Birding at Shols after ages
The morning had a nice familiar feeling to it - Srinivas is back in town, I am shamelessly jumping into his car, we are off to Shols - Classic Farms side - Umesh wants his vadai, Vijay says no no. It is Madras Week and this is the bird walk. We navigate the OMR and the Metro construction hazards and enter the colony - more plots filled, less marsh, more concrete. Where will the birds go I keep thinking, as we watch the habitat vanish before our eyes. Sagarika, our resident marsh birder is AWOL sadly and so the waders also decide to give it a skip it seems. But the regulars were there - Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Swamp Hens, Stilts in plenty. The buffaloes looked more impressive and fierce in Umesh's picture - the scene had a very Kaziranga-like feel to it, if you imagined these as wild buffaloes! What was this I wondered in dismay. Some illegality for sure. The birds seemed to be making the most of the perches it provided. The Pied Kingfisher ( Ceryle rudis )...
