Skip to main content

Featured Post

Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
1 comment

Binsar - Part 2 - Armchair Birdwatching


Binsar is well known for its variety of birds, and attracts plenty of bird watchers. So, I was all set with my binoculars and camera, ready to see as many as I could! Of course, with my digicam I had no hopes of great photos, but as usual, my enthusiasm remained undiminished!

The bird calls woke me up early every morning, and there was no need to set an alarm. We were close enough to nature for our natural clock to work perfectly. There was plenty to see and observe from the room itself, and I made the most of it……

Of all the birds, the bulbuls were the most prominent… there were just too many of them flying around! We saw both, the red vented ones and the white cheeked ones, and later, our bird watching guide explained that these were the Himalayan Bulbuls. I couldn’t see much difference between these and the ones which came to our balcony back home in Bombay, except that the mountain ones seemed healthier!


White Cheeked Bulbul (Or is it Yellow vented Bulbul?)

Red Vented Bulbul

Yellow vented Bulbul

I love the crest in this one.. our city ones arent so beautiful!


One of the fattest Bulbuls we saw.. the mountain air must agree with them!



Apart from bulbuls, there were also plenty of Jungle Babblers, Hill Mynas and drongoes…. The hill mynas were completely black, unlike their city cousins…..

A Hill Myna.. or so we were told...can someone confirm????

At first I thought this was a sparrow.. but it isnt. can someone tell me which bird it is???

This is  a drongo... sitting in an unusual position... If I hadnt followed it for a while, wouldnt have known...

Drongo

Drongo

Myna???

Once we shifted to the log hut, I saw many more birds, most of which I could neither identify nor take photographs of, since they were so much faster than me and my simple camera…. It really is high time I buy a new one!

Unknown Bird.. Identification please!

See that small bird there??? maybe a flycatcher....

This beautiful plum headed parakeet was really helpful in arousing Samhith early! It was patient enough to sit still till my sleepy son woke up and opened his eyes and had a good, long look at the beautiful bird outside our window!

Plum Headed Parakeet

Plum Headed Parakeet

Plum Headed Parakeet


I also saw a Hoopoe for the first time……. one appeared outside our window for a while and I did manage to get a snap, though not a good one, and it was gone before Samhith arrived, which irritated him no end. Thankfully, we saw another one the next day, and it was patient enough to pose for a snap while my son jumped around, excited at seeing a ‘new’ bird!

Hoopoe

The next day, we heard the call of the koel and managed to spot it and take a snap. Samhith wasn’t really impressed, saying that we could see it at home! While I agreed with him, I pointed out that we could hardly have got such a good and close shot at home, something which appeased him for a while!

Female Asian Koel

The fact that we saw so many birds from the room motivated us to go looking for more…. And we signed up for a bird watching trek… but more about that in the next post……
  

Labels:

Comments

  1. chitraApril 18, 2010 at 11:17 AM

    Good lessons on birds. Good photos. But don't ask me to name any birds.

    ReplyDelete
  2. MridulaApril 18, 2010 at 11:55 AM

    What a wide variety of birds! You may like to spend sometime on this website http://www.birding.in/ and see if you find some of your birds there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ShilpaApril 18, 2010 at 2:11 PM

    nice bird watching :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousApril 18, 2010 at 5:05 PM

    The bulbuls you have labeled white-cheeked/yellow vented are actually "Himalayan bulbul" and not found in the plains. The "hill myna" is a blue whistling thrush, another mountain specialty. The black/yellow bird is a black-lored tit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousApril 18, 2010 at 5:05 PM

    The bulbuls you have labeled white-cheeked/yellow vented are actually "Himalayan bulbul" and not found in the plains. The "hill myna" is a blue whistling thrush, another mountain specialty. The black/yellow bird is a black-lored tit.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anuradha ShankarApril 19, 2010 at 9:19 AM

    @Chitra: hey, im just the same... only since i bought Salim Ali's bird book that i have started identifying a few birds..... the others are still confusing....

    @Mridula: thanks... that was useful! shall do that soon....

    @Dr.Mahesh: thanks......

    @Shilpa: thanks... it was great!

    @bonerpakhi: thanks so much......i shall add the names to the pics soon.....

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousApril 19, 2010 at 10:10 AM

    This blog has come up very well. Good photos. Overall I must say you are very lucky lady!

    Jay :)
    Jayanna.B@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. LakshmiApril 19, 2010 at 1:37 PM

    lovely sighting..am missin birdwatching..need to go for a session soon

    ReplyDelete
  9. HaddockApril 19, 2010 at 11:05 PM

    Like that silhouette with the crest.

    ReplyDelete
  10. thecoupleApril 28, 2010 at 12:49 PM

    Enjoyed the birding. Catching up with your Binsar tales. :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Edwards KessNovember 5, 2011 at 9:45 PM

    wow it was like heaven on earth this state is blessed , it was more amazing when we saw a mark of a bird taking us to a cave....where we saw unimaginable , species..guys go check out this blessed place as soon as possible . we were in a group which was arranged by , a panel of excellent manager Mr Kush from Haridwar , Shree maa ganga tour's haridwar uttrakhand...excellent knowledge which , is essential for all these terrain tour's..guys go and feel the ambience of nature

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anu ShankarNovember 7, 2011 at 2:53 PM

    thnks!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw...
9 comments
Read more

Review of Executive Lounges at New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)

During my recent trip to Uttarakhand , I was faced with a problem I had never encountered before. We were passing through Delhi, but we had hardly any time in the city. On earlier visits when I have had to change trains/flights at Delhi, I have always arrived in the morning and left again at night, visiting relatives in between. This time, I was arriving in the city at night, and leaving again early in the morning. There was hardly any time to visit people. I would only have a couple of hours with them before I’d have to leave again. For the first time, we considered booking a hotel, but there again, we were hesitant about the actual hotels, the costs involved, and the logistics of getting from the airport to the railway station and then back again from the station to the airport.  That’s when we remembered reading something about a corporate-managed lounge at Delhi station. We soon figured out that we could book online and pay by the hour. Besides, we also learnt that there wasn’...
1 comment
Read more

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.
3 comments
Read more