[arvind71181]

Posting some pictures which were taken at the Vandalur Zoo.

[arvind71181]

Some pics of the beach taken near my house on an early morning.

[aravind84]

Birding @ Siruvathur and Pallikaranai
Continuing with the further posts, this set would be on our short trip to Siruvathur and pallikaranai again to satiate the shutterbug hunger.
About Siruvathur:
We were searching on the net for places around Chennai which are ideal for Birding experiences and soon came across a blog which had details with some pics about Siruvathur. This place is towards the east of Chennai and approximately 50 Kms from Chennai. It is very close to Thiruporur on the Old Mahabalipuram road. Once you cross the thiruporur town proceed further on the same stretch and you would come across a T Junction. Take a right at this junction and further 2 kms down the road(this road connects us to Chengelpet) there is road leading to the left. We need to take this road and continue to drive for around 6 to 7 Kms to reach the lake area. This is very small village and which is yet to be identified by many. There are no shops around this stretch. There is a big lake where we can find some of the regular and visiting birds. Unfortunately we went once the season is over and hence we could not find many.
We left at 5:30 AM on a Saturday morning to reach this place around 6:30 AM. Soon, we parked our car on the side lanes and ventured into the lake area to take some pictures. We spent couple of hours at this place. This place is surely on our list again during the season hoping that there would be more visitors to find a place in our lens.
Here is the series of pictures from our Siruvathur outing.







Pallikaranai :
Pallikaranai wetland is a fresh water swamp adjacent to the Bay of Bengal situated about 20 km south of Chennai city with a geographical area of 80 km2. In 2007, a major portion of the Pallikaranai marshland was declared a reserve forest area and brought under the Tambaram range of the Forest department. The swamp is helpful in charging the aquifers of the region. It is one of the last few remaining natural ecosystems in the city of Chennai.Pallikaranai

This place is very much within the city limits and it offers wonderful opportunities to click pictures. Without much of writing let me share some of the pictures from the Marshlands

[arvind71181]

Some pictures which I shot when I accompanied Aravind . Madtas has a lot of places where birds can be spotted and it was a surprise to us that so many varieties of birds can be spotted near the city itself.

[chennai-indian]

Wonderful pictures. Where in Pallikaranai are these taken? I stay in Adambakkam and the Pallikaranai I know is full of garbage dumps!!

[aravind84]

Originally Posted by chennai-indian

Wonderful pictures. Where in Pallikaranai are these taken? I stay in Adambakkam and the Pallikaranai I know is full of garbage dumps!!

This is very much on the main link road between Pallikaranai and OMR. The garbage dumps are so over powering that we miss this often. In fact it is one of the largest wet marsh lands in Asia. The future generations to come moslty may not even be aware of this place at the rate at which the garbage is dumped here IMHO.

[arvind71181]

Our next visit was to the connecting road between Kovalam on the ECR and Kelambakkam. Heard that there were birds to be spotted and hence headed there one fine Saturday morning. Photos of some birds which we spotted:

Pied Kingfisher


Painted Stork


Cormorant?


Cormorant landing!!!


Painted Stork


Painted stork hunting


Kingfisher


Pied Kingfisher


Painted Stork Portrait


Green Bee Eater


Hoping to go there again some time with a better lens so that this level of crop is not required.

[aravind84]

Here are some of the pictures from my end .

A quick route info.

This place can either be reached from the OMR road or the ECR road. If you are approaching via the ECR , then once you cross the muttukadu bridge look out for a sign board saying Kovalam to the left and Kelambakkam to the right. Take the right and this stretch has a lake on the right and left side of the road. Loads of sightings can be had.

If the approach is via OMR, after you cross the OMR Vandular link road look out for a left that connects ECR. This is one awesome place with good bird watching opportunity.

