Waders of Wild India

One for the Album!

We the Waders, slightly of a different sort of course, went on an expedition to watch the feathered waders, I mean the actual ones – the winter visitors to this part of our country. It is always a joy to join the friendly group of members from Wild India (their FB page ), ably led by Bhavesh, Sunil and Rupali. So this time too, it wasn’t any different. After missing many an opportunity to go on some or the other interesting trips, finally I could make it to the Akshi Beach with them on their ‘Wader watch’ trip.

 A well-planned and nicely executed trip made for an interesting & fun Sunday (16 November, 2014).  The group Members on this particular event were - Kundan Nitin Sule, Ganesh Johare, Mateen Patel, Arvind Singh, Dilip, Suru Nair, Sumukh Deodhar, Seema Deodhar, Me and as mentioned earlier group led by Bhavesh Rathod, Sunil Kadam and Rupali Kadam. It is but natural to thank Mr & Mrs Sumukh Deodhar, Mr. Arvind Singh and Mr. Mateen Patel who drove all the members of the group through the day. Very much appreciated and many thanks to the other members of the group for the great company. Wild India Team, great Going. :)

The trip began as planned around 3.45 am for all those members residing in the western suburbs and further continued towards the central side to finally congregate somewhere just after Panvel for a cup of hot chai around 6.30am!  From here onwards the group drove and spent the next 12 hours together. Aah, absolutely fun, interesting and enriching experience this was! Coming from various professional backgrounds, one thing or may be two, that was common to all of us was the interest in birds and photography! Small camera, Big camera, small lens, huge lens (Which almost seemed like rocket launchers) were the most integral part of this expedition.  Needless to mention, most of the time I was in awe of these people and even I kept quite for a few minutes during the entire trip - I know, to those who know me well, it is almost an unbelievable feat!! 

Anyway, many a lessons learnt and most of all a great opportunity to meet these members whom I have been probably interacting with on facebook on different fora for a couple of years now but had never met them before.

So to continue - post tea, directly we drove to our breakfast and chai point, after which we marched to our destination – Akshi Beach! 

At Shri. Nandakishore Shankar Patil's Residence - A neat and clean place to have tea and breakfast.
One can also order for lunch before leaving for the beach. Ample car parking facility is an added bonus.

With Bhavesh & Sunil helping with the Ids of the birds sighted and carefully steering us towards the flock, had an enjoyable time watching the winged-friends!

On the beach at 8.45 am

Action Time! Take a look at these waders first! :D

Mateen Patel - Suitably armed to shoot! And boy, what pics he did get!!

Arvind Singh, crawling for the one perfect click!
Suru Nair, looking around for any new birds to point his camera towards.

A few get lucky in this manner - birds walk up to them!

Watching them busily clicking away was a treat to the eyes!! Highly inspired by them, did the crawling bit myself!! Well, some waders from my camera!

Seemed like Bollywood song was being picturized -
Aage aage chale hum, peeche peeche preet mitwa...

Akele Hum, Akele Tum?

It was interesting to see mixed flocks of Plovers, terns, Gulls not very far from each other.

Gull-isatan hamara!
Brown-headed, Black-headed and Heuglin's Gulls

In conference - Ruddy Turnstones and Plovers!

Do we have some Sanderlings too in this meetup?

One, two, three, four,
Get on the dance floor!
Worried Gulls

Under the watchful eyes of the gulls, we the 'terns' are prospering!

Time to wind up and leave!!

A good 2 ½ hrs of wader watch and a short fun-filled photo session of the members finally came to an end around 11.15 am.  Back to the breakfast point for a quick change of clothes and another round of hot cuppa turned even more interesting with our group member finding an exciting and very interesting creature – Striped Keelback snake. Another photo shoot was bound to happen here! 

Kundan Nitin Sule, introducing us to a cute little Buff Striped Keelback Snake!

It was after our a hot cup of chai that the idea to visit the nearby Korlai lighthouse and fort was suggested by Rupali.  Well, within no time we were on the road being driven towards the lighthouse.

Driving towards Korlai Fort.

 Located at a strategic point on a hill, Korlai fort is located in the then Portuguese island town of Korlai. Today, only the ruins of this once glorious fort remain in the form of ramparts and some fort walls.

 

Kadam Kadam Badhaaye jaa,
Khushi ke geet gaaye jaa!
Walking up towards the Korlai fort!

Pausing for a while - to catch a breath and absorb the wonderful views this place had to offer.
Behind us is the Korlai Light house!

