me and my son Adit went on a birding road trip to masinagudi and kothagiri (roughly 600 km from chennai), both in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in the Western Ghats, from january 10-16. we were dogged by unseasonal rains in the hills and it was foggy with poor light most of the time. but, nevertheless it was a productive trip. Photos from the trip, mainly birds and mammals….
a small flycatcher, smaller than a sparrow, that breeds in the himalayas and winters in south india.
one of the most common urban birds, smaller than a sparrow but spectacularly colourful….
all i’ve got to show for a saturday morning’s birding…Montagu’s harrier (female).
this migratory season is a good one by all accounts. plenty of sightings of winter migratory birds such as harriers, kestrels and other migratory species. photos from a visit to a grassland in the outskirts of chennai this weekend. except white-eyed buzzard, oriental skylark and bay-backed shrike, all the others are migratory.
it’s that time of the year when harriers, primarily from europe and central asia, overwinter in the subcontinent. this is one of the grasslands around chennai which they frequent, on a cold and frosty morning. we didn’t get to sight any that day but we are hoping to in the days ahead…. taken with my cellphone.
A fairly common bird when you cross the city limits in india. the european roller is also a winter visitor to the continent. hopefully will sight/photograph it this year…
A small dragonfly with blue eyes, endemic to asia.
This one is from just before the lockdowns kicked in. the red-necked falcon (Falco chicquera), endemic to india and africa.
This is a fairly common damselfly in india/asia/africa (Ischnura senegalensis), about an inch and a half long. shot with the k3ii and the fa 100/3.5.
