Pelagic Birding trip:- Arnala
This is my first pelagic birding trip. I have covered many habitats in Vasai and recorded the birds. The wetlands, Tungareshwar wildlife sanctuary,The Sea Shores at vasai virar area. But I had never done anything like this pelagic trip before. It was one of the extreme and unique birding trip I had ever done . Wonderful experience.
Till now our vasai virar birding group have recorded around 230 plus birds in various semi urban hotspots present in Vasai Virar excluding Tungareshwar WS and every season bird species count is increasing. However I was looking forward to see some birds that can only be seen at sea. And taking advantage of living 30 mints away from great Arabic sea I had decided to go for boat trip with some local fishermen .
On the 31st Oct 2015, at 6.30 am morning we met at Arnala beach.A gentleman who owned the boat came around 6.45am along with his family members and welcome us . They do traditional fishing 20-25km inside the deep sea.
At 7.15 am sharp, we started our journey. As the boat slowly took to sea, I was able to feel real thrill inside the sea. . Due to wind, boat was rocking heavily into the sea, the boat mounted one large wave after another it felt like we were being thrown in the air – up and down . Initially there were lots of activity, many common terns,little terns, gulls were doing fishing and roaming freely around the boat. However after sailing 30-45 mints inside the sea, the activity had been gradually decreased and there were no bird for several mints . Suddenly one of my fellow birder shouted Dolphin 🐬 . I was at the roof of the boat and before I came down Dolphin got vanished in to the deep sea however my friend claimed that he had spotted around 3 dolphins and had seen them jumping ........ Phewww !!! What a miss it was !!
The boat was continuously rocking and it was not easy to stand still without support and do the photography . In many occasion we lost balance , fortunately no one failed into sea. Pelagic photography is one of the difficult task I ever done.
The boat was sailed around 20-25 km inside the sea and there were not much activities however I enjoyed the journey . Gentle fishermen were busy in their work , it was well organized and very difficult and hard task I must say .
Once they dropped the net inside the sea , it was time to cook food and take rest for at least 1-2 hours . They prepared freshly catch fish delicacy which I had enjoyed very much 😊. After that they went for small nap . My eyes were at horizon searching for special bird however no luck . After spending more than 2 hours , fishermen decided to pull out the net . I still did not lose the hope . I was sure bird would appear when they see the fish . At very long distance we saw one dark bird and it was arctic skua . However the bird was very far. Suddenly one flock to tern appeared and started fishing. Greater crested tern , lesser crested tern , common tern , little tern , heuglin's gulls .
Lesser crested tern
And after few mints our priced bird Skua appeared and came very close to our boat and chasing the other tern and robbing their food. We got some good pics . The Arctic skua or parasitic skua, is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. This bird will feed on rodents, small birds and insects but also robs gulls and terns of their catches. Like the larger skua species, it continues this piratical behaviour throughout the year, showing great agility as it harasses its victims.
Arctic Skua
And after skua we saw Bridled tern at horizon .The bridled tern is a seabird of the tern family Sternidae. It is a bird of the tropical oceans. I had spend very good time clicking and observing skua and bridled tern.
Bridled Tern
Needless to say, that I had an amazing outing watching some of those avian wonders – those that can only be seen out in the open-sea far-off the coast. The birds we watched included:
http://ebird.org/ebird/india/view/checklist?subID=S25651728
This is my first pelagic birding trip. I have covered many habitats in Vasai and recorded the birds. The wetlands, Tungareshwar wildlife sanctuary,The Sea Shores at vasai virar area. But I had never done anything like this pelagic trip before. It was one of the extreme and unique birding trip I had ever done . Wonderful experience.
Till now our vasai virar birding group have recorded around 230 plus birds in various semi urban hotspots present in Vasai Virar excluding Tungareshwar WS and every season bird species count is increasing. However I was looking forward to see some birds that can only be seen at sea. And taking advantage of living 30 mints away from great Arabic sea I had decided to go for boat trip with some local fishermen .
On the 31st Oct 2015, at 6.30 am morning we met at Arnala beach.A gentleman who owned the boat came around 6.45am along with his family members and welcome us . They do traditional fishing 20-25km inside the deep sea.
At 7.15 am sharp, we started our journey. As the boat slowly took to sea, I was able to feel real thrill inside the sea. . Due to wind, boat was rocking heavily into the sea, the boat mounted one large wave after another it felt like we were being thrown in the air – up and down . Initially there were lots of activity, many common terns,little terns, gulls were doing fishing and roaming freely around the boat. However after sailing 30-45 mints inside the sea, the activity had been gradually decreased and there were no bird for several mints . Suddenly one of my fellow birder shouted Dolphin 🐬 . I was at the roof of the boat and before I came down Dolphin got vanished in to the deep sea however my friend claimed that he had spotted around 3 dolphins and had seen them jumping ........ Phewww !!! What a miss it was !!
The boat was continuously rocking and it was not easy to stand still without support and do the photography . In many occasion we lost balance , fortunately no one failed into sea. Pelagic photography is one of the difficult task I ever done.
The boat was sailed around 20-25 km inside the sea and there were not much activities however I enjoyed the journey . Gentle fishermen were busy in their work , it was well organized and very difficult and hard task I must say .
Once they dropped the net inside the sea , it was time to cook food and take rest for at least 1-2 hours . They prepared freshly catch fish delicacy which I had enjoyed very much 😊. After that they went for small nap . My eyes were at horizon searching for special bird however no luck . After spending more than 2 hours , fishermen decided to pull out the net . I still did not lose the hope . I was sure bird would appear when they see the fish . At very long distance we saw one dark bird and it was arctic skua . However the bird was very far. Suddenly one flock to tern appeared and started fishing. Greater crested tern , lesser crested tern , common tern , little tern , heuglin's gulls .
Lesser crested tern
Heuglin's Gulls
Arctic Skua
Bridled Tern
Needless to say, that I had an amazing outing watching some of those avian wonders – those that can only be seen out in the open-sea far-off the coast. The birds we watched included:
http://ebird.org/ebird/india/view/checklist?subID=S25651728
