(On a day in November, 2022)
Six AM in Panaji. Mr Savio Fonseca, punctuality embodied,
was already at Vivenda Rebelo, our cosy hide, in Panaji. Mr Fonseca is an
ardent birder with a good physique and smart body language - I read him at
first sight. We felt we had known each other for a long time, though I was
meeting him for the first time. The day was yet to break. We expected a preview
of daybreak, but fog held up a curtain, hiding the signs of natural time. We
were heading to the Karmali wetland. The short distance was covered quickly.
Am I a bird watcher? No, but anytime I could be one. My
companion, Sharmila, was and is. Mr Fonseca, whose mission we are on, is a born
birdwatcher, researcher, and author. He
is a hunter-turned-lover of birds.
During the time we spent together, I noticed how mindfully he spots
birds, photographs them, and speaks about them.
With him, I felt that time was standing still. The extremity of his
focused attention inspired me to become a lifelong birder.
In Karmali. Parking the car away, we took a walk into the
herbaceous marshy wetland. We had to be careful while walking. Otherwise, one
may step on a heap of human droppings. The narrow causeways between the
waterlogged areas are used as open toilets by some. We saw many attending
nature’s call there. Some came on
scooters. They can afford scooters but not a toilet. So strange!
We spotted many bird species in the waterlogged areas of
Karmali. Mr Fonseca’s eyes can spot a bird even if it is hiding in a bush. He
captures them with his camera, giving them no chance to fly away. We were
silent and slow in our movements, like shadows. We sighted various water hens,
parakeets, woodpeckers, racket-tailed drongos, and other rare bird species. In
the last part of our four-hour birdwatching, we spent time near Carambolim
Lake. The lake was a great treat for the beauty-thirsty eyes. By then, we had
sighted seventy-nine species of birds, as counted by Mr Fonseca.
Mukundanunni
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