SANTRAGACHHl JHEEL ONCE MORE : 14 FEBRUARY 2015







































This year my visit to the Santragachhi Jheel was rather delayed, what with the return from abroad late in November followed by the celebrations around our nephew Dr Subhradeep De Sarkar s marriage and the visit home by our son Ritwik Prince Niyogi in December after 2 years, the annual visit to the Santragachhi Jheel had to be delayed. Then followed a series of birding trips to Monglajodi, Chupi-Purbasthali, Gazaldoba, Fulbari, Monglajodi once more and Piyali Island; the axiom Nearest to Church furthest to God could not have held truer in case of Santragachhi. Finally, this Valentine's Day morning I did make it happen. A few things did strike me - there were a lot more Northern Pintails and Gadwalls in the Jheel this year compared to earlier years. The number of Lesser Whistling Teals still far outnumbered other birds but were definitely much fewer in numbers today; perhaps this late in the season most have flown back on their reverse journey now that the weather is pretty warm. Most interesting find for me were about two dozen or more Cotton Pygmy Geese, a bird species I never found at the Santragachhi Jheel in my previous visits. Gladdened my heart to no end. One small disappointment though... heard that this year there were also quite a few Common Teals, saw some photographs too on the Facebook, but I could not find any today.

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