On 28th November 2017 at 1 PM approximately I was called by Mr.Gajamohan asking me to get ready as He had a surprise sighting for me. He asked me not to come by car but by scooter as We would be able to access the place by scooter comfortably. As We crossed Thondamuthur I thought I might see a Great pied Hornbill which I always missed.To my surprise We turned towards Ukkulam as we neared Boluvampatti. He helped me manuver my scooter past the locked gate onto the bund. Gajamohan then took me to a spot and we trekked down to the shore of the waterbody.
He then scanned the water for a bird and then gave the Binoculors to me to have a good look at the bird .At first sight I thought it is a cotton Pygmy goose but the size of the bird seemed big. It looked like a Grebe but the colour was different. I thought it could be a juvenile but still the size was big. So I requested Mr.Gajamohan to tell me what bird I was observing .He said it is a Greater Crested Grebe .
As I started observing it closely I found it to be very beautiful and it was constantly maintain a safe distance. Another Birding friend introduced to me recently Mr.Vijaykumar Krishnamoorthi by my team members arrived at that moment. He was the one who had sighted the Bird first and had called Gajamohan and Kishore for help with the id Of The Bird.Gajamohan said this bird is sighted in a small area in Gujarat as per the Grimmet Book on Birds Of The Indian Subcontinent .
This species was supposed to be migrating from Europe probably the one we were observing lost its path. As we were observing the bird took off and circled and went away towards the mountains .I kept my fingers crossed wishing it would come back. Fortunately after a few minutes the bird came back and landed in the waterbody again .Soon Mr.Rajinikant and Miss Renuka joined us and we saw the bird to our hearts content.
The next day I requested Gajamohan if We could go again. Rajinikant too joined us and thanks to him and Gajamohan We decided to explore the opposite bank of the water body to get closer to the bird. As we reached there We were joined by Mr.Selvaraj, Sahitya, Sathvika and Mr.G.Prakash at the place from where we started on the opossite bank of the waterbody.As we tried to guide them about the location of the bird on phone the bird suddenly took off and as We watched it came close to us in a small collection of water adjusant to the lake.It started to quickly move around in the pool of water between the lake and a field hardly 100 feet from us without being disturbed by our presence.
Mr.Rajinikant and Mr.Gajamohan ventured to go hardly 10 feet from it and fortunately it accepted their presence. I saw it from top of the Bund for nearly half an hour to my hearts content. It was an experience of a life time observing this beautiful bird.Thanks to my Birding friends Mr.Gajamohan,Mr.Kishore, Mr.Rajinikant and Mr.Vijaykumar Krishnamurthi for giving me this life time experience of seeing the Greater Crested Grebe So closely. I Thank Mr.Gajamohan once again for giving me the life time experience.
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