Mannar Trip (2025 March 15) part 2/8 – The Flamingo Dance

 We woke up around 4.00 am on the morning of the 15^th March 2025, hoping to leave the house we stayed around 5.00 am. It was Sarath Kumar’s brother ‘Robin’ who picked us up in the morning and took us to the Vankalai Bird Sanctuary area, where our main target of the trip; the Flamingo flock was said to be.

The dawn was yet dark when we reached the edge of the lagoon where the flamingos were roosting. We heard their calls from quite a distance and went forward with caution. Already there were enthusiastic birders lying on the sandy shores – well camouflaged with the surrounding shrub forest, and ready with their camera lenses pointed towards the flock of birds. We too, creeping under the thorny shrubs, joined them in silence and waited for the sun to rise, giving us some light to get better captures.

Unfortunately, not all present there had the same patience and discipline. The flamingos seemed disturbed and irritated by the noises made by some photographers who came late, that they moved further away from the edge of the lagoon.

As the flock moved away, a few of the males with colorful breeding plumage gathered to the edge of the flock and performed a beautiful ballerina dance. The beauty of it could only be totally perceived alive with the naked eye, allowing background music to play in one’s back of the mind. No photos or even a short video clip of it seem to do any justice to the live experience of that show.

While one flock moved from Left to Right of the lagoon, another less colorful flock which was at the further end moved in and merged with them. The meeting of the two groups also was very dramatic, with individuals courting and gesturing to each other of the opposite group in a very special way. A flock that had been far-away too, flew-in and joined this group after a while, which was also another moment that our cameras were unable to capture in total.