Christmas was
celebrated with the Mumbai Birdwatchers Club (MBC) on an outing to the Vasai
area of northern Mumbai.
The site seems to be a part of a mega development
project called Madhuvan township, but on the map appears to be the westernmost
fringe of what is labelled as Tungareshwar WLS.
To its south and west are open
areas marked as salt pans (under litigation and hence sans ‘development’ we
presume). The entry from the Vasai-Sativali highway is through the township
(with permission obtained by our hosts)
The terrain is basically scrubland and reed beds adjoining
some water bodies which hosted a number of birds thanks to copious rains
previously in this season.
The route
to the water body was a very wide and seemingly un-necessary concrete road.
There were good sightings of the ubiquitous Siberian stone chats, tree pipits and ashycrowned
sparrowlarks, long tailed shrike and a solitary amur falcon and shikra.
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Siberian stonechat |
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Shikra |
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Long tailed shrike |
Monstrous concrete mixers and bulldozers ominously
stood among giant boards announcing upcoming apartment blocks, reminding us of
the probable shortlivedness of this scrubland. But today they stood silent as the garrulous
flock of excited Mumbai birders looked over at the water bodies.
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| Bulldozers waiting to take over ? |
Large flocks of glossy ibis could be seen interspersed
with numerous asian open billed storks. Waders like marsh sandpipers, black
winged stilts and black tailed godwits were in fair numbers and only mildly disturbed
by the marsh harrier which would swoop down intermittently. A solitary common
snipe and black headed ibis added variety to the birding feast.
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| Asian open billed stork |
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| Cormorant in drying pose |
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| Black tailed godwit on the right |
There had been an announcement last week, of a Red
breasted Merganser, which had been recorded and photographed for the first time
in India. It is a common European duck, which had somehow lost its way into the
subcontinent or had perhaps come looking for salvation to this Holy land.
Nevertheless it was a lifer for nearly everyone present. Even Mr Sunjoy Monga,
the famous naturalist, had dropped in to take a look.
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Red breasted merganser |
The duck was spotted, without much difficulty, and
was quite busy feeding in the shallow marshy waters. Though not too spectacular
in appearance, the sighting marked the end of a perfect morning of birding: our
first outing in the city of Mumbai.
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The Vasai Wetland |
Travel tips:
1. Vasai
road station is on the western local train route. If one gets out from the east
side and walks about 200 meters north, a large auto and bus station becomes
visible. (Otherwise one is at the mercy of the one odd auto which stands at the
mouth of the foot bridge)
2. Entry to the wetland area is from the Madhuvan
heights crossing (Evershine bus stand – about 2.5 km from the station). Being a
private property, entry permission is required.
