Native village birding - 28 Sep 2021

We can clearly see the consequences of climate change particularly in India with eccentric monsoon pattern this year. Annoyingly, our native village is deprived of rains by almost 100cms. Not sure why a stimulus is needed in Bay of Bengal to pull clouds towards Arabian Sea. This phenomenon is the trend only from recent years. Earlier offshore trough along Arabian sea was enough to have healthy monsoon. Nowadays passive trigger is needed to have healthy rains.

Meanwhile, it was almost a week of break from rains and humidity was soaring. I thought birding throughout village but personal and work commitments did not allow me to explore in depth. When I finally had time, the monsoon had picked up. So its time of bad luck for birding. It is not possible to do bird photography in rain which may spoil your equipment. The only solution was to explore backyard. Our backyard being forest is not tough area to find birds. But the birds were elusive too thanks to rains. Having shown lousy presence, I don't dare blame rains for birds tucked in dense canopy. It is OK to wait for birds but not rains. Rains are not in our control eventually.

Lets get started with birding. I spotted this adult Black-crowned night heron seriously patrolling the area from treetop for any possible invaders? Not sure! Its look was quite serious but was not eyeing any prey for sure from tree-top. Perhaps, it has home nearby and guarding for any possible threat from raptors? Just an assumption! Here are some pictures

This Juvenile purple heron also has dwelling nearby bush which lies beside a seasonal monsoon stream. The bird was preening for a while but majorly patrolling from different tree-top. Not sure what these were cautiously looking for? For sure, they were not in hunter mode.

The common iora could not be grabbed since the bird elude from human habitation. I consistently hear their screeching and whistling sound amidst dense trees but they rarely come out to open. Here are some for record.

The egret was busy picking food from flooded fields. Many fields are not seeing any harvest thanks to non-uniform monsoonal pattern.

The Indian pond heron too was in hunting mode with one eye on the possible prey and other eye on my movement :-)

There are quite good unique birds hear in our village. I spotted flame-throated-bulbul, white ibis, hornbills and minivets on couple occasions but did not have camera due to rains. When sun came out for longer duration, I went in search of these birds at the same spots but none of them showed up. On the way back, disappointment erased after I saw the Blue-Faced-Malkoha. Looks like it came out to open to dry its body under pleasant morning Sun.

I spotted Baya weaver at nearby coconut tree for first time. I was excited when I looked up towards coconut tree. They make loud noises while they build nest. Looks like the bird was just rehearsing its nest building skills in this area or it noticed me and finally abandoned the nest? Not sure. Now I see many Baya weavers amidst the maze of paddy fields which is inaccessible currently due to presence of thick bushes. I saw some of the birds plucking paddy plant for their nest. Here are pictures. Hope to snap them clearly!

The plain prinia is complicated to capture. I saw them plenty of times but they are quite nervous to show up in front of humans even from considerable distance. Somehow I clicked few hazy pictures for record. They pose as if challenging me to balance over the paddy leaves like it does!

The white rumped munias were munching nascent paddy grains from nearby field. The morning light was mellowing and images of these tiny birds turned out fantastic. I love the details on the bird and the message of them relishing breakfast is clear. Despite being tiny, they are not nervous towards human presence. Perhaps, that is the reason why the birds get trapped for pet trading which is sad news.

I have never spotted cormorants till date nearby our house. Thanks to monsoonal streams, I can see few of them hunting for fishes. Here are some pictures when they were engaged in basking after busy schedule or perhaps drying after getting wet in rains.

That's it for this time. Hope to grab some more from nearby places once rains subside. I am especially looking to cycle towards neighbouring village to capture some more unique birds. Hope I succeed in spotting few at least.

And a tiny guest to end the post. There are vivid butterflies nearby however my interest towards them is limited. I snap them only if I do not spot any birds to ward-off disappointment. 

Check out my Bird Series blogs here : NKBirdSeries