BHIGWAN

The urge to see Lesser flamingos in Bhagwan, made me get into my taxi at five in the morning. Bhigwan is around a hundred kilometers from Pune and at that time of the morning, the driver told me it would take an hour and a half…. Which it did!

The aim was to reach Bhigwan by six thirty and thereafter take a paddle boat to a particular point, from where we would be able to get to see flamingos. As luck would have it, the morning was overcast and foggy and there were no flamingos in sight.

The boatsman knew the pace well, because by seven in the morning, we not only saw a few hundred flamingos, but we got some great early morning shots, with the sun’s rays lighting up the pink on their feathers.

Having got my fill of flamingos, we then paddled around the lake and took pictures of the other water birds such as Bar-headed Goose, Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Little Grebes, Small Pratincole, Eurasian Coot, White-breasted Waterhens, Black-tailed Godwit, White-throated Kingfisher and Common Kingfisher, Common Sandpiper and Whiskered Tern and River terns, Marsh Harriers, Painted Storks to name a few. Just as we were leaving, were also lucky to see two Booted Eagles.

So full of birdlife was Bhigwan, that a year later, I went back to relive the same experience. Except this time, my guide suggested we shorten the boat ride and instead spend sone time in the scrubland for some Owl hunting. There had been multiple sightings of Mottled Wood Owl, Short Eared owl and the Spotted owl and since I have time, we decided to try our luck.

As luck would have it, the only owlet we saw was the Spotted Owl, but I was lucky to catch a glimpse of a Blue-faced Malkoha.

Both my visits to Bhigwan has been better than expected and, if not for the distance from Pune, I would probably go there every time I travelled to Pune. The downside of Bhigwan is the weather. There is no guarantee what the day will look like, even if google weather tells you it will be a sunny day. Of the two times I have been to Bhigwan, I have had sun, rain, mist and clouds.