21st October 2012
Today, early morning, we drove out some 50 kms to the
Nawabganj Bird Sanctuary, on the
Lucknow-Kanpur highway. October, of course
is too early for the migrating birds but still we expected to find some
resident birds. The place has always had a lot of monkeys, so we made sure we
did not carry any plastic bags or food with us. The drive through the city, many
parts of which looked completely new to us, took well over an hour.
As
expected the caretaker told us that the migratory birds
were yet to arrive. The season will start with the approach of winter
and will reach a peak in January-February when you can see over 200
varieties of birds here, coming all the way from frozen Siberia.
We walked around the
lake, all of us clicking away. A water-body, as large as the one in Nawabganj, will
inevitably have a whole eco-system flourishing around it, and you will see a variety
of creatures thriving there. The trees and the lichen and the waterlilies on
the water and the sounds of the heronry on the trees in the middle of the lake
are sights and sounds which would gladden any nature lover’s heart. A surprise sighting was a
paradise fly catcher which glided across out of sight.
 |
| The beautiful trek around the lake |
 |
| Cormorants and Asian Open Bills nesting on a tree |
 |
| Asian Open Bill on the lake |
 |
| A Dragon-fly |
 |
| A Jacana |
 |
| Open Bill in flight |
 |
| Darter |
 |
| A Pond Heron about to take flight |
 |
| A Shikra scavenging on a dumpster |
 |
| Intermediate Egret |
 |
| Grebe |
 |
| The lookout |
 |
| Raka was all for climbing this tree, settled for posing by it. |
 |
| There is only one way! no need for directions. |
 |
| An interesting bench |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Inside the Deer Park. Definitely not deers but a dear all the same |
 |
| A reminder of what we missed |
