Twitchers - Birding & Beyond : The Elusive Marsh Babbler

#by ArunKumar, Bridgewood

Maguri beel is a lake formed by the doomdooma river on one side and the dibru river on the other, both tributaries of the mighty Brahmaputra . This unique riverine eco system is home to many resident and migratory  species of birds . The baghjan grasslands which are small  islets in the midst of these rivers are home to some rare species of birds like the Marsh babbler that is endemic to the Brahmaputra plains , Jerdons babbler , the endemic Black breasted parrotbill  and few other species .

 

               We were given a heads up the previous day that we might have to wade across the river to reach the grasslands as the water was very shallow and boats might not be able to ferry us across. We picked a piece of cloth from the Digboi market and cut it into pieces for each one of us to use it to clean our legs after crossing the river so we could wear our shoes. It would be very risky to walk bare feet inside the grasslands. We reached the river Bank by 6 am and as expected  the boat  to ferry us across the river was missing . Now only other option was to wade across the river and reach the grasslands. The whole area was covered in a cloud of thick fog and our visibility was only about 5 to 15 meters . The river with the fog hovering over it looked mystical but again with zero visibility  beyond a few meters and the thought of unknown entity beyond the fog kept us at bay. we were slightly hesitant to enter the water until one of the locals who knew the river walked across. 

MARSH BABBLER, Baghjan Grasslands, Maguri Beel, Assam

With shoes in one hand and our camera gears in another we crossed the river . The cold water after a few minutes were soothing to the feet . Where the flow of the water was strong the river bed was covered by soft sand and the place where the water was stagnant it was slightly marshy. Once we crossed the river the cloth pieces came in handy to clean our feet and get back to our shoes. We got to know that the soft and silken sand was apparently not friendly to our feet and could give some bruises if not cleaned . It was an exciting start for another eventful day of birding.

           Our first target for the day was the Marsh babbler . We had two issues to counter, one the thick sheet of  fog that had even managed to cover the rising sun and secondly the bird itself which was very quick and sulky in narure . The plumage of the bird being close to the dry grass added to our woes . After about half an hour we manged to see a pair of the Marsh babblers rushing across.  They seemed to be in a hurry, god knows for what but they sure were in no mood to give us any poses. We were left to use that little window and click them when they were crossing us to move to another patch of grass.  The dense fog , lack of light, a bird that some how seemed averse to be clicked  were all the adverseries that we encountered. May be we could not get those picture perfect clicks. But the exhilarating experience we had in reaching the grassland and then spotting the bird and managing to get a few clicks were surreal and something to be cherished lifelong. Another sublime episode to fill a page in my Birding diary .