We meet at 6:30 AM at Chena Bridge and then moved into chena village crossed the village and entered some privately owned land where there is lot of mango trees, we can listen to birds from everywhere but sighting was difficult.
The road was clinging to small river which joins creek next to China Bridge. We saw one White Breasted Kingfisher flying away not to return. after moving little more leaving caretakers hut we saw few birds chasing each other on one tree. Slowly we stand hidden near that tree and within some time we can see birds are comfortable and moving around that tree and returning regularly within few mins.
The first one to be seen nicely is "Blue-winged-Leafbird" male on left with black throat and female on right.
(Click on Photos for bigger views)
There were Sunbirds flying around just able to see female though..
Purple-rumped Sunbird (Female)
Then tree adjoining this tree is visited by "Coppersmith Barbet"
We also saw on bird which appeared to me (after checking reference from 'The Pocket Guide to the Birds of the INDIAN Subcontinent') "Chestnut-Shouldered Petronia" but i am not 100% sure of this. It was juvenile sitting calmly on one branch as its mother feeding it regularly by catching something
While looking for more birds we saw Two Green Bee-eaters restless and chasing something on ground, looking carefully we saw Bee-Eaters were chasing snake - One Big Snake, The snake ran into hiding before we can reach near enough to catch on camera.
We moved ahead and saw one "White Browed Wagtail" (I thinks so), while returning we saw again the Kingfisher which fly away while we were entering returned to his original place on river. Also saw one "Spotter Dove" and "Erasian Golden Oriole" also there were lot of "White Cheeked Bulbuls" around.
Around 9:00 AM we decided to move to Airoli Mud-Flats. While leaving saw some "Cattle Egrets"
Once we reached to Airoli we try to reach to creek by walking next to bridge but it was inaccessible. We reached on the bridge and saw hundreds of Flamingos in low tide creek. They were scattered almost to the point where we can see.
There were some waders which I could not identify as they were too far from bridge and due to their small sizes.
However we got some nice shots for "Greater Flamingos"
Returning back we stopped at Sector 15 in Airoli and again went to small creek area and saw some "Egrets", "Cormorants" and "Marsh Sandpiper" (I think so).
Also saw one "Little Heron" who was approaching to one rock near us and as soon as it landed, it spotted us and then took off to settle on opposite bank.
We also saw pair of "Bank Myna" (I guess so again) just fleeting glance as pair took off from our back.
One "Common Myna"
Also saw on "White Cheeked Bulbul" I thought it juvenile.
We returned by 11:00 AM for relaxed lunch at the comfort of home.
Overall its Good Sunday morning.
Happy Biridng
Sameer