Chennai's water source is birds paradise

Chembarambakkam Lake

Location: Chembarambakkam Lake near Chennai
Date: Feb 18th 2012
To get there: [Click here for Google Map].
It is close to Queensland Amusement Park on the Chennai-Bangalore National highway. To get on the Lake Bund Road, turn right into a narrow kutcha road next to corner temple (small) while going towards Chennai, about 3kms after Queensland and 10kms after Sriperambattur. From Chennai, this road comes about 4-5kms after Poonamallee,  right after some official water treatment plant and you have to turn left onto it.
Distance: About 10 kms from Sriperambattur or 25kms from Chennai.
Trail type: There is a motorable road on the Bund, wide enough for 2 cars that one can also walk on comfortably. We drove on it for about 4kms and I believe it continues for couple more and joins the highway near Sriperambattur. Ideal for car birding by stopping along the way or if you prefer, park the car at any widened area and walk the trial.

Facilities: None, though the highway has plenty of eateries and lodges.

Misc Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chembarambakkam_Lake

It was a family get-together planned at an resort near Queensland Amusement Park near Chennai that prompted me to scout that area for potential birding sites. One look at the Google Satellite view of the area was enough to show Chembarambakkam Lake and its magnificent spread. As always, myself and my wife planned to get there early morning on Sunday for a much anticipated birding session.

Crow harassing Brown-headed Gull

Finding the turn-off road was a little tough as it is quite narrow from the main road but with help for several roadside vendors we finally found it and were soon bumping along a bad road. After about a kilometer, the road becomes a bit smoother as we reach the bund with the huge lake spread to our right.

Eurasian Wigeons

We stopped as soon as we reached the edge of the lake where there was much vegetation taking in the early morning freshness of the water body. Immediate sightings were of a many Open-billed Storks flying overhead. They were leaving their roosting trees in the periphery for some undisclosed destinations! The lake itself had plenty of common birds such as Herons, Phesant-tailed-Jacana, Moorhens, Egrets, etc.

Whiskered Tern

In addition there was quite a bit of fishing going on. As we slowly drove along the road stopping every few hundred meters at any spot which we fancied, we attracted the attention of the local people, who it turns out, were hanging around waiting for the catch to come in. They advised us to move further up as the birds were "better" there. Accepting the local knowledge we drove up further quickly as the sun was ominously climbing up higher and it was getting hotter.

Cotton-Pygmy Goose

As we moved towards the center of the lake, we were greeted by many flocks of ducks and water birds. Eurasian Wigeons, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Pelicans. Wigeons were by far the largest in number, about 300-400 in the stretch we traveled on.  Barn Swallows and Whiskered Terns could be see flying overhead all through. We also got lucky in watching a Brown-headed Gull struggling to feed on a large dead floating fish. It was however harassed badly by crows causing it to abandon the fish and move to another spot. The Crows were not anymore successful in getting a bite of the dead fish!

Early morning Fog over the Bund Road  on Day 2

On the 2nd day, ie Monday morning, only I ventured out to the lake. But the fog rolled in about 7am and pretty much covered the whole lake. Visibility was about 10mtrs which made birding near impossible. I still drove the trail and was rewarded with some Brahminy starlings, Grey-Francolin sightings on the other side of the bund. Spotting an unidentified Quail foraging in the shrubs was also exciting.

This is not really, what you may call a family trekking trail but surely a nice birding trail of a lake habitat if you happen to be near that area for whatever reason. Since you are on the asphalted road atop the bund, you avoid the usual unpleasantness when walking along edges of most lakes in India.

Highlights from the Bird Checklist:

1. Eurasian Wigeon (100's)
2. Cotton Pygmy Goose (50's)
3. Spot-billed Pelican (50's)
4. Lesser Whistling Teal (pair)
5. Asian Open-billed Stork (100's)
6. Barn Swallows (many)
7. Brown-headed Gull (solitary)
8. Pheasant-tailed Jacana
9. Whiskered Terns (many)
10. Little Grebe

Birding in Chennai City

Last weekend we had to be in Chennai for 5 days to attend a wedding. 5 days! Yes, wedding was only for 1 day but the other days were all the receptions which could not be skipped. Now that we were stuck there, birding seemed like a nice way to make it somewhat worthwhile. So, me and my daughter, Nithila, got up at 6am on Friday and headed out to Adyar Theosophical Society, following up on the location as mentioned in a Chennai trip report on bngbirds. Father-in-law gave us a drop in his car so that we could be there before 7am. Unfortunately, only card-carrying members were permitted into the premises from 5am to 7am for walking. No amount of pleading moved the guard. Public Visitors were allowed from 8.30am to 10am. So, we shifted over to IIT Madras campus which was close by. This is also "technically" closed to public. However, one of our relatives is a professor here and using that link we got in.



We started walking along one of the avenues from the main gate and were immediatly greeted by calls from Koels and Mynahs. The vegetation inside the campus is quite thick and almost jungle like. Though vehicles and people movement is heavy the animals/birds seem to have gotten used to it. It was not very long before we came upon several Spotted Deer. We also saw a herd of pigs which from the looks of it were probably domesticated. Our highlight was a Black rumped flameback woodpecker. It gave us views for several minutes moving from one tree to another. Other birds we saw were Oriental magpie robin, Rose ringed parakeet, White breasted kingfisher, White breasted waterhen. and lots of Babblers (not sure of the ID). There were actually 2 parent Waterhens watching over 5 chicks, fully black in colour.

About 8.30am we got out and caught an auto and made it back to Adyar Theosophical Society. Now we were allowed inside and it is indeed a nice place for birding. We managed to walk upto the banyan tree and back. My daughter was quite tired by this time so we did not venture any deeper. Here too we got good views of a Black rumped flameback. All the other birds spotted in IIT were also found here. We also got to see a tree full of huge sized bats making quite a lot of noise. This was just before the banyan tree going from the main gate.

Overall, quite a nice experience for both of us. It was like walking in lalbagh except that here there was vehicular movement also. Hope to do this everytime we go to Chennai!