Birding at Durg

2½ months at in-laws’ place just went like that, my longest stay away from home. Just realised yesterday when discussing with my son that I did not even stay that long at my parent’s home. Yes it is a blessing in this difficult time.

As many of you know my MIL had a bad fall during lockdown and had to go through major operation. We could not arrange a travel pass at that time so when the opportunity came we decided to come to Durg/Bhilai around November 1st week and stay as much we can.

The first thing we did was to get a high speed fibre connection. And to our delight the installation was complete within 18 hours of putting my request. Luckily, Diwali being at the corner after that everything almost stopped for a week here.

With a good reliable internet connection,wife and son continued their online school from here in the morning and me hogging the bandwidth in the evening. We felt a few times we should get a small UPS to ensure complete uninterrupted connectivity but most of the time power was very stable. Chhattisgarh is an electricity rich state, which means they produce a lot even residents get a 50% discount on their bill thanks to the new government. Personally, I did not like this scheme as it means people will be careless for conserving energy.

This trip is most memorable for me as an amateur birder ; went out for bird photography a few times a week. Thanks to social media with few phone calls I was connected with very experienced photographers who knew the Bhilai-Durg area very well. They really took me under their wings and we had lots of fun. I learned a lot from them. As most of our trips started at the wee hours, we watched beautiful sunrises. On our long trips, they used to ensure home cooked breakfast.

Also met a few birders from Raipur but only once as after all Durg Raipur is not that near and as there are many options to explore around Durg itself.

Meet up with a few college friends who are staying around Durg.

We went to Bastar which requires another post(s) for itself and a few day trips around Durg.

But this stay n Durg will be memorable for my new found birding group. Looking forward to meet them soon.

Here is the link to the bird photography album