Migratory Birds at Alibaug

This trip as part of the ornithology course that we are attending at the Garware Colleage, was keenly looked forward to. We went for the trip on 22nd January 2006. A good way to start the new year.

This is the time the migratory birds come from the northern region of the world to many places in Indian wetlands. Though we have been interested in bird watching, keeping it limited to the birds in our backyard and pashan lake in Pune city, we did not really got into the details of identifying the species. It is just the beauty and grace of birds that has always attracted us to the birds. In this trip, we were going to learn more about them.
Well, luck also plays a good part if you are able to spot the birds. And good binoculars are a must. We were very lucky as our teacher Dr. Satish Pande helped us in getting a good pair of Olympus binoculars, with a spec of 8×40, it helped us just in time. We do need to invest in another one, as we had to share this and birds being what they are, by the time you get to see it, it may just fly off …

So, in Alibaug, we went to different beaches, Rewas, Rewas harbour and Aksi beach. The first bird that we spotted was Desert Wheater. We could locate a solitary Desert Wheater. Then we walked towards the water, this was low tide time, the water was much farther away. Then we spotted two Temmick’ Stint. It is a small bird with red legs. Here we also spotted a lot of Gull Billed Turns, Marsh Sandpipers, Kentish Plovers, Pacific Reef Heron and Western Reef Egrets.

Then we went to Rewas harbour. Here the treat was awaiting us. We got to see some beautiful birds. There were Curlews, Cormorants, OpenBill Storks, a solitary magnificent Osprey and wimbrel. The birds were really gracious to watch, felt elated watching them. I think they were equally happy as they were getting the attention without the disturbance.

Then we went for a wonderful lunch organized near the Kihim beach. The Modaks were superb. Then we went to Aksi beach, where we expected to get a flock of Turns but I think we went very close to them or maybe they had to visit their relatives, that they just flew off the moment we reached them. Next time, we wish to meet you sure. The beach was very beautiful though. It was much cleaner compared to Kihim beach with very less commercial activity. Then we went for Tea organized by a friend of Dr. Satish Pande, Mr. Deshpande. We had another treat waiting for us. In this place, they have a full skeleton of a whale, a whale kid for that matter, 45 ft in length. This whale was found dead on the beach two years ago. Since it was huge and the dead body was causing lot of trouble to the locals there, they decided to do something about it. They, with the help of local authorities, managed to get the skeleton of the big thing and whatever parts were not there, with the help of the museum curator and zoologists, got the whole skeleton back in order. It is simply magnificent. The efforts that have gone into it show the love and caring attitude towards animals and nature of the owner. It is a very rare thing and in the small hamlet of Alibaug, and a chance visit that too, we consider ourselves lucky indeed.

We started back at around 7 pm but the narrow roads of Alibaug and a forced dinner stop where everyone waited as the driver of the vehicle had the dinner (without everyone’ knowledge) , we finally reached home at half past twelve in the night. With everything closed for the day, we could not get our dinner, but the day was so satisfying that it didn’t really matter.