Native village birding - 4th October edition

Not yet lucky enough nowadays. In my daily jogging routines, I spotted flame-throated bulbul again with no camera. Surprisingly, I spotted 3 hornbills in our region for first time. The excitement could not last long due to absence of camera. I am having tough time nowadays with luck not backing the effort. Birding needs lot of patience and luck. Patience alone wont work. Similarly in my case :-(. I went back and brought my camera but birds had vacated the place. Not sure when would I spot them again hopefully before I return to Bangalore.

Here where I spotted flame-throated-bulbul on 3 occasions.

Right on top of that tree, 3 hornbills were temporarily perched

Yet another elusive bird this time is the racket tailed drongo. Despite having camera in my hand, these birds could not be clearly grabbed. Thanks to their shyness, they no more visit human habitats as often as they were last winter. I had to contend with few common birds which arrive in our backyard.

Sometimes I need to pause birding when storm brews from west. There is conspicuous indication of storms on most occasions. It provides me room to run towards shelter ASAP

Its almost harvest time here. I pulled up a composition mark the golden crop in golden hour.

The rains have backed off again and we are almost nearing withdrawal phase of south-west monsoon. A poor show this year with deficiency of nearly 1000mm. The north-east monsoon also does not look good. Perhaps, the summer water scarcity will be severe next year. There is hope again around 2nd week of October but not guaranteed. It is almost time bid adieu to south west monsoon and we hope subsequent monsoons will offset all the pains of current year.

Meanwhile the white throated kingfisher is now quite easy grab due to long reach of lens. It turned out be crisp and sharp despite being at distance. This bird perches on electric wire over paddy field every day but not in hunting mode. Looks like its favourite relaxation spot or has dwelling nearby. Here are pictures.

The red-wattled lapwings were absorbing sun post a short shower. Most of the time they tend to raise false alarms creating artificial chaos all around. This prompts other birds also to fly to the hideout :-(.

Next morning after heavy shower, the black rumped flameback was back to normal routine. However, it was not confident to start its activity. The expression while gazing at sky was like "Should I start or will it rain again!"

Meanwhile the oriental magpie robins were picking from ground after rains. Perhaps some tasty worms? It did not notice my presence which enabled me to shoot some good shots. I am eagerly waiting for that moment when they fan the tail

The jungle babbler too was picking something from ground.

Every morning this little cormorant after busy work, spreads its wings for drying. It is beautiful to watch. Perching on top of the beheaded coconut tree provides secure place for it to do its job peacefully :-)

Last but not least, is this Bittern? I was excited to find a new bird at last. This bird generally probes paddy fields on most occasions and usually hides when doing its job. Looks like too much shy to be visible in front of humans. I did not get better picture and only picture before it took off.

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