Fly-away2 : Point Calimere and Muthupet Mangroves {Oct, 2008}

I guess i could call this 'fly-away' as part group and part lone adventure! It was not a planned trip as such. It started off with a strong urge to escape from Bangalore and some recurring thoughts, combined with an equally strong urge to visit Point Calimere once again. I happen to call Dr.Bala and he informed me about the bird-ringing camp, along with the BNHS ornithology group members the next week. And i was happy to know that Dr.Bala still remembered me... though it was after a span of 4 years. I had been a part of the same Ornithology course in 2004. That was absolutely brilliant... probably one of the best birding trips that i have been on till date.

However, within a couple days i had booked my tickets to join the second group of the course members. I didn't join them for the whole course as i had a painting to finish before i go on the trip. Also, i had an own trip planned up too... i wanted to travel and do some birding by myself. Well, a small part didn't think i would do it, but am glad that my eagerness won over me! Infact, i don't think i gave myself too much of a choice to think otherwise! I stayed back for an extra day at Point Calimere and the next day, i left to Muthupet Mangroves for a ride along with the fishermen upto the sea and back ! It was a wonderful experience especially with my excellent tamil !! ... or should i say dumbcharades!

Here's more about my 'flyway'.....

POINT CALIMERE SANCTUARY :

Point Calimere Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary is known for its diverse landscapes : Coastal plains, tidal mud-flats, swampy backwaters, grassland, tropical dry evergreen forests, salt-pans and mangroves, thus rich in biodiversity of flora and fauna. It is listed as an Important Bird Area (IBA) for India. Also, the sanctuary became a part of the RAMSAR convention, in 2002, declared as a place of international importance for the conservation of waterbirds and their wetland habitats.

My Stop-over: (19th to 23rd October, 2008)

Day 1: After a 12 hour bus journey from bangalore, via Vellankanni and Vedaranyam, i reached Point Calimere/Kodoakarai by lunch time. Soon after, we left to Muniyappan lake to try our luck with some ducks, but none had arrived yet. Then, left to the grassy-forest patch to do some bird ringing.

DAY 2 : We were out of the forest guest house as early as 4:30 am, got a little delayed by the rains and left to Vaduvoor bird Sanctuary and Sitheri Kere which were 2.5 hours away, enroute to Tanjavur. Both are freshwater lakes and got to see a large congregation of waterbirds, mainly ducks, over 5000 and 2000, respectively. Evening, we visited the forest patch again, for another round of birding and ringing.

DAY 3 : Out by 4:30am and by 5:15am we were walking along the beach, in the dark! It was beautiful to see the whole landscape light up, as the sun rose; and definitely more than a thousand gulls and terns flying above us ! Later, ringing and Dr.Bala interacting with some local school children about birds, conservation and bird-banding. The Day ended with another round of good birding. Some of them course participents left today.

DAY 4: The rest of the group left Point Calimere early this morning. I stayed back for an extra day, by myself! Walked all the way from the BNHS office to the Chola light house, to and fro, about 10 kms! Added a few more birds to my list. After lunch went to the Old pump house (one of my favourite spots). Thanks to Kiruba, Dr.Bala's field assistant who took me around. Now, there was just one cycle, so i had to hitch a ride on his cycle. Funny part - I had to hop on to a running cycle... sideways!! Well.. not that am heavy at all, but he couldn't take off if i already sat on it. So, you could literally see me running along the side of the cycle, sideways, with clumsy attempts to take off from the ground, without making any of us fall! IT was such a hilarious scene and absolutely embarrising... i almost gave up! hehe!

I sat there amongst the vast landscape without a single soul around, recollecting my first visit to Point Calimere and the many other wonderful moments of the past. Spent a couple of hours birding there, till it started getting dark and then, we had to head back. It was pleasant and beautiful. I wish I had more time there!

DAY 5: On 23rd, at 4:45am, I left to Muthupet Mangroves... just 2 hrs away. Had to re-consider my decision over and over again, as i would be travelling by myself in a land where my tamil is a hilarious mixture of kannada, telugu, hindi, english, all sorts of gestures, charades and hardly a couple of tamil words here and there ! However, with a strong urge to visit the place,it hardly took anytime to convince myself.

Met Mr.Guruswamy, another aquaintance of Dr.Bala, helped me arrange a fishing boat and also joined me on the boat ride. Acquiring permissions from the Forest Department and a cloud of heavy rain, delayed us by a half hour. Soon, we were off into the mangroves, which lead all the way uptill the open-sea!! It was a great feeling to be moving past long narrow paths with trees on either sides. However, there was one most dissapointing catch to the whole experience.... The boats were run on motors... and these motors were EXTREMELY noisy.

The Kingfishers and Brahminy Kites were in abundance. As it opens up to the sea, you will find terns and gulls flying right above the fishing boats to get an easy meal ! What a pretty sight! While heading back, the fisherman shouted 'SNake!', i sprang up to see an unusually big head for a snake. Immediately viewed through my binos and it turned out to be a Water Monitor Lizard !!! By then, the fisherman was calling out ' Udumbu!','Udumbu!!' , which refers to Monitor Lizard in Tamil. By the time we got much closer, it hid amongst the mangroves, but certainly left me with an excited expression on my face!