Large Flock of Bar-headed Geese Spotted at the Basai Wetland

Finally, a large flock of Bar-headed Geese was spotted at the Basai Wetland today. Unfortunately, the flock spotted was less than half the size of the one spotted in the year 2017. There is an apparent change in the migratory patterns of Bar-headed Geese headed towards the plains of India which is prompted by a reduction in the availability of food and the steady disappearance of Wetlands and other Biodiversity hotspots. 

This flock of Geese was preceded by a pair early in the week of December. Looking at the lone pair of Bar-headed Geese earlier I was under the impression that no more would be coming to the Basai Wetland in Gurugram. Apparently, I was wrong! It was a great relief to see a large flock of about fifty birds on the ground. I have always looked forward to spotting the annual visitors to the wetland every year. 

Bar-headed Geese are known to be among the only birds that can fly at an altitude of 20,000 feet, a feat that is remarkable especially because few birds can survive without Oxygen at such heights. Moreover, Bar-headed Geese have remarkable navigational skills since they land up in the same spot year in and year out. The Basai Wetland incidentally is a stopover for these birds that migrate to the warmer climate in the Northern plains of India for the purpose of breeding from the months of December to March.

Bar-headed Geese are also spotted at the Sultanpur National Park at some distance from the Basai Wetland, however, I haven't been to the National Park since the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Bar-headed Geese are a noisy flock that advertise their arrival long before they are seen. I have seen them alight on the drier grassy parts of the Basai wetlands. In all probability, they'd rather feed on insects and small crustaceans left behind in receding waters. At the Sultanpur National Park, however, I have seen them settle on the water itself.

The Bar-headed Geese that visit the Basai Wetland in Gurugram are very shy in nature and it is often very difficult to get close to them without startling them. Additionally, they can be found only in the early mornings from seven to eight. The early morning mist rising from the wet ground can often make it a challenge to get clear photographs of them.

I hope to see these birds return to the same spot next year though I don't see that happening with all the draining of the water of the wetland and the filling up of low-lying areas for development-related purposes. The construction of a flyover close by and the Dwarka Expressway will change the very shape of the Wetland.

Bar-headed Geese Spotted at the Basai Wetland - Are these the last ones to be seen?

A Bar-headed Goose at the Basai Wetland

Today when I visited the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon, I spotted a pair of Bar-headed Geese. It was a welcome sight though I was disappointed to see only one pair! I had spotted at least fifty of them about three years back. It is quite clear that Bar-headed Geese have begun to avoid the Basai Wetland because it is no longer viable for them to nest thanks to the shrinking size of the wetland. The steady drainage of the wetland and other construction activities have played their toll. Some of the larger birds like the Sarus Crane and the Woolly-necked Stork are rarely to be seen in the area.

A pair of Bar-headed Geese at the Basai Wetland

The presence of merely a pair of Bar-headed Geese instead of many more is an indication of changing times. The steady destruction of wildlife habitats, green areas and wetlands are forcing a change in the migratory patterns of birds flying across continents. Unfortunately, neither the Government nor wildlife organizations in the country are bothered about preserving biodiversity hotspots like the Basai Wetland and even the Damdama Lake close to the town of Sohna.

A Bar-headed Goose flies against the backdrop of a statue 

The photograph I have posted above is evocative of the situation in the city of Gurgaon, a city that is steadily clearing up forests and wetlands to make way for the construction of highrises that will house the burgeoning of the city. As a result of shrinking biodiversity hotspots in the region, there is a scarcity of food for the migratory birds that fly in from across continents. This is clear, looking at the fewer numbers of Bar-headed Geese arriving at the wetland. Demographic changes leading to the destruction of important ecosystems have resulted in a change of migratory patterns of birds since pre-historical times.

A Bar-headed Goose at the Basai Wetland

It is high time something was done to reverse the damage being done to the environment in Gurgaon. Unless we do something to preserve our Biodiversity hotspots, long-distance migratory birds like the Bar-headed Geese will soon become rare sightings. The Siberian Crane has never been sighted for years and that speaks volumes about the changes taking place in the environment.

A Pair of Bar-headed Geese at the Basai Wetland

We all know that of all the migratory birds that we know, Bar-headed Geese are the only birds that can fly at a height of about 20,000 feet that too in conditions where lack of enough Oxygen would soon make life impossible. They are also the only birds that can fly over the towering Himalayas to reach the plains in Northern India to breed in relatively warmer environs during the months of November and December. As such, Bar-headed Geese might are marvellous examples of migratory birds that have achieved an amazing feat of not only flying at high altitudes but also navigating across the massive Himalayan mountain ranges (which they have been doing for ages).

A pair of Bar-headed Geese fly across what remains of an ancient wetland

In almost all of the photographs, the reader will notice the backdrop of buildings. Construction work and the presence of a large number of people in the vicinity have driven away the Bar-headed Geese from the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon. Looking at how fast development is taking place in the area, it is certain that nothing will remain of this important biodiversity hotspot.

