My group consisted of our Captain Kalpana Malani, a seasoned birdwatcher, who is extremely meticulous in the way she goes about identifying a particular species, our Vice Captain Rajesh Kapadia, also a seasoned birdwatcher and an expert on birdcalls. The other 2 members Gaurangi Ganpule, an occupational therapy student at Nair Hospital and Odette Gomes, who turned out to be Gaurangi’s Professors at Nair, were both amateur birdwatchers like me. We called ourselves the Coppersmiths after the Coppersmith Barbette, a grass green heavy built bird with deep crimson breast and forehead, which is as comfortable in noisy cities as ours as it is in forests.
Leaving the city well before the proverbial “crack of dawn” we reached Karnala
Bird Sanctuary just in time to catch the first rays of the morning sun illuminating the majestic thumb shaped rock formation which dominated the park. Karnala Bird Sanctuary turned out to be a nature lovers’ paradise. It has numerous densely wooded hills within its confines and the sense of calm one experiences walking down the leafy paths that wind their way through the forest is incomparable. Heading towards the restrooms we spotted a pair of Pompadour Green Pigeons all puffed up to keep out the morning chill. Entering the main forest we found that the presence of a large noisy group of tourists was making uninterrupted bird watching difficult. So we veered off the beaten track and came across a spot that gave us an excellent view of 2 hills as well as a number of flowering and dried trees. Kalpana and Rajesh soon noticed activity among the trees and armed with their binoculars started spotting a variety of species. Being beginners it took Gaurangi, Odette and me sometime to get the hang of quickly locating the birds Rajesh and Kalpana were spotting but soon our eyes got accustomed to this alien activity and we were able to keep pace with Rajesh and Kalpana. The birds were attracted by the berries and other fruits available here. Two of the main species we spotted were the Flame Backed Woodpecker, an extremely vibrant bird and the Plum Headed Parakeet which stands out among the common Rose Ringed Parakeets because of its beautiful bluish red head. Spending over an hour here, just as we were heading back, we noticed an unusual small bird quietly viewing us amidst the shrubbery to the left of the path. Luckily it sat still for a considerable length of time, allowing Kalpana to ascertain that it was the female Blue Capped Rock Thrush, a relatively rare bird which is known to have been spotted in Karnala before. This was to turn out to be our bird of the day.Next we entered a thicket where we were treated to the glorious sight of an adult Paradise Flyca
tcher with its long white ribbon like tail feathers in stark contrast to the dark foliage behind. Exiting the thicket, we entered a relatively barren stretch of land where we saw the Small Green Bee Eater which virtually posed for me and my camera. The open sky allowed us to spot a number of birds of prey hovering above. These included the majestic Brahminy Kite and the Oriental Honey Buzzard which immediately reminded me and Odette of the song Old Turkey Buzzard from the classic Western “Mackenna’s Gold”.Leaving Karnala we headed for Talava which is after Vashi on the Palm Beach Road. Checking our log books we realized that though we had spotted some interesting species, our count was a mere 25 which was considerably less than Rajesh’s target for Karnala. But Kalpana pointed out that Karnala’s wooded habitat often makes spotting difficult and as a result meeting targets at times can be impossible. But our spirits were soon lifted by the fact that we started spotting birds by the highway itself. First we came across a flock of Barn Swallows and Asian Palm Swifts which were easy to identify from a distance because of their peculiar flight patterns. At various water bodies adjoining the roads, we saw a number of water birds including the Red Wattled Lapwing which is commonly found in open countrysides and at the edge of jheels and roadsides.
Reaching Talava we realized that it had a totally different habitat to Karnala. It was lot more dry and arid with bunches of reeds and small stunted trees. This was also a largely water based habitat with 2 or 3 water bodies and the coast a few minutes walk from the road. This habitat highlighted Kalpana’s years of skill and experience. They were able to spot the tiniest of birds flitting in and out of the reeds feasting on a variety of insects. One such
bird was the common Stonechat which is known to frequent creeks. Heading towards the sea, we spotted the bird me and Gaurangi were dying to see – the White Breasted Kingfisher, which happens to be the bird used as the logo of the famous beer brand. Seeing these beautiful species of birds within touching distance of vast expanding housing societies, reminded us that we humans are encroaching on all natural habitats resulting in a variety of species of both birds and animals vanishing from our subcontinent. This emphasized the necessity for all of us nature lovers to do our bit however small, to save this diverse natural habitat that our country is blessed with for the generations to come.By the time we reached the coast the sun was too high. The coastline was bare barring a few egrets. So we departed and headed for Sewri. Going to Sewri was one of the major plus points of this race for me. I like most Mumbaikars had heard a lot about Sewri’s most famous annual visitors; the Flamingo’s but had just not managed to go there.
Not only did I go to Sewri but being with experts like Rajesh and Kalpana allowed me to appreciate the richness of the place far more than if I had come alone. The moment one reaches the sheer numbers of the Flamingos dotting the entire coastline simply takes your breath away. It’s amazing how such an industrialized area still manages to attract such a large variety of migratory birds and that too in massive numbers. This once again underlines the necessity to protect such delicate habitat so that we never lose the opportunity to serve as hosts to such beautiful visitors. We even had the pleasure of meeting Dr Somasundaram from the Dr Salim Ali Institute who was conducting the count of the Flamingos; he informed us that there were over 10,000 Flamingos this year which was far in excess to previous years. In order to get a better view we climbed on to a docked trawler. This immediately proved to be a good decision as we spotted numerous small birds feasting on algae, worms and other prey in the pools of water left by the receding sea. Rajesh pointed out that most of these birds came under the category of waders and were a little difficult to identify as they had similar features. Referring to our bird
books we were able to identify a number of these waders which included the common Sand piper, the Whimbrel, theRedshank and a number of Godwits busy feasting on small prey. In addition we spotted a large flock of little Stints, tiny birds whose identification really put our binoculars to the test. Sewri is also home to Terns and a number of Brownheaded Gulls. Aboard the trawler we bumped into a number of fellow groups and one of them treated us to an amazing view of the Flamingos through their powerful telescope.Leaving Sewri we stopped at a South Indian restaurant in Matunga for their famous Rasam Wada and coffee. Here we added the finishing touches to our log book.
We had managed a species tally of 71. We now headed for the Maharashtra Nature Park, after submitting our log book we mingled with the numerous other participants and shared their experiences. It was remarkable to see the presence of all age groups. The enthusiastic participation of children in large numbers was as excellent sign for the future of Nature and her conservation in our region. It turned out that an NGO called Rays of Hope that conduct nature awareness programmes for children was responsible for ensuring large child as well as parent participation.
The awards function that marked the end of the event was very well organised. The chief guests were Kishori Amonkar, Padma Bhushan for Hindustani Classical music, and noted cricket expert Ayaz Memon. The organisers ensured participation of all groups by getting members of each group to relate their experiences to the entire audience. It was a real pleasure to hear the experiences of our fellow participants especially the children whose exuberance and sheer pleasure at having spotted so many new birds was a joy to behold. The winning group was the Brown fish owl whose tally of 176 turned out to be a bird race record. They informed us that the secret to their success was meticulous planning, daily birding and a consolidated effort to cover as many habitats as possible.
As the evening drew to a close I realised that my enthusiasm for birding had increased tenfold and we all vowed to start our preparations for next year’s race from now itself.
