Birding On A Bicycle

 Ever gone birding on a bicycle? Or, explored rural neighbourhood on a cycle? Most readers in urban areas would answer 'no'. But Armed Forces Veterans are different!

Meet Col Tushar Bhakay, a Veteran from Indian Army who cycles to newer destinations on his cycle regularly. Commissioned into Maratha Light Infantry, Tushar served with distinction for 33 years. He has clocked more than 75,000 kms on his cycle across countries and terrains. Ghumakkad is delighted to share this guest story from Tushar. Presently working in Guntur, he cycled to Uppalapadu Bird Protection Centre in Andhra Pradesh. Tushar's story in his own words.

___________ 

When I took up a professional assignment in Guntur, I was rather unsure of what a small town had in store. As I started going around town and the surrounding rural areas on my cycle, I realised there was a lot to see and to experience. 

The rural landscape changes colour ever so often, looking different every couple of weeks. 

I had read about the Bird Protection Centre in Uppalapadu, a village twelve kilometres east of Guntur town – located on National Highway 16 which runs from Chennai to Kolkata. After taking a detour at the village of Takkelapadu, the road joins State Highway 253: venture forth another three kilometres towards Hanumanapalem, and you are at Uppalapadu. 

It is a wetland or a lake called “Cheruvu” in Telugu, with a few small islands bearing some trees. The Forest Department has put up thirty-five metal perches, which double up as 'tree' nesting sites for the birds.

The birds we saw here were of various kinds – pelicans, pintail ducks, cormorants, ibis’, painted storks, herons, flamingos, common teals, and common coots. These winged visitors come down from Siberia and up from Australia. 

The caretaker at the Centre said that most of the birds fly out by day in search of fresh food and fish which they seek out in the Bay of Bengal, which lies around a hundred kilometres further east. They return by nightfall, and their population varies between twelve thousand and sixteen thousand. 

A pathway of a hundred metres designed to keep away the most dangerous predator – the human being – allows for the birds to be watched by interested eyes without any disturbance to their nesting, mating, living, and squabbling. 

The Forest Department ensures a continuous supply of water to the lake, and is also involved in spreading awareness among villagers about the importance of migratory birds.

________________ 

Thank you Tushar for an interesting story. Keep cycling and sharing your adventures with our readers.

Ghumakkad had earlier posted another story on bird protection and conservation effort by AP Forest department in Kolleru. Readers may browse similar bird towers created in the middle of Kolleru lake in the story below.

Kolleru The Pelican Paradise - Picture story of Kolleru Wildlife Sanctuary shows the creation of metal perches for the migratory birds in middle of a lake. The birds have adopted the metal baskets for nesting! 

With rampant destruction of our Environment by mankind, such stories of bird protection are truly heartwarming. Kudos to the Forest Department of Andhra Pradesh Government in India.

Hope you enjoyed the guest story by Col Tushar Bhakay, 15th in our guest-series. Should you have a picture story of common interest, Ghumakkad would be happy to post it here. Only rider is that the pictures have to be original and the matter non-political, non-religious and non-commercial.

Thanks for browsing. Stay connected. Do leave a comment. Few words are enough to encourage us.

     -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Secunderabad/ Makar Sankranti 14th January 2026

#uppalapadu #birdprotection #Kolleru #wildlifesanctuary #APForestDepartment #GuestStory #birding #bicycling #PelicanParadise #GetawayFromGuntur #GetawayFromHydereabad #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadharsh #TusharBhakay #Veteran #ArmedForces #MarathaLightInfantry #IndianArmy

Campus Birding- Experiencing Nature

How to sensitise people to preserve the Environment? How to make every citizen an eco-warrior?

Answer is simple. Let them experience Nature first hand. Walk the talk instead of some boring lectures. BITS Pilani Hyderabad campus took its first step in this direction. It organised a Birding-cum-Nature walk for the faculty, staff and their families on 30th July. Deccan Birders (formerly BSAP- Bird Watchers Society of AP) lent a helping hand. Their members guided the 40+ participants. 

BITS alumni celebrate BITSians Day every year during the first weekend of August. We decided to kick off the celebrations this year in a different way. We, few alumni of BITS helped the Hyderabad campus organise the Nature walk. So, here is an account of BITSians Day with a Difference for BITSian readers. For others, it is a tour of the campus, its greenery and its birds.

