It was a workday morning. I had just wrapped up an early birding session at Vetal Tekdi and was riding my two-wheeler back home, hoping to make it in time for my first office meeting. 

The city was already alive with traffic, impatient horns, and people rushing through their routines. And yet, somewhere within me, the quiet of the hills still lingered.

Me, on a busy road, constant noise, people rushing past, just another chaotic ride, dodging cars and autos, ignoring the honking. And then… green, chunky, perched on a branch. 

A Yellow-footed Green Pigeon? On Sinhagad Road? Why not. 

My inner voice scoffed: probably just a leaf. But no. My heart insisted I had seen it.

I stopped, parked, and walked back to the peepal tree, scanning carefully. Congratulations, I thought I had officially become that “expert” who stops mid-traffic to examine a tree. 

The angle had now shifted. For a moment, I almost didn’t see it. Dreamer, always dreaming. 

Nearby, a few men murmured about crows nesting on the tree. One asked what I was looking at. 

There! That branch. Careful! my inner voice warned. Not a leaf. Camera out. Snap. Yes, take the photo because if there’s no photo, it didn’t happen. 

It wasn’t a crow. It was the Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, Maharashtra’s state bird. Another man guessed शेकरू (Malabar giant squirre). No, that’s a mammal. This was a Yellow-footed Green-Pigeon (हरोळी ), a green pigeon.