It's been such a magical day so far, even though its lunch time and "siesta" we have had such great start. It was dull and overcast and remained so until well after 8.30. Terry my travel companion had said that I ought to go with hime to an area that I hadn't been before so before we strolled down there before 7, and as we stood there drinking coffee we took photos of this Asian Koel that was eyeing up the fruit on our feeding station that have so far attracted lots of birds which have included mainly Bulbuls and Mynahs and the Yellow Billed Babblers. But there has been more, so much more. In the bush with the Bee-eaters was a bird that Terry hadn't realised was important too me, he is not a birder so how would he know but there was a lovely Brown Shrike female. I managed a shot or two but like I have said……. yet again…..the light was bad, out came the better beamer and flash gun and I then managed a keeper. I saw Brown Shrike last year and the other day I had seen a male.
The light was awful but when we got there, there were some birds of the usual species. The White-throated Kingfisher (below) was vying for attention with a few lovely Bee-eaters bit the light was just so bad. never the less I crept towards the Kingfisher who was on nearby bushes but off it went and I thought I had disturbed it…. but no, suddenly there it was in front of me with a prey item…….and now i know what they eat. It had a little ghost crab in it's beak. What a treat to see it feeding on the little crab. As I have already said twice, the light was dull so I could only achieve around 1/100 of a second which is normally a recipe for disaster but out of the 20 or so shots of the action, this one seemed almost OK.
We have an Indian Roller nesting high in a dead Coconut Tree in the plantation next door to Ravi's Dream House! Absolutely brilliant, Terry discovered it the day before yesterday. There has been some interesting interactions between the pair and also between the Ring-necked Parakeets that are nesting in the hole beneath (in the same tree). I have managed a few shots of them but its hard to be in two places at once and when you are sitting there taking pictures of them you are not elsewhere getting other shots and the possibilities are endless..... just not enough time to do it all (and get some sleep as well). But, its really going to be my focus in the next day or so I think because look what's happening..... it's brilliant.
This is the male flying down to the hole, we think that the female is incubating and we have seen them on the top of the stump together. This morning the male attacked the parakeets but I didn't manage to get a shot of the.
This is the same bird on another occasion, flying down from the stump of the tree which is about 50 foot high, a really safe place for a nest. Here he is on the nest rim before he looks inside to interact with his mate.
….and if that were not enough to keep you entertained there is always the fruit feeder which is a great source of entertainment. We had Mynah birds feeding babies with our free banana offerings this morning…… photos later. This is a Red vented Bulbul, they seem to love the Banana.
.
..........…and a close up, foloowed by an Indian Pond Heron that was in the plantation as I waited fo action from the Rollers.
.
Recent Comments