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.
At the words “State bird of Maharashtra,” something clicked. Phones appeared. Eyes turned upward. One… two… three—they counted aloud, marveling at what they had walked past countless times without noticing. Idle chatter vanished. They were fully engaged, suddenly birders.
I packed my camera, stepped back, and let them observe.
Five minutes had transformed them. From casual onlookers sitting idle near a tree, they were now noticing, counting, and marveling. Curiosity had taken over.
And maybe next time, I thought, one of them will just look up on their own. Birding doesn’t start with binoculars or checklists.
It starts with a curiosity, a pause. A glance upward.
A leaf or maybe a green, chunky pigeon waiting on a branch.
Yellow-footed Green-Pigeon ( हरोळी )
Yellow-footed Green-Pigeon ( हरोळी )