TS Chanakya, Mumbai, Maharashtra (7 Jan & 7th Feb 2025)
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My First Solo Birding Attempt
It was 7th January 2025, after 4 months of practice with my new NIKON camera shooting birds from my Flat's windows and walking around the premises with its many trees and birds, I plucked up my courage to venture out solo to a birding location I had read about but not visited - the wetlands and Mangroves near TS Chanakya - in Mumbai. The haul of pictures was exciting and I had picked my first birding location wisely as water birds tend to move slowly and are easier for a novice photographer to hone his skills. Besides the location had brush and vegetation between the water and the narrow path and therefore had some coast and land birds too. I repeated the visit on 7th February to catch the birds I missed on the first trip. Scroll to see pictures:
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Ashy Prinia
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Baya Weaver
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Common Crane
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Flamenco
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Great Cormorant
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Great Egret
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Grey Breasted Prinia
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Hermit Thrush
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Little Egret
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Maina
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Red Winged Blackbird
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Scaly Breasted Munia
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White Breasted Water Hen
Ashy Prinia
Baya Weaver
Black Winged Stilt
Common Crane
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Great Cormorant
Great Egret (from phone camera)
Grey Breasted Prinia
Hermit Thrush
Little Egret
Maina
Little Egret
Maina
Red winged Blackbird
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Scaly Breasted Munia
White Breasted Water Hen
Flamenco
TS Chanakya, Mumbai, Maharashtra (2025-26)
Unexpected Birding Benefit - Bonding with People
In the second year (2025-26) of Birding my birding journey has become even more enjoyable. I discovered that Birding not only increases BONDING with Birds and Nature but also with PEOPLE. I will try to capture the human element and its impact on my Birding Journey at the end of this section and in each future post. But first the Birds!
I visited TS Chanakya twice during 25-26 : 28th Oct and 18 Jan and could not help notice the differences from 2024-25
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Dramatic decrease in Bird population Eg. Black Winged Stilts down >90%, Flamingos not there at all.
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Revisiting a location exposes many new species and new birding paths.
28th October 2025 - My Granddaughters's 1st Birding walk
28th October 2025 will always be one of my most enjoyable Birding Walks. My 11-year-old grand-daughter Kahani Joined me for the first time.
We shared the joys of nature, the birds, the camera and her exhilaration at capturing a bird picture as well as the frustration of a bird skipping away before she could click it.
The accompanying photograph (12x zoom) of two Indian Cormorants taken by Kahani on her first outing is one she and her grandpa are justifiably be proud of.
The tale of getting her interested in Birding is an interesting one. To access Click TOP and then Kahani in Menu
To RETURN to this page use your Browser Icon
Scroll to see the Birds Pictures:
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Asian Koel (male)
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Common Greenshank
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Great Egret
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Indian Cormorant
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Indian Pond Heron
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Little Egret
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Pacific Golden Plover
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Baya Weaver
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Plain Prinia
Asian Koel (Male)
Asian Koel (Male)
Common Greenshank
Great Egret
Indian Cormorant
Indian Pond Heron
Little Egret
Pacific Golden Plover
Baya Weaver
Plain Prinia (OOPS - overexposed)
A New Bording Team
This Birding Walk will always be one of the most memorable ones of my Birding Journey, It was just the beginning. Grandpa and Granddaughter have continued to share the Wonders of Nature, Birds and Photography in many Walks since then. For those interested in the tale of how an 11-year-old got interested enough in Birding to get up at 6 a.m, on a Sunday to go Birding Click
and CLICK Kahani in Menu
18th January 2026 - 2nd Birding Walk - TS Chanakya
January is the peak Birding season. I was hoping that the Bird population would have increased compared to the early season October outing. However this was not to be. Much more disappointing was the absence of Flamingos.
Seeing snapshots results of deteriorating environment - air, water pollution and Climate Change - over just 12 months hit me much harder than any news report does.
In this walk we went beyond the wetlands and explored trails cutting through the mangroves. We had 6 pairs of eyes spotting birds instead of the usual 4. My sister-in-law, Anajana, visiting us from the US had joined Kahani and me for this walk.
SCROLL on to see the Birds:
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Asian Koel (Female) .... Video
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Indian Pond Heron
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Striated Pond Heron
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Juvenile Pond Heron
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Indian Pond Heron and Indian Cormorant
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Indian Cormorant
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Little Egret
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Purple Rumpled Sunbird (3 pics and 1 video)
Asian Koel (female) (Click: tolay Video and Unmute Sound)
Indian Pond Heron
Striated Pond Heron
Juvenile Pond Heron
JuvenilePond Heron
Indian Pond Heron and Indian Cormorant
Indian Cormorant (OOPS - Bit blurred
Little Egret
Little Egret
Red Vented Bul Bul
Baya Weaver
Purple Rumpled Sunbird
Purple Rumpled Sunbird
Purple Rumpled Sunbird
Purple Rumpled Sunbird
Click Play, then Sound icon on Bottom Right
My Birding Journey - Escaping the "Cage of Age "
Birding (at 75 years age) has provided me with a TOTAL regeneration. Long walks keep me physically active. Marvelling at the everchanging beauty of Nature I become a child again. Spotting Birds becomes a game of Hide and Seek – The birds Hide and I Seek. Capturing a Bird Picture freezes a beautiful moment. Struggling with challenges of learning and improving Photography skills and Creating a Blog keeps me mentally engaged.
However Birding has given me more! It helps form new friendships and stronger bonds - with young and old. It started with my grand-daughter, Kahani. Joint walks are as not only about the birds captured in pictures but also about how our relationship is enriched with every outing,
My Sister-in-Law, Anajana, lives in US and visits us (during winter) for a fortnight once a year. After seeing my BLOG first issued on 25th Dec ’2025 she requested to join one walk when she was here next in January ’26. So here we were, 3 of us – Kahani, Anjana and me – getting up early in the morning, sharing 2 hours in the World of Birds in TS Chanakya on 18th January 2026.
