Painted Storks Pulicat Tamilnadu India

Here is my earlier Post on Pulicat Bird Sanctuary.

Pulicat Bird Sanctuary

Indian Pond Heron.

Indian Open Billed Stork.

Above are some photos of Birds I saw at Pulicat. The boat ride I took will be hosted later.

Frankly, there is a lot of information about Pulicat and how to reach there but nobody seems to be telling the full facts that Birds are not easily seen here! In fact somewhere, maybe on the Forest deptt web page I saw Flamingos breed at Pulicat, but I saw not a single Flamingo. The sites says Oct-Nov are best season, but when I come here I am told Flamingos will be seen in March only. So there you are!!!! Facts vs Fiction! And then maybe the Birds have stopped Coming?? But who will acknowledge that from the Authorities?

Here are some links for example

http://www.indianetzone.com/6/pulicat.htm, 

http://www.asiarooms.com/travel-guide/india/chennai/excursions-from-chennai/pulicat-in-chennai.html,

http://frissko.blogspot.com/2009/02/pulicat-aka-pazhaverkadu.html

http://srgopalan.livejournal.com/

What I learnt from these sites and also from personal attempts to reach the Right Place are these:-

1. There are at least three entry points to the Pulicat Lake and also more which are not very marked or known.
1. Tada - A right turn under the Flyover at TADA (there will be a Liquor Shop on the left side when you are facing towards Nellore- since most look for such things so am using this landmark provided of course the shop exists in future). Take a right turn under this flyover and then take Left turn. Where to take the left turn? Drive slow and ask. It is near. This will take you to a boatinf point.
2. Sulurpet - A round turn junction road 3km after Sulurpet and there towards Sriharikota. You will not get any boating point here. But this will be better as you can see Birds on the marshy lands both sides of the Sri Harikota Road and also before Sri Harikota you will find a Right turn which takes you on a untarred road inside by the side of the water area and here there are chances you will see birds.
3. Ponneri - Both above are in Andhra Pradesh State since Pulicat Lake is the water between the mainland India and the Sri Harikota Island formed from the Bay Of  Bengal entering at open points. The point to turn right turn from NH 5 road towards Ponneri  is 9 kms from the 1st Toll Gate from Chennai and from there again you have to travel 13 kms to Ponneri and then 17 kms towards the Pulicat Village.
4. There are some other points to reach the lake too I am sure. Because I went to the Pulicat lake through another point, cannot say where I took the right turn now, because there is no mark and by chance I had asked someone standing on the road and he said 'oh you just take a U-turn back towards Chennai and immediately on the left side you will find a road (there is a shop or shops at the entrance point and the road is one that looks like one going into a village) and the road actually crosses a railway crossing (there is a Bump which is rectangular and touches the bottom of low bottomed cars!! SHIT!!) but this take you to a point where you can boat.. but do not want to see birds.. here you cannot. Just boating..
2. 
   
   
   The Pulicat Lake got its name from the name of the Village. The lake water is placid with no waves. There are places where the depth is not much and here are the places where you will find birds. But be warned... Oct-Nov is NOT the best season as everybody says... if you want to see birds easily. I mean birds are there, but not so openly on the lake..All you will see are seagulls.. and that too frm far. If you go near the boat engine sound will make them fly away and you cannot go near because of the shallow water. So you need VERY powerful Binoculars or at least 500 mm Telephoto!
3. 
   
   You can see some birds near the Ponneri-Pulicat Road too. But if you want to see more, I am now thinking you need the right gear like Knee High Gum Boots and Walking Stick to support you in the marshes! Yes! Because you should actually go into the marshy lands and bushes and trees to see or else if you think you will just boat (they will charge 400- 500-600 depending on your ability to haggle) and birds will make an appearance for you, then you are highly mistaken! 

In fact the best places to see birds and feel happy that you have seen are

1. Vedanthangal-  in Tamilnadu this place is a closed place and lots and lots of birds are here- Plus you can see some Peilicans and Painted Storks. which are so large that you can see them clearly.. Here you can just walk around and see.
2. Nelapattu - in Andhra Pradesh where you can see lots of birds again being a closed place and you can see Open Bill Storks which are bigger birds. Of course both here and at Vedanthangal you can see other birds too. Here too you can just walk around and see.
3. Kodikkarai or Point Calimere.. This is the best place to see Salt Water Birds and even Flamingos if you are lucky. Here you can go by boat and to islands and get down to the islands and then see birds.. Here there are many places to see, more in my post that will come up later.. Please read there.

Now the Flash Slide show of the Birds.

