My Favorite Diva's have been compared to Nightingale, Kokila and Skylark owing to their sweet voices. And from "Main ban ki chidiya" to "Koyal si teri boli"; our film music has embraced the usage of metaphors evoking birds.
No wonder that during my daily walks in Botanical Garden, I started gravitating towards the chirping of birds. I soon came to know about the most active group in town, Hyderabad Birding Pals (HBP), who current weekly bird walks. Ameenpur Lake, has lost its past glory due to construction in the vicinity, but its still one of the best spots in the vicinity of twin cities.
Just before the destined meeting spot I took a wrong turn. A group of people beckoned at me. At 6:00 am in the morning at a deserted sport, who else but a bird enthusiast would turn up. I hadn't spoken to any of them before but they rightly guessed that I was one of them. We had a few quick introductions followed by exchange of phone numbers.
I mentioned that I had been to a few wild life safaris and felt that it was a matter of pure luck. After a lot of effort, spotting of tigers remains elusive unless you go in the middle of scorching summer to Nagpur area, which is challenging with a young kid. Birding is much more rewarding and you can build it into your daily schedule. Murty Joka mentioned about his interest in Photographing historic sights and talked about his recent visit to Badami. Suman recounted his own experiences.
Our host and founding member of HBP, Hari Krishna soon arrived. He mentioned that he had hurt his leg. These walks are driven by passion of a few individuals and Hari braving his injury and moving ahead with the event is a testament to that. The Ameenpur one was #458 in this journey. Soon a group of members dressed in Camouflaged Khakis and heavy gear joined us. Cameras, Lenses, Binoculars, Tripods; they had it all.
Hari enthusiastically pointed out " Indian Paradise Flycatcher". Others nodded, and swung into action to capture some good shots.
We maneuvered through some stones and undergrowth to reach the edge of the lake.The lake had dwindled with encroachments and construction in catchment areas. However it was still deep and vast allowing lot of fishermen in boats going for a morning hunt. We could see "Storks" and "Pelicans" perched on top of poles and everyone reached out to their gear.
We explored different stretches of the lake and sighted many more birds. A "purple Sunbird" was seen fiddling around on a bikes handle and Hari quipped " It probably was surprised seeing its image in mirror". I felt that I was the odd man out with just my mobile phone camera. I wanted to broach the topic of good camera for beginners, but Thirumal bet me to it.
Oh you should go to Haridas market quipped Suman. Soon technical specs of cameras, trusted vendors and markets, filled the air. This was music to my years. It was so similar to music connoisseurs referring to Chandni Chowk or Chor Bazaar to search for records and take the names of record collectors in hushed voices.
Whenever he saw a bird flying in the distant horizon, Hari would ID it with the help of his binoculars and call out the youngsters in the group to have a look. Few HBP members came with her kids and I was surprised to see the knowledge and photography skills of the younger members barely into their teens. Suman was in awe of the shot of a 'Great Cormorant" and asked "Did you shoot it at 250"; Pat came the reply "500".
The next hour was spent spotting "Pied Bushchat" and some other birds. Murty Joka captured good shots of "Barn Swallow" and "Asian Koel". It was getting warm by now and time to wrap up this Bird Walk. It was an unforgettable experience birding and interacting with other members of HBP.
I realized that while most of the members don't do this for a profession, their expertise in identifying birds and knowledge of the equipment is nothing short of professional.
Looking forward to more such trips and hoping I have a long association with HBP just like the music groups.
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