Flamingos, did you know, sleep on one leg? and with their necks gnarled around themselves, in a figure of an ‘8' or in the shape of the letter ‘s', depending on how you tilt your head.
From November to April, colonies of these wading birds take up residence at the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary (RAKWS) in the heart of Dubai, where they are fed twice a day. Those feeding times of 10am and 4pm are the best times to photograph the goings on and take in the flurry of activity.
There are no clear road markings on how to get to RAKWS. It's hit and miss, the route to one of the two watch towers (Mangrove Hide and Flamingo Hide) from where you get a closer glimpse of these pink-legged, plump-bodied creatures. But your best bet is to follow directions to Ras Al Khor Road and Old Al Ain.
On New Year's day, some 800 camera-bearing visitors landed up at just one of these two bird watching towers, according to Zulfikar Ahmed, the security guard, bird watcher and guide all rolled into one. On the Saturday afternoon that Khaleej Times visited, there were only about 200, Ahmed said. It was also an unusual day as two great spotted eagles had swooped down and made a meal of one of the flamingos. This caused quite a stir in the 15-feet by 15-feet watchtower space populated with families, children, telescopic lenses and smart phones angled towards the water. Photo opportunities are plenty, with or without the eagles. RAKWS has 450 species of fauna and 47 species of flora. Also seen are mangroves, mudflats, lagoons and sabkhas (salt flats) reed beds and shrub
In the week building up to the new year, there has been an attempt by the Marine Environment and Wildlife section of the Dubai Municipality to better the watchtowers, and the experience of visitors. Survey forms now lie with Ahmed, and visitors fill out feedback about parking, about ‘satisfaction of recreation experience', as one subhead on the survey form reads, and additional comments and suggestions. This apart from a visitor's book that has remarks such as "great viewing site!” and "excellent experience for kids”, "fantastic!” and "amazing!”, and even one Chinese gentleman's feedback: "little bit too noisy”.
The flamingos themselves love the quiet. Visitors are expected to respect the environment and keep their mobile phones on silent and their voices turned down, but at least on the afternoon we visited, parents seemed disinclined to silence their children.
Winter timings to watch these birds are 7.30am to 5.30pm. Serious photographers know when to turn up. Always at feeding time, that is.
Ahmed, the guard said he's observed the birds for so long now that he can tell their inherent peace-loving nature. Say for instance, if the feeding truck is even five minutes late, the birds form a queue and venture to the main road from where they know the truck will arrive with their fish pellets fortified with vitamins.
One of the visitors, Surendran Chokkalingam with his Tamron 150-600 lens had come from Sharjah with his friends, a group of 10 to 15 people, all avid bird watchers. Chokkalingam, who works in the oil and gas industry and his friends had been up since 5am to cover three to four bird watching sites, RAKWS being one of them. "It's one of the best places to watch,” he said, grateful that it hasn't been tampered with by building developments. Already in his photo archives of the day, he'd managed to click a Siberian Bush chat, a Glossy Ibis, and those eagles that had swooped down on to the flamingos.
Source: Khaleej Times