A Bird's Eye view of Pollution
40 Mts of Sunnrise over Seawoods Lake (7:30 am to 8:11 am)
Can we afford to lose this Gem?
I am a FLAMINGO who flies in from Iran to India for my winter soujourn. When I came to India the first time several years ago I was getting tired flying over many lakes and wetlands trying to decide which one I wanted to frequent. It was love at first sight when I flew over this (Seawoods) lake - calm, serene, clean reflecting the changing colors of the sky (See pics below). I could see other waders testifying to the availability of food and very few humans around. I landed and dipped my beak into the water and came up with a fish in a few seconds. I decided this was going to be my winter home.
I stayed 4 months.
8:00 am
8:09 am
8:11 am
On my return to my summer home in Iran I sang the praises of my winter home to my fellow flamingoes. I returned every winter with a bigger and bigger flock of my companions.
After several years however this year was different. We landed in the lake - calm, serene and colorful as before. But as we dipped our beaks into the foul taste and smell of the water and inedible hard solids greeted us. The food we used to gorge on was not there.
Sadly we concluded we could not survive here. Flying around we found similar problems in other nearby locations. We had to fly several days to find an alternative suitable location.
SCROLL on to see this world from my eyes
From a Bird view to the Human View of Pollution
Birding Heightens my Awareness of Effects of Pollution
This section is going to capture a new dimension of my Birding Journey. It has taken 2 years for me to see the World from the Flamingoes eyes and NOTICE the RESULTS of the speed and rapidity with which the menace of pollution is growing. Smaller examples will follow in subsequent posts. I recount how this change occurred in my thinking.
TS Chanakya
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(2025) was my first solo Birding Walk. The site had hundreds of Black Winged stilts and a handful of Flamingoes.
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(2026) my Grand Daughter had joined me in Birding and she accompanied me to Chanakya. Even in peak season It was a contrast – there were only a handful of Black Winged Stilts and No flamingoes. Lazily I took this to be natural variations.
DPS Lake (2026)
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Another Mumbai Wetland/Mangrove site famous for flamingoes. Plenty of birds – no flamingoes.
Bhandup Pumping Station: (2026)
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A Bird Hotspot where I first noticed the Dramatic effect of Pollution. A storm water drain along which there were plenty of Birds for the first half of the walk. A drain from a large construction site discharging White (paint/chemicals) effluent into the storm water drain midway. NO Birds downstream.
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This storm water drain flows into the Thane Creek where also there are few birds.
SeaWoods Lake (2026)
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I went 4 times in 2026 tot his location famous for Flamingo flocks during winter – Nov to March. No flamingoes in the first 3 visits.
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In April I happened to see two newspaper reports:
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One said that a recent sturdy had found that Pollution levels (BOD, COD etc) were 5 times permissible limits in the lakes (DPS and Seawoods) and Flamingo “feeds” would not survive. Residents of nearby colonies had seen flamingo flocks overfly the lakes but not land.
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The second one said belatedly some cleaning had begun and 2.5 tons had been removed from one lake as an example in late April.
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End May out of season Flamingoes were sighted in Seawoods and we went in early June. A few flamingoes were present. This means the flamingo season could extend well into summer.
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As the monsoon rains started one was hoping that the water quality would improve. However another report pointed to seepage from the Thane Creek which was heavily Polluted and the water quality had not improved. Hopefully this will gradually improve as the monsoon progresses and the authorities will restart cleaning post the Monsoon to present an inviting habitat for the 2026-27 season.
Another report also said that a proposal to declare Mumbai Wetland Mangrove areas a Natural Protected reserve had been reactivated with the Central Government. Wo hope that is speedily implemented.
CILCK to BLOGROLL to see Birds" images at different locations including TS Chankya, DPS Lake, Bhandup and Seawoods
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