Times Passion Trail - 1
I had the honor and good fortune to participate in a “Wildlife and Bird Photography Expedition”, known as Times Passion Trail in February 2018. This was organized by the popular English daily newspaper, The Times of India. This was from February 18th to February 24th, 2018. The expedition was across five dream destinations for wildlife and birding enthusiasts;
- Thol Lake Bird Sanctuary
- Little Rann of Kutch
- Nalsarovar
- Velavadar blackbuck sanctuary and
- Gir lion sanctuary
Day1- The Flag-off by the Honorable Chief Minister of Gujarat
The participants were addressed by the Honourable chief minister of Gujarat, Shri. Vijay Rupani.
The great thing about this expedition was that it had the guidance of an “Experience Architect”, Shri. Sanat Shodhan, one of the most acclaimed wildlife photographers in India. He was with us throughout the expedition, giving us his invaluable advice on improving the quality of our photography, sharing his experiences about his encounters with the wildlife in different parts of the world. The expedition was then flagged off by the Hon ‘ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri. Vijay Rupani.
Thol Bird Sanctuary
Our first stop was Thol lake, near Thol village in Kadi in Mehsana District. It was constructed as an irrigation tank in 1912 by the Gayakwad regime. This is a freshwater lake, which was declared the Thol Bird Sanctuary in 1988. It is a habitat to 150 species of resident and migratory birds, more than half of which are water birds.
We climbed over a small ridge. When we descended, the beautiful vista of the lake lay before us. It was almost 4 o’clock in the afternoon when we arrived. All of us spread out around the edge of this lake and started clicking away to glory. There were innumerable birds of various species swimming, wading, and diving in the lake; all feeding harmoniously as there was plenty of food for everyone! We could see various types of ducks, pintails, pond herons, Grey herons, stilts, Eurasian Spoonbills, Common cranes, Pelicans, Greylag geese, Common coots, Cormorants, Darter birds, Northern shovelers, Pied kingfishers, Ibises…….the list seemed to be endless.
It was quite hot and humid around the lake. My glasses were constantly getting clouded by the water vapor rising up from the lake, but I was too engrossed in my work to bother about such discomforts! All the birds had some unique features; the cormorants and darters drying their wings; the still, stealthy walk of the pond herons; the way the Green bee-eaters return to the same perch repeatedly after a sally, etc. Of particular interest was the way the Pied kingfishers hover high above the lake and dive very suddenly to catch the hapless fish!
As dusk approached and the sun was getting ready to call it a day, we were treated to sight very unique to Thol…. innumerable flocks of birds returning in waves from their daily forages elsewhere…. like beautiful garlands in the pretty pink sky! It was a sight to behold!
We ended our wonderful day, passionately reminiscing the habits of the wonderful birds and their behavior.