Sunday morning bird walk on the outskirts of Gurgaon

Picture this, mist in the fields, a slight chill in the air, in the distance the skyline of Gurgaon’s high rises, the new satellite town that has grown exponentially in the last ten years. We are standing next to a sewage water channel. Promise at this point you will read on.The sewage we are told, leaves the city and heads,(treated or untreated it was not clear,) out and from there to the Yamuna river. The channel and the pipes occasionally overflow into the flat and fertile fields causing  wetlands to form.The stench is unmistakable and the thought a little disturbing, but this has become a paradise for birds and wildlife.Paddy fields abound and women toil.

This is where we were at 700 am on the Sunday morning to join an eager group of Twitchers. For those unfamiliar with the word it means avid Birdwatchers!

In the space of a couple of hours we spotted an impressive array of bird life, from pond herons, to green parakeets,  black headed ibises, to iridescent kingfishers and painted storks, sandpipers and stints and lots of wire-tailed swallows. We exchanged bird trivia with others, and heard even more wild and wonderful facts from our guides. By 10 am we were fast asleep in the back of the car and looking forward to our first cup of coffee.

Thought for the day:  Water lilies and birds unlikely outflows from sewage but so uplifting.