Making ends meet

The trip last weekend was very memorable. There was a "jatra" near the Veer dam on the weekend and a lot of people would be
present in the area. Since that would lead to not many birds being sighted it was decided that we go to NDA and Lonavla instead.

I missed the bus as I got up very late. I thus missed the session @ the NDA, where the group made small teams and had a session of birdcounting using various techniques. They then left for the Valvan dam near Lonaavla around 11:00 am or so ..

I was not sure whether I'd be allowed into the NDA alone by myself and wouldn't know where to go once inside, since the NDA has a sprawling campus. So I decided to spend the first half of the day @ Sinhagad instead.

I reached there as the sun was rising and got a wonderful snap of the fort catching the first rays of light :). The road to the top had been dug up quite bad and is still under repair. It had been cordoned off around 3 kms from the summit. I was about to turn around in despair, when a military truck drove up and drove right through the barrier. I gladly followed along. Around a km from the top the truck got stuck stuck due to a huge boulder in the path. I then continued on my own and reached the top with my bike making all sorts of noises. I parked @ one of the ubiquitous tea-stalls, had a steaming cuppa and was on my way.

Sinhagad fort is famous for its story about Tanaji Malusare also called Sinha ( lion ) who lost his life while recapturing the fort from Uday Bhanu.

I didnt see too many birds on the top and headed off towards the Zhunjaar Buruj with the intent of descending into the valley. I spotted a crested bunting perched on the ramparts. A bushchat and a family of warblers was flitting in and out of bushes.
A lot of nests were also seen but I couldnt identify their owners since they were absent :( ! My camera batteries decided to die on me unexpectedly and I decided to go back. I called Pramod on my way down the fort and found out that they were on the expressway enroute to Lonavla.

The next hour or so was lost in a blur as I sped along the newly constructed road to Lonavla. Its a biker's paradise. I revved the bike to 110 kmph in some stretches and it was just too good a feeling :) ... The wind massaging your arms and pushing back on your chest at those speeds feels superb.

I reached Valvan dam just 10 mins after the group. Valvam dam is managed by Tata power and is used to produce electricity by sending the stored water down to Khopoli. There is a vast private garden complete with a waterfall, where a huge variety of flowering plants are reared. Its very beautiful to behold. I hurried along to catch up with the group. They had already started along a trail and I caught up with them just as they were being shown a lot of butterflies in the woods.

We were guided through the woods towards a small pond. There was a small cabin in the center with a walkway connecting it to the shore. There were 5-6 woolly necked storks sitting some distance from us along with a few egrets. It was a wonderful sight. After waching them for sometime we moved on. There were not many sightings along the trail. We heard calls of the LGB but couldn't spot it.

The trail ended and we broke for lunch. Lunch was a wholesome affair with pithla bhaakri and a fiery thecha :) and some curd.
After lunch we loitered around the gardens and were shown around a couple of greenhouses. We saw small turtles in one of them.

Thereafter we were taken along to see a wonderful spectacle of fish feeding. The feeder walked towards the water ringing a bell. And to our surprise fish had already started swarming there merely at the sound of the bell even before their feed had been thrown in. It was wonderful.

We then returned and sat out on the lawns discussing the various sightings of the day. There were a few more additions to the list at runtime as we spotted a lot of birds in the trees just behind the lawns where we sat. We saw a Verditter pair on one of the flowering trees.

The day ended on a good note as we got to see some exotic birds never commonly seen near Pune. It was fun. On the ride back home I stopped @ the Karla caves and caught a spectacular sunset :) ...

The ornithology classes completed last week. We have formed a google group to keep in touch and already it is seeing some healthy traffic. I hope that something very good comes out of our efforts.

This weekend I had been on the famous Katraj Sinhagad trek ... More on that latter though ... :)

As usual the pics follow.