Antics of a Crow Pheasant at the Basai Wetland

Nothing can be funnier than the antics of a Crow Pheasant trying to slip by you in order to get to where that tasty morsel can be found. I was fascinated by this particular Crow Pheasant that hid behind some bushes thinking I could not see it! I stood quietly where I was having spotted and was rewarded with some really funny antics! I have pasted below the sequence of the Crow Pheasant slipping past me.

In the above snap, you can see that the Crow Pheasant has finally managed to get itself a bit of fish in its beak, probably to feed its chicks in a nest nearby. It went away only to return, this time with a leap, a bound and a flight!

I was able to photograph this Crow Pheasant or Greater Coucal at the Basai Wetland which I visited recently.

Flight of the Wire-Tailed Swallows

Swallows are rather playful little birds, always chasing each other, dragging long wire tails behind them even as they are buffeted by the wind. At this time of the year, the Basai Wetland is taken over by Wire-Tailed Swallows, after of course the exit of the larger variety of migratory birds like the Bar-Headed Geese, the Sheldon Ducks and the Spot-Billed Ducks.

When I visited the Basai Wetland today, I found a solitary Spot-Billed Duck, left behind by its family, no doubt! It was a pleasant surprise, however, to find the diminutive Swallows playing around. The colour combination of blue, white and a rust-coloured head covering, rather like a skull-cap along with the two wires sticking out of the tails of some, made for an interesting hour of photography. I was able to take quite a few photographs of the birds in flight, I was assisted, no doubt by the strong wind that made them sort of hover in the air.

Besides the cavorting Wire-Tailed Swallows, I was also taken aback by the almost Human bickering of the Myna Birds. A whole flock of these birds had perched on top of a tree and they were all looking in the same direction even as a rather severe-looking large Myna bird seemed to be the leader of the group. It was clear that the argument was going nowhere, and the Senior Myna bird seemed to have lost control. In the end, everyone seemed to be snapping at the Senior bird!

Most of the Wetland was covered with weeds making it difficult to spot water-birds, nevertheless a Crow-Pheasant or Greater Coucal did spring a surprise stepping out of the bushes to leap into the air, though not being able to fly a long distance.

As if the flight of the Crow Pheasant was not surprising enough, after some distance I was again startled by a Purple Heron which decided to make a break flinging itself into the air like a lumbering giant. I was reminded of a heavily laden aircraft trying to unstick itself from the runway.

The Basai Wetland is sure to spring pleasant surprises for birders who are patient and willing to walk the extra mile. It is always a clever idea to carry a zoom lens along with a decent enough DSLR. I personally don’t like carrying a tripod since it hampers movement. The Basai Wetland is easily accessible to cars and motorcycles. It is located near the Water Treatment Plant on the Gurgaon Jajhar Road. After descending from the flyover just before the water treatment plant, you need to take the first cut to the right on to a narrow lane that seems to lead to nowhere. Just at the beginning on the right, you will come across a Gas Agency godown.

Swallows love hanging on together, even if it means making space for the odd one!

As a coup de gras, I would like to share a couple of snaps of an amorous pair of what I believe are dragonflies attached to each other in matrimonial bliss!

This Less Known Wetland in Gurgaon supports aquatic and avian life!

Today when I visited the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon, I was in for a surprising entertainment that proves that the Wetland has been here for years and is not the result of water seepage from a water pipeline. The moment I got off my bike, was riveted by the sight of the carcass of a fish at least one and a half foot long! It must have taken the fish quite a few years to reach that length. This proves that the Basai Wetland in Gurgaon supports aquatic life forms, and has been doing so for many many years! It would be a great tragedy to lose such a valuable treasure, an ecosystem that supports avian and aquatic life! 

I was also surprised to hear a few men shouting their heart out! Puzzled by this performance I decided to investigate. Strangest of all things, I noticed a man in a boat, driving away the birds. 

Next, I saw men on the dykes and banks driving away the birds. When I went ahead, I came across a man who was yelling on top of his voice even as he made a show of flinging stones at the birds in the vicinity. I stopped next to him and asked him if he was in pain. Surprised, he told me that they were driving away the birds so that they could gather the fish that had accumulated in the dwindling water (since the authorities were draining out the wetland to make way for a waste treatment plant). I was dumbfounded by his reply! So now even the fish, frogs and freshwater turtles are under threat! Strangely enough, I could see fish jumping out of the shallow water in a desperate struggle to survive.

I wonder who owns the fish, and what right these men had of driving away the migratory birds that settle on the wetland to nest during the winter season. Anyways, these men were running along like mad people shouting and roaring at the birds, too much effort I believe for a few kilos of fish, or perhaps, was it much more? The presence of fishing nets and makeshift barricading is proof enough that fishing takes place in the Basai Wetland!

The Basai Wetland is an important ecosystem that supports not only aquatic and avian life, but also people who depend on it for an important form of protein in the form of fish that they catch. Besides, the wetland is surrounded by patches of farmland that seem to be fertile enough for wheat to be grown. I was in for a surprise when I found a herd of geese perched on a piece of land on which a crop of wheat was standing.

It is high time we thought about sustainable development and not rampant and unplanned development. In our folly, we have already lost many of our wetlands. Today our groundwater levels are receding at an alarming rate. When we destroy our wetlands, we destroy nature's ability to recharge depleting groundwater levels.

Ibis feed on fish. Mallards, pochards, feed on fish. Human beings feed on fish. A wetland supports a whole ecosystem that is finely balanced. The proof that the Basai Wetland is not an accidental pond created from leaking water-pipelines is there before us! It will be a great tragedy to lose the remaining wetland in Gurgaon!