This Sunday morning saw 15 of us turning up for 3hrs of exciting birding in Basai, a wetland consisting of inundated fields, rivaling sultanpur for supremacy. This was my first visit to this area so the vast expanses of wet fields and Hyacinth held 15 lifers for me, which felt quite amazing.
Before we even got out of the car, we were greeted by a Marsh Harrier in it's characteristic low, quartering flight. The barren fields that lay just in front of us held a surprise as several pairs of Little Ringed Plovers hunted actively along with a Kentish Plover. Up in the air and perched on the low bushes, one could see Yellow and Citrine Wagtails. A White Wagtail soon joined the plovers and a Paddyfield Pipit perched on an overhanging wire. As we moved on, good numbers of waders like Green,Common & Wood Sandpipers, Stints and black Winged Stilts were spotted on either sides of the road. Small groups of Ruff dotted the hyacinth at regular intervals and to our right floated the calls of a variety of other waders.
And then the star sighting of the day. A Sarus Crane in its stately walk across the flooded fields some distance away. All around it were scores of Stints and stilts. Suddenly, all the Stints took off and made their was to a nearby waterbody providing great views. In the midst of the Hyacinth, a small group of Black Tailed Godwits looked for tasty morsels. A Marsh Sandpiper also hunted in the water. Then, KB with his scope stumbled upon something interesting near a water body. After much verification, the small bird was identified as a Jack Snipe, a lifer for a couple of us. Common Snipes also made their presence felt by coming out in the open and becoming easy targets for the relentless scope.
As we moved forward, a Yellow Wagtail came close to us on the hyacinth and began feeding and calling. We could see Purple Swamphens and had spotted both Black Headed and Glossy Ibis in flight. A single Gargeney bobbed around in the water. Now we took a path perpendicular to the previous one. In the shallow water we spotted Marsh Sanpipers, Little and Temnick's Stints and the ubiquitous Wood Sandpiper....not to mention thew White tailed Lapwings that were seen throughout the walk. A Sarus Crane in flight got us staring at the sky for a minute. Ducks like Tufted Duck, Widgeon and Common Pochard were spotted by a few.
We made our way back now, to feast on pasta and kheer while spotting an Oriental Skylark. KB, Bharti, Soma, Hema and I checked out the temple area, getting views of Bar Headed Geese, Scores of Ruff, Stints. Sandpipers, Bee Eaters, Bushchat, Plain Prinia, Long Tailed Shrike and a few others before heading back to Delhi.
A very enjoyable experience on the whole with a total tally of 72 species.
Udiyaman
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