Atri -- a place to go and watch the nesting of the weaver bird
Sudipta Mukherji
Right Months to go: Just before the onset of monsoon
Distance: 45 km from the Institute gate
Route: Turn right from Achariya Vihar. You are on NH5.
Pay toll at Sunakhela (Rs 85 both ways, Rs 55 one way).
Be prepared, within just about two kilometers, you will
have to leave NH5 to take a road to Khurda. There is no clear
marking on NH5 and hence it is easy to miss the exit. One way
to locate it is to remember that this exit is just before the starting of the first flyover
after crossing the toll booth.
Once you leave NH5, you take the underpass to go right. Follow
this road. It will connect you to Khurda-Nayagarh State highway.
Driving 15 km, you will reach Baghamari. You will now have to leave this
road and take a left. It is best to ask local people
here. They are quite friendly and will tell you the way to reach the hot spring at Atri.
This is about 4 km from Baghamari and the road is good. You will find this area very
scenic too. Just before you reach Atri's hot spring,
on your left is the not-so-impressive Hatekeswar Shiva Temple.
Nesting weaver birds: The temple has a reasonably large pond,
surrounded by coconut trees. On couple of those trees, we could see
the nests of the weaver birds. Some of those were
complete and some others were at various constructional stages. In spite
of our waiting for about half an hour, we could not see the birds.
One of the pandas of the temple (to our surprise, we found that they were quite non-disturbing )
told us that their
full fledged nest making activities would start from the middle of May.
We were also told that a male would take about 25 to 30 days to construct
a complete nest.
The pond attracts lot many birds. We could see Pond Herons, Jacanas,
Little Cormorants, Egrets and even a Pied Kingfisher. Two Swans are the
permanent residents there. They are not friendly to
visitors and considering their sharp bills (see the picture below),
you may not wish to venture into the water. During our stay, one priest
did get into the water and the Swans were dead quiet then!
The hot spring: Atri is known for the hot Sulfur Spring
and the place is about 300 meters from the temple area. Odisha Tourism
Department (OTDC) has surrounded the region, with a Panthanivas inside (This can be booked
calling Ph-0674-2431299, phone number for the tourist officer, Bhubaneswar.
However, we found not a single good reason to stay there.).
The water of the spring was hot and temperature certainly was more than 50 degree C.
The OTDC has constructed a bathing complex near the
spring. However, considering the
water quality of the bathing pools, you may wish to stay away from that exploration. We did not
find reasons to spend more than five minutes in that complex and decided to leave.
Oh I forgot to mention, there is an entry fee to get into the
hot spring complex: two rupees per person. You further need to pay
twenty rupees for the use of a non-existent car parking area!
Places near Atri, however, attract birds of different kinds and it was
a pleasure for us to observe their activities. We could see several Openbill
and Painted Storks, little Wood Sandpipers, thousands of Cattle Egrets and even a pair
of Indian Scops Owls. Seeing us the pair decided to scream on top of their voices.
The region around the Khurda-Nayagarh highway is covered with many mango
trees. Like us, you might
also be tempted to buy and eat some of those from many sellers sitting
on the road side. However, following suggestions from a local worker, before
heading back to Bhubaneswar, we decided to have vada and chay rather!
When we returned to Bhubaneswar and started discussing about various
dining possibilities,
it was 8:00 pm. The whole trip took about 4:30 hrs.
24 April, 2013
