Category: Photography

Bird Watching

Bird watching is a hobby that involves observing and identifying different kinds of birds in their natural habitats. Bird watchers can enjoy the beauty and diversity of birds, learn about their behavior and ecology, and contribute to their conservation.

Bird watching is said to be like meditation and mindfulness. A bird watcher gets drifted away from the day to day stresses. This break of mindfulness refreshes the mind and generates positive thoughts.

Bird watching can be done anywhere, from one’s own backyard to remote wilderness areas.

To start bird watching, one needs some basic equipment and skills. The most important tool is a pair of binoculars that can magnify and focus on distant birds. Binoculars come in different sizes and specifications, so it is important to choose one that fits one’s budget, preference and comfort. Some bird watchers also use spotting scopes, cameras or field guides to enhance their experience.

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The next step is to find a good place to watch birds. This can be as simple as setting up a bird feeder or a birdbath in one’s garden or balcony. Alternatively, one can visit local parks, nature reserves or wildlife sanctuaries that have diverse habitats and species. Some bird watchers also travel to different regions or countries to see rare or endemic birds.

The final step is to enjoy the thrill of spotting and identifying birds. This can be done by using visual cues such as size, shape, color, pattern, posture and flight style. It can also be done by using auditory cues such as songs, calls or drumming. Some bird watchers keep a list of the birds they have seen or heard for personal satisfaction or for scientific purposes.

Bird watching is a rewarding hobby that can enrich one’s life in many ways. It can provide relaxation, education, entertainment and inspiration. It can also foster a sense of wonder, curiosity and respect for nature. Bird watching is a hobby that anyone can enjoy at any age and any place.

Stinging Velvet Beans !!

Today I came across a legume vine which has climbed on a tree. I noticed the beans clumps hanging from the vine. These are velvety golden colored. The beans are very pleasant looking. But then I remembered my school days when some boys did the prank of touching someone’s skin with the bean shell. It gives a hell lot of itching and pain.

Pic by Me

These beans are called Mucuna Pruriens. These have other monikers like Stinging Velvet Beans, Cowitch and Madness Beans. If by chance you come in contact with the velvety part of the beans you will get very sharp itching and pain. Itching is caused by Mucuna which is Protein enzyme.

Stinging Velvet Beans

It is not that these beans are that bad. There are nonstinging varieties also. The stinging varieties are generally found in the wild. The seeds contain high amount of L-DOPA and are used in medicine for snakebite, Parkinson disease due to high amounts of L-DOPA. The beans are also used as aphrodisiac because they are very rich in protein content. The bean plant is a nitrogen fixer thus enhance the natural fertility of the soil.

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Unbelievable Perch

A Large Tailed Nightjar lands in the concrete jungle!! There are some birds which have adapted themselves to live near human settlements. And there are others which are very reclusive. Birders go great lengths to spot and photograph them. One such rare bird is Large Tailed Nightjar.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest, subtropical or tropical mangrove forest, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forest.

Nightjars are the masters of camouflage and completely merge into the surroundings. But sometimes exceptions happen!!!My daughter and her husband live in a apartment situated on the 18th floor of Gaur City in Ghaziabad India.

On the morning of 12th October 2022, as they were getting their tot ready for school around 6 AM, they noticed a bird sleeping on the railing of the balcony of one of the rooms. Although they don’t do bird photography but out of curiosity they took its pictures through the glass door with the mobile.

Large Tailed Nightjar

As they don’t know the bird, she sent the picture to me as i am doing birding. I was astonished. It was a Large Tailed Nightjar.

How did a bird which keeps away from the human populations and lives in the dense branches of trees in shrubby areas ended up in the balcony of 18th floor?? May be it was on migration route and it so happened decided to roost for night here. God knows.

Mottled Wood Owl Pair

Mottled Wood Owl is a rarity in North India. There is a forest near our village peermuchhalla under Punjab Forests Department. It was our routine to visit this place everyday in the morning. It was in February 2020, I first spotted a pair this bird in this forest. Forest has mostly thorny trees of Khair (Senegalia catechu is a deciduous, thorny tree) and is prized for Kattha used in Paan. This tree has very haphazard thorny branches.
I recalled then having missed the bird group earlier on many occasions in deeper woods. After this one bird was spotted in March 2020. Then one fine day, i heard a commotion and frantic calls of drongos, crows and treepies amidst a thick group of trees at the entrance of the park. On close inspection, these birds were hovering over the trunk of a dead tree whose top portion has broken off and a hollow has formed.
As I approached the tree, thinking that there might be some reptile inside, suddenly the bird flew away from the hollow. After that it became clear that they have chosen this hollow open to skies as the nest for breeding. Another reason for choosing this hollow tree might be the big garbage dump in the vicinity of the forest where rodents must be in plenty.

First sighting in Feb 2020


Slowly as the time went by, one could go and spot one from pair always sitting inside the leafy canopy of nearby trees.
By May 20, the two chicks began to be seen looking out of the hollow. As one of the owls was away one was permanently posted nearby.
As it became known to the bird enthusiasts all over, they began visiting with big cameras to take pictures. They became sort of celebrity birds. By June the chicks were out having taken their first hesitating flight to perch near their parents on the nearby tree.

Sitting on a nearby tree


After few days they finally disappeared. After some months the tree unfortunately fell down.
Then again by the end of the year, second wave of covid came and we stopped going out. But in June 2021, I was there at the farther end of the forest to avoid mixing with the people in the main park, thanks again to the ever vigilant crows, drongos as I was passing under a big tree, the bird again flew away. After that, it was with surety I could spot either one of the pair or the pair itself in that tree. This went on at least for entire June 2021. After that they shifted to another place because I spotted one of them again into the deep inside of the forest.


