Feathered Bipeds & Me.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
12/12/2004: Nandi Hills Birding
On Saturday evening, while I checked my mails, I saw a mail from Suresh V, with a stunning pic of an ultramarine flycatcher, shot at Nandi hills. Soon, Praveen called me. (He must have also been checking his mails at that time) He mentioned the importance of this record for Karnataka, and persuaded me to go to Nandi hills and spot it again. I called up Suresh & convinced him to make a 2nd trip the next day itself.
We left Cox town by 6:15am, and reached nandi hills at 8:15am, thanks to the “nice” road. We had a couple of brief stops for Suresh to do some road-side shooting. Taking tickets, we left straight for the “ultramarine-spot”, and setup our tripods and sat in wait. In between I got restless seeing a red-throated flycatcher stay close, but beyond shooting distance and tried to go behind it & get a shot, but couldn’t. I returned to the waiting spot. Probably after 1-1.5 hrs of waiting, the ultramarine flycatcher showed up. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. It was stunning, like a pretty jewel glistening in the sunlight. I shot 10+ frames. Hope at least one comes out well. After some 10-15 minutes, it flew away. Suresh then started “chasing” a paradise flycatcher male, while I again tried in vain for the other flycatcher.
Our next aim was to walk along the edge of the hill, to spot raptors. Near the dormitories a flock of rufous-bellied babblers gave me a shot or two, and got to see a blue-capped rock thrush & and another male paradise flycatcher in the undergrowth. Right near the cliff, a common buzzard soared away from me, but got enough time to see the carpal patch and ID it. On the way to the temple, we also saw a white-phase booted-eagle, with its black trailing edges and black-tipped tail. Just past the temple, we waited at the rocks for the vultures. Soon, a pair of adult Egyptian vultures came in, probably a nesting pair. A huge swift flew by, with darkish wings & pale underbody. Alpine swift, I guessed. Before we walked back, we saw an UID aquila being chased by a black kite.
Near the guest house, a blue rock thrush was seen catching insects from the grass. Suresh managed a shot or two. I had packed up my stuff, and it was too far a shot, anyway. As we drove back, I held Suresh’s camera, ready for any surpise sightings. A buteo was seen perching on a tree near one of the bends, giving a good eye-level view. Without bothering to remove the helmet, I took a few shots of it using Suresh’s camera. I got down, bowed below the wall and started setting up my camera, but I was too late, it got wary & had flown away.
After a brief walk along the pathway near the coconut-vendor, and a couple of naariyal-ka-paani drinks, we headed back for Bangalore.
We left Cox town by 6:15am, and reached nandi hills at 8:15am, thanks to the “nice” road. We had a couple of brief stops for Suresh to do some road-side shooting. Taking tickets, we left straight for the “ultramarine-spot”, and setup our tripods and sat in wait. In between I got restless seeing a red-throated flycatcher stay close, but beyond shooting distance and tried to go behind it & get a shot, but couldn’t. I returned to the waiting spot. Probably after 1-1.5 hrs of waiting, the ultramarine flycatcher showed up. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. It was stunning, like a pretty jewel glistening in the sunlight. I shot 10+ frames. Hope at least one comes out well. After some 10-15 minutes, it flew away. Suresh then started “chasing” a paradise flycatcher male, while I again tried in vain for the other flycatcher.
Our next aim was to walk along the edge of the hill, to spot raptors. Near the dormitories a flock of rufous-bellied babblers gave me a shot or two, and got to see a blue-capped rock thrush & and another male paradise flycatcher in the undergrowth. Right near the cliff, a common buzzard soared away from me, but got enough time to see the carpal patch and ID it. On the way to the temple, we also saw a white-phase booted-eagle, with its black trailing edges and black-tipped tail. Just past the temple, we waited at the rocks for the vultures. Soon, a pair of adult Egyptian vultures came in, probably a nesting pair. A huge swift flew by, with darkish wings & pale underbody. Alpine swift, I guessed. Before we walked back, we saw an UID aquila being chased by a black kite.
Near the guest house, a blue rock thrush was seen catching insects from the grass. Suresh managed a shot or two. I had packed up my stuff, and it was too far a shot, anyway. As we drove back, I held Suresh’s camera, ready for any surpise sightings. A buteo was seen perching on a tree near one of the bends, giving a good eye-level view. Without bothering to remove the helmet, I took a few shots of it using Suresh’s camera. I got down, bowed below the wall and started setting up my camera, but I was too late, it got wary & had flown away.
After a brief walk along the pathway near the coconut-vendor, and a couple of naariyal-ka-paani drinks, we headed back for Bangalore.
posted by Job K Joseph, 3:09 AM