Bird watching at Veer Dam & Backwater area

Veer Dam is few kms away from Shirwal (on Pune-Bangalore national highway) and the best place to spot migratory birds such as Bar Headed Goose, Brahmin Duck and Demoiselle Crane. Being a bird watcher and nature lover, it was not possible for me to skip this place in winter. After visiting Pashan Lake many times, I decided to go to this place; this was my second time here. You can spend plenty of time just watching birds and their activity especially Bar Headed Goose – Angel birds from Mongolia.

Bar Headed Goose

About veer Dam: 

Map to Veer Dam

Veer Dam is constructed on Nira River. It is situated on the south of Pune around 15 km from Shirwal city. Backwater area is popular for bird sighting in the winter season. I am not aware of Dam but surrounding area is an excellent spot for migratory birds.

To reach Veer Dam, Join National highway 4 at Chandani chowk or at Varje Bridge – Drive towards Kolhapur/Bangalore side – Cross Nira River Bridge – Cross Shirwal city – After Crossing Shirwal, Drive for around 2-3 km – Take a Left Turn (a.k.a. Pandharpur phata OR Turn opposite to Sripatrad Kadam college) – You will be on Khandala-Loni Rd. – cross one village and look for second village name Tondal – Take left for the village and drive till you reach close to the water body. Due to dry land from backwater area, you can reach quite close to backwater. But make sure that driving land is not muddy.

Also, there are other places where you can go to spot birds. Once you are on Khandala-Loni Rd. – bypass Tondal village from the main road – Drive for around 1 / 2 km and look for a small dirt road – take left there and park your vehicle in safe position. 

Please do not drive your vehicle close to birds. Best way to explore this area is on your own foot along the water body without disturbing them.

I visited this place twice and both visits were made by me and my wife Renuka.

Standing tall at Veer Dam

January 2014: Kothrud, Pune to Veer Dam backwater (Total distance is approx. 148 km):

         We woke up in the early morning and left home around 5.30 AM. After a smooth Drive, we reached Khandala-Loni Rd. The road is in excellent condition except for few small patches. There was hardly any traffic which gave us a nice driving experience. Soon we reached Tondal Village. We were about to park our car in the village but villagers told us to take a car in backwater area. When dam backwater level decreases then many farmers use that land for farming. You can drive easily on that land.
        When we reached that area, our bird spotting activity started. We saw around 50-100 Bar Headed Goose along with few Brahmin Duck busy with their breakfast and some of them were resting. We approached them by crawling on mud. We kept a safe distance and I clicked a lot of Photos. We enjoyed for an hour observing their actions. An astonishing fact about these birds is that they are one of the world's highest flying birds; they migrate over Himalayas (flying higher than 21000 ft.) to spend the winter in parts of India. It was more fun when we saw 2-3 Jungle crow approaching towards this group and everyone flew. After this, we saw some other birds Like Ibis, spoonbill, common Pochard and many more. We spent around 3 hours and then left this place. Unfortunately, we didn’t spot any Demoiselle Crane. On asking villagers, we got to know that it was not spotted last year as well. 

Bar Headed Goose

Bar Headed Goose

I wanted to check some others birds hence we drove till Veer dam’s wall. Due to water channel and nearby farms, you can see some raptors, Kingfishers, Red Avadavat, Wagtails etc. There were many birds (Not wetland birds) and I tried some clicks there as well. By 11:30 AM, We left this beautiful area. 

List of birds which you can see in Veer Dam 

Bar-Headed Goose	Brahminy Myna	Laughing Dove
Ruddy Shelduck	Jungle Babbler	Purple Sunbird
White-Breasted Kingfisher	Large Grey Babbler	Indian Robin
Rose-Ringed Parakeet	Little Cormorant	Pied Bushchat
Blossom-Headed Parakeet	Little Egret	River Tern
Lesser Whistling Duck	Common Tailorbird	Pied Kingfisher
Spot-Billed Duck	Black Ibis	Common Hoopoe
Common Pochard	Oriental Ibis	Indian Roller
Tufted Duck	Spoonbill	Ashy Prinia
Eurasian Collared Dove	Spotted Munia	Plains Prinia
Yellow-Crowned Woodpecker	Black Drongo	Red Turtle Dove
Little Ringed Plover	Red Avadavat	Barn Swallow
Common Sandpiper	Green Bee-eater	Grey Wagtail
Marsh Sandpiper	House Crow	Citrine Wagtail
Wood Sandpiper	Jungle Crow	White Wagtail
Red-Wattled Lapwing	Little Grebe
Yellow-Wattled Lapwing	House Sparrow
Red-Rumped Swallow	Rock Dove
Common Pochard	Grey Heron
Common Myna	Jungle Babbler

Below are snaps were taken during my visits to Veer Dam:- 

Ruddy shelduck a.k.a Brahmin Duck

Brahmin Duck

Brahmin Duck in Flight

Rest - Bar Headed Goose

We are together - Bar Headed Goose and Brahmin Duck

Bar Headed Goose in Flight

Oriental Ibis a.k.a. Black naked ibis

Rose-ringed Parakeet

Red Avadavat

Green Bee-eater with Catch

I will try to upload more and more travel blogs. Thanks for reading this Travel Blog.

Pritesh Kulkarni 

Pune