Lot of excitement in backyard forest

26 October 2021

Wow! I just cant decelerate my excitement. Our backyard is crowded with exciting birds and its a pleasure moment for me. Generally I walk straight towards the canopy which is flat. Today for a change I walked uphill and that change was immensely fruitful. See whom did I get during this unconventional walk. For sure, this walk would turn conventional from subsequent day onwards! To start with light was damn poor and I like how the lens+camera reproduced the picture with enough exposure. Especially I like the way 10yr old camera managed to get decent picture despite extremely poor light conditions. Had it been bright sunny day, this would have been memorable birding. Other things I did was to manually set ISO to 400 which gave less grainier images.

The drongos perch high in canopy or at eye level. They are the ones with less shyness and audacious :-D. Except the racket tailed and bronzed drongos, other drongos are quite bold enough to face the humans :-). Today I caught this drongo (not sure ashy or black) nearby my position and it came out quite clear thanks to proximity :-). Here are few shots.

The unusual bulbul call was mistaken with usual red-whiskered-bulbul. The bird was over my head but still ignored. The bird sound though seemed unfamiliar later. To give some confirmation, the bird perched nearby bland tree before flying away. They were like "identify me now" :-). Wow! that is yellow browed bulbul to enjoy! I had some quick shots but again poor light did not allow me to get some crisp shots. Clear shots would have been possible if sun had come out. Hope to capture them more in brighter days.

Similarly bunch of small minivets. One of them was busy munching the worm which it caught in bald vegetation nearby. Lot of close-up picture but again poor light :-(. The final images turned out well due to proximity but still not appealing. Here are few for record. Both female and males perched on same tree

When I was about to enter house gate, the yellow footed green pigeon beckoned by its quasi police van call. I shot couple of its photos to conclude. Once again the low ISO helped a lot with fine image reproduction post image edits!

Spotted dove to end today's birding. They are the ones who pose well without flying away :-)

What went well!

The switching to manual ISO 400 was the most positive outcome. If you have steady hand or light is ample, turn off auto ISO in Av mode (aperture priority mode which I call "a pathetic mode" nowadays) in DSLR. That would prevent plenty of disappointments after post-processing!

What I missed?

The Indian paradise flycatcher with mix of cinnamon+white plumage was fetching its breakfast from nearby canopy. It saw my movement and disappeared into canopy. Hopefully to get some good glimpses soon!

What went bad :-(

There are some troubles too :-(. Yes the street dogs rest in large numbers in open space. They are biggest trouble makers :-(. Today also they did not allow me to peacefully shoot bird with harrowing/horrific barks. The other trouble is that such barking shoo away the birds as well :-(

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The Malabar Pied Hornbills in my frame

25 October 2021

The hornbills are daily visitors to backyard. Photographing them needs lot of stealth. Today also I was hunting for its presence by tracing the continuous calls emerging from backyard forest. The calls were from inside dense canopy. I waited for long but bird did not come out of canopy. After long wait, I lost hope and followed my usual path. Just when I was about to move on, this hornbill posed over Casuarina tree and I immediately moved uphill. The bird needs sturdy or strong tree to support its heavy body!

I had couple of captures before one of hornbill recognized my presence and flew away. Not an exciting shot but far better! The evening light was poor again :-(. But camera managed to get decent shutter speed which exposed greater details of the bird. Also I reduced ISO to 200 which added more details into the final frame. Here are shots for you!

The interesting part is, the place nearby is primary highway where substantial vehicle/human movements are seen. However, the bird was quiet for long time. But just I started clicking, the bird seemed to fly away. Strange I felt :-(. Wanted couple more close-ups (greedy me!) badly. Last but not least, 2 days back when I was away to kaup town, these birds had perched for nearly 15 mins just behind our house. Luck is not shining yet to capture these beautiful near-threatened birds. Hopefully, I can trace them again close enough. 