Pictures for you. Credit for close up shots of the birds goes to Adnan Uddin of Deccan Birders sine I did not carry my DSLR kit. Other pictures are from my phone camera. Thanks Adnan.

Briefing in progress- as captured in a 20-sec video:

We sighted a total of 28 species of birds in our two-hour walk around the campus. Not all were captured in the camera. But listening to their calls, observing their flight, nesting locations and basics of identification methods kept everyone engrossed. Here is a list of birds sighted by us which shows the rich avi-fauna at the campus.

1. Red-vented Bulbul 

2. Tickle's Blue Flycatcher 
3. Spotted Dove

4. Purple Sunbird
5. Common Iora
6. Common Mynah
7. House Swift
8. Swallow
9. Shikra
10. Dusty Crag Martin
11. Rock Pigeon
12. White Browed Wagtail
13. Blue tailed Bee Eater
14. Darter
15. Indian Pond Heron
16. Cattle Egret
17. Tailor Bird
18. Scaly Breasted Munia
19. Asian Koel
20. Golden Oriole
21. Red Wattled Lapwing
22. Ashy Prinia
23. Indian Robin
24. Jungle Babbler 
25. Oriental White Eye
26. Spot-billed duck (in flight)
27. Comb Duck (in flight)
28. White throated Kingfisher

29. Baya Weaver

Can you spot a nest in the picture below?

Another Munia commonly found is the Indian Silverbill. Though we did not spot it in the campus that morning, here is a picture story of earlier sighting at our home in Secunderabad.

Friendly Munias - Can the birds and dogs be friends? Read on. The picture story also has video clippings of Silverbills feeding together.

Moving on, more pictures of the campus birding follow.

Here is a 30-second video showing the campus panorama and an inquisitive question from a child.

Birding continues...

The campus is also home to Star Turtles. Though we could not spot it, one of the faculty members shared a picture on her phone taken near the pond.

My favourite line which I always tell in any environment related gathering , 'Environment is an asset which we have borrowed from our children. We have no right to degrade or destroy it!' Is it not true?

Will Nature's glory remain? Will our children or grand children continue to see the birds and flowers in future?

Talking of preservation, it is a big challenge. Like the Yapral lake which is home to a large variety of birds, is under threat because of pollution and encroachment. You may browse our earlier story linked below:

Shrinking Urban Lakes- Impending Disaster Will the Heron continue to dance like in the picture below?

For more pictures of Hyderabad campus of BITS Pilani, you may browse our earlier story:

The Campus that Rocks

Thanks for browsing. 

Every small effort to preserve our environment counts. Do volunteer whenever you can and speak up!

    - Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ Hyderabad/ 2nd Aug 2023

Postscript:

3rd August: Sujith who came for birding, has sent the following picture of Oriental White Eye or Indian White Eye. He spotted the bird in Hyderabad campus on 2nd August. The bird is perched on a crimson coloured bottle brush flower. Thanks Sujith.

#bitspilani #hyderabadcampus #campusbirding #bitsiansday2023 #nature #preservation #ghumakkadhb #ghumakkadhb #ecowarriors #everypersoncounts #savetheearth #environment #pollution #encroachment

Ghumakkad Enters The Double Digit

Your blog, Ghumakkad's blog, turns ten today. Ghumakkad thus enters the double digit with lot of excitement and hope!

How did it start ?

Our set of eight stories on Bhutan, which is so picturesque, was the starting point. From a mere travel blog, Ghumakkad has transformed many folds. And we haven't looked back since then. First three years had only a handful of page views since it was a blog by invitation. Once we made it open, the growth has been overwhelming. See the graph below showing 258,000 page views.

Our Content

Over the years with the support of our readers, we have been able to broaden our content. Telling stories with pictures has been the format. However, the stories are no longer limited to travelogues. Here are few snapshots of our broad spectrum.

• Beating the Covid Gloom: We did more than a dozen stories to bring cheer into our Covid-affected life. We also shared real-life stories of two Covid-survivors of the 1st wave, one each in India and USA. Each story highlighted the power of positivity in those gloomy days. Some of the quick links are given below. 

