Flamingos in Singara Chennai

I made a quick trip to Chennai aka Madras last month on the inaugural run of the double decker train between Chennai and Bangalore and here is what I found. On a dull morning, we saw several flamingos in the marshes of Pallikarnai. This is a first for me as I have not seen flamingos before in Madras.

Birding Diaries�Carambolim Lake, Goa

Lesser whistling ducks

It�s a very hot morning in Goa. They say spring is in the air, but I can feel the bright sun burning through the skin as early as 630 am. However, I am an early bird and that in Goa is rather unusual. As I head out, all I see in my fifteen minute journey are two pups cuddled up in the middle of the road. The vada pav stalls are not yet open and I do not see a single local tea shop on the road. Soon civilisation gives way to large tracts of fields and then the waters fill my eyes. The Mandovi gives me company as I watch a few waders on her banks while a couple of pond egrets fly rather low. Even the fishermen have given themselves a holiday and the roads are empty.
I am not headed to a beach but to a little lake lost amidst the lone tracks of a railway station in a little hamlet. Carambolim or Karamali is a pretty village tucked away in old Goa. Its claim to fame is a railway station, a 500 year old chapel and a Brahma temple located close by. But none of them lure me.
Carambolim is still snoozing when I drive past its nondescript streets. Taking in the silence and the pleasant morning breeze, we stop by for a few minutes to cross a railway track. A lone train chugs along, taking passengers to either their dream destinations or to a comfort zone called home. The train slows past me and I cross over to a single lane that takes me into a palette of colours. There are the verdant fields on one side, nodding in glee to the morning breeze and a vast man -made lake on the other bustling with active bird life.

Standing under the shade of the tree, I see the train has paused in its journey, its blue compartments reflecting in the waters of the lake. Another train seems to approach from the other end and they pause for a moment as strangers glance at each other from either train before continuing with their journeys.
A flock of lesser whistling ducks announce their presence whistling out loudly as they frolic in the waters for a while, splashing before settling down. They are huge in numbers compared to the flock of garganeys that float quietly. I look at them through the binoculars as they curl up in the waters. The purple swamp hens strike several poses as they create a stark contrast in the marshland . An open stork bill stands quietly, getting a bit of tan, while the two jacanas � the bronze winged and the pheasant tailed are rather shy, the latter especially showing off its long curved tail before disappearing into the waters. A purple heron is in flight and lands near the flock of lesser whistling ducks. Coots and grebes lose themselves in the crowd.

We head to the other bank of the lake and who should be waiting there, but a bright glossy ibis, preening itself in the sun. A darter darts past while a grey heron stands as a statue. Puddles of water stand out in the green marshland as heads of ducks pop out of them. They fly across the lake, crossing from one side to another, whistling along .
I stand there for hours, forgetting the heat and hunger, longing for more time in the company of birds. The silence stands out as the birds call out in glee. I wonder how this little idyllic world is lost on man. That�s when I realize why Goa is not just a destination � it�s a state of mind.

Skywatch this Friday � Pelicans in flight

A spot billed pelican in flight at Kokkre Belur, a village near Bangalore, India where the birds have forged a relationship with the community that protects them every year. Another close up of the wings

Visit Skywatch this Friday for beautiful birds and skies.

Birding Diaries� A pied kingfisher looking for its dinner

Somewhere on the way between Tranquebar and Karaikal, late one evening, I found this pied kingfisher looking for dinner in some thorny bushes. The colours had anyways faded and hence, I chose to post it as a black and white version..I like the black and white better..what do you think ?

Travel Tuesday� Go bird watching- Black headed ibis

Drive barely a few kms out of Bangalore and sights like these are very familiar. Here is a flock of black headed ibis foraging for food in the paddy fields

Birding in Hebbal Lake, Bangalore watching pelicans

I was in Hebbal Lake in Bangalore, watching pelicans with some friends. I shot a couple of videos when we saw these beautiful birds in the waters. A friend explains the different kinds of pelicans while you watch them flying

Birding in Hebbal�Pelicans in flight

Pelicans in Hebbal Lake, Bangalore

Birding in Ganeshgudi�the many shades of blue

In Ganeshgudi, you see many shades of blue when you go birdwatching. The Tickell�s Blue and the white bellied flycatchers, the verditer , the monarch, the malabar whistling thrush, the asian fairy blue bird and the blue capped rock thrush show off their plumage as you gaze at them lovingly through your lens. Here are some birds that make you go blue in your face�

Asian Fairy Blue Bird above and the Blue capped rock thrush below


The verditer above and the malabar whistling thrush below


Tickell�s blue above and the white bellied flycatcher below

The monarch

Birding in Bandipur

It is not a good idea to bird while you drive down Bandipur as parking is not allowed here. But I could not resist stopping for a few seconds when  the husband sighted this streak throated woodpecker on the tree.

