Of legs, tails and beaks!

Start from here.

White-browed wagtail atop the ornate gate to the lake

'Tis the season, for the birds, tra la la la la, la la la la!

Its not only NRIs and foreign tourists who throng the country at this time of the year. Lakes all over India play host to visiting dignitaries of the feathered variety.  The regular resident birds dont seem to mind this intrusion, and they all seem to "hang out" together.

Well, thats the impression I got anyway at the Ghaibsagar lake, alongiside Udai Bilas palace, Dungarpur!

There were so many birds that I saw for the first time, that the reunion became quite a rewarding "birding" expedition for me.
White-browed wagtail, by the swimming pool

As we strolled around on the first evening we were there, sans camera, there were so many lovely sightings. Among my favourites were the only pair of Mallard ducks that stood out against the lake temple wall, as they bobbed on the water preening themselves. The evening sun bounced off the brilliant green head of the male.  The next day they were gone, probably to another lake?

Another breathtaking sight of that evening was the pair of White Storks that came gliding down to a tree overlooking the swimming pool, and perched themselves on a branch just above our heads. These birds are HUGE, and yet so graceful. Later in our visit, the manager showed me their nest on another tree, high up - an untidy affair. Obviously, the chicks dont have a fear of heights!

A common sight through our stay were the Purple Moorhens. they usually hung around at the swimming pool end of the lake, in the shallow waters by the shore.  Though they are common in lakes across India, this was the first time I was seeing them, though they have such a characteristic look that identifying them was a breeze.  Well, they are purple and do look a bit hen-like!

But this I have to add:

"Male has ludicrous courtship display, holding water weeds in his bill and bowing to female with loud chuckles."

That is how Salim Ali describes them, and I wish I had come across this behaviour!  Sadly, the moorhens I saw were solely obsessed with poking around in the undergrowth and scrabbling for food!
Purple Moorhen

The mystery of the spidery legs!

My most favourite "discovery" of the weekend was this cute and strange looking bird that we spied on the next morning. She (well she just looked like a she!) was so busy walking on the lotus leaves that she had no time for us! We were so close we could see those amazing feet of this bird, so clearly!

I had this sudden vision of Thumbelina on a leaf seeing the manner in which this bird hopped from leaf to leaf, staying afloat, and balancing on its spidery legs.

But what could it be?  I had not seen anything like this before.  There was no expert around and so I was on my own as far as solving the what-is-it mystery went.  I pored over my Salim Ali bird book, looking and marveling through my binos, checking out the waders and rails and crakes.  But nothing matched. There were some birds with spidery legs, but the plumage just did not match.

As my husband clicked away, he heard a shout of discovery, as I found it!  It was a baby, well not quite a baby, maybe a teenager, and so as with most teenagers was not "dressed" appropriately!!  Had me fooled.  So, here was an immature bronze-winged jacana.  If you want to see what the adult looks like click here.

Immature bronze-winged Jacana
On our return, while mentioning my prized discovery, Mr C Ramakrishna of MNS (aka Bobjee uncle) brought to my notice that the female jacanas are polyandrous!  Hmmm, thats interesting I thought!

While that teenager walked effortlessly across the leaves, there was this egret who was making rather heavy weather of walking-the-leaves.  Everytime it settled on one, the leaf would begin to sink, and the egret would then take off with an angry squawk, and try another leaf, with much the same effect!  Finally, probably out of irritation and frustration, it hung to one of the several lotus stems sticking out of the water, only to have it bend under its weight!

It was all quite amusing for us onlookers, but that was one unamused bird!

The untiring river terns

All through our stay at Udai Bilas, we saw these river terns, flying ceaselessly back and forth, swooping down into the water, and then coming up with something - a fish or frog? - with a strong call.  I saw terns chasing one another - probably one without a catch was trying to steal from one which had caught something.

Competing with the river terns in aerial acrobatics were the Pied Kingfishers.  Though I saw them first on our trip to Penchalakona, I really enjoyed their hovering and swooping displays over the lake at Dungarpur.  

River tern

A lovely picture of its black cap, forked tail and yellow beak.  We also saw dozens of them sitting on the shore, sunning themselves.

The picture below has an Indian darter (the big black bird), whistling teals (the brown ducks) and the river terns (smaller, white birds in the foreground).  There's also a single common coot, to the left of the darter.  The lake was actually full of flocks of Common Coot, and the Whistling Teal. I could not identify these ducks, (my excuse - they were too far away!) but our host Harsh, who's a keen birder, helped me with that one!

The Darter spent many an hour posing like this or similar positions.  Do they need more sun on their wings and therefore strike this pose or is it showing off, you think?!  We saw them in the water, with just their long necks and beak out of the water, and even saw one eating a fish.  
This picture above was obviously when the Darter got tired of holding its wings up!  Darters I noticed hang out by themselves, unlike the cormorants who seem to like company.  If I'm not mistaken, the other large bird on the left is a Grey Heron with that black crest and hunched pose.

The ducks that I did identify were the Spot-billed ducks, that were also in plenty on the lake.  
Spot-billed ducks

The yellow-tipped bill, orange legs and the little green markings on their wings helped me (I hope) correctly identify these birds.
The sunning stone

Close to the lake temple was some exposed stone.  It would probably be submerged when the lake was full, but when we were there it served as a good perch and sunning spot for the cormorants and ducks.

