Perhaps I was wrong when I thought one needs a holiday break and visit special places to watch birds. Of course, the leisure of vacations allows you to freely roam around with a pair of binocs hanging in your neck for as long as you want to. And bird sanctuaries are indeed a complete delight for a bird watcher. But sadly, all vacations get over! But what this new hobby has taught me is to have the right eye for spotting birds where ever you are. In Gurgaon itself, I have been rewarded by the sight of so many interesting birds, that I failed to notice earlier. And of course, it helps to see the familiar birds too in a different light.
I am going to try and capture these birds in my lens as and when I get an opportunity. (Please zoom for better results)
A common visitor to our homes,
rock pigeon is listed amongst the most intelligent birds, who can remember a lot of images for a long time. They are supposed to have passed mirror test, which tests whether an animal can recognize its own reflection or not. Interestingly, in a famous article written in1995,Watanabe, Sakamoto and Wakita described an experiment which showed that pigeons can be trained to discriminate between painting by Picasso and Monet.
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| Rock Pigeon - an intelligent bird |
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Next is the common myna.
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| Common Myna |
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| Common Myna |
Then there is the house sparrow, another common visitor to homes.
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| House Sparrow - busy eating her lunch |
After being fascinated by the
Indian roller at Ranthambore for its beautiful colours, I was amazed to spot him in Gurgaon. The bird looks wonderful when in flight, especially the different blues in its wings. It's local name is Neelkanth. It is the state bird of many states including Andra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and Orissa.
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| Early bird catches the worm |
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| Happy after a hearty breakfast |
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| Let me see, who's been clicking me? |
This is just the beginning! I have spotted quite a few interesting birds on different days, including Greater coucal, rufous treepie, falcons etc. but yet to capture them in my lens.
Gurgaon does have beautiful birds, specially as one moves towards Sona I feel. I have not spotted the Roller Bird, unless I mistook it for a Kingfisher!
ReplyDeleteI have watched and shot Rufous treepie, green pigeons, brown headed Barbet , Olive and Purple sun birds, Kingfisher, mynas, sparrows, bulbul, seven sisters (warblers?) and pigeons from my balcony.
And I have also spotted Chestnut headed bee eater sitting on wires like the gorgeous blue Roller Bird in the last three pictures, but I have never seen (or seen but mistaken for another?) this pretty blue bird!
@IHM - Wow - that's a long list of birds you have shot. I am really really glad to interact with a fellow bird watcher.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Seven Sisters (in india known as saat bhai) are called Jungle Babblers.
It is common to mistake indian roller for a kingfisher because of similarity in colors. It is absolutely lovely in flight.