Birding in the Wet Fields

There are a number of large, wet paddy fields close to my house here. Although not 'biodiversity hotspots' in any way, a walk through these fields once in a while might yield some interesting results. During the monsoons, these fields are said to be filled with water snakes, especially in the muddy water. Anyway, I decided to head out to one of these large fields one afternoon to practice birding.

The most common birds here were these storks/herons.

Since it was sunny and bright, it was possible to shoot the birds in flight with fast shutter speeds, without worrying about shake.

Another common bird within these fields was the Purple Swamphen. I never knew of such birds in the locality, as these wet fields are so far the only places I've ever encountered them.

Look at this guy peeking from the tall grasses! He was barely visible from such a distance.

A group of birds

And one flies off!

Oh, Snap!

 

As I was leaving the Periyar Tiger Reserve, I heard several loud calls from a nearby tree, and upon a closer look, realized it was a Malabar Grey Hornbill. And since I'm not the kind of guy who's so used to seeing such big and beautiful wild birds, I got really excited. It was the first time spotting this bird, and I wanted to get some good photographs. But well, you never always get what you want at the first try, so before I could even get close to it, the bird flew off. All I have is this shot, perhaps just enough for identification.

Birds of Periyar II

Most of the birds I spotted within the reserve's lake were water birds, like Cormorants and Snakebirds. I had a little more luck when it came to shooting these Snakebirds, as they would sit there on their spot quietly and watch us pass by in our boat.

Snakebirds, also known as Darters, are water birds found mainly in the tropics. These birds are usually found in freshwater lakes like these, as well as rivers, swamps and marshes. They are called 'snakebirds' due to their thin and long necks, which resemble snakes, especially when they swim in water with their bodies submerged.

These birds are rather sociable; they usually mix and hunt together with other water birds like Herons and Cormorants. Although they are known to gather in flocks, the ones I spotted here in Periyar were lonesome individuals.

There was another common species of Darter in the reserve, a slightly larger one. However, I could only snap a single shot of the bird, that too a rather mug one. Certainly, my 200mm can't be used for serious birding!

Apart from these Snakebirds, another common bird was the White-Throated Stork (or Wooly-Necked Stork). Despite the fact that they are rather large birds, my photographs didn't turn out too well as the birds seemed rather shy, and flew off when we got close.

An individual flies off as our boat drives closer.

I managed to grab these two shots of the bird in flight, by pure luck!

Sure enough, shooting birds in Periyar was a great experience for me and it enhanced my birding skills. What about the other wild animals in the reserve? Coming up next.

Birds of Periyar I

The lake in Periyar Tiger Reserve is filled with birds, literally. Don't believe it? Check these photographs out:

As you can see, a flock of birds, mainly cormorants, were gliding over the water surface. These cormorants are abundant in the reserve, and very often, they tend to fly in large flocks like these over the water surface, and all of a sudden, they would plunge into the water. A few seconds later, their heads and necks would show up, with the rest of their bodies submerged in the water.

I was never good at photographing birds, but this time, due to their abundance, I managed to capture some decent shots of the cormorants.

And sure enough, I guess I'm slowly starting to learn how to shoot birds and other subjects in flight!

A happy couple.

A group of cormorants perching in line along the branch of one of the numerous submerged trees in the lake.

Alright, enough with the Cormorants. I spotted several raptors in the lake too, but well, these birds were fast and pretty far away, and so I couldn't photograph them well with my 200mm. However here's one of them as it flew off with it's fresh catch - a large fish from the lake. He must have had a five-star dinner that evening!

A Yellow-Billed Babbler. This bird was found close to the Visitor Centre in the reserve. I realized why it's called 'Babbler' upon listening to its calls.

More birds coming up next, in 'Birds of Periyar II'!

Bell

Bell came into my life on 10th April this year, as a weak and dying baby bird. My dad had spotted him falling from another bird's claws and onto the ground. Not wanting him to die, he brought the baby bird home, hoping that my sister and I would take care of him. The initial stages of feeding were difficult; we couldn't tell what species he was, and what he actually fed on. We later managed to identify him as a Rufous Treepie, a very common bird in the area. However, over the days, he slowly started to recover, and soon became really active. He would stand on his toes, chirp out loudly with his mouth open wide, and flap his tender wings whenever we came to feed him. He was so adorable! On 19th April, something miraculous happened: When I placed him next to a line of moving ants, he slowly turned his attention towards them, and even tried pecking at the ants! His natural instincts seemed to start kicking! I was overjoyed; it seemed to me like the dream I had, of one day letting him fly off into the wild, would come true after all. But alas, the very next day, that dream was shattered. He was gasping for air, and unable to stand when I went to feed him that morning. My sister started crying. How could this have happened! He was so active and healthy the previous day! We held him in our palms for a while, and soon, he closed his eyes and stopped breathing. He was gone. I have no explanation for this; I believe I fed him the right food, and followed all necessary precautions. Maybe he was just destined to die? I mourn over his death, but yet, am glad that I managed to keep him alive for 9 more days. These days with Bell have taught me how to be responsible, and how to sacrifice time that I could have spent out there enjoying.

We had Bell buried in one of our plots. Here's a video I took of him, as my sister cleaned him with a warm, damp cloth.

i
R.I.P Bell(??/4/12 - 20/4/12)

Dancing Treepies

I found this perky pair of Indian Rufous Treepies frolicking on a tree close to my room one morning. These mischievous birds, although a pretty cute sight, are extremely playful and noisy; one should hear their loud laughter-like calls and wonder if its the same bird making these calls or not.

I decided to snap a few shots as I never really get to photograph birds; either I didn't specialize in them or they didn't specialize in me. At one moment, I noticed one of them performing a wacky dance in front of the other, and that gave me the idea that it was a male trying to grab the female's attention. It was a gorgeous sight alright!

There's a Peacock in my Backyard!

Yep, like the title says, there was a peacock in my backyard! I was sitting down on my balcony when I noticed a large bird walking through my backyard. I initially thought it was my neighbor's pet turkey, but no, it was a peacock!

I ran after the big bird with my camera. Pity I wasn't holding on to my zoom lens, so I couldn't manage to snap any decent shots. The peacock started running off upon seeing me, and I got a mug shot of it flying up on to the top of my neighbor's house.

I was extremely surprised to have seen a peacock (this one is probably a female; peahen) in my area. Well yes, the peacock is the national bird of India, but they were never found in these areas. But upon asking my parents, I figured out that this particular individual was probably one that sneaked out from the nearby Hindu temple, where they grow peacocks. So you can't really call it 'wild'!

Another Trip to the Idukki Hills

Due to several environmental reasons, I had to return to India for my studies. During one of the holidays, I decided to visit Munnar and the hills of Idukki once again. As usual, a number of beautiful landscapes appeared before me, but no interesting animals. Here's a waterfall. You have seen a B&W photograph of the same waterfall in the previous post.

A shot I took of the tea plantations while in the moving van.

A lovely fern...

And then a type of 'park' where you have many tiny shops selling various forest products. I just focused on getting those landscape shots.

The water here is still as there is a big dam just beside it, and hence you could go boating in the water.

The only animals I managed to spot and photograph were these tiny birds fluttering around and resting on the unattended boats by the banks.

It was an unsatisfactory trip for me. There are (or used to be) many wild animals like elephants and deer in these forests, but now they and many other wildlife are hardly spotted, probably due to the large number of visitors.