Salem surprises

 6th Oct 2026

Work took me to Salem.  And Salem surprised me.

I was astonished at the clear skies - hardly any crows or feral pigeons, in the areas I visited.  There is no area in Chennai for which this would be true.

The constant caw-caw and guttroo guttroo was conspicuously absent.

Just across from where I stayed was a protected tank/lake - Pallapatti.  I saw it on Google Maps and set out to explore it.

A 10 Re entrance fee allowed me access to what did not look promising at all - paved paths, children's play area and stray dogs by the dozen.

Several walkers moved in a brisk and purposeful fashion towards and around a fenced central part.  No lake or water was seen at this point.

The fenced area

I set off around the perimeter of this fenced area, as Prinias called from the undergrowth and mynas from the taller trees around.  Parakeets called and flew overhead.  I had to watch my step as there were significant piles of dog poop and also sleeping dogs everywhere.

The perimeter had Indian privet growing wild, and Calatropis (milkweed) patches as well.  

I did not have much hope of looking in on the lake.  Suddenly, I saw a man and dog duck into the fence and emerge in the lake side, and march across the fenced area!  

Oh, a gap in the fence!

And yes, there was water!  So this was a lake and probably did have much higher water levels post rains.

I was happy to see that the fenced off area did not have much garbage and had been left alone - there were reeds and water plants.  I saw a peahen!  Two black kites circled above.

As I circled around the western end, a huge flock of palm swifts swooped and flew over my head!  It was such a nice sight!  As I watched an Ashy Prinia alighted and swung on on the bulrushes and called and chirped loudly.  Skulking among the Privets and other undergrowth were Zitting cisticolas.  Drongos hunted in the air.

I wondered at the lack of waterbirds though - were the dogs the reason?  A single cattle egret in the air was all I saw.

I decided to do a second round of the lake and was rewarded with a Darter sunning itself, and a whole gaggle of peahens huddled together - I did not see the male though.

A flock of bulbuls alighted on the bushes around, and a couple of Kingfishers called.

The e-bird list is here.

A birding morning always gets me in a good mood and ready to face the rest of the day!

That's me - at the end of the walk.  A sunny smiling yellow.