Black Lored Tit | Munnar

A small 13cm restless beauty that refuses to sit still. Hard to get details in that white cheek without blowing off the blacks in the body.

Black Lored Tit | Munnar

Somehow had missed out on posting this one. Jugal our naturalist and bird guide had mentioned this bird "Hoopoe Lark" was a specialty of Great Rann of Kutch. We went out looking for this in Great rann of Kutch. This bird partly resembles the common Hoopoe and hence it gets its name. The peculiarity with this bird is every time it would allow us to get closer and once we settle down the bird would start running. The bird every time it runs on wet soil the foot marks were immediately baked by kutch heat highlighted by the exposed salt.

Hoopoe Lark footprints


After two hours of running behind we almost gave up and got on to the vehicle thinking of going back. Magically the bird suddenly approached us close and climbed on to a nearby shrub giving us eye level shot from the vehicle itself. After running behind the bird by foot it was ironical the way we finally managed to make images of this bird.

Hoopoe Lark - Potrait

A Black Headed Jay day dreaming on a gloomy Sattal morning :)

Himalayan Bulbul
Songster from himalayas. Checkout his crest display in morning light.

Spotted Flycatcher
Another migrant to kutch. Made this image near the place where we stayed. A portrait image made in morning light.

A variable wheatear takes off from its perch. The perch here is the candelilla shrub that mainly grows in the desert. This shrubs gets its name from its little candle like appearance. Their pencil like stems grow in bunches with reasonable spacing between them making them ideal perches for birds in a desert setting. In a desert environment with sparse vegetation hanging around near candelilla shrubs is always a good bet to spot some variety of small birds.

Blue Cheeked Bee Eater ( Juvenile )
This is a juvenile one. Merops persicus is its scientific name and it is one of those bee eaters that appears on the stamps of africa bearing its scientific name.

European Roller ( Kutch )
Winter migrant to Kutch from Europe.

A full frame shot of Male Montagu Harrier. Did manage to get an eye level shot with clear foreground and background. But like this shot as well made at an angle which shows the caked kutch terrain along with the bird.

The Look
Every time you approach a bird there is a initial phase where every bird gives that look while running through its checklist
- Is the approaching object coming fast ... Check
- Is object coming within my security radius ... Check
- Is the object a known threat ... Check
Even if one of items in the check list is a tick mark the bird takes off. This is the black shouldered kite's version of "The look" while it runs through its check list.

Blue Cheeked Bee Eater ( Kutch )
Passage migrant from Africa to India during winter. Slightly bigger than the common Green bee eater. Nevertheless very shy. Have to keep running behind them to locate that one bold guy who will allow a closer approach for some decent images.

Flowerpecker in Shade
Potrait shot of this small and restless bird.

One more image of Tickell blue flycatcher. You can run behind this bird to get a good image and the bird would still tease you by hoping constantly coupled with its chee..chee..chee call :)

While going up Nandi hills saw this huge crested serpent eagle on the road trying to catch up some warmth. On seeing our vehicle he moved on to a side branch. He was so close to the vehicle i could get only a head shot.

Pratincole trying to give an angry look. Hard to take it seriously though when you are this small :)

River tern ( Bhadra WLS )
As a group they are an active lot. Visiting an island where thousands of river terns roost is like attending an indian marriage there is lot of movement around,buzz and lively activity :)
Here a slightly wider view before take off



and a closer portrait. This one seems to be smiling :)

Red Whiskered Bulbul ( Bhadra WLS )
Priya found this guy just outside the room we stayed. After all the flying around in the morning he was busy preening himself to clear up all the dirt from the feathers and refuel them with preen oil.

Pratincole ( Bhadra WLS )
A portrait shot of the same fellow. Most of the images you see on the web of this guy might be with a blue background ( because of water in the background ) since this guy is on the shore periphery and the image is made from land. For a change here I was on a boat so the background is land :)

Osprey ( Bhadra WLS )
One of the highlights of the Bhadra trip. Was lucky to sight this guy in open as part of the morning boat ride. The light was harsh which resulted in a strong contrast in the image. Osprey's have claws which are twistable. They use this to get a better grip on fishes which are their primary source of food.

Bay Backed Shrike
Was going through my archives to check if there is any interesting image to process and came across this. Love this guy and his "mask of zorro" appearance. He is a resident shrike at the resort in Masinagudi where we stayed. Daily morning we used to hear him imitating the calls of other birds and trying to fool them :)