Birding @ Pashan

I'm not much of a photographer and far less a bird watcher, but recently I feel drawn to both of these hobbies. I'd heard about the joys of birdwatching from a lot of people and decided to try it out myself. So Saturday morning saw me @ the Pashan lake, warm clothes and camera in hand ... the typical bumbling first timer. Pashan lake is a huge expanse of water and is famous for migratory birds during the winter. To reach there you have to "tresspass" into Government land. Its a typical wetland habitat ( as the naturalists say ), with a wall (damlike) on one side and a shoreline bordered by reeds & water hyacinths. There is a small Shiv temple near the dam end. I parked my bike here & got my camera ready. Almost immediately I saw a king fisher ( little blue ) and took this as a good omen :). I tried to snap it but the light was too low and am a very lousy photographer, the pic turned out very shaky. I started walking along the shore and saw a couple of egrets ( median i believe ) a whole lot of lapwings (red wattled)& some waders which I was unable to identify. It was not yet very light, the air was chill and the entire atmosphere was soaked in a soothing predawn blue. The lake was already dotted with some comb ducks. After a few minutes of walking along the shore, I saw a path leading into the wasteland behind the shoreline. I followed it and came upon a tree full of bulbuls (red whiskered) chattering and flying aound animatedly. I also saw the "common hoopoe" here for the first time in my life. I also saw a flock of purple moorhens ( also for the first time). Wandering around the wasteland I saw a couple of commonly seen birds like the drongo, the small bee-eater etc. I saw a Goliath heron whom I startled by accident.
Walking back down the shore I also spotted the white wagtail. A pair of Brahmny shellducks flew right overhead, circled once and settled in a pond in the reeds. I felt very elated and started for home. On the way back, while crossing the bridge from Aundh to Sanghvi, i noticed a huge flock of egrets on the river bank. I've decided I'll go there next Saturday morning. I reached home and got out Salim Ali's book and identified each and every bird I spotted that morning and read about its habits, nesting etc :). The feeling that overcame me when I saw & read in the book about the birds I'd spotted was beyond words and suddenly I now know how interesting this hobby really is. It has to be experienced first hand though :). Later in the evening I attended a talk on migration by a noted ornithologist Prakash Gole and this has left me with even more respect and curiosity for this hobby. I really intend to take it up in earnest :).

This is the complete list of Birds spotted :
1) Small Blue King Fisher
2) Night Heron
3) Median Egret & Cattle Egret
4) Red Wattled Lapwing
5) Goliath Heron / Purple Heron ( not sure )
6) Brown Breasted Flycatcher (?)
7) Red whiskered Bulbul
8) Common Hoopoe
9) Purple Moorhen
10) Jungle Myna
11) Brahmny Shellduck
12) Indian Spotbill Duck
13) Comb duck
14) White Wagtail
15) Large Pied Wagtail
16) Indian Pond Heron
17) Small Bee Eater
18) Drongo