I think they must have visited the tree again but not finding it there must be looking for alternative spot for nest. But I never spotted them again during my sporadic visits.

Long Tailed Minivet

In this blog post, I will be Post some information about the bird called Long Tailed Minivet. I have spotted them and photographed in a forest near my home.

I go for bird photography everyday in the morning. My visits are nearby Forest, river side and other areas under the foothills.

Our area abuts the Shiwalik hills. As it happens, when the winters become too harsh, many birds descend to the adjacent areas to escape the winter and food shortages.

In the forest near my home, many such birds come in the winter. One of these is a beautiful bird called Long Tailed Minivet.

Long Tailed Minivet is a small bird. The males are red and black and females are grey yellow. They are found in South and Southeast Asia. They feed on very small insects living on the leaves of trees. You can judge from their typical short calls their presence. They come in a flock of 5 to 6.

I have observed that there is a single male among the 4 to 5 females. It is very difficult to take their good picture. They don’t stay at any position more than 15 seconds. Secondly they try to stay among the shadows of sense trees.

i waw lucky to take some good pictures which I am posting here. Hope you will like them.

Female
Male

Grey Bellied Cuckoo

The grey-bellied cuckoo (Cacomantis passerinus) is a cuckoo with widespread occurrence throughout Asia.

It comes here in the Northern India at the time of outset of the summers. It is a small sized cuckoo. During this time of year another cuckoo known as the Jacobin Cuckoo also arrives.

Grey Bellied Cuckoo pic by Ranjit

Unlike Jacobin Cuckoo which migrates here in summers from Africa, Grey Bellied Cuckoo is short distance migrant.

It comes here for breeding. It is a brood parasite. It lays its eggs by replacing the eggs in the nests of babblers who then raise its brood. This strategy is just akin to the Koel using Crows to raise its chicks.

Some Pictures I shot in 2011

I have the habit to carry my htc mobile on my walks. I walk almost daily and think that one day I shall be like what I looked like when I was young.

As the years passed by, body began to accumulate pounds. Walking became a necessity to keep fighting the flab. As a bonus, I am rewarded by some good photos. I usually snap whatever appeals me. Most of the times it is the nature.

More pictures will come up. Please continue to visit this post.

More Photos

Hi, friends. Here are some more pictures taken at different places. Hope you will enjoy them. Places featured in pictures are Chandigarh, Mumbai, Goa and Ratnagiri.

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Owl on the wall

I regularly go out for morning walks. Since there is no park near, you have to walk cautiously to avoid being hit by speeding vehicles which continuously pass on the road. So the fun of the morning walk is marred but one has to live life compromising since we are not kings. I found the recourse to going out into the chunk of fields which are still intact despite the greedy eyes of the builders for acquiring the piece of land for any price and turn the land into concrete jungle.

Secondly, i go to walk into the river bed of Ghaggar river which in winter and summer is dry and occupied by tall grass and thorny shrubs. Many beautiful birds inhabit the water and the grasses. There are water wading birds. There are ubiquitous wattled lapwings which makes alarm calls at your approach and begin flying and circling over you. There are green parrot like birds which are very fast.

Anyway, since it has become unbearably hot it is not possible to go out unless you go before the sunrise. So these days, I walk inside our society along the path adjacent to the boundary wall. It is about half a kilometer in perimeter. Here you are distracted by the people who come from all the sides.

One day while walking, I spotted the spotted owl sitting on the boundary wall near a tree. I took the pictures with mobile camera. Usually other birds are easily scared off and does not allow you to approach near and fly away. I took chance to approach it. It saw me but did not make much effort to fly. It will rotate its head and see through half closed eyes. I could almost touch it. It was very lovely bird.

After some rounds, I found it sitting there. On close inspection, I saw one of its parents sitting on the scaffolding of electrical distribution system. It did not allow the approach and flew away as soon the camera was trained on it. Then I spotted another one sitting on a neem tree outside the boundary. Whole family was there.

Outside is the fallow land with bushes and grass. Nearby are dense woods where peacocks roam making the calls. These owls must have found their prey like small rodents or others small birds here.

After that day, I could not find them any day except once.

Purple Sunbird: Beauty in Small Package

When winter gives way to spring season, the dormant nature wakes up. Every plant and tree begin to bear new leaves. There is a riot of flowers and many of the birds come back to gorge on flower nectar and other insects which also visit the flowers and plants.

If you happen to be in some garden and near flowering bushes, you will hear calls of a bird but will have trouble to locate the bird itself. This bird is very small in size. It is due to its peculiar sounds it makes and its purple colour, you can locate it. In fact the purple colour is of males. It is even more difficult to pinpoint the females which are entirely different in colour.

The bird is about 10 to 12 centimetres long. It has a long curved beak. The color looks different from different angles. Depending on the amount of light reflected because color is due to iridescence. Most of the times, it looks black.

Female sunbird is of olive color. The female and male are so different in appearance that you will think them as two different birds.

If it is not possible to get the nectar directly, they puncture the sepal near the nectar to reach the nectar. Although they predominantly survive on nectar of flowers, they can also eat insects particularly when the breeding season is on and requirements of food high.

Although they resemble hummingbirds but they reach for nectar after perching themselves unlike hummingbirds.

The bird is very agile and darts here and there from one flowery bush to another. Hence it is very difficult to take good photos with ordinary camera.
Sitting on a branch
Piercing the pod for food
Female Sunbird
Female sunbird sitting on a wire
With an insect in its mouth
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