Fishermen's Village, Pulicat

Mamallapuram

Mahaballipuram Lighthouse

Tamil Religious Procession

Tamilnadu is a state which revels in Worshipping God. Religion was invented by wise men of the past who knew that human beings needed some direction and a common force that will bind them to discipline and keep society intact. So they invented religion. But of course the trouble started in another way.. we discovered too many religions.. and so we now fight each other on basis of religion too.

Anyway, coming back to my point. Tamilnadu is one state in India which has the maximum number of temples and people here are mostly God fearing and always going to temples. Much more that is...

Here is a Procession... and as expected of Tamilnadu.. it is abundant in colours... and flowers! A good photography subject. I saw this on my way back from Bangalore.. and stopped my car to shoot from the car itself..

Annular Solar Eclipse

I had gone to Point Calimere Wild life and Bird Sanctuary to see Birds & wild animals. But was lucky to have gone on 15th Jan 2010. This was the day of Annular Solar Eclipse- the first one in 45 yrs. The last one was on 23 Nov 1965 and the next will be on 26th Dec 2019. I met two gentlemen from Mumbai here. They were experts and had come with a welding glass. That is why I could take the photos. But the glass distorted the sun's image.. the dark centre became smaller than actual and the annular ring became thicker than it actually was. And I used the goggles issued by the Science Deptt.

Point Calimere (Kodikkarai): Sunset Birds

The place can be reached from Nagapattinam. It is South of Nagapattinam (66 kms) via Velankani (here is a Christian Basilica) and 390 kms from Chennai. Road from Chennai is through Pondycherry- Cuddalore- Chidambaram- Karaikkal- Nagore- Nagapattinam. Easy to go.

Point Calimere- Turtle

We saw a sea Turtle during our boat ride on the Palk Strait- the strip of Bay of Bengal between Sri Lanka (Jaffna) and India (Tamilnadu) caught in a fishing net! Just THINK!! How we are killing these poor guys!! Poor Chaps!! See its face! How cute and how helpless!! Lucky for him that we were there... Otherwise the locals would have eaten it!! The boatman wanted to take it.. but we said NOOOOOOOOOOO  and he took our boat around to the point and cut the nets to release the guy! Hope he never gets caught again!! Cheers!! We are actually killing our planet!!

For Now the Name I got for this one is

Green turtle -- scientific name Chelonia mydas

Once the guy is checked from close up I will correct this name if required.

Here are my other photos of Birds at this place.

Point Calimere

Painted Storks

I went to Point Calimere Wild Life and Bird Sanctuary. How to go and where to stay ? I will tell these later.. Just some few snaps for now.. My backlog is increasing!!

Egret

Painted Storks

Stilts

Brahminy Ducks

Volvo India International Regatta, Chennai

Yachting or Sailing.

I could manage to see the Volvo International Regatta at Chennai, that was held from 1st Nov to8th Nov'2009 on the Bay Of Bengal. And that too I could see from close up by going to the mid-sea in a luxury motor Launch!!  This is as you can see a sailing boat race. Windpower is essential. No motor Power.

Only two classes were in the competion. The boats that you see sailing are in the OPTIMIST Class- small boats or Dinghy (singular Term) as they are called. The 29er is also a Dinghy Class but are called Skiffs and are aimed at the Youth. They are bigger than the Optimist Class Boats. [The bigger Sail boats are called Yachts].

The Optimist Class Boats are raced by children in 10-15 years age group !! Just think !!! THINK!!

And the other boats which you see parked -Red Sails- in one of the photos are the 29er Class. These boats are where you see the sailor holding on to the sail and leaning out of the boat to lend his weight to steer the boat. Unfortunately I could not see that!! They are bigger boats and faster. I was late because of my group of people who were not very interested in actually seeing the Race it seems but something else..!! Anyway.. my bad luck.. still what I saw and experienced was Fantastic..

And the sea was soooooo choppy!! Our Launch literally rose and fell !! And 4 of my group members  started vimitting too at the end! All the Sambar and Rice came out on the lovely small porcelain basin on the deck!  Luckily I was made of steady material and am eating less nowadays also!! I could not even stand still on the Launch to take photos.. I was not having my own camera  -- had a SOny.. with video options too.. luckily and I took some video clips also..and by mistake to make space deleted some good video clips too!! Stupid me!!... 

Some Links --
Science of Sailing
Optimist Class
29er Class

The 29er class boats on the Shore- you can see them..

The Girl who won.

This is our Motor Launch. Look at the Luxury!! Hmm?