birding

The Eurasian Magpie, or as I like to call it, shalgam (turnip).

Into the Ghats we went this morning. Chasing birds.

Portraits of #birds in their #natural #habitat in #Dhanaulti, just the way I found them, without any filters or cropping.

Somewhere in #Dhanolti. Some time this summer.

The bird is some kind of thrush, I think. Can you help me identify it?

#dhanaulti

The Scaly #Thrush . Now that's a #bird I didn't even know existed.

The #Himalayan #Bulbul, बुलबुल

And here we have an Indian Grey #Hornbill #pair.

Wait patiently as this #bird slowly reveals itself to you. The Indian Gray #Hornbill. I don't know why some people find it an ugly bird. I don't. Do you?

Good old White-throated #Kingfisher. Travel all the way to #Rishikesh but find the same old Kingfisher that I see in the cities also. So many Kingfishers in India (https://www.natureinfocus.in/animals/get-to-know-india-s-kingfishers) but all I get is this fellow.

So many #Baya #Weaver #nests. #Birds of #Fagsi.

The #Baya #Weaver #weaves its #nest. #Birds of #Fagsi.

I don't like how Insta crops my pics.

#Baya Weaver, बाया, सोन चिड़ी. #Birds of #Fagsi.

An Indian Yellow Tit performing an electrical inspection in the #evening light.

And an Indian White Eye observing the Tit with consternation, from a safe distance.

The White Eye has a name in almost every Indian language: https://maghaa.com/indian-white-eye/

The Rufous Sibia, spotted this rainy morning in #Dhanolti. #Rufous means #बादीमी in #हिंदी। It is a #bird of the lower #Himalayas.

Birding brings me close to #nature...

So apparently I was out #birding two years ago, in #Pangot. Chasing angry wet #birds

This pair of Malabar Hornbills was way up in the trees, well hidden. And it was a cloudy morning. Hence I've had to do some post to bring out the details of the pics.

#birdsofindia #birds #Dandeli #Goa #nature #naturephotography

In January we went camping in Dandeli. There we met the Grey Malabar Hornbill, a.k.a. dhanesh, gobre vaayre or kaldal hakki.

#birds #goa #Dandeli #birdsofindia #nature #naturephotography

A sea eagle story. In four parts.

M2 slept in late. M1 sat in a boat and looked fashionable while studying. Sephi cooked. The kids played games. I chased birds.

Everyone did their thing on a beautiful Sunday morning.

There is a bird sitting on top of that tree. It's been there for a long time. I wonder if it is fishing, or just contemplating life.

#caboderama #goa #tree #sea #bird #nature

The sounds of the forest and birds and the river.

Early morning #murmuration of #birds over the #Tungabhadra

Lots and lots of birdies in a tree

I could take a million pictures, and they wouldn't do justice to the beauty of the place. People come and seek divinity in the temples here. But the real peace is in the nature - the rocks, fields, birds and animals.

When we were young, sparrows would visit our home near Yusuf Sarai in Delhi. We'd have to rush and open the French windows of the house, and turn off the ceiling fans to protect them.

As we grew up, the birds around us seemed to have learnt to stay out of human homes. Until this month. Here in Goa, we have scaly-breasted munias visiting us sometimes. And, well, they're stupid. They keep fluttering against the fixed glass panes of the windows for an agonisingly long time, when there is an open window right underneath (see the pic for context).

I suppose the spotted munias forage in the paddy fields around our house. And visit us to snack on all the insects we harbour indoors. Perhaps I'll have the kids put stickers on all the fixed panes, to alert the birds.

(These social, communal birds are frequently caged. The pet trade calls them the Spice Finch. Its... so sad.)

The Green Bee-eater, पतेना

The Oriental Magpie-robin

"Whaddaya say buddy. Do we go in?"

We were lucky to come across a hoard of birds and animals, clustered around the foliage under a tree. I suppose an animal had died there, and they were all having a morning feast. We saw what we thought was a dog, but @upcycling.artist identified to be a jackal. What luck!

The Greater Coucal.

Rufous Treepie.

Can you identify the trickery involved in this photograph.

Black Drongo. Contemplative.

"Sharing is caring". "No, you're the wrong species, dimwit. Birds of a feather flock together. Look at yours and look at mine."

Actually the Robin did not reply to the Sunbird. If it opened its mouth, the insect would be gone.

"I have the goods. In my mouth."

This Indian Robin flitted about for a very long time, from branch to branch, tree to tree, with its catch in its mouth. Was it trying to impress someone?

The Purple Sunbird, female. I've always only photographed the male before, with its striking colours.

And the cuckoo flies away

Would you mind if I posted another couple of pics of the Jacobin Cuckoo. This is the first time I've seen this bird and it is indeed spectacular.

The Jacobin Cuckoo. In India it is considered to be the harbinger of rain. Indeed it had rained in Gurgaon the night before I captured this pic.