Birding in Ganeshgudi - malabar whistling thrush

The school boy was planning to have a nice warm bath when we spotted him in the little tub

Birding in US - The brown pelican

We had just come back from the whale watching cruise in Monterey when we saw the pelican perched close by. He was so still that we were wondering if it was " real " after all. I just wished I had spent more time birding in the USA

To me the birds have always been the symbol of Independence Day..so happy 4th July to folks out there 

Birding diaries - Crested serpent eagle in KMTR

I was driving through parts of Kalakadu Mudanthurai Wildlife Reserve in Tirunelveli last January. Located very close to my native village, Kallidaikurichi, this is one wildlife reserve that I would like to revisit again. We did not see much wildlife, but we managed to spot this crested serpent eagle there

And the eye of the eagle, although I wish that little green spot vanishes

Valparai and the Great Indian hornbill

One of my favourite birds is the hornbill - ask any birder and most of them would die to see this bird. The sight of it with its wing spread out , flying in the sky is an image one can never forget. In Valparai, we were lucky to see this bird and here are some photographs of it

The story of a crested serpent eagle and the indian roller in Kabini

Was rummaging through my hard disk this morning and I found myself looking at a trip I had made with my parents three years ago to Kabini. Found this photograph of the crested serpent eagle.

The indian roller and the black drongo would not let it perch quietly though and they chased the raptor away.

Ironically I made three trips to Kabini that year and now, I havent been there for three years..Note to self - Go in 2012.

Birding in Masinagudi

I was in Masinagudi a few days ago and went on a birding trip with Atul, the manager of Club Mahindra Zest property - Casa Deep Woods. My first visit to Casa was almost a decade ago, when it was not a Club Mahindra property .Incidentally it was my first ever trip to Masinagudi. It was sheer serendipity as we drove towards Mudhumalai forest after being told that we had no accommodation in Bandipur. The property was very new and Masinagudi was still very much not a tourist destination. I have visited Masinagudi several times, but this trip was sheer nostalgia.

And what a birding haven it turned out to be -the iora, the sunbird, the white eye, the warbler, the flycatchers, the thrushes - we sighted almost 50 species of birds in just one session and the best sightings were that of the pitta and the paradise flycatcher .While the pitta was hanging around for more than half an hour, walking around the dry stream , barely a few feet from me and at eye level, the paradise fly catchers were rather elusive. An entire family was high up in the leaves , right above us and we watched them fly with our binoculars.

The pitta chased the orange headed ground thrush that landed finally up in the branches of the trees.

My favourite of course was the poser tickell's blue flycatcher. For more birds and photographs, do see my album on my travel page on Facebook. For the entire story, please read here

Birding in Coorg

I was in Coorg last week on an assignment for Club Mahindra and we spotted more than 30 species of birds. We would have probably seen more but for the rains that came tumbling down. However, my bird for the day is the malabar whistling thrush. The school boy was the first to wake up me with his song but he vanished into the dark shadows of a sunless dusk when I went to greet him. However I spotted him later and we spent a good 20 minutes together as he went foraging in the grass for his breakfast.

Some of the other birds that posed for me was the blue capped rock thrush and a pied wagtail among others. To see more photographs , visit my Travel Page on Facebook. To read the entire story, visit CLAY, the travel blog from Club Mahindra

The spotted owlet that wishes me good morning

I have been lazy most of last year, but this year,  I have been pushing myself to wake up and head out for walks in the morning. And the motivation is a spotted owlet that greets me with a scowl whenever I chance upon it on my early walks. The owlet and I are half asleep but we spend a few moments gazing at each other, it looks down at me and makes a face and I grin at it.

On my birthday however, I took a few photographs of the bird and I found out there were two of them , probably nesting in that little hollow of theirs. Only one posed for me, that too rather reluctantly, while the other flew away.

I decided not to disturb them again by taking pictures, but we still greet each other every morning .

I saw it today as well on my morning walk and it did come out and sun itself on the branch for a while before disappearing into its home