Of Bitterns and Babuls

Date: 21 July 2024

Location: Haleji lake, Chateji dhand, and a failed attempt towards Hadero lake

Weather: Clear skies, very hot weather

Picked up SalB and SadB at Kala board Malir, main National Highway on 0515 and off went. We made a brief stop at Gharo for some chai and breakfast since none of us had eaten anything before leaving home. We arrived at Haleji by 0630.

The main agenda of this visit was to retrieve camera traps from Haleji and to get some update on the Fishing cat work. The information board has fallen and needs to be fully replaced since the board has been eaten up by termites almost completely. I stopped by to talk with Noor Muhammad while SalB and SadB continued their work. Noor Muhammad worked as an assistant for F Koning in the late 80s who would survey wetlands across Sindh. I received updates from him regarding the project and heard about his adventures with Koning. He used to be responsible for the kitchen side of affairs during the waterbird censuses led by Koning. He talked about the helicopter rides into remote wetlands of Tharpakar, almost running into 'Dharels', guerilla fighters in the riverine upper Sindh as well as trapping Lesser Whistling Teals and their ducklings to bring them into the enclosures at Haleji. Boy what a time that was, to see Sindh's well-known wetlands in all their glory.

We heard several rounds of fire on the Eastern periphery where there are fish farms in the distance that disturbed several birds in the main lake as well. The dept staff was just sitting and doing nothing.

Afterwards, I walked out to birdwatch a bit. There was no way I was missing my season's first Bitterns. We found many Yellow Bitterns, a Female Sind Sparrow while I heard more, Blue Tiger and Common Leopard butterflies were in decent numbers. The latter of which was my lifer from this province. Babul blues were hooked on the flowers of the Babul tree (Acacia nilotica). The heat was just too much.

Common Leopard

Blue Tiger, only saw my first for Sindh a day before!!

Mandatory Yellow Bittern flyby

Sind Sparrow female, rather bold one. Very diagnostic call.

Next up was Chatteji dhand, which is a wetland hardly talked about. We exited Haleji via the side road since the main road has been under construction for almost 3 years. We took the road behind Haleji that goes through Jungshahi city itself where there was a very interesting looking rocky outcrop in the center of the town. Made me wonder what rodents could be found there, need me some Sherman traps soon.

We arrived at Chatteji which was a basic dirt road leading to the water body's edge. Luckily, there is a small settlement and a shrine at the end of the road which provides enough space for the vehicle to turn easily. Bilal was not worried now. The waterbody is basically a saline waterbody in a depression as most lakes in Thatta are. The edges of the lake have stunted Tamarix dioica growth and some shrubbery where Delicate prinias were common as expected. Only noteworthy find here was Spotted redshanks in summer colors: black. That is always a nice sight. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of access or viewpoints here unless you walk all across the natural 'perimeter'. There are no embankments so it is finding your way through the Tamarix growth under the open sun wherever you can. It was too hot and we decided to leave by 0954.

Spotted Redshanks

Stunted vegetation on the edges of the dhand (Lake)

SadB and SalB (L to R)

2 species of Resident larks here

Sand lark is scientifically named Alaudala raytal. Raytal dervied from Rayt/ Rait meaning Sand in Urdu/Hindi

Next up down the main road which the Jungshahi-Makli bypass was Hadero. This is yet another, rather significant water body that gets little to no attention at all. It is not covered by the Asian Waterbird Census and does not have any Wildlife staff as well. So go figure about its conservation/ protection status. We tried first via a dirt road leading through scrub and settlements but this was almost like a maze. By this time, I could feel the heatwave catching up on me. I asked Bilal to head back on the main road and enter from another main canal road which was pointed out by a villager. As soon as we went down the slope on the canal rd, there was an adult Pheasant-tailed Jacana with two grown chicks that were hardly fazed by our presence. They gave plenty of photo opportunities and so did the Streak-throated swallows and Little Swifts above. The Tamarix dioica here was ripe with pink seeds, just beautiful. May my love for Tamarix never end.

We decided to go along the road and constant checks with Google maps made me realise that this road was taking us further away from Hadero than towards it. The heat was creeping up on me and the constant pouring of water over my head and my shirt was not helping either and so we continued along the road. Here, there were Streaked weavers colonies throughout the stretch of the road and I saw my season's first Black bittern here as well. By 1030ish we were back on Gharo road and on the National Highway headed back. I slept on the way back and woke up to say goodbye when we dropped SalB and SadB.

It was a short and incomplete day but hey, we got it done.