Bar-headed Geese fly across what remains of an ancient wetland

The prognosis is not good. We have damaged our wetlands very badly. What used to be once a vibrant and rich wetland that supported a number of indigenous species of fish and turtles has now become a mud pan of toxic mud, contaminated by sewage and construction waste. Soon, images of birds that come from far away places will become archives of times that once were.

Is this the last of the Bar-headed Geese?

Revealing the Secret Behind the Still

A lot of my readers expressed surprise at one of my photographs of a pair of ducks flying with wings overlapping. Most of them believed that there were three ducks. I would like to clarify, however, that there were in fact only two ducks that were involved in the photograph. The timing incidentally was right and this happens rarely. The exact sequence leading to the amazing photograph posted above is given below. The sequence is separated from each other in mere microseconds. So I will present the sequence of the photographs as it was.

The first photograph:

The second photograph:

The third photograph:

So you can see for yourselves that there are only two birds in these photographs and not three! I would have liked to keep the number of birds in the photographs a secret, but then, I guess the truth needs to be revealed!

I wasn't expecting anything special when I took these photographs. It was just that I spotted this pair of ducks take off and I swung the camera for a shot. I shot a sequence of photographs and it was only later on that I realised I had something special.

Photographing Ducks in the Wild the right way

Well, I guess my go-to place for bird photography is not exactly in the wild, rather it is a hidden spot, more or less on the outskirts of Gurugram (Gurgaon) close to the Gurgaon-Jajjhar highway and next to the Water-treatment plant. Unfortunately, wild ducks are very nervous and they don't allow you to get close to them. Using a zoom lens having a minimum focal length of 500 to 600 mm might help, but then the trade-off includes its unwieldy character, requiring oftentimes a tripod. I don't personally like to carry a tripod and I use a Canon 70-300 mm IS USM lens which is compact and can be pointed swiftly at any swift moving bird. The Canon 70-300 mm lens is has a fast focus as it easily locks to the image without too much fuss! Having a fast enough shutter speed between 1250 of a second to 2000 of a second can help although lighting is a highly dynamic factor which can require frequent changes in the f-stop numbers and the shutter speed. I, however, prefer to set the ISO setting on automatic within the range of 100 to 800.

The photograph taken above is a photograph of a distant pair of Northern Pintails flying in tandem. The angle of the photograph has created a rather unique crossing of wings forming a rather interesting overlapping of wings thus creating an interesting geometric shape. My interest in bird photography forces me to look for interesting patterns and shapes made by Ducks flying in unison. The photographs I have posted below are those of Spot-billed Ducks that are native to the country but they migrate to warmer regions during the winter season for breeding and bringing up their fledgelings.

The photographs I am sharing are, unfortunately, compressed so that they don't take up too much space on the blog. However, if you really want to take a good look at them I would suggest that you click on them and zoom in so that they appear a bit larger than they are in the blog.

The patterns made by Ducks flying in unison can often follow a pecking order with the leader forming the point of the formation. Often it can be noticed that the leader forms the arrow-head of the formation. It is such exciting patterns that one would look for while photographing wild ducks and the Basai Wetland offers many such opportunities.

While paddling around on the water ducks often do stuff in pairs or sometimes even in troikas. However, one might also spot solitary ducks paddling around like the one whose photograph I have posted below. 

A mass exodus of ducks can be an amazing sight when you spot it. The sound of hundreds of wings beating together can be an experience of its kind!

Amazing Images of Courting Grey Herons at the Basai Wetland

Yesterday, when I visited the Basai Wetland for my weekly tryst with nature, I was absolutely stunned by the display of excellent aerobatic skills by a pair of courting Grey Herons. 'STUNNED', is how I would like to describe their display of courtship flight! 

This pair of Grey Heron went chasing each other, often wingtip to wingtip, literally skimming the surface of the water so much so that you could see the furrow created by their wingtips! Well, I did not expect this as I had planned to go further to a spot where I would be photographing ducks.

Of course, another pleasant surprise was to spot some Pied Avocet birds, but then, I was divided between the Pied Avocet and the flying Grey Heron. This would be the first time that I was seeing a pair of these rather graceful birds sailing on so gracefully. I could have stayed rooted to the spot if they had finally not decided to fly away into the horizon.

This blogpost is dedicated only to the wonderful Grey Heron I spotted at the Basai Wetland, and I hope that in the days to come, we will be seeing more of them and their offspring!

The best shots of the Grey Heron were those that I took of each one of them individually, and I am sure you will agree that they are simply out of this world!

So even as the female was trying to play hard to get, the male kept pursuing her even as she led him on 'Grey Heron's chase' all over the place. The sudden landings with wings flared, the deployed 'slats, lowered flaps, and the nose up attitude' seemed reminiscent of aerobatic aircraft (But then, of course, we learned the art of flying from them!).

