Veer Dam

23rd Feb, 2009.

I'm excited!!! Its the day I get to see demoiselle cranes and bar headed geese!!

We wake up perfectly on time and leave home at the scheduled 5 30 a.m. The drive to Veer was fun.... It was just behind home and the usual route.... We saw a lot of birds en route... It seemed to be "grey hornbill day"... I must've seen about 15 of them that morning!!

The CRAZY thing that happened was when, as we drove, I spotted what seemed to be "obese black kites"... Not 1, but 4 of them. What they turned out to be was something UNBELIEVABLE!!! STEPPE EAGLES!!! Having clicked some snaps of it, we proceeded to the "dharan".

As we drove, a happy family of 4 grey francolins crossed the road... They look adorable!! The dam is beautiful.... It makes you feel at peace... Unfortunately, the demoiselle cranes and the geese seemed to have returned to their respective homes.. :-(

I have no qualms about it because of the other amazing birds we got to see as compensation!! There were eurasian marsh harriers fighting a pair of drongos. I love that bird!! Its the most handsome, brave bird ever!!

We then saw openbill storks, standing like in a trance, shelducks, ibis, black headed gulls and many other birds!!

Somehow, the bird that caught my fancy was a kestrel that kept roaming around there. That bird is amongst my favourite!!! :-)

Getting back home was the last thing we wanted to do... Veer has claimed a special place in my heart after this visit... What's funny though, is that we stay at exactly and hour's drive from it, and we didn't know about it!

On the way back, Ma and I went and got a couple of dry sunflowers with the intention of planting them at home. That we ate it all up is a different story!!On the way back, the steppe eagles were still there!!! That was the most wonderful birthday gift I've ever got.. or could ever hope to get! :-)

As for Veer, here I come again in a little while!!

Bhigwan - Bird paradise!

Amidst a lot of excitement, I got another opportunity to visit Bhigwan - and boy!! It was AMAZING!

A two hour drive to the place with plenty of music by Indian Ocean made it awesome! :)

Bhigwan has something about it... It makes you really happy!

Bhigwan is about 95 Kms from Pune on the Pune-Solapur highway and is the backwaters of the mighty Ujani Dam. It is a sanctuary for migratory birds, including the greater flamingo.

We got to the "juna pul" and the view that awaited me was too good... Openbill storks, moorhens, glossy ibis, black ibis, black necked ibis, spoonbills, shovellers, coots, warblers, spot billed ducks, shelducks, painted storks, wooly necked storks, grey herons, purple herons, cormorants and a lone darter was what I spotted in about 10 minutes!! The place is just teeming with life!!

You can't hear yourself at this place!! All you can hear is "Cackle cackle quack quack" :)

After about an hour, we decided to go to the neighbouring village called Kumbhar Gaon, which is the other end of the massive Bhigwan Lake.

This was one mesmerizing place!! There were more birds than there were at the "juna pul".

This place holds a special place in my heart though. After 3 visits to this place, I got to see the most graceful and beautiful birds on Earth - the greater flamingo. My mother has now got her tag as the "genius" stuck on to her after the way she spotted them at a great distance!!

I have no word to describe those birds.. They can just keep you transfixed!

All in all, this was one of the most exciting and lovely experiences I've had, and has helped me grow as a birder!!

P.S - Sorry for the average picture of the flamingos, but they were far off!