Birding By the Meandering Piyali
Where:
Piyali Island Tourist Lodge,
when: 09.11.2013
Who: Myself and Deb with Santanu Chakraborty and Raja Chatterjee.
Sighting a lifer, taking a record
shot of new migrant or reporting the first arrival of a migrant to a birding
locale....these are the small delights that every birder dreams of.....one can thus
comprehend our surprise, when we spotted a group of tufted ducks about 25 in
number foraging in the Piyali river, at Piyali Island this Sunday. The locals
report that they had landed the previous day.
 |
| Large Cuckoo Shrike |
On a bright and sunny day we embarked early for PITL, guided by the GPS. A few wrong turns and an hour later than usual, we reached Piyali, to be greeted by a Large cuckoo shrike bellowing at no in particular and a juvenile black napped oriole investigating us from the tree tops.
 |
| Black Naped Oriole |
For those visiting PITL for the first time, please ask the locals for "Kella'. Don’t rely on the GPS as the "shortest route" may lead you in to paddy fields and country roads. Take the state highway 1 from Garia and drive upto Dakhin Barashat. From here you get off the Baruipur Kulpi road unto a metalled road that goes via Maya Hauri, Taranagar and Mahish Mari to PITL.
The landscape is beautiful and peaceful, the meandering Piyali that surrounds the Island, dotted with fishing boats, offers a soothing sight. The tourist lodge however leaves much to be desired. Its equipped with only the basic amenities and a bit wanting in sanitation. We immediately took up the river trail eager to see what the island had in stock for us. Most of the local birds were spotted at the enclove of tamarind trees just off the tourist lodge. A lot of activity in the bush was seen comprising mainly of warblers and fly catchers.
For lunch Raja Da was able to persuade
the cook to makes us a Desi meal of kosha mangsho, dal, fries and curry. Never
shy of a good bargain he was able to bring down the price to Rs. 150/- per
plate. After having a delectable meal we were off, hoping for a restful return
trip not expecting any new sighting on the way.
We were discussing how last year a
well know birder had reported tufted ducks on this island, and lamenting on a
missed opportunity. Just then I noticed a Tern Gliding over the river bank and
when I took out the binoc to investigate closely, I happened to spot a group of
black specks drifting on the river just where it forks around the island. We
immediate alighted and ran to the bank and lo and behold! Drifting lazily were about
25 Tufted Ducks, their tufts blowing
softly in the breeze!! The locals said that they had arrived a day before and
had not moved from that spot the whole time. There were 5 males among the flock
and were occasionally diving to catch fish.
 |
| Tufted ducks |
I moved on to identify a wagtail skittering
nearby and out of nowhere a Common Hoopoe
flies out above our heads. I just couldn’t believe it, as Raja Da had been
telling the whole day that we might find a hoopoe but we kept protesting that
it has not yet migrated in to these parts. Any way the return journey turned
out to be the most eventful part of the day due to a stroke of unexpected
luck!!
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