Flamingo: Mudflats and Plastic

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Took a picture of this flamingo in Airoli Creek in Navi Mumbai a couple of months back. Airoli creek is just behind my house, in fact I can see the flamingoes and mudflats from my balcony at the 11th floor. Recently the entire stretch from Thane Creek to Vashi Mudflats has been proclaimed Flamingo Sanctuary and a protected area. But with a flyover passing over the sanctuary, people dump plastic and other rubble thereby inflicting damage to the mudflats which house the flamingoes 6 to 7 months an year apart from other birds. Indeed a sad sight. Like the expressways stopping on the flyover should be prohibited.

Nikon D7k, f/7.1, SS 1/800, ISO 1250, 420mm (Nikon 300mm f4+1.4x TC)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Your image captures one of the challenges faced by the flamingoes.

Great to know that you can watch the flamingoes from your balcony. Any idea about the date they arrive and leave? It would be good to keep these dates recorded every year so that it can increase our understanding.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Mrudul Godbole]

Lucky you can sight these beautiful birds from your balcony :). The area has been declared as Sanctuary, that will give some protection, but plastic and garbage is a major problem even in national parks. We are just not used to maintain cleanliness :(. Has the season started? Thanks for sharing.

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Thanks for your comments Sabyasachi/Mrudul.

Generally at the onset of monsoons these birds leave Mumbai only to return in late November. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see a small flock of flamingoes yesterday at the mudflats. I suppose they are also confused due to the weather, the rains have stopped and it gets hot at times.

[Subhash Shrivastava]

A Lesser flamingo ! They do not come to this part of Subcontinent : (. Thanks for sharing.

[Roopak Gangadharan]

Nice image and a very important message...the problem is humongous, one sees plastic almost everywhere and it just keeps accumulating. As the legendary David attenbrough said there is no throw away...there is no away, it just persists. In spite of knowing and wishing to keep away from plastic in today world it is so tough to find alternatives.

TFS
Roopak

[Mrudul Godbole]

Did you photograph this in the morning or evening?

[Murugan Anantharaman]

Mrudul: This is a morning picture, at around 9am.

[Samrat Sarkar]

valuable documentation sir....
samrat