MBC Bird walk at Bhuigaon

What a fantastic birding day! This was the thought in every birder's mind as the trail by Mumbai Birdwatchers Club ended at the Bhuigaon beach in Vasai. Around 40 passionate birders gathered to explore the hitherto unknown area of Bhuigaon. The mosaic of paddy fields, interspersed by wetland, scrub land, and seaside habitats gave us a superb variety of birds, and we all came back with a list of 75 bird sightings.

White Stork - an uncommon winter visitor

Mumbai Birdwatchers club has recently revived their activities. It’s aim is to offer a common platform to amateur birders to further their interests.The fourth birdwalk in this season was held at Bhuigaon in Vasai on Sunday, 20th Nov. Though not a very known trail, Bhuigaon is a popular birding destination for well known birders like Amol Lopes, Kuldeep Chaudhary, M. V. Bhakta, Sachin Marti and Varun Satose who reside in this area. The trail was led by senior and experienced birders like Saurabh Sawant, Rujuta Phadke, Varun Satose, Amol Lopes, Kuldeep Chaudhary, and M. V. Bhakta.

The weather was cool and pleasant when we started our walk, a welcome respite from the October heat. The approach road leading towards the seaside passed through Bhuigaon. It was lined by large opulent bungalows surrounded by small gardens. The gardens gave us views of Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Purple-rumped Sunbird, and Pale-billed Flowerpecker trying to catch the early rays. The village suddenly gave way to paddy fields, interspersed by marshes and scrub land. Apart from the usual suspects like Red-wattled Lapwings, Common Sandpiper, the whole egret range, Great to Little, we also saw Little ringed and Kentish Plovers feeding in the nutrient rich mud.

A Striated Heron in flight brought our gaze back towards the skies, as we saw a gorgeous Black-shouldered Kite hovering in the distance. An Oriental Honey Buzzard was our next sighting. It showed off it’s unmistakable pigeon shaped head and tail markings as it was relentlessly chased by a murder of crows out for its life. Though both our sightings of Osprey were hazy and far, it was a satisfactory feeling to know they are well fed and that the fish are biting in this area.

It helped that our necks were craned towards the sky looking at an Oriental Skylark, when there was a sudden shout of “Falcon” from Saurabh. Lo and behold a handsome male Amur Falcon flew right over our head giving us a superb view of it’s pied underparts. As fast as it came, the falcon quickly disappeared from view. No doubt it was making it’s way across the ocean onward to its winter grounds in Africa. These tiny birds are one of the longest bird migrants in the world. They breed in the Amur river basin between Russia and China and undertake a journey of 22,000 Kms to their wintering grounds in Africa. They are passage migrants in India, which made this sighting very special as they are only seen for a short period of time during the beginning of winter.

Another notable sighting was of a Short-eared Owl as it circled overhead with a Marsh Harrier in tow. The sighting could be quickly confirmed as photographers produced pictures of this beauty in flight.

Short-eared Owl

The paddy fields produced for us Paddyfield Pipits, a trio chased each other merrily. Two Tree Pipits sat watching their antics from an electric wire. The sun was quite bright by now and the Tree Pipits were bathed in perfect light. This helped everyone observe the yellow wash and striations on their chest which distinguishes them from other pipits.

Tree Pipit showing off striations and yellow wash on chest

Siberian Stonechat, Booted and Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Long-tailed Shrike and an uncommon Red-headed Bunting confirmed that migration was well under way.

The rich countryside gave us ample sightings and we ended up spending nearly 2 hours covering a stretch of 2 kms. By now the sea was beckoning and by 9:30 a.m. we ended up on the a clean beach littered with Little Ringed, Greater and Lesser Sand, and Kentish Plovers, running helter skelter in the sands. Ruddy Turnstones, Terek and Curlew Sandpipers and a lone Sanderling were amongst our notable sightings by the grey Arabian sea.

We ended the day with a vote of thanks to all the participating birders. Some of the birders quickly headed over to the nearby saltpans for another uncommon sighting of White Stork, a widespread winter visitor to the Indian subcontinent. In the past there have been some very uncommon records from the Vasai area, like White-tailed Lapwing, Crab Plover, and very recently the White Stork. Local birders with their sustained efforts have come up with a list of 250 birds and a birding app “Vasai Birds”. It is vital that this region receives popularity as a birding destination. MBC hopes that their efforts to bring light to such unknown areas will help in their conservation as the city rapidly takes over the last bits of green and converts it to a dreary grey.

Terek Sandpiper with unmistakable orange legs and slightly upcurved beak