I got a new life - A Corona Survivor's Tale

Take the Virus Head On - Survivor recipe from another Corona Warrior

Breaking Free In Lockdown

Bouncing Back In Lockdown

Every Day Is A Sunday

Stay Home Stay Safe

Lockdown Is ... Happiness

• Kaun Banega Ghumakkad (KBG): During the Covid-dominated period, KBG online contests have been very engaging and educative. It provided the much needed diversion from gloomy news and charts of Covid. After the first 50 editions of KBG, which posed a question to the readers (to name a plant, tree, insect, fort or a flower), next 23 editions instead asked the readers to give a caption to a picture. The readers creativity in suggesting the captions was overwhelming. Some of the contests which were well contested are An Arch to Captivate You, Lazy Lions, Mutualism by Nature. We will soon be celebrating the 75th edition of KBG. 

• Guest Stories: Ghumakkad always encourages the readers to contribute guest stories for our blog. Rohini Tiwari's story 'A Squirrel Comes Home' has been read by more than 600 readers!

• Bird Rescue: Read how few bird lovers in Secunderabad rescued a Black-Winged Stilt injured by the kite thread manjha.

The manjha spares no one. Few years back, we had rescued a fruit bat injured by the manjha. You may browse the story 'Rescuing an Injured Bat'.

• Nature: Nature continues to inspire Ghumakkad. Can a tree or a plant be your valentine? Or birds and animals? Or insects, bees, butterflies and moths? Yes, why not? Stories like Nature as Valentine and deriving Inspiration from a Butterfly were appreciated by scores of readers. 

• Saluting the Veterans: Our story '50th Year of 1971 War' which featured Naval children besides the Veterans, showcased the motivation of the younger generation.

• Lesser Known India: Though our physical travel was severely curtailed during last two years due to Covid, we did manage to feature two destinations, one each in Telangana and Rajasthan. Read the story 'Devarakonda- The Fort Which Needs Your Support' which highlights the efforts of local community in restoring a 800-year old fort. 

We had featured the Havelis of Khichan Rajasthan in the announcement of Winners of KBG-28. Khichan has some incredibly sculpted Havelis made of red sandstone. Glimpses. 

Learning Together:  In keeping with Ghumakkad's motto of learning together, we believe in sharing our knowledge and experiences. We had conducted a 'live' case study based on Hindi feature film 'Shershaah' last year. Our story 'Shershaah- Beyond The Movie' evoked keen response form not only MBA students but also the faculty members.

Through the movie, we could bring out lessons on 20 different aspects of OB, HRM and Strategic Management.

Most Read Stories

Taking stock on 10th anniversary of the blog, our most-read story continues to be the tribute to a fellow BITSian who gave his life fighting the terrorists in J&K 25 years ago. We salute Capt Ravi Shankar for the supreme sacrifice. Do browse the story 'An Immortal BITSian', if you haven't read it so far. 

The table below lists other most-read stories from our blog during the last ten years. Apart from the stories related to my alma-mater BITS Pilani, it is heartening to that readers have liked the story on Brahma Kamal the Night Queen highlighting one of the Nature's many miracles.

Our blog's readership is not confined to India. As shown in the map below, more than 45% of our readers come from countries across the globe. We thank each and every reader.

For a snapshot of our first eight years as a blog, do browse our story 'Ghumakkad is Eight'.

Moving On

With the Covid restrictions being lifted, Ghumakkad hopes to resume our travels and bring you more stories. Do share your pictures and stories through our blog.

Acknowledgements

There are numerous people who have helped us grow. Some of them had been acknowledged in our 6th Anniversary post. In addition, we place on record our appreciation to the following for their unstinted support.

Trixie Asirvatham our content advisor
Chitra Shanker our advisor on plants, trees, insects and birds

Ramya Sriram logo designer of our KBG Contest

Anchita Nidhindra, Manik Srivastava, Joyshree Banerjee and Akanksha for being the KBG Jury members

We also thank each one of you for your continued support without which Ghumakkad wouldn't have been here! Do give us your feedback to help us improve.

We are reminded of an ad for chocolates which said 'Never too old for a chocolate'. Ghumakkad started blogging at sixty. So folks 'never too old to start blogging!'

    -   Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/ 13th May 2022

#GhumakkadHarsh #GhumakkadHB #10thAnniversary #BlogAnniversary #HarshBhargava #ThrillOfWriting #JourneyOfLife #BringingSmiles #makingadifference #kbgcontest #kaunbanegaghumakkad #wellness #motivation #inspiration #positivity #nature #environment #teachers #learning #india #mysteriesofnature #travelforfun #beatthelockdown #wildlife #keepgoing #blogger #pictures #photowalks #powerofobservation #students