Look, photographically it’s totally useless. But it’s a fantastic recreation, especially early in the morning. So that’s five thousand Indian rupees well spent, and thank you, mirror lens. I hope it lasts a couple more decades.

So here’s the birds from that morning. I’ve decided that I’m not going to bother about names anymore.

This weekend, I’m going birding to Sewri (report: 2009-10 | feb’2011) . I better brush up my Sewri birds so that I can show off in front of the ignorent.

FIN

I don’t remember seeing sparrows in Holland, Spain, The Czech Republic and France. So this might have been the first time that I’ve come upon foreign sparrows!

Réquista is a nice holiday destination; quiet and peaceful with plenty of activity and adventure sports on offer. For more info., get in touch with our host, Anne.

I also have a video of the little birds:

FIN

]]> https://seeseebirdbird.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/sparrows-in-requista-the-south-of-france/feed/ 3 mach3 IMGP9246 IMGP9253 IMGP9257 IMGP9311 IMGP9326 https://seeseebirdbird.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/peacock-peahen-pea-anyway/ https://seeseebirdbird.wordpress.com/2011/05/14/peacock-peahen-pea-anyway/#comments Sat, 14 May 2011 07:03:25 +0000 http://seeseebirdbird.wordpress.com/?p=438 Continue reading →]]> My birdwatching escapades begin in the month of November and terminate by the second week of March. So, if you come upon a blog post between April and October, it has got to be an exceptional /accidental sighting. Like this one. I came upon this bird in this village a couple of days ago. They seemed to think that it is a peacock/peahen. Perhaps. I haven’t got this close to one of them in the wild before.

FIN

Pigeons are a pain. especially in the urban scheme of things. Nevertheless, to cut a long story short, Anne Ketteringham was showing me some of her photos the other day. I looked at this one and said to her, “This is the best photo of a pigeon that I have ever seen.” Honestly, I didn’t think Pigeons could look this good.

This is the link to this photo on facebook, if you’d like to leave her a comment.

FIN

Purple Sunbird (male)

As far as lifers go, there were a couple:

The male Koel.

The female Koel. That makes it Mr. & Mrs. Koel.

I never bothered about the Spotted Dove whilst they’d showed up on a couple of the BNHS outings. They’re actually quite nice.

Asian Yellow Oriole.

Four lifers in two days. And this after a good seven odd days of birdwatching at Harmony Villa, Assagao, Goa, India in the past. Not bad. It is time to acquire a better lens though. Some others showed up:

Jungle Myna.

Red Whiskered Bulbul.

Jungle Babbler.

Ashy Prinia.

Remember this bugger from a year and a half ago? It is the Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher.

FIN

The White-browed Wagtail or Large Pied Wagtail, Motacilla Maderaspatensis were seen in large numbers back then, about 13 months ago. One had to be in sight at most times, early in the mornings. 13 months hence, not a single one! Anne doesn’t remember seeing one there and there about in the two months that she has been there.

Nevertheless, we saw:

The Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)

The Jungle Babbler, Turdoides striata

The Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

The Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)

The Purple-rumped Sunbird -male and female (Cinnyris asiaticus)

The Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus)

The Black Kite (Milvus migrans)

The Jungle Myna, Acridotheres fuscus

The Small Minivet, Pericrocotus cinnamomeus

The White-rumped Munia or White-rumped Mannikin (Lonchura striata), sometimes called Striated Finch

The Asian Koel Eudynamys scolopaceus

The Black-lored Tit, Parus xanthogenys

FIN

A significant number of people assembled along the jetty to seek the guidance of the experts that BNHS had on offer. Almost three to three and a half times more than November 2009.

Perhaps Vijay Mallya instructed this Kingfisher to camp close to shore for everyone to see. It just sat there on a rope, about fifteen feet away from us:

We saw plenty of Spotted Redshanks, Tringa erythropus:

The Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa limosa:

The Little Ringed Plover, Charadrius dubius:

The Little Stint, Calidris or Erolia Minuta:

The Wood Sandpiper, Tringa glareola:

Little Egret Egretta garzetta:

Juvenile Flamangos:

A whole flock of Stints, Plovers, Sandpipers etc. chill out on the polluted mudflats at Sewri.

I have encountered all these birds before between November 2009 and March 2010. We saw a couple of Oriental White Ibis flying about and the Western Reef Heron, Egretta gularis, also known as the Western Reef Egret. And that’s about it.

FIN

This morning, I went to Karnala for the first time. I have heard of the sanctuary since since the past couple of decades. Fables about bird spotting etc. at Karnala have traveled far into the land. I had great expectations from this outing. Well, the trip didn’t live up to my expectations. I did encounter four lifers though. And spectacular ones at that!

A couple of weeks ago, I’d encountered a male Purple Sunbird at Nerul. This morning, we spotted a female.

The Purple Sunbird (female) Cinnyris asiaticus

Check this out:

The Crimson-backed Sunbird or Small Sunbird (Leptocoma minima)

This thing is awesome. I enjoyed looking at the colours of the Crimson-backed Sunbird.

The Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis)

This is some kind of Flowerpecker. Not sure which one.

The flowerpeckers are a family, Dicaeidae , of passerine birds. The family comprises two genera, Prionochilus and Dicaeum, with 44 species in total. The family has sometimes been included in an enlarged sunbird family Nectariniidae. -wikipedia

And these flowers grow wild.

