My Photo Shoot - Flamingos

Sunday has never been that early in  my life. The day started as early by 4 am at my Residence. As planned a week before myself and sudarsan ( an avid wild-life photographer ) were extremely thrilled to travel down to  Sriharikota, to shoot the world famous Flamingos. We left Chennai around 5.15 am and we proceeded towards Koyambedu and take the left towards Poonamalle. After crossing Dr. MGR University ( which will be on our Right side) we took the fly-over and move towards Puzhal . The roads were empty barring few trucks were plying on the road as it was early in the morning. We managed to reach NH- 5 and move further on the road. Close to 7.30 am we reached a highway junction and we took a right turn from NH- 5 and entered the small town Sulurput, we had a cup of tea, which was required after 2 hrs of our trip . I have suggested sudha to pack few Hot Idlis along with Traditional Andhra spicy chutney , as we are getting inside Sriharikotta and I wasn't sure about the hotels inside.

Everything was set and we had successfully entered the locality. A big signboard welcome us, sriharikotta - which is a known place for space research centre and Launchpad for various missiles and we felt very proud to travel on this road. It was a decent 60 ft road with water body on both sides , we crossed few residential localities and finally reached the area. The photo shoot begins from here...

before I put my lens on the DSLR, I did notice a parrot flying on my left side and trying to climb the coconut tree. I could get the snap of it

I was focusing the parrot which was little far away from my view and accidentally I did notice a spider on my left side which was very close to me. Unfortunately my zoom lens was not that supportive to click and I didn't carry my prime lens as well. I was trying , trying and finally  could get the sharp image of the spider

We were proceeding inside , during the journey we did see various water birds on both sides . The above image was the closest catch of a Painted stork

all these birds were abundant in nature... we could spot hundreds of these kind of birds

The ducks were very active so as the kingfishers..

While we were shooting these birds , my heart was longing for the glimpse of Flamingos. Finally I spotted a flamingo which was at a very long distance and the image was looking very hazy  and not that sharp. I checked with sudha how do we go about. during this moment Sudha suggested a strategic break for Breakfast, yes we had our breakfast - Hot hot idli and Vada around 8.40 and I was very happy for my decision to buy the breakfast from Sulurpet . After the break fast , we were moving on that road.. finally we could see the bunch of Flamingos were standing at a reasonably long distance however I don't want to miss the opportunity to shoot them

I know you are also not that happy viewing them Right ? So am I , I was constantly looking for the opportunity to reach them closely. we travelled few mtrs and we did see more number of vehicles were parked over there and my mind said this is the place we should be. Yes !! the place was full of Wild - life photographers with long lenses with Camouflage dresses and caps .. we both got down immediately and jumped in to the slushy water body ... slowly we were moving towards the beautiful flamingos and position ourselves... you may see the first image of it below

I was very happy to see them walking slowly one by one... I was overwhelmed with the kind of opportunity I had... I shifted the place and slowly moved further .. Wow...

The place was full of Flamingos and  I have started taking the photographs ..

Amazing colors..

After taking the close look of Flamingos , we were looking  for their fighting moments either by walking or while flying .. here you will find few in flight moments

Over all the tour was very successful. My sincere thanks to sudarsan who had actually mooted this idea and the kind of cooperation he has shown throughout the trip was astounding me... around 11 am we have completed the task and moved towards Chennai, around 1 .15 I was back at my home .
The best  time to visit this place would be between January and February 15th

Sriharikotta though it is known for Space Research, In my mind it was more for Flamingos and other water birds... Once again we wish to spend our time at the same place in future. We look forward to more such trips in the coming days...