 |
| Sattal Environs - True delightful setting for nature lovers ! |
 |
| Rufous-bellied Niltava (Niltava sundara) |
 |
| Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush (Garrulax rufogularis) |
 |
| Greater Yellownape (Picus flavinucha) |
 |
| Crested Kingfisher (Megaceryle lugubris) |
Staying at Sattal in the wonderful tented accommodation at Sat
Tal Birding Camp has always been a pleasurable experience. This time Mohit Agarwal
(the owner) empowered me with Hari Lama – a deserved companion in the field for most productive birding! Thanks to all the team at this cosy birding camp for the
lovely stay, food and field visits.
Exploring Sattal is always a delight for any bird lover
because any corner in this wonderful habitat provides very interesting and
significant opportunities to see variety of species just within a radius of few
miles. The place is always vibrant with bird activities and pleasant surprises
for a birder is a way of life here.
 |
| Rufous Sibia (Heterophasia capistrata) |
 |
| Magical surroundings - Uttarakhand hills |
 |
| Blue Whistling Thrush (Myophonus caeruleus) |
Although the overcast sky and some interior forest areas compelled
me to use very high ISO setting on my camera, however during a short span of
two days – I managed to bag some decent images and more importantly – a wonderful
birding experience!!
 |
| Frozen rivers - cold mornings and a diving delight |
In all, I captured loads of images and a whole big list of
species and it is practically impossible to include all the species/images
here, but here are a few glimpses -
 |
| Streaked Laughingthrush (Trochalopteron lineatum) |
 |
| Yellow-bellied Fantail (Chelidorhynx hypoxantha) |
 |
| White-throated Laughingthrush (Garrulax albogularis) |
 |
| Great Barbet (Megalaima virens) |
 |
| Blue-fronted Redstart (Phoenicurus frontalis) |
 |
| Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch (Sitta cinnamoventris) picking up an insect from the tree bark |
 |
| Ashy Bulbul (Hemixos flavala) |
 |
| White-throated Laughingthrush (Garrulax albogularis) |
 |
| Striated Laughingthrush (Garrulax striatus) |
 |
| Stripe throated Yuhina (Yuhina gularis) |
 |
| Indian Black-lored Tit, (Parus aplonotus) |
 |
| A prize catch - Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler (Pomatorhinus erythrogenys) |
 |
| White-crested Laughingthrush (Garrulax leucolophus) |
Some highlights –
For past several years I had been
trying to search for the rare Cheer Pheasant in this and had no luck until I
spotted Six of these elusive pheasants together – Wow, what a rewarding
sighting after years of wait !!
 |
| An extreme rarity - Cheer Pheasant, (Catreus wallichii)Add caption |
 |
| Three Cheer Pheasants together |
 |
| The Rarity in big numbers - 6 Cheer Pheasants !! |
And the other Rare Pheasant - Koklass Pheasant (from my previous visit) -
 |
| Koklass Pheasant (Pucrasia macrolopha) |
It was lovely to witness the “Disguise”
face of a Collared Owlet (Glaucidium brodiei)-where this cute little owl uses a “fake face” to
fool its prey. The images below are self-explanatory-
 |
| Collared Owlet - Face in Disguise |
I love the birds that are spotted
on the mountain slopes where one can stand on the edge of the valley and the
birds could be photographed against the magnificent backdrop of mountains. I
got some wonderful settings for this kind of photography -
 |
| Rufous-bellied Woodpecker, Dendrocopos hyperythrus marshalli |
 |
| Rock Bunting (Emberiza cia) |
 |
| The Seed sucker |
 |
| Peeping Tom - White Throated Laughing thrush ! |
 |
| Tree Creeper |
Jabalpur
I had a couple of short trips into the great outdoors while
being in Jabalpur. It was great to visit some of the birding / wildlife
locations which were my favourites during my days at the engineering college.
Visiting the Long Proof Range (LPR) and Rani Durgavati Sanctuary was indeed a
very refreshing experience. Thanks to Saptarishi Saigal, Rahul Pandit and Rohit
Agrawal for the wonderful company. The best bit about the outskirts of Jabalpur
is that – you can still expect some exciting wildlife there in-spite of the
urban growth and other developments. Sometime one might see a few deer near the
runway as the ATR aircraft lands on the little airport there !
 |
| Rani Durgavati Sanctuary |
 |
| Good morning with a Drongo |
 |
| The Flight of Fancy |
 |
| Raptor power |
Indore
Every time I visit Indore, a “ must Do” visit is to the
local lake “ Sirpur” which I always
dreamt to be a wonderful bird sanctuary right from my childhood days. I always cherish my days where I used to visit this place on bicycle and there
were hardly any “ birdwatchers” in Indore
at that time. I was seen as a “crazy” guy who visits weird locations to
watch birds !! A wonderful morning at Sirpur with a finishing touch of Pohe,
Jalebi and chai (the true icons of any Indorian) is a million dollar experience!!Thanks
to Dhruv Arora & Abhishek Shriwatri for the great company.
Following this visit, I also had my presentation session at
MCTE, Mhow which always is a very elevating experience for me. Thanks to Dev
Kumar Vasudevan and the whole Army team at Mhow for this opportunity and being
a wonderful audience.
 |
| The duo |
 |
| Wintering Seasons |
Pune
My last destination in this visit was Pune and I squeezed a
fine morning with my younger brother and the families to visit the Ujani Dam.
It was a fantastic trial of his new car and an enchanting experience with some
aquatic wingsters just within a two hours’ drive from Pune. Some Flamingo
images are here – which tells well about all the joy we had ..
 |
| Flame on the wings |
 |
| Lets Fly with all the joy ! |
 |
| Mirror mirror ! |
 |
| Duplicates |
Wrapping up this lovely trip and leaving behind the sunny days and
the blue skies..I returned to the UK ..back
in business with those windy, rainy days and grey skies……but the colours and vibrancy
of the recent trip will surely keep me propelled until I plan my next wildlife
visit in a few weeks time !
 |
| The habitat and me ! |