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Some unconventional birding

October 24, 2021

We had to visit the local temple since it was auspicious day. Unconventionally, I had carried camera as well. This bulky gear was difficult to handle inside temple. Hence I decided to carry with me after the religious ceremony concluded. I knew there were birds adjacent to the seasonal stream nearby temple. Majorly cormorants with pinch of hope to spot kingfishers. Yes, there are many cormorants and fortunately Indian cormorants. Wow! I love their striking bluish-green eye! What a beauty it is to behold. I have been looking for Indian cormorant especially to enjoy its eyes :-). The perfect sunlight illuminating the bird accentuated the glow of eye. Here are couple of pictures for you! The birds flew away fast once they noticed me :-(

Later we had yet another ceremony at a different temple. After sumptuous meal, on the way back, we stopped nearby shop for buying vegetables at kaup town. I had yearning for snapping those sparrows from long time. Today, I snapped few of them. The sparrows are not difficult to picture, only aspect needed is time. They are quite a lot in numbers in Kaup town and not shy as well. Here are few. Someday, I will photograph them abundantly before pushing to Bangalore

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The king of good times rather every time!

The title named "The king of good times" is cloned from one of the eminent alcohol makers in India. I don't consume alcohol but there is a reason to share this title. Whenever village is immersed in darkness, most of the birds seemed to be muted sheltered under their sweet home to prevent drenching. There is one guy who seems to be resilient to vagaries of weather which is the "White throated Kingfisher". It usually perches over electric line which is hanging atop paddy field. Be it rainy or sunny, cloudy or clear, this bird is always a lifer for birders who find nothing even after a hard walk through jungle during overcast evenings. That's what I call this bird as "King of good times" or precisely "The hope of bad times". They are always present to cheer up jaded birders who find naught even after heavy stroll with heavy gears. Here are some pictures of it.

Meanwhile, this Asian openbill seems to be uninterested in my moves and perched steadily even when I was closer. Its apathetic look was testimony to ignoring the birders. It did not even show sign of taking flight. There is reason for it. The bird seems to be lazy and finds difficult to take a flight unnecessarily due to its large body. Especially they are OK to be with gentle birders. Here is gentle + ignorant pose of Asian openbill.

Another Asian openbill was not so much open about my presence. It was perched on ground at nearby paddy field but with considerable distance. It took immediate flight moving away from my position and perched on tree top. Since light was good, I got a decent in-flight picture of bird. I felt pity about this bird while watching its heavy flight.

These red-whiskered-bulbuls are present everywhere near human habitation. They were creating chaotic commotion with weird calls since it was thundering. Their chaos seemed as if they were the only affected by loud thunders. This artificially created chaos stopped when thunder stopped. Even peacocks don't create so much chaos during thunder. I shared the picture not because of birds but for the fly which quickly posed for a picture in between :-D.

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More birds from backyard forest

20 October 2021

The backyard forest is crowded with birds during morning hours especially from 7 to 9AM. Thats why old adage says "Dont ignore the proximity". When I stepped into backyard forest, the stage was already occupied by birds. Lets see whom we got

To start with, I set ISO of my camera to manual not to repeat former mistake from here. The results were great with reduced grains in final image. Few lessons are learnt only with experience!

The Vernal Hanging Parrot is cutest bird I have seen. This guy perched over slender wine for a while before resuming its daily routine. Not a great image but still can visualize bird. They hardly perch near human habitation and generally choose high canopy.

Finally, the bright sunshine allowed me to get this guy in my frame with relatively great details. The bird was unaware of my presence flew near my position. The racket tailed drongo perched at nearby tree which was closer to my position. Later it flew away after hearing unfamiliar shutter sound. By that time, I had couple great shots :-). I call them jungle warriors. Every morning they loudly announce their presence and browse the village to show the dominance. I have seen them fighting with jungle babblers and sometime trying to interject other birds. They for sure look like king with adorable tail.

Some more from distance!

If you hear common myna kind of call and you are nearby forest in our region, then do watch out. It could be rufous woodpecker as I saw today. That's why forest is unique place where you can mistaken the bird calls with familiar ones. I too ignored or rather ignoring from long time this voice for common myna. Today I realized that it could be rufous woodpecker too! In future, I will heed to its call and search its perch location. Since I hear them almost daily, hope to get some good close-ups soon! Yet another ignored bird from backyard. This bird is quite speedy in pecking and hears like drilling machine. I was cycling to neighbouring village to spot them but without sighting. Never knew that they are present even behind our house till now!

The common-iora couple came out to open for cleaning session. While male was monitoring the preening and patrolling the surroundings, the female was busy preening. They stayed for a while before moving back to canopy. The male seemed overly impressing female for retaining future partnership :-)

Some macro landscape to conclude the post

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