An hour at Kanjli

Kanjli is a 1200 acre man-made wetland near Kapurthala in Punjab. It was created to facilitate irrigation in the surrounding areas.

9 various migratory species have been recorded in this region including various species of Geese, Pochards, Teals and many more.

On April 4 ,2019, we planned a short visit to this place, meant solely to get in touch with the place for a full-day visit some other day.

We saw only a few 4-5 species but made a nice frame of each one that we saw.

We entered at around 3 in the afternoon when the Sun was at its best. But the forest canopy provided a good shade and also a nice cold and soft background.

We were welcomed by an Indian Peafowl male who crossed the road in front of us to hide into some bushes in close vicinity, exposing only its blue neck and head.

We photographed it till we had had enough of him. Moving on, we saw a Shikra sitting on a low tree branch and was sitting perfectly still.

Judging by this behaviour, I concluded that he was kn his kill and needed some time alone. We took full advantage of it and parked the car close to it and the bird soon became used to is and continued on his meal.

It had killed a Common Myna on which he was sitting and feeding with pride.

After we were satisfied with what we could manage, we decided to move one.

Soon we reached an open spot near the stream where we could park our car and sneak around.

The place was full of Red-naped Ibis. There were more than 6 birds in just a small patch of ground. And it was here were I managed one of my best photographs of this particular specie.

Moving on, we walked up to the stream where sadly there were only a few Black-winged Stilts and Common Moorhens and they too were quite far away.

Preparing to leave, I has just sat in the car when I saw a head of some bird near a tree and excited, I shouted “Papa teetar, vo dekho teetar hai vahan.”

Looking thorough the viewfinder of the camera I figured out that it was not a Grey Partridge (Teetar) and was a Indian Thick-Knee which I was delighted to see because I had never made a good frame of this bird and this was my chance.

Kneeling down, I started moving step by step towards it and soon found that there was a pair of them. Excitement reached saturation level and after a couple rounds of great shots, I decided not to disturb them any more for I was in an open patch of ground, in full view of them. So, when I had reached too close to them, I decided to back up.

Finally we saw a group of 5 Spotted Owlets and they too were quite tame and allowed me to come quite close to them. And this was the final specie for our trip.

This ended my short visit to the place and I am really planning a full day trip there next Winters.

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~Arjun Basandrai