Dal Lake Srinagar
Dal Lake: The world famous water body described by Sir Walter Lawerence
as the "Lake par-excellence",half a kilometers from the city, is the
jewel in the crown of kashmir eulogised by the poets and abudantly praised by
the travellers and tourists.The lake of late has unfortunately, consideably
shrunk in size causing concern to environmentalists.The Governments have chalked
out an ambitious project to save the lake from extinction.The lake is 6X3 km
divided by causeways into four parts,Gagribal,Lokut Dal,Bod Dal and Nagin.Two
islands,Sona Lank and Ropa Lank,within the lake add to its beauty. Nagin is
the most lovely part of the Dal Lake separted by a causeway.
Slowly as the Shikara passes through the channels in Srinagar the houseboats
pass by which are handled by even the children with great dexterity. The birds
in this lake are very approachable. The kingfishers sit on the tops of houseboats
nonchalantly almost within the touching distance of humans who seem to be equally
unmindful of the birds. The kingfishers apparently use walls, steps and piles
as fixed perches from which they directly dive into water to catch little fish.In
Europe these birds are very elusive but in the happy valley of Kashmir they
fear no danger from humans. Man and Nature seem to exist happly together in
the Valley. Sitting on low boats i.e. Shikaras we can manoeuvre close to waders,raptors
and divers.
While giding on Shikara we can often observe white breasted Kingfishers(Halycon
smyrnensis), large striking birds with robust bills perched on the branches
of willow trees. These birds concentrate their efforts to hunting on the floating
Gardens. These man made islands comprise of reeds, willow rods, aquatic vegetations
and and held together with humus consisting of mud from the lake bottom. This
is extremely fertile and provide rich source of food in the form of frogs,lizards,mice,
grasshoppers and other insects to the Kingfisher.
Now as we move further to the calm waters of Anchar Lake we are in a totally
different world, there is no crowd of boats, no motor boat engines to be heard
and the mood is different altogether. Just a few meters ahead there is a little
bittern unmindful of the boat traffics. It stands motionless in the reeds waiting
for frogs and other insects for its feed like a heron. This is a very shy bird
and will vanish at the slightest difference. However it is accustomed to moving
water traffic and is not bothered by it. However if a boats stops it gets alarmed.
There are open lotus flowers around which the bees are humming collecting honey.
Wagtails active and eager can be seen dashing from leaf to leaf sometimes leaping
into air to catch that elusive creature for its morsel. The dipping motion of
their longtails and their undulating flight is fascinating to watch. Kingfishers
keep on diving into the lake and emerge successful sometimes dripping with droplets
with litlle fish intheir beak.
A small swimming bird much smaller than a duck is also seen and is known as
grebe(podipus ruficollis). It dips at one place and emerges some meters away.
The little grebe is fairly common in the vale.
Common Pariah Kites (Milvus Migrans) are frequently seen soaring above the area.
Near the Dal they perch on pillars looking for dead fish and other rubbish.
They are scavenger birds and help clean the area.
It is not necessary to have any special knowledge or equipment to enjoy birdwatching
in and around the Dal Lake. An ordinary ride on a Shikara can provide an obervant
mind with wonderful insights into the bird behaviour. All that is needed is
love of nature, keen-eye lots of patience and appreciation