FIN

I’d taken down plenty of notes, drawn diagrams etc. in my notepad. On the way back home, I forgot the thing in the rickshaw. Damn.

I lost all my notes.

This morning, Walk the Mumbai Trees in association with Unltd India put together one such walk in Bandra. I scribbled some notes on the back of the paper they’d given us. One had a map with each tree marked and numbered. And the other had info. about each of these trees etc. So before I forget all that I learnt in class this morning, I must post it here. I never did this in school or during university! Take down notes i.e.

Okay, so here we go. I didn’t carry a camera though. The idea is to learn a little about trees and do some photos. I don’t have the photo in mind so far.

• The seeds of the Karanj or Pongamia pinnata have oil. It is an indigenous source of bio diesel. It regenerates around by dropping seeds etc.
• What is otherwise thought of as the Ashoka is actually the Mast Tree, Asupalav or Polyalthia longifolia. The Ashoka ain’t so slender. It flowers too!
• Naturals Ice Cream make Jamun flavoured ice cream in the summer months. This stuff is good for those with diabetes.  In fact this tree, Syzygium cumini had medicinal properties. It helps combat diabetes. Railway sleepers are made out of the wood. Poor kids! Not enough Jamun.
• The tree outside my balcony is actually the Fishtail Palm or Caryota urens. They extract toddy from the small fruit! I must make some.
• The Pink Trumpet Tree or Tabebuia rosea flowers pink trumpet like flowers.
• The Subabul or Leucaena leucocephala has slender leaves. The thing sucks all the water around thus depriving other trees of water. It is used to make paper.
• Frangipani or Plumeria alba was bare at the top. It had a couple of flowers though. White with yellow at the end of each petal.
• The colouring on a Bougainvillea or Bougainvillea aren’t flowers. They are the bract. The flowers are in the midst of them. Small.
• Chakka sounds like Jack in Roman! And the Jackfruit or Artocarpus heterophyllus is used to make classical Indian musical instruments. Again, poor kids! Not enough Jackfruit.
• Stuff from the Arlu, Tree of Damocles or Oroxylum Indicum is an iungredient in Chyavanprash.
• The Christmas tree like New Caledonia Pine  or Araucaria columnaris dates back to the time of dinosours.
• Kera means coconut and Alum, place. Hence Kerala, the land of coconuts!
• Next time you’re stuck in a traffic jam during the monsoons because of a fallen tree, take a close look at it. I just might be the Gulmohur or Delonix regia. It has a shallow root system. If ever I am in such a situation, I’ll go, “It has got to be a Delonix regia!”
• Tyres etc. aren’t made from the Indian Rubber Tree or Ficus elastica. Someone suggested that rubber flip flops might!
• I have always wondered about the Casuarina Tree or Casuarina equisetifolia. In fact, I have spent hours on end just staring at them along the coast of Goa on my trips there. I even have photos! It prevents soil erosion. It protected a few villages during the tsunami. Or lessened the impact.

Casuarina equisetifolia

Cocos nucifera and Casuarina equisetifolia

• So one dude in the old days decided to go explore or something. His chic said to him: on the way there, sleep under a turmeric tree each night. And on the way back, sleep under a Neem tree. The acidic turmeric tree can make a person sick and all. And that way, he’d not want to head too far from home. Sleeping under a Neem tree on each of the nights whilst returning’ll heal him. And that way he’ll be fine by the time he gets home and ready for some action!
• The Travellers Palm or Ravenala madagascariensis is my new favourite tree. I don’t know why. I guess because it has the word traveller in it.
• The Chickoo Tree or Manilkara zapota was brought by the Portuguese. They’d made early chewing gum from Chickoo! Hence the name Chiclets and stuff. I haven’t eaten Chiclets in two decades. I don’t eat too many Chickoos either.
• Bay leaves are different. It ain’t Tej Patta, Malabar Leaf or Cinnamomum tamala.

FIN

The Black-winged Stilt or Common Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)

The Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala)

I like the colours of the Painted Stork. It was a hazy day and smog filled the horizon. It’ll make beautiful photos on a clear day if one uses a good lens. I used my mirror lens for the first time today since briefly using it in Amsterdam. Its contrast seems to have reduced further. I had to enhance each of these photos to be able to see some colour.

The genus Saxicola (Etymology: “rock-dweller”, from Latin saxum, a rock + incola, dwelling in), the stonechats or chats

The Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata

Now coming to some of the other birds, those that I’ve come across before. Let’s start with the The Long-tailed Shrike or the Rufous-backed Shrike (Lanius schach):

I’d come across it at Vikhroli. This morning, I was told that it is also refereed to as ‘butcher bird’ because it uses thorns on trees to pierce through insects. It does this either to store the thing for later, or because the thing is poisonous. It leaves the poisonous insect dangling there, pierced through the thorn of a tree for two or three days so that the poison loses effect. And then eats it!

The Purple Sunbird (Cinnyris asiaticus)

The Yellow-vented Bulbul, Pycnonotus goiavier

The Indian Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis)

These guys are said to be hunting! Or catching fish.

A couple of Kingfishers:

Juvenile Munias:

And the Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus):

The mangroves etc. here is a protected forest. No development is supposed to take place a kilometer from the coast. Well, there are huge skyscrapers about 300 meters from the coast. And the first such building to have sprung up  here was one exclusively reserved for Judges! Well, there you have it!

FIN