Santragachi, a birder's paradise

Santragachi is an very important railway station in the South - Eastern division of Indian Railways. It is 8 km from Howrah Station. the famous Santragachi Jheel (Lake) is at a short walk from the Santragachi Railway Station and hosts thousands of migratory winter birds from Late November to February end. Not only migratory birds, this vast wet land and surrounding area is a place to watch some local common birds of Bengal which are not so common due to urbanisation. Though this Jheel has lost it's past glory, modern civilisation has already encroached into the jheel in form of club building, extended slum, apartments, shops etc, though plastics and domestic garbage has played a vital role in shrinking the jheel area, though the sounds of engines in the rail yard create utter nuisance constantly, though the number of visitor birds has reduced dramatically, yet it is still an excellent place to study the birds. In last few days I had been there several times to test my new lens. I am sharing some of those shots here.

Lesser Whistling teal or duck (Soral in Bengali) in flight. The huts of the slum in the back drop shows how disturbed the birds feel here due to anthropogenic activities.

Lesser Whistling teal or duck (Soral in Bengali) in flight(II)

Lesser Whistling teal or duck (Soral in Bengali) in flight(III), Safe landing

Little cormorant (Pankouri in Bengali)

Gadwal (male) in flight

Gadwal in challenging mood

Gadwal and Pintail

Male Common wagtail (Khanjana in Bengali)

Swinhoe's snipe

Pond Heron (Bok in Bengali)

Yellow Wagtail

Pied Myna (Gang Shalikh in Bengali)

Common Small Kingfisher (Machranga in Bengali ) Side view

Common Small Kingfisher (Machranga in Bengali ) - Front view

Green Bee eater (Banshpati in Bengali)

Territorial fight