Birding at Vadhvana wetland
Birding at Vadhvana wetland near Vadodara, Gujarat – 25th December 2020
It was a cool winter December morning of 2020. I had the privilege of visiting the fascinating and truly worthwhile Vadhvana wetlands Birding at Vadhvana wetland which is on every bird watcher’s bucket list. It is a famous wetland for the flocks of migratory birds which gather every winter coming from all over the world.
Such lakes are modern hotspots for birds and plenty of other biodiversity apart from being of great help to the farming community.
It was my dream come true. I went along with my family and a very close friend who is an avid wild lifer Mr. Dinesh Dhanani from Vadodara.
We started from Vadodara at around 7 am and via Dabhoi reached the lake at around 8.30 am.
It was a chilly morning and the moment we saw the first glimpse of the vast lake, we were mesmerised.
The Vadhvana wetlands
It was an awesome place with water as far as the eyes could see. No sooner we reached we were greeted by the wonderful Purple Heron sitting on the banks of the canal coming out of the lake.
Purple Heron
White Throated Kingfisher
We went on over the Dam wall and started walking towards the shallow end where we could see lots of bird activities.
We passed some Gargenys wading in water along with some Coots who were busy finding grass and twigs for building their nests. On the other side in the lush green farms and fields we could see some Green bee eaters, Warblers, Larks and Starlings.
Gargeny Duck
Green Bee eater
A very beautiful White throated Kingfisher gave us a pose, sitting like a saint on a tree waiting to dive in water for any unsuspecting fishes. We crossed few highly territorial and ever aggressive Purple Swamp Hens.
Purple Swamp Hen
Paddyfield Warbler
We walked for a mile and took a much needed tea and pakoda break at the Village committee run Tea stall and continued our silent walk towards the shallows. We started seeing the Big ducks like the Knob billed and Ruddy Shell duck in numbers of hundreds along with few Eurasian Spoonbills.
Ruddy Shelduck
Eurasian Spoonbills
Knob Billed Duck
Knob Billed Ducks
The amazing sight of murmuration of Dunlins and Sand pipers, Common Teals and many birds doing ballet in the air was breath taking. The reason was the Marsh Harrier, a winter visitor from Europe chasing these tiny birds.
Dunlins
Common Teals
Marsh Harrier
Grey Wagtail
The show stopper was the red crested Pochard which was floating like a king with an army of coots and other birds as it’s guards. The beautiful Little Tern and the river terns were doing synchronised flying side by side in the air with eagerness of picking up their snacks.
Red Crested Pochard
Little Tern
Glossy Ibis
Black Necked Ibis in a class
Gargeny
Pied Kingfisher
After spending 3-4 good hours watching these wonders of nature, we returned back with bagful of fond and interesting memories. We spotted more than 60 species of Birds at the lake.