It takes
courage to go out birding in June, what with 45 degrees C and power outages.
But then, which hard-boiled birder can say no when friend Wingco Vijay Sethi
asks you if one is interested in testing the new Nikkor 80-400 AF-S VR ED lens?
So the RV was fixed for Basai for 4:45 PM and equipment were packed and also
some lemon tea and cold water. Just as I
was leaving from Faridabad, one could see the dust storm and the approaching
pre-monsoon rain. What the hell! We will brave the storm and just have tea on
the Basai Dhanwapur Road!
It rained
all the way from Faridabad to Gurgaon, but stopped just short of Gurgaon. Met
Wingco at the Basai turning and moved into one car.
I had one
of the most amazing days of birding in Basai in the Summer.
We started
off by watching a bunch of Pied Bushchats, male, female and juvenile. There were many Blue-cheeked
Bee-eaters sitting along the road, but did not give any good shots. One could
see a large number of White-winged stilts sitting on newly flooded field and we
wondered if there were eggs or chicks there. A walk into the wet fields had all
the Lapwings and Stilts excited enough to attack us by diving for our heads
from above and only the lenses saved us when we pointed the camera at the dive
bombers!
In the
clump of Bulrush one could see activities of Streaked Weavers, but not close
by. There was some visible trampling of the tall grass, but no idea what caused
it.
Further on,
we spied a lone Female Painted Snipe which refused to oblige by coming out of
the grass over.
Towards the
Drain across the road, there were a number of Pond Herons and Cattle Egrets in
breeding plumage, some with red legs and all.
As one
crosses the drain, one is struck by the unsightly view of JCB making a road
from BPTP to another upcoming colony across the road towards, Basai Railway
Station. This tells the death toll of the Basai Wetlands! Soon there will be a
booming housing complex here, where for decades we have had the pleasure of
watching some of the best waders!
Even as the
road was being built, and the JCB was pushing dirt into the wetland, we saw two
pairs of Painted Snipes, nonchalantly foraging and taking bath! God bless these
intrepid wild birds!
On the
return journey we spent several Cattle egrets in full breeding plumage, some
with striking red bills and red legs. At a distance we could see on our
binoculars a group of White Ibis, a few Spoonbills and some Spot-billed Ducks.
A flock of four Lesser Whistling ducks took off from close by and the road was
full of courting Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters. One male was feeding the female and
probably would have mounted also, but for a motorcyclist who drove past them
and they took flight. Green Bee-eaters also were in good number, but the start was
a pair of Pied Cuckoos. These harbingers
of Monsoon seemed unperturbed by the presence of two old men with long lenses
and continued to feed on caterpillars from the Water Hyacinth growing along the
road.
More
Streaked Weaver activity was noticed deep inside the Bulrush grove. A flock of
about a dozen Red Avadavat displayed to bid us farewell.
