Bird Watch: Bhigwan

Wildlife photography is not my area, but I never miss a chance to visit places where one gets to see the wonderful animals in their natural habitat. It is truly a  refreshing and awarding experience. One such place I visited recently is Bhigwan. 

Bhigwan is a small village on the Pune-Solapur highway, some 100 kms from Pune. The catchment area of the Ujjani dam build on the river Bhima hosts a number of migratory birds from all over the world. Most popular among them is the Flamingo. The other notable bird which we spotted was the Bar-headed goose. It is the highest flying bird in the world and flies above the Mt. Everest during its migration.

There were many other bird varieties we spotted, the ones which I remember are the painted stork, reddy-shell ducks, open billed stork, black ibis, glossy ibis, terns, black-winged stilt, ring-billed gulls, herons, egrets, plover, sandpiper. 

Greater Flamingo

Greater Flamingo (Juvenile)

Painted Stork

Painted Stork

Painted Stork

Bar-heade geese

Bar-headed geese

Pond Heron

Black-headed Ibis

Open-billed Stork

Ring-billed gull

The Painted Stork

The Painted Stork is a large bird of the Stork family. It is found in wetlands of the plains of tropical Asia, south of Himalaya. They nest in large numbers along with other waterbirds like cormorants and egrets. The nest is a large stick platform with a shallow central depression lined with stems and leaves of water weeds. It is built in trees standing in or near water. These birds are not migratory but travel short distances for food and water.

I got a chance to visit a large colony of Painted Storks during a recent trip to Bhigwan. The village of Bhigwan is situated on the banks of Bhima river and is popular amongst birds. This place is famous for Flamingos which migrate here from Siberia and other regions during the winter season. We could not spot the flamingos but did have a wonderful time spotting other birds specially the colony of Painted Stork.

We are thankful to Maruti kaka - a retired forest official for showing us around.