Nature Watch @ Kumta

Nature Watch @ Kumta

The first 5 days of the holidays was spent in visiting historic place & trekking (Chitradurga) , visiting temples & relatives @ Kumta.

So it was time to look for greener pastures now. So woke up early morning and along with my father started off to the nearby estuary (mangroves/backwaters) by walk. On the way Papa told the history of the estuary and its importance. Aghanashini estuary is ear marked as a bio diversity heritage site and comes under Coastal Regulation Zone – CRZ 1 . No new construction is allowed in entire area to protect its bio diversity.

This area has endangered olive-ridley turtles and is rich in mangroves, rare species of birds and aquatic creatures.

Clicked  some lovely pictures of sunrise and some birds. We reached the place where there was a fisherman catching some fishes. Asked  him to take us for a round of boating. The boat had hardly any place to sit, and every time I tried turning to click some photos, the boat was going off balance.

                                   

We saw some women who were on their way to collect shells and pearls from bare hands in the mangroves. This story and the scenic places are captured well in “Rajkumar’s movie “Ondu Mutthina Kathe” (Story of a pearl)

And there were interesting moments, wherein Rower left us in mid water and swam in water, then walked over in muddy water and collected this plank and came back to boat.

Could  get some clicks of pond herons ,egrets and a close up of Brahminy Kite.

The afternoon was spent in the house and garden.

Some of the Birds spotted and photographed in Kumta:

Indian pitta, Indian Hawk cuckoo, Lesser coucal, greater coucal, white breasted kingfisher, blue eared kingfisher, large, median, little egret, cattle egret, asian paradise flycatcher, purple sunbird, pond heron, barbet, red wattled lapwing, brahminy kite, black kite, red vented bulbul, red whiskered bulbul, eurasian collared dove, spotted dove, oriental magpie robin, sparrow lark, white browed wagtail,rose ringed parakeet, chest nut bee eater, green bee eater.

Evening was spent in watching the sunset and playing in the beach.