities to take many photos of these magnificent birds.
 |
| Flamingos |
 |
| Flame is going |
 |
| Closeup |
While we were clicking away, our guide pointed to a flying bird and amazingly it was a marsh harrier! Finally we had seen a raptor! We also saw many flying birds of which some were
 |
| Bar Headed Geese |
 |
| River Tern |
 |
| Painted Stork |
 |
| Whiskered Tern |
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| Osprey |
Our guide had a wonderful surprise in store for us. He had brought fishes with him to be used as a bait for the birds. So we started throwing fish in water and gulls started to fight amongst them, and we had good opportunities to take many more snaps, which we obviously did not waste. We saw superb sights which included stealing of food by terns and vice versa.
While we were feeding fish to the gulls and other birds, something alerted the flamingos and they decided to take off. They spread their wings and took off to an unknown destination. it was like paradise for bird watchers.
 |
| Brown Headed Gull |
 |
| Brown Headed Gull |
After spending some more time watching some other birds, it was time to head back. We got to see small waterbirds on our way back. Some on menu were little ringed plover, common sandpiper, grey wagtail etc.
 |
| little ringed plover |
 |
| Little Ring Plover and Sandpiper |
Mayureshwar
We reached the shore in another 30 odd mins, and then set off towards the next destination which was Mayureshwar. On the way, we stopped for lunch which was buffet course of paneer masala, jeera rice, dal tadka, roti and bharla wanga and gulab jamun. Refueled with the energy we left for Mayureshwar sanctuary, which was another hrs drive. Some of the campers used this opportunity to catch up on sleep :) We reached Mayureshwar around 3 PM and there we saw lot of Chinkaras.
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| Chinkara Taking Off |
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| Run run!! |
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| My Habitat |
Happy and contented, we left for home around 5 PM. On the way, we made a side stop for some hot tea and tasty vada-pav. We finally reached Sahakarnagar at 8:15 PM. I thoroughly enjoyed the company of the campers who made this trip full of fun and enjoyment. Thanks all,especialy Kedar kaka and his family. See u in upcoming trips
List of birds sighted on this trip:
- Grey Wagtail
- House Swift
- Singing bush lark
- Rose ringed parakeet
- Spotted dove
- Painted stork
- Black winged stilts
- Brown headed gull
- Whisked tern
- River tern
- Bar headed geese
- Greater flamingos
- Marsh harrier
- Grey heron
- Little ringed plover
- Common sandpiper
- Little egret
- Little cormorant
- Purple swamphen
- Northern shoveller
- Indian pond heron
- Barn swallow
- Wire tailed swallows
- Bramhiny kite
- Common kingfisher
- White throated kingfisher
- Cattle egret
- Northern pintail
- Asian openbill
- Bay backed shrike
- Ashy drongo
- Little green bee-eater
- Western reef egret
- Purple heron
- Lesser sand plover
- Black tailed godwit
- Palla's gull
- Chinkaras (Indian Gazzeles)