Kingfisher Series


Pied Kingfishers



Green Bee Eater


Pelican

Stork

Cormorants

Bulbul

Sparrow

Lizzard



Thanks again for viewing this thread. Appreciate all your comments and feedbacks

[thalavoy]

Nice set man. I would love to join in these outings.
Birding places in Chennai is mostly kept secret
As you pointed out, the nearest forest from Chennai (wild forest, not plantation kind) are Mudumalai/Bandipur. But, birding places are plenty, thanks to the coast.
I mean, where else can you see Greater Flamingoes (just 60km away from Chennai). I also go to see Red necked Falcons, Pacific Golden Plover (longest migrant to India) during my trip there.
I recently relocated from Bangalore, where a lake with lovely birds abound was just 500 meters away from home. So, I am in a quest for birding places near my home here. Just waiting for the temperatures to go down a bit
BTW, aravind, the 'Bulbul' is actually a rare 'Pied Cuckoo' and 'Sparrow' is some 'Pipit'.

-Siva

[aravind84]

Originally Posted by thalavoy

Nice set man. I would love to join in these outings.
Birding places in Chennai is mostly kept secret
As you pointed out, the nearest forest from Chennai (wild forest, not plantation kind) are Mudumalai/Bandipur. But, birding places are plenty, thanks to the coast.
I mean, where else can you see Greater Flamingoes (just 60km away from Chennai). I also go to see Red necked Falcons, Pacific Golden Plover (longest migrant to India) during my trip there.
I recently relocated from Bangalore, where a lake with lovely birds abound was just 500 meters away from home. So, I am in a quest for birding places near my home here. Just waiting for the temperatures to go down a bit
BTW, aravind, the 'Bulbul' is actually a rare 'Pied Cuckoo' and 'Sparrow' is some 'Pipit'.

-Siva

Thanks Siva for pointing out the right Bird name references. Yes Chennai does have some real good spots for birding. Sure, you are welcome to join us any time. Pulicat is still on our radar but we have kept it for so called winter to start so that its makes the visit worthy.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Lovely pics Aravind, somehow I have never got into birding despite making so many trips to the forests in Nilgiris biosphere. Everytime I go to my Mahindra City office I can hear a lot of birds tweeting all day long. Pulicat, Pallikaranai, Vedanthangal, Nanmangalam forest Chennai for a metro has a lot of spots for birding. Keep those pics coming.

[aravind84]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

Lovely pics Aravind, somehow I have never got into birding despite making so many trips to the forests in Nilgiris biosphere. Everytime I go to my Mahindra City office I can hear a lot of birds tweeting all day long. Pulicat, Pallikaranai, Vedanthangal, Nanmangalam forest Chennai for a metro has a lot of spots for birding. Keep those pics coming.

Thanks Srikanth. Yes i do the same every day when i travel via pallikaranai marsh. I keep looking out for birds and just enjoy the site of them around. However, the government is not worried the way we are worried about the marsh lands protection. The dump,garbage yard sucks big time there.

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

Lovely pics Aravind, somehow I have never got into birding despite making so many trips to the forests in Nilgiris biosphere. Everytime I go to my Mahindra City office I can hear a lot of birds tweeting all day long. Pulicat, Pallikaranai, Vedanthangal, Nanmangalam forest Chennai for a metro has a lot of spots for birding. Keep those pics coming.

Thank you. What we have found out when going out on these trips is that Madras still has some amazing bird spots left. Even ECR road is a haven for birds, especially in the mornings. The photos do not do a justice to the birds which we saw. Hopefully, that will be corrected as we gain some more experience in bird photography. Also, hope to add some more bird photos to this thread.

Hope the powers to be realize the treasure trove that we still have left in this concrete jungle (albeit accidentally I bet), and do something to protect it. It saddens me to see the lovely birds wading along the dirty areas in Pallikarnai, scavenging for food. Its time we realize that it was their place to begin with and we are the encroachers, not the other way round

[aravind84]

Attaching some of the pics that i was able to get sitting at my own front yard. It was a surprise that the urban jungle still has some scope for birds to live.

[greenhorn]

guys, what are the scenic places and good drives near chennai (doable over a day or max a weekend?) as of now, folks have told me about pondicherry, the zoo, mahabalipuram , but what else is there ?