Although the Grey Heron birds happen to be a mostly solitary bird hunting for fish, often motionless and still, they are happy to have the company of a mate during the mating season. These graceful birds are quite big standing one metre tall with wings extending even more! They have long legs black in colour that appear as if they are black twigs to fool fish into a sense of complacency waiting to be gobbled by the bird waiting above. Grey Heron are waders that feed on the surface of the water striking into the depths as soon as they spot a fish.

Well, I guess that's it for today, hope to come up with some more photographs of the amazing wildlife that can be spotted at the Basai Wetland in Gurugram.

The Pied Avocet-A Winter Visitor at the Basai Wetland

The Pied Avocet is a migratory bird that visits the Basai Wetland during the winter months. It is a white wader with bluish-black long legs. What marks it apart from other birds like the Black-winged Stilt is its slender but long upturned beak. While feeding it pokes its beak into the water swinging its beak to and fro in order to catch its meal which includes fish and crustaceans. 

But then that was just about its appearance! What is fascinating about this bird is that it travels so far. Mostly a resident of the Rann of Kutch and Balochistan, it migrates to northeastern India during the winter season. According to an entry in Wikipedia, 'The pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) is a large black and white wader in the avocet and stilt family, Recurvirostridae. They breed in temperate Europe and across the Palearctic to Central Asia then on to the Russian Far East. It is a migratory species and most winter in Africa or southern Asia.'-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_avocet

The Basai Wetland in Gurugram (Gurgaon), Haryana, India is an important biodiversity hotspot that supports a large number of migratory birds including the Common Starling and Bar-headed Geese flying in from all over the world! Today, when I visited the Basai Wetland, I was able to spot quite a few of the Pied Avocet birds feeding in the shallows. Unfortunately, I was not able to get close enough to get very clear photographs of them. 

Research data suggests that the Pied Avocet population might be in a state of moderate decline in India. No wonder this is because of the constant fight for space between man and birds, and also because of the disappearance of important Biodiversity hotspots, thanks to the need for more space to build residential complexes. Incidentally, The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) is applicable to the Pied Avocet birds in India.

According to an article appearing in the Guardian in April in the year 2012, "They came back from the brink of extinction in Britain in the mid-19th century and colonised the beaches of East Anglia that were closed during the war."-https://www.theguardian.com/science/grrlscientist/2012/apr/15/4

Another article appearing in the New Indian Express states, "Places like Kelambakkam backwaters or Pallikaranai marshlands have stopped attracting a number of varieties they used to. According to seasoned bird-watchers, ducks like garganey and common teal, another type of wader called the pied avocet are among the ones that have gone missing."-

https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2020/jan/28/number-of-bird-species-on-decline-say-watchers-2095431.html

Ashy Prinia, Sandpiper, Citrine Wagtail, Painted Stork, Spot-billed Ducks and Black-winged Stilts Spotted at the Basai Wetland

It is incredible to see so many bird species at the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon. The wetland is a haven to a large number of migrant and residential birds. Spread over a wide area, (now broken up into patches) the Basai Wetland is also a vital rainwater catchment area in Gurugram. It is an ancient geographical feature of the town that is of great ecological value. Though ignored by the authorities of the state, the Basai wetland continues to be flooded for long periods of time after the monsoon season, often defying the efforts of builders and developers to drain out the water that keeps finding its way into the area.

Bounded by the Dwarka Expressway on one side, and an important railway line on the other, the Basai wetland is slowly but steadily getting surrounded by residential buildings and complexes. In times when real-estate demands have increased by leaps and bounds, it is inevitable that the last remaining Biodiversity hotspots will soon disappear. The Aravali mountains ranges, wetlands, and green areas in this swiftly growing town are steadily getting taken over by highrise buildings to cater to the ever-growing population of workers, professionals and residents.

It is in this context that I decided to pick up one of the Biodiversity hotspots of the town in order to catalogue and record some of the bird species that are sustained by it. Over the years I have noticed the disappearance of some of the native species of birds that used to reside in the area. One of the bird species that has been marked by its absence is the Sarus Crane. The Sarus Crane could be found in the area adjacent to the water treatment plant next to the Construction Waste Recycling plant. Unfortunately, walls have been created on this area and people have started filling in the area with mud, in anticipation of times when the area will become a prime location for the construction of residential flats.

While some of the hardier species of birds such as the Black-winged Stilts, Painted Storks, Purple Swamphen and White-breasted Kingfisher continue to survive on the wetland, some of the more widely travelled species like the Bar-headed Geese, as also the Sarus Cranes have been missing from the wetland, most probably because of the disturbance caused by human activity in the area. Till it is completely swallowed by development projects, the wetland, or whatever remains of it will continue to be home to ducks during the winter season and also the Citrine Wagtail.