Saturday, July 31, 2021

Unseen Rain

I found this short scribble in my hard drive. There are plenty of such small scribbles lying lazily in digital disk. Here is one of them written long back when world had no outlook of pandemic. Here is one such!

As I crank up my bike from parking lot embracing warm light of evening sun, I stumble upon huge puddle across the road. "What a corrupt authority man they don't even invest paltry government money to civic works, how much greedy the officials are" uttered the disgruntled soul. As I rode away from the office enjoying the warm weather , cooler sky and interspersed clouds, I see everywhere the same puddle scenes swamping the road. But these were clean and transparent unlike drainage water. Oh man the area corporator would have swallowed entire govt corpus by swindling the public money uttered clamorous mind. The heavy traffic further aggravated the ongoing trauma.


Few more distance, the water did not subside. The puddles were all over. It was then realised mind it was rain. Alas! so much futile neural torture for no reason. But the point is, slouching on computer chair striking the keypads entering meeting rooms, covered up floors and the air conditioned space, staring at the black console finding hard to crack the logic that's all we are interested. We forget to enjoy the beautiful evening sun struggling to wriggle out clouds those rains which are foundation of living beings and more than that we forget to identify natural phenomenon. Time to slow down for a while and enjoy the silent art of nature. The sunlight believed to heal many of our disease and we miss those easy healers of nature. Lets mute our work for a while and enjoy the actions of nature for our own good.

Bird Series - Indian Robin

I know there are many of them around Bangalore but still could not spot in city till date. Pied-Buschchat dwells nearby Amruthahalli lake but not Indian Robin. In our short picnic towards Dandiganahalli dam, we stopped nearby Jakkalamadagu Lake to have wonderful glimpses of nature. The rains fortunately had just stopped which means an array of birds flew out from the cover to dry out in open. Many of them were perched on electric lines and few on open trees. As I drove down further downhill, I spotted this Indian Robin (male) finally. I was delighted with maiden spotting. The light though was poor. However, the proximity of bird and its boldness allowed me to shoot decent pictures. The bird was perched relatively closer without any fear. Looks like these birds are accustomed human presence. I was not able to get down from car due to persistent drizzle and time constraint. Here are pictures for you!





Plenty of birds were spotted at Dandiganahalli Dam too! I spotted the female Indian Robin here which was relatively close to humans. Rest of them were out of lens reach. Thanks to poor light, the pictures of distant birds were just a dream. Here are pictures of female Indian Robin which tolerated my photo session :-)







Check out my Bird Series blogs here : NKBirdSeries

Friday, July 30, 2021

The first evening birding at Amruthahalli Lake

05 July 2021

Here we go! We decided to have a detailed stroll along the evening unlocked Amruthahalli Lake today after authorities announced complete unlock of city. Consequently, me and family teamed up and ready to explore the lake at 5PM. The weather was hot and calm. The evening Sun was delightful. Adding to it, visitor presence was feeble. Sparse cloud activity helped with good light for birding/landscape photography. At times, the clouds acted as natural shade when we were baked by radiating sun. Ideally, morning is best for birding when most of them will be out to dry their body, preening and basking. Evening hours are not much significant except for birds flying home. Despite my low expectations, beautiful evening coupled with ideal sunlight added charm to my bird photos. Lets start the attendance sheet

The purple rumped sunbird was busy calling its partner. It soon flew away after listening to my noisy shutter.


This brahminy kite was gazing at something. It was suddenly surprised by the weird shutter sound,  squirming to trace the source of sound.




The parakeet seemed to be feeding someone inside the tree hollow. It seemed grumpy when I began shooting it.



The coots were taking advantage of sunlight and drying their skin




The black kite which are plenty over the city was majestically perched over the tree. For a moment, it was also surprised while I was constantly gazing at it.




The second round to the lake periphery was eventful too!

The Ashy Prinia was seen in usual singing mode!




The white throated kingfisher shifted its perch point away from me to more focus on its prey





The red whiskered bulbul group was not happy with my photo shoot. They immediately turned their faces away as I clicked shutter


Couple of lake shots to conclude



Check out my Bird Series blogs here : NKBirdSeries

Friday, July 23, 2021

Birding at Amruthahalli Lake [07-July-2021 edition]

Today was fantastic day. I would say ideal day for birding with morning Sun raising with full power. The pictures too came out pretty cool :-). I love the way -1EV on camera sensor helped to grab crisp images due to intense sunlight. The post processing turned out to be quite easy with minimal exposure tweakings.

Lets see whom we got today

The Greater-Coucal flew towards nearby bush and perched for morning Sun. I shoot couple of shots before it hid under the bush.



Later I spotted cinereous tit quite close. But Alas! The bird flew away instantly once it spotted my presence.

The Lapwings were quiet today patiently but vigilantly absorbing morning sun



The thicket due west was as usual abuzz with birds. The oriental magpie robin finally could come out for a while for basking & preening. Not sure the reason for bickering between robin and mynas. Today also I saw mynas chasing magpie robin.





The parakeets were basking too!





The spotted dove was isolated basking away from crowd. Social distancing or outcast?


The purmple rumped sunbird was in playful mood even today.



The scaly-breasted Munias showed their presence today before being chased away by Mynas again :-(. I had better shots thanks to mellowing sunlight





The black-drongo apparently was calm today.



Mynas dominate the thicket in large groups. They tend to chase birds who don't submit to their rules. Except during preening, they are quite watchful throughout the area


Just before when I decided to walk away, I heard voice of white-eyes. They soon arrived and perched on the bland tree. The pictures were crisp this time. Perhaps they were collecting twigs for its new home






Moving forward, Brahminy kite was basking calmly at its usual position


The Spot billed duck pairs were steady, drying their wings to get ready for the day. Their zero-movement helped me to snap some good shots today.





Concluding the walk, the bickering between swamphens caught my eyes. I captured few of them before concluding the stroll.





And couple of landscapes towards the end



Check out my Bird Series blogs here : NKBirdSeries

Printfriendly

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...