Bird Series - Plenty of birds in single morning!

26 January 2020,

Sometimes you need to wait and allow the time to pass!

Whenever hardship arrives or untoward incident happens, the general rule experienced or old-age people propagate is "Sometimes you need to wait and allow time to pass. Execute what is in your control and leave everything rest to God. There are somethings in life which you cannot control and hence live it to destiny. Neither loose hope nor reduce your effort. The time will surely comeback". Yes, this general piece of advice is even though bland, is timeless precious motivator. All you need is patience and determination. Statements are easy to make but the real ordeal is difficult to pass through. But there is no other way. Few things you need to face and allow hardships to strengthen your mind.

I have been scouting for those elusive shots of birds which are hard to catch even with 300mm tele-lens  rummaging throughout the village trying to capture those colourful treetop dwellers. The problem is we need to maintain distance which would otherwise render birds nervous prompting them to fly long way. Many times I had disgruntled feeling of not capturing those beautiful creatures even when I walked near to them. That's when I realized that shooting birds need minimum 500mm lens to capture decent shots. Such lenses are out of budget and hence consequently, I need to make maximum out of current 300mm lens which I am doing judiciously.

Today was a different day though. My destiny walked me to the backyard of house where I stood lazily for nearly 15 minutes waiting for the common tailor bird to settle down (tuvvi-tuvvi singing bird). These tiny birds are so much agile that they rarely perch steadily on a tree branch. Fortunately, it stayed for a moment munching its breakfast over the canopy. Yes I caught them finally. Time went by, plenty of birds arrived to have breakfast at the nearby fruit tree. These birds seems like daily foraging on the fruit tree. There were koel, eurasian golden oriole, bulbul, mynah and why not ever elusive barbets. 

Lets enjoy one by one!

The common tailor bird as I said was singing from early morning. It was difficult to grab them from long time due to their brisk nature. Today I was able to catch decent ones when it stood still fleetingly.

The ever singing hiding in the tree canopy, the white cheeked barbet. Everyday and all through the day we listen to their call. Since the perch inside the dense tree canopies, it is difficult to spot them unless you have longer focal length. Today I successfully snapped few while it was munching breakfast. I have followed the trails of the barbets song which most of the time leads to complex terrains infested by serpents. Other times it leads to large canopy where tracing the green barbet amidst greenery becomes tough task.

Hey buddy, I am munching, wait for moment. I am too hungry

Ah! Just done. Now you can snap few. But remember not get closer to me :-)

The common mynah is also our daily visitor.

Eurasian golden oriole. This yellow bird arrives at the same position everyday. On fewer occasions, I tried to shoot this guy but it flew away due to the ground noise and human movement. Today my position was steady and the bird fortunately perched in front of me having well deserved meal. This guy seems to be filled with shyness. They do not want any bird to be nearby when munching meal. He was constantly looking around and would fly away if spotted birds nearby. Once the area is clear, he would come back for re-scanning the area. He also was nervous on the shutter sound. Fortunately, he seems to have ignored later which enabled me to snap more pictures.

Let's me munch when stage clears.

In fact, this bird struggled lot to grab the branch and have peaceful meal. When the crowd cleared, it managed to pluck few berries and enjoy breakfast but not without nervousness.

The black rumped flameback. These daily visitors perch on coconut trees to execute daily pecking. 

Allow me to do my work peacefully. Will pose later

Yes. Now you can shoot one and that's all

The Asian koel was busy fighting with other words which was seen perched at distant branch later. Not sure what was the reason for the fight.

The common iora was bonus to me. While I stayed at the same position for prolonged time, this bird arrived when everyone had finished their part.

The red-whiskered bulbul stays for nearly 2-3 hours at the same spot daily. I love them since they are an easy grab due to relatively less human fearing and melodious tweet.

The peacocks too were fearless strolling all along the coconut plantations. SOme of them were in battle mood too! Not sure why, may be due to limited foraging area.

Hope the shot has come great! Nah I won't come near you to validate :-)

The oriental magpie robin. The best shot I have taken till date. This guy fortunately did not fly away today.

That's all buddy. I have better job than posing for you

Jungle babblers are common here. Let us have its picture in our kitty as well!

We have sights of grey headed bulbul as well. I am snapping it for the first time

Then comes yet another maiden snap of old world babblers. They are plenty in numbers but their size is something camera finds difficult to frame :-)

The asian openbills openly forage on parasites early morning. Due to their size, these are easy captures

Like tailorbirds, the subirds are agile and shy. Difficult to grab them in 300mm focal length. Here is what I could get max at 300mm

Last but not least, the ever staring egrets :-D. I love them lot due to their expressions and intimacy with cattle.

Enough buddy. Let me hunt peacefully!

Its not only birds who are enjoying the meal! 

Hey buddy we are not like humans. We are glad to share with our fellow creatures.

While you are photographing the birds gazing at the infinite sky, we need to be watchful of ground as well. The Indian rat snakes too slither around this area. Though harmless, snakes are not a creature everybody enjoy!

On this colourful day of republic day, we had colourful sunset too along with colourful birds. It was one of the most satisfactory bird watching activity till date. The event also taught me again that good things are in your backyard if you stare with patience. All thanks to fruit tree which draws birds to relish the breakfast. My luck was perfect today since no birds saw me and also I did not move a tad for a while. Despite the capturing of plenty of birds, I still waiting for decent shots of bee-eaters, sunbird, drongos, treepie and flycatchers. Hopefully that lucky day culminate soon!

Check out my Bird Series blogs here : NKBirdSeries