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!