Fisherman M Yuvaraj bustles about his fibreboat, filling fuel in the engine, and checking if everything is in order. He even throws in an umbrella in case it rains. It is almost 4pm when he pushes his boat close to the bank of Pulicat lake. The 57-year-old is not setting out on a fishing trip. He is taking a group of us to see flamingoes.Pulicat is the second largest brackish waterbody in India, next to the Chilika in Odisha. The lagoon that straddles Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh is home to a protected bird sanctuary with birders visiting through the year.While Yuvaraj primarily catches prawns and a few varieties of fish for a living, he is the go-to person for many birders and photographers visiting the lagoon town. “I regularly take photographers from Chennai, Coimbatore, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and even Mumbai on my boat,” he says, rowing us along the Buckingham Canal, past a lone Asian openbill. He takes around four teams a week to see and photograph migrant birds, the chief attraction among them being greater flamingoes.,What draws them to the lagoon?According to Chennai-based Nature photographer Munish Palaniappan, Pulicat is a photographer’s paradise. “The lighting across the vast expanse lends itself to dramatic photos,” says Munish, who also holds photography workshops. “Shooting birds here during the golden hour [minutes before sunrise and sunset] is an experience,” he says, adding that the historic port town’s proximity to Chennai is an added advantage.