Great Cormorants with an egret, and coots in the waterNo effort and Nine new birds over a weekend.  Not bad for a beginner, I thought!  An experienced birder would have put together a more exhaustive list than mine below, as the surrounding hills were also full of garden birds, but I could not distinguish between all those brown warblers, prinias and larks.  

Here's my Dungarpur list:

• Lifers for me - Bronze-winged Jacana, Eurasian Wigeon, Mallard, Lesser Whistling Duck, Mallard, Comb Duck, Purple Moorhen, River tern, White Stork
• Little Grebe
• Red wattled lapwing
• Great Cormorant
• Indian Darter
• Large Egret
• Little Egret
• Pond heron
• Common Coot
• Grey Heron
• Black Kite
• Black-winged stilt
• Lesser Pied Kingfisher
• White Breasted Kingfisher
• Small bee eater
• Plum-headed parakeet
• Red vented bulbuls
• Jungle Prinia
• Tailor bird

And to cap it all, we saw this mama boar, with a very multi-coloured litter of babies!

Red-vented bulbuls

A non-descript looking light. What's it doing in a nature blog you think. Well, it seemed to have caught the fancy of red-vented bulbuls in Madras!
Here's what Geetha had to say:

"The bulbul has made a nest (for the fourth time in the same place) in the verandah my relative's house (in Karpagam
Gardens, Adyar) above a brass lampshade. It is seen feeding its three chicks with banyan figs and singapore cherries.
Apparently, the birds were very wary and shy at the time of the first nesting, but have become bolder with each new nesting tryout. At the moment, they are totally fearless and carry on their busy schedule irrespective of humans watching them at close quarters! Wonder whether it is the same pair or descendents of the original pair! At night, one of the parent birds sleeps in the nest along with the chicks. They are not disturbed when the lamp is switched on in the late evenings."

All the pictures courtesy Geetha and Jaikumar.

Now part of I and the Bird #106 - 4th Anniversary edition.

The Pulicat Flamingoes

The Pulicat dance troupe!

Yes, there are flamingoes, thousands of them, just north of Madras, and I am quite ashamed to say that I saw them in a New York zoo before seeing them at Pulicat.  I have lived for more than twenty years in this city, blissfully unaware that these lovely birds lived and bred in our backyard.

Strange looking birds.  Light pink, long graceful legs, huge flocks, a sinuous movement as they walk across the shallow waters, so ballerina-like.  But that beak...... there's nothing graceful about it, according to me anyway.  Its large and bulky, and seems to be just added on, like one of those Photoshopped oddities!

They are useful to them, though, the beaks I mean.  Since they feed on saltwater shrimp and such like and use their beaks to filter-feed.  They will be in the "pink" of health the more shrimp they eat.  That's what they get the beta-carotene from, which keeps them pink!  So if you think the ones in the zoo are always pinker, you're probably right - they get more pink food in their diet.

Dec 2007.  We took a boat from SHAR road to get a closer look, but the closer we got, the faster they edged away from us, making sure that we couldn't get any closer.  At first they walked away, in a slow deliberate fashion, then some nervous ones spread their wings. At one point, they decided enough was enough and took to the skies, and what a lovely sight it was!

My husband clicked away, and came up with these lovely pictures.  It was a dull day with the sun well hidden, the water a bleak grey, but dont these birds really stand out in the dullness?

(You can click on any of these pictures to get a full-page view.)

Dont come any Closer!
OK, we're off!My mother opined that a flying flamingo is much more beautiful than a walking one, and I have to agree.  Where are those colours of dark pink and black when they just stand? Their long necks and legs form a lovely line in the sky, and even their beaks kind of fit in, giving a curve to their silhouettes!

An early flier is high up in the sky.  Take a look at the beauty of the airborne trio in the right foreground
The flying flamingoes bump into a flock of duck

Balaji by some coincidence seems to have also visited the flamingoes in December, though he and his friends were lucky with a  bright, sunny day.  There are some lovely pictures on his blog as well!

My son filmed the flamingoes on our handycam, and if you are willing to take a look at some footage that shakes and kind of goes off in all sorts of directions, see the video below!  You will also get an idea of what lots of flamingoes means really.  The whirr you hear is the sound of the strong wind that day, and if you have sharp ears you will also pick up the calls of the flamingoes.  They make quite a racket - well there are a lot of them.

Why do I like to go and see these and other birds in their habitat I wonder.  My brother (as a typical older brother), thinks I am a touch insane.  Why dont you just go to a zoo, or better still watch them on Nat Geo or Discovery, he grumbles.  

Is it the uncertainty of not knowing what I am likely to see?  Or the joy at seeing them free and unrestricted?

Another visit to SHAR road  and Annamalaicheri is overdue I think...  What say?  I should also write about Annamalaicheri, that fishing village on Pulicat, from where we took many a sortie and even had a Delhi birder traipse across the flatlands holding the hands of one of the fishermen, much to the latter's delight I'm sure, since the birder in question was a lovely lady!!