26th Jan 2015 was a monday. A perfect holiday for a wanderlust and hence prefixing the Saturday and Sunday a memorable trip to Sunderbans was executed on a special invitation by my friend Shri Supriyo Ghoshal. Supriyo is one of the finest trainer of the country specialising in training techniques. A Joint Secretary in the Government of West Bengal he also is an inveterate bird watcher like me. With me was also my long time and foremost disciple Shri Ramashish Roy. All three of us started for Sajnekhali on 24th morn from Kolkata at the crack of dawn. Godkhali is the last road point and it takes three hours at least hours. From Godkhali one has to board a boat to reach Sajnekhali.
We boarded the boat at around 11 AM and cruised by a circuitous route to reach Sajnekhali. Supriyo decided to take the long route so that we could all see the migratory birds which he gather from his sources, had arrived in the one of the island___(name). On reaching the place we found, Pochards of all varieties -Common, Crested and tufted- in abundance. We also spotted and shot few Brown headed Gulls. When we reached the Sajnekhali Guest house, it was almost 2 pm.
Those intending to visit sunder bans must have no hesitation in decididng the place of stay. WBTDC guest house at Sajnekhali is value for money. Neat and tidy, each room is at least 15 X 10 with an attached toilet. With recent investment on big gensets, there is 24 hours supply of electricity even for ACs for each room.
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| bronze-winged jacana |
Immediately after finishing our lunch, we went out for the cruise, around 3 pm, in search of the the king fishers. Within minutes we were rewarded by the appearance of the beautiful Collared kingfisher. For me it was a lifer. As we went further deep into the creeks, we sighted a number of Brown-winged King Fisher. Another lifer for me. It was turning out a memorable trip so far. Supriyo, sensing my euphoria cautioned to keep it in check as there were many more lifers in store and too much of excitement may not leave enough energy for me to complete the shooting assignments properly.
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| brown winged King Fisher |
In the east, the sun sets relatively early. By 5 PM the light was not good enough for further photography. By now the low tide and started and we decided to move out of the narrow creeks.
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| Water monitor lizard |
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| brown shrike |
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| collared King fisher-lifer |
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| leopard Cat-lifer |
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| black capped King Fisher-lifer |
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| wimbrel |
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| common iora |
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| leopard cat |
