Christmas Day Birding

Christmas morning spent a couple of hours around the patch the Violet Cuckoo was still around, along with five Black Baza. Three green pigeons flew over presumably Pink-necked and a single flock of 57 Indian Cormorants were also noteworthy. A reasonable number of raptors were recorded with three Bhraminy Kites (two adults and an immature), a female Eastern Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Shikra and Black-shouldered Kite. Also seen was the usual Watercock, 2 Ruddy-breasted Crake, 4 Pintail Snipe, 16 Wood Sandpiper, 6 Yellow-vented Bulbul, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Two-barred Warbler, 200 Baya Weaver and two Red Avadavat.  

Open-billed Storks and Diggers

A feature of the last week has been the continued destruction of the site, over the last week another chunk of the site has been filled in to make way for another large luxury housing estate, more scrub has been removed, many of the bunds between the paddies have been sprayed and cut and are now devoid of vegetation, one the of the fish ponds has been drained and many of the dykes and ditches have been cleared of all vegetation. Though the site still holds some interest many of the best areas for migrants and waders have gone and increasingly the site is becoming one giant rice paddy.