Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

Oddly enough Susan finally caught a flight into Chennai at 2:15 AM the day we'd booked a school trip leaving at 5:45 AM. We drank a little more coffee when we got home from the airport, and Widi and I got on the bus for two hours to Vedanthangal, the protected nesting area for large birds that fly south for the winter. It was an amazing experience.

There were thousands of nesting birds set on a pretty pond. Loads of cormorants, herons, storks, pelicans, and many others including the Darter or Snakebird that we had a close encounter with. We watched it fish and then spread its wings nearby to dry. After futilely trying to capture the beauty of the birds with a tiny little Canon, we took a long hike, ran into some festively painted cows and took in the lovely rural scenes. Here are a few photos from the day.