Times Passion Trail - Day 3: Nal Sarovar
I had already been to Nal Sarovar about three years ago. The earlier trip, spread over two sessions at Nal Sarovar and Vadla dam, fetched me wonderful pictures of several dozens of birds, almost 80% of which were lifers! However, I was equally excited to visit the place once again.
Nal Sarovar bird sanctuary consists of a beautiful lake and ambient marshes, dotted with several small islands, called by the locals as “Tapu”. It is frequented by various migratory birds in winter and spring. It is the largest bird sanctuary in Gujarat, and one of the largest in India. It was declared as a bird sanctuary in April 1969. Nal Sarovar has also been declared as Ramsar Site on September 24, 2012.
It is a very unique sanctuary. The water in the lake is, on an average, four feet deep. It is very still and clear…you can easily see the vegetation under the surface. One can go in small boats seating 4-8 birders, which the local boatmen navigate with a bamboo pole, gliding silently between the marshes, facilitating observation of birds at leisure. These boatmen are well informed about the birds, having been doing this job of steering boats, while doubling as guides, for a number of years. You would think that as the lake is only four feet deep, a tall person could easily wade through it! But this is not feasible, as he would get entangled in the submerged vegetation! We reached Nal Sarovar well before sunrise, thanks to our early departure at 5 am from Bajana near LRK. In fact, we were already in our boats and gently gliding in the waters, by the time the sun made an appearance.
What a beautiful sunrise it was! The calm and still waters, gentle breeze, birds sailing around waiting for the sunlight to overcome the darkness and getting the first bites of their breakfast! Beautiful and Serene…..!
The first birds we spotted were Eurasian coots in very large numbers. The coots have a very curious way of suddenly scooting over the water surface, half-flying, and half-running. It looks very hilarious. The Gulls floating and taking off into the orange morning sky made a very pretty picture. We noted several birds like purple swamphens, black-winged stilts, the ruddy shelduck, which were always seen in pairs; the noisy Red-wattled lapwings, black-tailed godwits, common redshanks, red-naped, glossy and black-headed ibis, open-billed as well as painted storks, the Pheasant-tailed Jacanas…….the list seems endless! Incidentally, the Pheasant-tailed jacana was without its famous long curved tail. Our Boatman-cum-guide told us that the long tail appears only in the summer months… possibly their breeding season.
The flamingos and pelicans were also present, which we didn’t see in very large numbers.
We visited a couple of islands too and witnessed a variety of Wagtails, Babblers, Prinia, White-cheeked Bulbuls, Warblers, and Rosy Starlings.
On our way back, I was thrilled to find some beautiful purple sunbirds hopping around merrily on the flowers of the bottle-brush tree near the Nal Sarovar cafeteria.
And then, it was time for us to bid good-bye to this paradise on water and begin our drive to Bhavnagar.
That evening our young organizers arranged for the projection of pictures clicked by the participants. Our Guru Sanat Sir gracefully and gently guided all of us on how our pictures could be better and more effective. He gave us valuable advice about the composition, lighting, aperture, shutter speed, ISO selection, and all the dos and don’ts of wildlife photography. He offered very valuable tips about our attire while going on wildlife expeditions.