NALSAROVAR GLANCE

Birdwatching seems like a distant dream in the present day fast track idiosyncratic life. It feels funny; rather ironical, to realise that your passion in life is so convincingly put out of focus in your endeavour to survive in this proffessional world. Noo........I am not turning philosophical;;;;but just imagine, Nalsarovar, a real hotspot which is listed in the top 5 destinations for avid birdwatchers, just about 125 kms. from my place, has been a distant; infact almost an impossible dream for me since last so many years. But then, this year, I had decided, come what may, I will definately visit this illusive destination.
There was a sad incident on my wife's side, and we were to make a condolence visit to her parent's place at Rajkot. "Fortunately"(not really), my dad's health was not too good to make a long and hectic journey. We took this decision at 6:00 in the morning. Immediately, instead we decided to push off for Nalsarovar. Filled the tank and zoomed off. Little did we know that this excitement was going to be as short lived as the time taken to decide the visit.

We took the Vadodara-Ahmedabad express highway. Turned left on the ring-road. Had we crossed about 7 to 8 kms., did Giriraj (my "batter" half) called my attention towards the left side. Initially, all I could see was the sprawling green fields. But then, the pair of tall standing, majestic, graceful elegant Sarus crane came into view. I had to stop my car a little further as the traffic was heavy and could not stop immediately. I backed up to where we had first spotted them and immediately got down. Got my handycam and started shooting. The Sarus pair seemed to be enjoying their morning walk, calling out in their shrill voice. They were almost moving in tandem with eachother.

I am sure their nest would have been nearby. However hard I tried, I could not spot it. This is their breeding season. I spent almost half hour aborbing the beautiful sight. Upon seeing them, my hopes of a successful sighting day at Nalsarovar went sky-high. We proceeded after having a heart-full of this beautiful species. 

Resumed our journey to Nalsarovar. I had gone through the Google maps for the shortest route, but decided to go via Sanand as that was a known route (albiet only partially). We took the right turn at end of the ring-road and again a left at the Sanand circle. Little did I realize that Nalsarovar lay almost 45 kms. from Sanand. My earlier guess was hovering around 20 kms. Almost 50% of the stretch from Sanand to Nalsarovar is now dotted with boards and hoardings announcing new residential schemes mushrooming in that area. Though there are still some isolated patches of green fields that we could spot. These too, I am sure will not exist before end of 2015. The road from Sanand, though a little narrow, is an enjoyable drive. We saw 2 more pairs of Sarus cranes beyond Sanand.

It was almost 9.30 am. We did realize that we were late, but nevertheless, we drove on. We could see many vehicles who must have reached much earlier and were now returning. There were more vehicles returning than going there. About 2 kms. before Nalsarovar, we stopped at the entry check post. Paid the entry fee of Rs. 250.00 for 3 individuals. There at the check post, we were surrounded by several individuals claiming to take us for a boat ride in the lake. Upon asking the rate, they showed the rate list put up by the government, which showed Rs. 6500.00 for a full ride. But then, when we talked to the boat operators, as expected, they were ready to negotiate. There are two types of routes; one, wherein they take you around a cluster of small islands near the shore. You can spot the usual cormorants, river terns, gulls and the likes. Not the exotic ones. For a full 8 to 9 km ride, they take us to the far end of the lake where the migratory flocks gather and nest. This boat ride takes about 3-4 hours. We negotiated 2000 bucks.

We took off with Mukesh, our boats' man. As soon as we started, Mukesh told us some basic facts of the lake. The lake has got a perimeter of 120km. There are a total of 360 small islands in the lake. Due to more than normal rains, there is 4 ft. of water in the lake. In fact, this is more than required. The optimum quantum of water for wading birds to be able to build their nest is 1.5 ft.
 We saw a group of boats within 500 ft. of the bank. They were spraying "ganthia" (namkin made of besan). This attracted the seagulls in flocks. Children enjoyed this and were so excited seeing these birds at such close quarters.

We did not stop here, but proceeded onwards towards the further end of the lake where the bigger (storks, cranes) birds are expected. On our way, Mukesh pointed towards some of the more common Purple moorhen and their nesting packs. The moorhen, typically need marshy grassland to build their nest. Their nest consists of some surrounding tall green grass strains pulled and huddled around to make a crude base.

A little further, we spotted a group of black ducks. These are relatively small birds, but quite fluffy. The look very similar to the common coot, though a little smaller in size.

Every now-&-then, a startled moorhen would dart out of the nearby grass growth. I did not want to keep my camera on all the time, least the battery be exhausted when we most need it. Mukesh told us about a group of common crane at the end of the lake. We proceeded in that direction. At a point, the water was so shallow, we had to get down from the boat and walk further to get a closer look at the birds. I could spot a big group of Black ibis. My binoculars, Celestron 71140 with 30X50 is a good one for this purpose. As I was scanning the horizon, at the left end of the stretch, I suddenly saw the gathering of Common cranes. They looked as beautiful as ever. Grey/light blue body with black and white triped face and black plummed tail. We were almost about 300ft. away from them. But the moment I stepped further, they took off. Very shy birds. Not accustomed to any human presence.


We waited for almost 20 minutes before they again settled down.
This time, I really felt the need of a tripod for my handycam. It would have enabled me to take very good steady shots. But, nevertheless, my binoculars more than returned their worth in money. One good sighting for a birdwatcher is like winning a lottery of a lakh rupees for others.

Once the birds settled, I could get some good snaps. There was no scope of going nearer, because, with great difficulty the group of Common crane had come down. After about half hour, we started back as there were no other species available this year.

The rocking of the boat and the high sun were giving us a sea-sickness type of feeling. A little nauseating. Komal wanted to return to the shore.

Our return journey, though was not all bare. We had real good sighting of the spoonbills, Ruddy shellduck (brahminy duck) and the black winged stilts.

SPOON BILLS

SPOON BILLS TAKING OFF

RUDDY SHELL-DUCK WITH BLACK WINGED STILTS IN THE FOREGROUND

By the time we reached the shore, it was almost 1.00 in the afternoon. A good 4 hour ride. We tipped Mukesh. He had done real good boating. It was sheer physical labour because of so shallow water.

On our return, we took the road leading to Bagodra. We took lunch at the roadside restaurant near Bagodra cross roads. The food was reasonably good.

So, all in all, the trip was more of a disappointment. We were expecting to see Flamingoes, Pelicans, Painted storks and the likes. But, anyhow, the Common crane, spoon bill, Ruddy Shellduck, Moorhen, Cormorant, Gull, Tern and the other species did present some consolation.