A RAINY RETURN

Yesterday that is on 17th August we* had been to a bird watching trip in Vasai Mudflats. It was the BNHSnorthmumbaigroup programme. The place has a small borderline of mangroves left as the whole place is converted into saltpans. This place can be very well seen from the train while traveling between Naigaon and Vasai. I have seen 20 odd flamingoes and Painted storks in these region from the train. Therefore with an objective to see some waders and Flamingoes we left for this place at around 8. The climate wasn’t so rewarding in terms of rain at the start of the trail. Therefore we did get good pictures of the trail.
To begin with my first bird was the flock of Black headed munias in the Swampy marshes. We proceeded further and were welcomed by calls of Ashy Prinia, Plain Prinia and the egrets. We saw these prinias at regular intervals. Mr.Murlidhar one of the persons in the trail captured beautiful images of them which u can see in this following blog. http://vasaimudflats.blogspot.com/
There were 3 new birders in the group who were overjoyed to see the birds though there weren’t many. Walking further along we saw huge flock of egrets. A few of us also saw 3 painted storks flying at a distance. The other sightings included the western reef egret, Pond herons, Cattle egret, 2 flamingoes in the immature or non breeding plumage, Black winged stilt. We saw a raptor soaring above us and very close which is more likely to be an Honey buzzard. Other than these birds we saw the Derris trifoliata and Clerodendron inerme both mangrove associates flowering along the trail. We also saw a garden calotes virtually doing acrobatics in the Meswak bush. There were lots of mudskippers and Frogs in the muddy waters.
The overall trail was for apporx 2 and half hours. The weather all along for an hour and half was gentle and pleasant. We also saw a rainbow which displayed its 7 colors beautifully in the sky. Thanks to rakesh who spotted it while seeing some birds. The return part was incidental as it rained heavily to my satisfaction and dismay of others as they all had to travel back in train wet and soggy. Ofcourse no one complained and all enjoyed the rain. Trail yielded very less birds nevertheless it was fun as we got to interact with new naturelovers and also got the essence of rain in beautiful surrounding.
Samir has also taken some photos which he wil post soon.
Team- Myself, Mr.Paralkar, Mr.Murlidhar, Mrs.Jyotika kini, Samir, Kunal, Viral, Aparna and her father, Rakesh.