While environmentalists have been raising concern about the vanishing wetlands in Navi Mumbai and adjoining areas, an image of a congregation of flamingos with the city in the background clicked by ace wildlife photographer Nayan Khanolkar at Talawe has been awarded the title ‘highly commended’ in the Urban Category at the 57th edition of Wildlife Photographer of the Year, an annual international wildlife photography competition by the Natural History Museum in London.

Talawe wetland in Navi Mumbai is a small pocket of wilderness, surrounded by high-rises on one side and mangroves on the other. This wetland attracts flamingos during the non-breeding season and is a flamboyant sight when the birds arrive. The flamingos utilise this wetland during high tide when the mangroves are full and feed on algae. This year with minimum human disturbance thanks to the pandemic, the bird numbers were the highest.