Every time I crossed the Pallikaranai Marsh I wanted to visit it at its best, just to see the migratory birds that flock there every winter. Somehow that never happened. I always crossed the roads in broad daylight or at night. Never at dawn or dusk, when there is a greater possibility of watching birds. Somehow, I never got around to saying ‘Hi’ to Pallikaranai’s birds. I got that chance earlier this year.

During Madras Week, the Madras Naturalists’ Society organised a Nature Walk of Pallikaranai Marsh and there I was ready to join it.

It was scheduled on a Sunday morning at six. I was sure there wouldn’t be much of a crowd, thanks to the timing and the day. Unwanted, uninterested people just won’t wake up at that time, that too on a Sunday. The people who turn up would be genuinely interested people. There is a reason behind this reaction of mine. A friend of mine, who organises temple tours, got frustrated after seeing some guys dressed in sick Tees and Bermudas for a temple tour, eating chips all the way and being absolutely disinterested. They had turned up just because their parents wanted them to! We did better. There were 15 of us, all seriously interested in what the Marsh had to show us.

Being assisted by Vijaya Kumar, Secretary, MNS, and Gnanaskandan and Praveen, members of MNS, was the best way to watch birds, because we got to identify several birds whose names we would not have known otherwise.

As soon as the walk started, I knew there was no point in taking my camera out. The birds were pretty far away and my simple 7MP, 3X cam was not for this shoot. I took a couple of shots of the landscape and kept my cam in, for good.

Gnana and Praveen had brought with them a couple of professional high-end binoculars and photoscopes to make the bird-watching experience much better for us. Gnana had the book A Pocket Guide to Birds of Indian Subcontinent by Richard Grimmet, and showed us the pictures in it, and so we knew what to spot where, when they directed us.

The Dabchiks were everywhere. In fact, it looked as though the whole lake was filled with them.

The water was shallow and the Black Winged Stilts were so beautiful, walking with their long slender legs.

The Pelicans ... Pelicans are light boned birds, buoyant and light-weighted in spite of their relatively big bodies. It had just rained the previous night and the wet pelicans were drying themselves on the electric transmission towers and wires. It was an absolutely fabulous sight.

The whole waterbody looked as if it was sprinkled with black spots which were assorted birds of every type.

These were the birds that I spotted there:

Grey Heron; Purple Heron; Common Moorhen; Purple Moorhen; Dabchik; Peasant Tailed Jacquana; Spotted Pelicans; White Breasted Kingfisher; Whistling Duck; Egret; Black Kite; Shikra; Blue Tailed Bee-eater; Coot; Glossy Ibis; Grey Ibis; Spotted Bill Duck; Pied Avocet; Black Winged Stilt. And that’s not an exhaustive list, that’s all I remember.

For the record, I did take a few shots of the flora and caught a couple of butterflies too. And became a Life Member of MNS. (Courtesy: MNS Bulletin)