Friends had invited us to their farmhouse, and it was a very pleasant afternoon, with all of us singing old Tamizh and Hindi songs, with the occasional Carnatic krithi thrown in. Of course, I wanted to visit the little water body nearby, and see if I could spot some birds…and as I was thinking about it, I saw a Red-necked Falcon fly overhead.

This settled the matter! I asked my hostess for the key to her gate (which faces the water body) but even while she was getting it, I saw these

BLACK-WINGED STILTS

resting in the water:

But alas, as she opened the gates, many of the visitors walked in, and that immediately alerted the water-birds, which rose up in the air: This was ironic...one set of visitors scaring another lot (the migrant birds) away! Since I know that water birds and waders are always very shy, I was not very disappointed, but looked up as a formation of PAINTED STORKS flew past as well.... The sun began to sink, behind the Acacia:

Pretty happy with my tiny slice of bird-watching, I was content to go back Om: