500 go birdwatching

While Mumbai was waking up to a lazy Sunday morning, 500-odd birders had already hit birding hotspots like Karnala Bird Sanctuary, Sanjay Gandhi National Park and even Fansad Wildlife Sanctuary.

The fifth edition of Mumbai Bird Race, organised on February 22, has set a record of maximum number of participants.

For the birders in the city - amateur and experts - bird race has become one of the most sought after event. However, climate related problems and other disturbances affected the sighting this year as the maximum number of species sighted during the day was 137 against 176 species that were spotted last year.

Armed with binoculars, books on birds and log books to take notes, majority of the participants chose Karnala Bird Sanctuary as the starting point of day’s birding. Most of them, including the team Pinnacle, of which I was a part, reached the sanctuary at around 6.30 am.

We were greeted by the pleasant chirping of birds. There was this jungle owl, camouflaged on a tree - a good omen. From then on, there was no looking back as we went on recording species after species.

Walking down the Hariyal Trail, birders were thrilled by the calls of various birds. After Karnala, Uran was the second destination of birders.

Everyone went there hoping to add another 30 odd species to the tally. But the known heaven of birds came as a major disappointment for every birder.