My initiation into bird watching

Friends, my journey into bird watching really started on a Sunday on December 1st 2013. I am a member of an organisation called Young Indians and there are several platforms of Young Indians. Environment happens to be one of them.  The  Chair of Environment platform of Young Indians is a genial person by name Manoj Rajagopal and he organised a joint event with Coimbatore Nature Society. We were asked to come to Perur for an early morning bird watching session at the Perur lake called Puttuviki. I went to the event not knowing what to expect and I decided to go to the event with an open mind. The group that we went bird watching was also a very humble and a welcoming group. I immediately felt inadequate as I did not have any equipment to spot birds with. I quickly realised that the binocular is a bare essential for bird watching. With borrowed equipment we managed to sight the following birds:  We spotted several birds like Cattle egret, Lake egret, Median egret, Heron, Pelican, Painted stork, Spoon bill, Glossy ibis, Black headed ibis, Spotted billed duck, Kingfishers, Green bee eaters, Wigeons, Swifts, swallows, Grebes, River Tern, Oriental Darters, Wood peckers, purple lake hen, Common lake hen, Pin tailed ducks, Cormorants and several other varieties. Never knew we were missing so much right. It was a Sunday morning well spent. Looking forward for the next expedition.