तोता। Rose-ringed Parakeet. Just look at the details on the feathers.

Black Kite. चील। This one was really close - so close that I had trouble taking a picture.

It was scavenging from a garbage bin - which is sad.

Blue Whisting-thrush. Again, not a crow as you might assume.

Did you think I'm done with his majesty the Magpie? You thought wrong.

Behold the long tail of the Red-billed Blue Magpie

Excuse me while I puff up my chest to thwart any other birds trying to get at this buffet.

The Red-billed Blue Magpie, y'all. Wait till you see its tail in the next post.

A Plum-headed Parakeet couple, om nom nomming. Repeat after me - awwwwwwwww

La Plum-headed Parakeet. तोता.

I'll be walking.
Walking in the rain.

The Oriental Turtle Dove. Who names these things? Isn't कबूतर enough?

Le Plum-headed Parakeet, तोता. Who refused to eat the plums I offered it, eating बाजरा (millet) instead.

Not your ordinary crow. This is the Grey Treepie.

See, bite, gobble.

These pictures of the lesser yellowpane were taken at what is called a "hide". After all the traipsing through rainy Uttarakhand forests with leeches and bugs harassing us, we thought it would be nice to just sit back and have the birds come to us.

A hide operates by offering food to birds. The birds flock to the food and you can observe them from up close. Its what we do in our backyards all the time, and think nothing of. But when you do it commercially, next to a forest, you risk turning wild birds into feral ones.

Not an experience I'd repeat again, most probably. Even though the food offered was just fruit and बाजरा.

When wet in the rain, all birds resemble a chicken 😂

Lesser yellownape woodpecker, कठफोड़वा

See how beautiful the feathers are, of a yellownape woodpecker (कठफोड़वा)

The lesser yellownape woodpecker. कठफोड़वा.

One last pic of the Verditer Flycatcher

A Common Tailorbird making its getaway

The #Myna might be Common, but that doesn't make it any less majestic than other birds. मैना.

Kindly appreciate the funky hairstyle of the Himalayan #Bulbul बुलबुल

The Verditer Flycatcher, with what else but a fly in its mouth

The Verditer Flycatcher, on its way to catch a fly

Do these look yum or what? If you're a bird, this is what you feast on all day in the mountains.

It's swallow time again

To perfectly capture a swallow in flight is a life goal 😁

Babblers don't leave me alone anywhere

The Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher. Leeches are common in the Himalayas during the rains, and we should have been more careful. When M1 finally looked down to see leeches crawling all over our feet, our panic must have been a comic sight to see. The only time before that I've had leeches on me was in 22 years ago, in the Western Ghats. And it wasn't fun even then. Ugh.

The Pied Bush Chat

The Verditer Flycatcher

Cormorant, drying its wings

Feeding time.

This picture is framed by the trees on all sides. The focus of the picture is the frame, not the birds. Dunno if you can notice.

Peacock

Kites. पतंगें.

Parakeet

In conversation. In motion. Two Prinias.

Tawny flanked Prinia

Hard to recognise. Google Lens says that's a tit.

Himalayan Bulbul

Concrete stacks rising out of smoke
A setting sun
A bird headed home
And a pond settling down for the night

Bulbul in a tree

Dove 🕊

And a closer look at that bird

Here is another bird in a beautiful tree

And here's the birdy on the tree I was going after.

This tree looks like a tapestry from afar
Standing across the sky
I was photographing the bird sitting on it
But in the lightroom it was the tree that stood out

A bird flits across the newly born Ganga

#uttarakhand #uttarakhandheaven #bird #travel #photo #nature #wanderlust #wild #photography #photo #incredibleindia #travel #travelphotography #travelindia

#Birds of a feather

#eagle #snowcappedmountain #Spiti #SpitiValley #Kaza

We have come to a resort near our campsite for dinner.

In every #campsite and #resort across India, #wood is #burned for a nightly #bonfire. There is the consumption of chips and soda by children, to the accompaniment of loud music that can be heard for half a mile around. In spite of all these arrangements, most children can't be bothered to lift their heads out of their cellphones.

Is ritualistic #consumption all that we have to offer to our children? And if all adults want to do is consume large amounts of liquor, why do they drive all the way to the hills for it? Not once have these families left their resort to enjoy the beauty of nature all around them - to meet local people, listen to birds, admire flowers.

To each their own. But observing this drama makes me feel we are doing something right.

But at least we should leave the trees out of it. Tens of thousands of resorts are burning bonfires every night. Instead of hugging and loving trees people are going into nature to burn them. Sad.

It is exceptionally quiet in #Tabo. There is the sound of the wind, when it blows. There is the incessent tweeting of birds. Nothing else. I have a very good pair of noise cancelling headphones. Turning them on and off makes no difference at all here. It is surreal.

Spot billed duck spotted

We flew kites. They went very high. I have no photos. You just have to trust me.