Bird Walk at Gogte Salt Pans, Vasai, Maharashtra

Name: Bird Walk at Gogte Salt Pans, Vasai, Maharashtra
Start: 2026-11-15T07:30:00+05:30
End: 2026-11-15T09:30:00+05:30

About Gogte Salt Pans

On the northern edge of the Mumbai region, beside Vasai Creek, the Gogte Salt Pans are a man-made wetland with a long history of salt-making. Here, shallow pans of seawater slowly evaporate under the sun. Low earthen bunds divide them, and they are surrounded by mangroves, mudflats, creeks, saline grassland and farmland. The mix of shallow brackish water, exposed mud and mangrove edge makes the pans a rich feeding ground, full of small fish, crabs, shrimps and insects. More than 250 bird species have been recorded here on eBird, making Gogte one of the best birding sites in the Vasai–Palghar area.

For birders, the salt pans are at their best from autumn through winter. Hundreds of Painted Storks gather to feed, and spoonbills, ibises and reef herons work the shallows. Ducks, terns, stints, plovers and sandpipers arrive on migration from northern Asia, and raptors hunt over the open pans. Like Mumbai’s other salt pans, though, Gogte is under severe threat. Salt pan land around the city is constantly targeted for reclamation and construction. Dumping of construction debris and garbage, mangrove cutting, new roads and infrastructure, and polluted creek water are all shrinking the habitat. Recognising salt pans as valuable wetlands, protecting the surrounding mangroves and stopping illegal dumping are essential if Gogte is to keep drawing its spectacular gatherings of birds.

Bird walk Location

Common birds of Gogte Salt Pans

Gogte’s shallow pans can hold an amazing sight: flocks of up to a hundred Painted Storks, their rosy wings and heavy yellow bills lined up across the water. Eurasian Spoonbills sweep their flat, spoon-shaped bills from side to side to sift for food. The Western Reef-Heron, a coastal speciality, hunts along the bunds, and Glossy and Black-headed Ibises probe the mud. An Asian Openbill uses its odd bill to crack open snails. Green-winged Teal, among the first ducks to arrive in autumn, dabble beside Indian Spot-billed Ducks. Whiskered Terns dip delicately over the water, while the River Tern, a globally threatened species, dives after fish. Out on the mudflats, the tiny Little Stint, which breeds in the Arctic, feeds busily alongside Little Ringed Plovers and dozens of bobbing Common Sandpipers. Black-winged Stilts wade on long pink legs. Indian and Little Cormorants fish the deeper channels. Black-crowned Night Herons, Great and Little Egrets, Indian Pond-Herons and Eastern Cattle-Egrets hunt patiently. A Pied Cuckoo, passing through on migration, adds a surprise from the bushes.