Tuesday 12 February 2013

FROM HOUSE CROW TO PAINTED STORK..( just a technical title to show off my new skill..lol)




The day I met Aditya at CCD, I never thought I would be spending my Sunday mornings birding. Being a Mumbaikar, the only bird I knew was crow. It had no fancy title like house crow. To be quite frank I never thought knowing lot of birds(along with their names and features) means so much to birders. Last month got introduced to the bible of birders -Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Every birder has their bible and binoculars with them. Here I was with no book and binoculars. The second thing about birding was to not to talk. The hush tone was a bit too much for me to handle.. At first I could not locate the bird and then the colour..Identification was never on my agenda…I never paid attention to the white belly or white patch on the tail…
Now the point is if it was not my liking why did end up at Sinhagad valley on Sunday morning. And what is the point of writing this…The answer is- I read couple of months back that spending time together is what matters and not always doing the things which I love. Sunane mein bada accha lagata hai..karne mein thoda mushkil…I took months..lol..but phirbhi decided to try it out..The smile on Aditya’s face mattered the most. Soon started enjoying it. My funda is I observe and enjoy their colours (still not very keen on their names)..The strange part is I started noticing birds now..pagal lagati hu eklehi trees stare karate..par usme bhi majja hai..So, the blog is for anyone who was not interested in birding and may want to give it a try.
As all birders do, I have also made list of birds. Here it is(tadka marake..lol…):
1.    From my house balcony
1.    Coppersmith Barbet-(It has been declared as Mumbai Bird)
2.    Red-whiskered Bulbul 
3.    Grey Hornbill
4.    Asian Koyal (Male and Female)
5.    Oriole ( I call it taxi. As the name suggest it is yellow and black)
6.    White Throated Kingfisher - it is not the one on the logo of NDTV Good times. It is Common Kingfisher on the Logo. Even the name suggests common, I could not c it.
7.    Drongo- It is my favourite bird. Very easy to indentify. Don’t have to look at colour or size. Just look at the long forked tail. Bingo u can identify Drongo.
8.    Greater Coucal
9.    Laughing Dove.


2.    Bhigwan
1.    Greater Flamingo - The lead actors of the show at Bhigwan are Flamingos. Pretty birds. Don’t like noise. The fact is they get the pink colour by eating algae. The little one are blue in colour and slowly get the beautiful pink colour.

2.    River Tern- River tern is fast and beats the Sea Gull in catching fish.
3.    Sea gull- is little plum but never gives up. Gull could catch some fish.

4.     Ibis- usme bhi there is black Ibis, Black headed Ibis and Glossy Ibis. I like black headed one. It looks like it is wearing a pretty furry  white short dress.
5.    Spoonbill- as the name suggests it has spoon like bill. Very interesting to c.

6.    Brahmny ducks
7.    Painted Storks- Never thought that I would be in love  with them. Not very pretty in appearance like lesser flamingos. But storks have 5 colours- white, black, pink, yellow and green. My rating for painted storks in 5 stars. Got to bighwan and catch them in action. Don’t forget to carry popcorn. Coz once u are there surrounded by storks u don’t wanna to go home. Just like esselworld tag line(esselworld mein rahunga mein ghar nahi nahi jaunga mein)..

8.    Sand piper.
9.    Pondya(pond heron)
10.  Brahmny Kite.
11.  Grey heron
12.  Egret- How can I forget  egret. It has long neck.. looks very classy. Has a striking yellow feets..

Would keep on exploring more birds. Do share ur experience too.