The fort is 2828 feet long, and its average breadth is eighty-nine feet. The enclosing wall is 5' 3" high and has 305 battlements for guns. (Wikipedia) 

Peekaboo...Remnants of the fort bastion emerges under the blue sky!

We spent some good half an hour walking around the edges of this fort in search of some raptors.  Though we were not lucky enough to sight anything more apart from a lonely Brahminy Kite and a Kestrel, we did get to witness some picturesque views and also had a short fun photo shoot.

A wonderful vista - where the fort walls take a plunge in to the Arabian Sea or at least seems so!

Standing by the edge, seeking some raptor sighting!

Walking back towards the waiting group!

Walked back to the vehicles and drove for the much needed lunch break!! A reasonably good place to have meals and a drink or two on a hot afternoon, we ate and rested for a while before we took to the road. 

Hungry Kya? Lunch break!!

Evening Chai just after Pen and an interesting sighting of this lovely creepy crawly (had spotted this one even in the morning during our chai break, by Mrs. Seema Deodhar from our group) and some click click and finally bid goodbye to the group and were on our way back.  

The Rockstar - Violin Mantis.

By 9.00 pm I was back at home with some photos in my camera from the day’s outing and loads of wonderful and sweet memories to cherish for a long time to come.

Highlights of this trip – Being with Wild India in it-self is a nice feeling, meeting Rupali, meeting new friends, seeing the photography equipments the members were carrying, the way they take care of the same, the passion with which they follow their hobby (birding as well as photography), flocks of gulls, plovers and terns made the day for me!! The lucky sighting of Striped Keelback snake, Violin Mantis and off the beaten track visit to Korlai fort made for an exciting trip!

Salad Sunday!

It seemed to be a lazy, dull and drab Sunday, yesterday. Needed to add some colour and fun to it! Should I go out and take a walk and try to click some pictures of the colourful birds in my favourite place, SGNP or should I drive out somewhere - was the confusion!! Well, could not decide on anything so just thought let me try my hand at preparing this salad which was served at my friend’s place during my recent visit to Bangalore. I had loved the taste as well as the colours in it.  I generally prepare the regular Kosambri (cucumber salad or the other veggie salads in south Indian style) or the veggie raitas regularly, but this time I did want to experiment a bit.

So, off I went out and brought home these colourful bell peppers a.k.a capsicum!

Refreshing colours - Red & Yellow Bell Peppers!

Cubed the peppers and whisked some sauce to dress up the salad.

Cubed bell peppers,  cabbage julienne, some mayo with magic sauce and olive oil!

A lazy Sunday looked more interesting with my daughter joining me in the kitchen.  Of course, the minute she entered the kitchen I was sure that I had some extra work.  She would never let me do anything simple. ‘Are you adding paneer to it’? ‘You know, cheese would go so well with it’…are just a few suggestions I would be subjected to! Well, a salad would never be simple after her grand entry!

That extra touch - Paneer and cheese!

Well, the next 15 minutes I was busy. The mayonnaise seemed to be perfect for mixing the veggies with but I had added to it a tsp of black pepper sauce, a bit of mixed herbs and liberally squeezed in juice of 1 whole lemon along with a tbsp of olive oil. Later sprinkled some salt and freshly ground black pepper on top of paneer and grated cheese, just before mixing the salad well.

The final 'Creamy look'! Bell Pepper with Paneer & cheese.

Finally, it seemed like I dished out a reasonably tasty salad. Hubby and daughter enjoyed it!

Bird watching!

Black Kite

Bird watching is one of my favorite hobbies. About a couple of years ago what started as timepass activity, is now an activity which I pursue with great interest. The best part of this hobby is, I can watch the birds by just looking out of our flat window and observe the sparrows hop, skip & jump on the bougainvillea creeper or a common Myna preen at leisure on the lamp post just across the road or a huge flock of parakeets fly by from here till there or even vice versa (There is this adorable flock of parakeets in our residential complex)!!

Well, in short, I don’t have to venture out or plan an outing especially for this purpose.  Recently, during my trip to Bangalore, I had this rare opportunity to watch a very common raptor ‘Black Kite’ perching on a police patrol van just beside the window at my mom’s house.  A godsend opportunity to watch this handsome bird, that too just beside our window!! The bird could be very common but getting to see it at such close quarters is not very common, I must say.  

The first look - Black Kite
Black Kite, is a medium sized 'bird of prey'.
They generally are found hovering high up in the sky identifying their prey on the ground.

