MONGLAJODI , CHUPI EXPERIENCES

 Amongst my many interests, and my list of interests keeps growing as I progress from 67 to 68 years, travel and photography occupy important positions. It’s like which should come first – the chicken or the egg? Is it because of photography that I travel or is it because I travel I take photos. It’s quite a difficult take for me. Even in my travels, I particularly love wildlife-related travels, surely I want to capture the sheer magnificence of the myriad wildlife I come across on camera, and tigers and birds rank very high on my travel plans as do the entire gamut of mountainscapes covering lofty snow capped peaks, huge glaciers and massive icebergs!

Being based in Kolkata I am fortunate that two outstanding birding sites are nearby. One is Monglajodi near Tangi/ Balugaon in Odisha and the other is Chupi-Purbasthali near Krishnagar in Bengal. Come December each year both these places become swamped by huge numbers of migratory birds of brilliant hues, shapes and sizes. Monglajodi, a northern extension of the famous Chilika Lake is basically a massive swamp and in winter one sees more of grass and reeds interspersing with narrow channels of water. Thousands upon thousands of migratory and resident birds of more than 200 species make Monglajodi their home from mid-November to mid-March, where after the migrants quickly disappear leaving the residents behind. Monglajodi in monsoon, if one can brave the frequent lashing rains, can also be interesting. Several species of birds lay their eggs on lily-leaves or among the green reeds, and, there is forever a running battle between the hundreds of jungle/house crows that try to steal an egg here and an egg there and the bird couples that stoutly try to protect these. Often the crow wins, a cruel sight to behold but that’s how the life cycles work in nature. And at least one species of birds, the Pheasant- tailed Jacana, grows impressively long tails. Come end September the long tail vanishes and the bird is left with only a stump like extremity. In July again the tail starts growing anew!

Birdwatchers / photographers/ tourists travel through the narrow channels in country boats or dinghies that are navigated more by shoving a long bamboo pole through the shallow waters. The journey is laborious and generally slow but who cares when all that one sees are a variety of beautiful birds and more birds.

Chupi, on the other hand, is an Oxbow channel curved away from the nearby Ganga and as such the water-body is often referred to as Chhari Ganga! Country boats driven by the same long bamboo poles and sometimes by crude paddles are the only mode of travel.

Chupi offers a much lesser variety and number of birds compared to Monglajodi and the facilities to watch/photograph birds are much better developed in Monglajodi.

During the last few years I have been to Chupi five times and Monglajodi too as many times. I have always returned fascinated and mesmerized and vowed to go back at the very next opportunity.

Below I have uploaded a few photos of birds from Chupi and Monglajodi and sincerely hope the viewers will like what they see.

One more request, if you had the patience to go through this write up, kindly comment whether it was worthwhile!