A morning at Nalsarovar

Monday 25th December, Gir - Ahemdabad - Nalsarovar - Ahemdabad - Pune

Our train, late by an hour, reached Ahemdabad at around 6:15am. Jayanth too was with us and we all had a late afternoon flight back home from Ahemdabad. So we decided to spend the morning at Nalsarovar lake, near Ahemdabad.

We reached Nalsarovar by 7:45am or so and were surprised to see the place was full of tourists! There was no way to do any birdwathing along the banks and we took a boat ride. Here we met Qasim Mohammad, a sweet chap in his forties, who had immense bird knowledge and had been observing bird behavior at Nalsarovar right from chidlhood.

Glossy Ibis

The lake was full of Martins and Wire Tailed Swallows flying at low heights above the water. As we went inside, we saw a lot of Glossy Ibis, Black Tailed Godwits, Black Winged Stilts. A Marsh Harrier hid in the tall grass looking for a prey. As we cut through the grass and went further, a Purple Swamphen took off and soon we discovered the place was full of Purple Swamphens.

Black Tailed Godwit in flight

At some distance Qasim spotted a Pheasant Tailed Jacana, then 5-6 Greylag Geese landing nearby. Then there was a lone Comb Duck swimming which took off.

Comb Duck (aka Nakta) taking off

We could see many flocks of birds in the sky which included Glossy Ibis, Asian OpenBill Storks, Garganey ducks, Greylag Geese and Common Cranes.

Grey Lag Goose taking off, Garganey Ducks in the background

The water level was shallow throughout and in summers it goes a couple of feet low, making it a perfect habitat for Pelicans and Flamingos. Qasim told us that even Wild Ass migrated to Nalsarovar during summer.

Purple Heron in flight

After spending around 3 hours in the boat, we got back to rush to Ahemdabad to catch our flights. We reached Pune and home early evening and were already talking about the next trip to more places in Gujrat!

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nature-pics/tags/nalsarovar/

BirdList:
Asian Open Bill stork,
Painted Stork,
Purple Swamphen,
Large Egret,
Intermediate Egret,
Little Egret,
Pheasant-tailed Jacana,
Wire Tailed Swallow,
Martins (unidentified),
Brahminy Ducks,
Garganey Ducks,
Comb Duck,
Black Ibis,
Glossy Ibis,
Wood Sandpiper,
Black-tailed Godwit,
Common Snipe,
Black-winged stilt,
Purple Heron,
Grey Heron,
Pond Heron,
Marsh Harrier,
Lesser-spotted eagle,
Common Crane,
Sarus Crane (in nearby field on our way back)
Yellow wagtail,
Grey Wagtail,
White-tailed lapwing,
Red-wattled lapwing,
Greylag goose

Boat ride:
No fixed timings. There was a base cost for the first one hour and the remaining hours are to be decided mutually with the boatmen.

Distances:
Ahemdabad to Nalsarovar - 80kms