A boring evening immediately transformed into an interesting as well as exciting evening! I picked up my camera and ventured out of the house. I wondered if I could get some closeup pictures.  I was totally excited but was also worried that the bird would take to it’s wings if it saw me approach it with the camera in my hands. To my surprise, the bird did not even try to move from it's place of perch. Within seconds I had this feeling that the bird was hurt or was not keeping well. Of course the bystanders already had many theories –

• The bird’s leg is hurt.
• It’s very weak, hence it has come down so low, else it would never come so close to human beings.
• It’s still a juvenile, may be it doesn’t know how to fly.
• The bird’s wings are not developed…etc etc!

Birds joining the police force? An amused police!

Well, even I was worried. Such a majestic bird, what would happen to it if it was really hurt? Who would care for it? Whom shall I contact and ask for some help? I immediately posted my doubts on a bird forum on FB too, but within minutes, when the police patrol van moved, the bird took to it’s wings and comfortably flew away and perched on a tree branch, along the road.

Isn't he handsome?

Almost everybody standing around jumped with joy and cheered the bird! But I still wonder why the bird could have come so close to the ground especially if it was not feeding! It sat and obliged me with many a photographs and never tried to fly away until the vehicle moved from the place it was parked. Whatever the reasons, it was an enjoyable experience overall! 

Roses!!

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Sugar is sweet,

And so are you...

is the poem which instantly comes to our mind when we see or think about roses! It so happened that while going through the morning newspaper the previous Sunday morning, I chanced upon this 4 line news item about the 'Rose show /exhibition and competition' being held at Maharashtra Nature Park (MNP), Mumbai and I was instantly reminded of the above poem.

Red Roses - Maharashtra/Mahim Nature Park. February 2014.

The event was held on 1st and 2nd February, 2014 at Maharashtra Nature Park more popularly known as Mahim Nature Park, Mumbai. To me, it was yet another opportunity to carry my camera and try to capture the beauty of these flowers.  On display were hundreds of roses in all their captivating colours and shades.

Mauve is the in colour - Maharashtra/Mahim Nature Park. February 2014.

There are around 3500 varieties of roses in the world. Roses had arrived from many parts of India - Bangalore, Kolkata etc. The popular variety displayed in this show was the 'Floribanda' and a few others too.

Double shade - Maharashtra/Mahim Nature Park. February 2014.

It was an amazing experience to be at the venue and see the participating members lovingly handle the flowers with utmost care and affection.  

Coral Power - - Maharashtra/Mahim Nature Park. February 2014.

The pleasant February weather seemed to create the perfect atmosphere for these flowers to exhibit their best colours. No wonder the flowers were in their full glory.

Night photography

LIGHTS!

One can spend hours photographing the lights, be it during the festival of lights (Deepavali) or as simple as an oil lamp in a dark room. It is a challenge to capture the flame or the lights through a camera lens and getting it right would be a task in itself.

Yesterday, it so happened that I finally mustered enough courage to try my hand at simple 'night photography' and capture the lights - the lights of the speeding vehicles on the road. Carrying a tripod was never my idea of photography. But after going through a few write-ups on night photography and the challenges one confronts during poor light conditions and the benefit one derives with a little bit of extra effort invested in carrying this three-legged apparatus made great sense to start my 'night photography' lessons/experiment in the right way.

The effort was absolutely rewarding - for an amateur photographer like me. Presenting a few photos from my yesterday night's rendezvous with the lights!!

My very first photo - God knows what I thought when I clicked it without mounting the camera on the tripod. I still was hesitating and thought, "oh, definitely it is not as difficult to click without a tripod".

Handheld - without a tripod, it would be hard to click the pic.

One look of the above pic and within seconds my thoughts were. "I better mount the camera on the tripod without wasting time'!! :P

Of course,I felt that the camera settings were also incorrect! But then, I was there to experiment & learn. So just kept varying the aperture, ISO & shutter speed and spent blissfully the next 2 hrs on the foot-over bridge.

Varied the camera angle or adjusted some settings! Results were encouraging.

Particularly liked this pic, just don't know what I did and clicked this. But still liked the blur.

The vehicles which were in no hurry to speed.

Our Studio for the evening - The foot-over bridge where we spent good 2 hrs clicking the vehicles speeding below.

The desired result - after about 2 hrs of experimenting.

The desired result - after about 2 hrs of experimenting.

It wasn't a scary or bad photo-session. Hence I have decided to venture soon on another such expedition to capture those colorful lights. May be a different location and some other sort of light!! Any suggestions? :)