Birds near Hyderabad

Its been a while since I posted birds near Hyderabad. Here are a few shots as I was flipping through my archives.

Baya Weavers







Ashy prinia


Plain Prinia



Zitting Cisticola



Brahminy Starling



A Greater Coucal




A cattle Egret



and barn owls on our apartment balcony :)

Birds of Jaisalmer and Khichan

Rounding up a family vacation in Rajasthan, I took the opportunity to visit Khichan village in the Jiasalmer district of Rajasthan. This village is a unique example of what conservation and nurturing can do to birds. Demoiselle cranes migrate from Europe and have made Khichan their home year after year because of the local community support.

There were hundreds of these cranes either feeding or hovering around. Though it was 1 PM and not the best time to shoot managed a few against a blazing sun.










Jaisalmer has the Desert National Park. The hope was to spot the great Indian bustard. However we did see a few flying at a distance but none on the ground :(

A desert wheatear.




Indian courser




A distant shot of a cinerous vulture only available between Pakistan and Western deserts of India



On our way back and Chinkara gave a startled look





An Egyptian vulture




A feast of dead camel for a group of vultures ( White rumped and long necked) a very rare sight these days to see so many vultures together.

Bharatpur Bird sanctuary

It was a foggy afternoon in Bharatpur. I was told that at Bharatpur the light remains constant throughout the day and makes for great photography. Unfortunately for us it was very foggy for at least the two out of three days we were in Bharatpur. The best thing about fog is that it renders itself to creative compositions if you have the eye. Courtesy other members of the group, it was an "eye opening session" for me. I started seeing opportunities in composing  wildlife pictures. Very different from what I used to do earlier where I would have tried to get as close as possible and take a decent portrait.

Here are a few shots from the trip:

A Jackal welcoming us as we entered the park.

Sambhars offered great composition opportunities





Pair of spotted owlet:




An Indian Darter:




A Black redstart:




A Bluethroat:




Grey herons chasing after a catch. Can you spot the purple heron?




A Nilgai posing for me:



A chance encounter with a jungle cat



A Siberian Rubythroat ( usually difficult to sight as it prefers the undergrowth)





Long tailed Nightjar




A red breasted flycatcher





A pensive mood



As regards the variety of birds it was less than what I had expected. However the access and the photo opportunities would definitely bring me back to Bharatpur hopefully in the future.