Birdwatch : Pheasant tailed Jacana

I had seen this beauty a couple of times. First time at Polachira, near Kollam, and then in Lingambudhi kere , mysore. Both the times I had to be contented with record shots and both the cases, I had found them to be quite shy like the other jacanas.

Today , by accident, after a lousy day out at a lake at Mysore , not able to photograph any good birds, I had loaded my macro lens and started looking around for bugs. Then to my surprise, I saw this bird quite close to the shore, walking amidst the muck. I cursed myself for loading the macro, hid behind a bush and started changing my lens. Then I saw two farmers walk past, talking loudly and I was sure that by the time they pass this guy would be off. But to my surprise it still continued to walk around.

I crouched up to it after loading my lens. But it was down at the lake bed where as I was atop a bund. I sat at the edge of the bund and made a couple of shots. No reaction. All other birds around - herons, moorhens - took off. It still didnt budge. I have never shimmied down that bund even though I have been visiting that place for a year now. I sat at the edge and slid down, fearing that the bird would take off. It became a little alert, but still didnt fly. I sat there for a few minutes to put it at ease and climbed down further. It again paused for a moment and continued on its business. I was now at the lake bed, and about 3-4 meters from him. The white head, and the golden neck (I wish the sun was out, that would have been a wow sight) and the brown back with a long tail, got me captivated. It paused to give a sweet 'meewp' call once a while, and continued wading.

I sat there for about 20 minutes, taking shots after shots and finally the full group took off and flew away . This I guess would be my closest encounter with this beautiful bird, ever!

The Gorilla's Kiss at Kunti betta

Had been to Kunti Betta near Pandavapura last weekend along with Deepu and Prasath. Though the intention was to do pure bird photography, the plans took a U-turn thanks to the cloudy skies and bad light. I decided to shoot with shorter lenses, looking at the landscape. There were small hillocks which were strewn with huge boulders all around. This was supposed to be one of the place where the Pandavas during their vanavasa (banishment into forest).

There were a group of scouts, who were jogging in the area around us and they managed to scare off the birds in and around the main road leading uphill, so we decided to climb the hill off the track. The landscape looked like the territory in Daoroji Bear Sanctuary, and for a moment, I was apprehensive that I may end up standing face to face with a bear. To come face to face with a bear is worse than coming face to face with a leopard, tiger or even an elephant, as you are more likely to get mauled than anything else.

But thankfully all we came across were small birds, rock agamas, calotes lizards and a distant peahen. Francolin calls were everywhere, but we didnt see any. There was a solitary male shikra that flew past, a falcon that flew high up and finally a fig tree full of figs and bulbuls.
No bird keepers from the entier trip, but then I concentrated more on minimalistic shots, came up with a few ;)