Bird walking in Ranthambore!

Yes..... Walking inside the tiger infested jungles of Ranthambore!

For those of you who have been there its no great shakes right? There is temple there and a fort and the public walks there all the time. Haha! We had a fruitless safari ( read no tiger sighting) and I was slightly peeved and running to irritation t having driven all the way from Delhi only to hear that the tigress with cubs had been sealed off in zone 5 cuz she was not well, having suffered an injury and been treated by the rangers. I wanted so much to shoot pix of tiger cubs. Rats!

Anyway, it was the 4th day of the waxing moon and the temple was alive with pilgrims who come to do the walk around the temple thru the forest. I asked the guide if we could do that, he was like "sure just get off and come home on your own." I was ready and yet the kids said they wanted hotel and breakfast. So I demurred. Then it occurred to me that they could just go and I could come a little later. So I got off the open canter with my camera and the long lens and decided to walk the rest of the way. All of 4 km.

It was an amazing walk. Just knowing I could see a tiger at any time and watching the birds going about their business was just so much fun. The pilgrims were there in force and the jeeps were whizzing by, the only discordant note was their honking. during the morning safari I had spotted a white bellied drongo but got no shot of it. He very decently came by and I got a few really neat shots at him. A handsome fellow, little smaller than his city buddy the black drongo.

A beautiful pool yielded a gaggle of moorhens and I just sat there and watched and took a few pix. They squabbled a bit over the supply of weed and no doubt other tasty tidbits they were going after. The magarmuch (croc) in the pool splashed off at being observed while he was sunbathing, I fear he had dark things on his mind regarding me and I stayed clear of his domain. A common kingfisher came along made a quick dive for his mid morning elevenses and pushed off leaving me once more amazed at his beauty. Just sitting there and contemplating the scene relaxed me and I fear if the tiger had made an appearance I would not have noticed.

A few local girls walked by and seeing my huge lens giggled among themselves while passing comments about my purpose there on the jungle road. I took a few pix when they were out of speaking distance just so nobody objected. Certainly they did not. Some of the boys showed me a croc in a crevice of rock. baby croc.

I met up with them later and they said they had seen a leopard just after they met me, right by the next pool. Such is fate, I saw birds they saw leopard, but the moorhen pool had calmed my nerves and I was ready to forgive anyone anything.

THIS IS GOING TO BE CALLED BIRD DRIVING!

We were driving to Ranthambore National park after hearing of sightings of few weeks old tiger cubs with their mother. Need less to say my daughter said "so cute!! can we go can we go!" I need no second invitation or encouragement. Always ready to drop work and run off to some forest or the other, I even convinced the kids friends to bunk school and come with us. My kids are home schooled so they promised to catch up with work later in the week.

Driving thru Rajasthan is always nice cuz the road is so good from Delhi to Jaipur. We made that in good time and then hit the district road which left a lot to be desired in terms of surface. Surface.. what surface!!! Mud, rock, gravel and macadam share the space equally. The redeeming feature was the bird life along the way.

I spotted a series of birds and decided i wanted to go slow and stop and take pix in the good late afternoon sunlight. I stopped for what looked like a shrike, and got a good shot of a collared dove into the bargain. Only hassle was that i left my glasses on top of the car and realised only 20 km later. 1000rs down the drain! Aaargh! Then a series of Indian rollers took my mind off my worries and scores of bank mynas kept us company as we ate the humble fare at a roadside dhaba. Paying off the not so humble bill, I got to see more rollers and then a black backed shrike. This bird was so bold as to let me approach fairly close. Unfortunately he moved right when i was to take a photo and I could only get underbelly shots. A pied starling made an appearance and got a better shot thatn i did in Chilika. Sparrows and silverbills on a sheaf of wheat made a nice photo as well and as the light faded I got down to the serious business of driving much to the kids approval.
Had a great bird walk in Ranthambore which I will share soon.

The lost lake story!

Living in Gurgaon for years and hearing of the lake of the flamingos and not seeing it was eating me. I have been to many places like Bharatpur and Ranthambore and all that, but to realise that there was a lake with flamingos in it right here near our home and not go there has been too much for me.

I set off once or twice in a valiant attempt to locate the lake and ended driving in circles for hours and getting nowhere. Google maps I found dont help when nothing looks the same and people are digging deep sewer lines and the kids in the car are clamoring for Coke and respite.

Finally I decided to leave all the half hearts behind and take off. Coke bah, respite forsooth! But this plan too grew moldy on the shelf as I get busy with work and all that hinders a birder from simply getting out there. Wandering around in circles also did not appeal to me and my faith in google having been shaken I was in need of a good tonic to make me get out there again. The bracing brew came in the form of an idea. Take a cab!!! The local driver would surely know or at least speak enough haryanvi to figure it out. Sheer genius.. I told myself smugly as I asked the kids if they were ready for flamingos, (I had a change of heart and since I was not driving...). The chorus of no's told me I was on my own and my tripod toters had just given me the brusheroo. I would have to tote my own tripod, along with my new 3 kg lens, I was going to get my gym time alright.

Next morning the cab arrived and sure enough, our man Flint, had not the foggiest that there was a jheel before Karnal 140km away. I assured him that Google had clearly marked it on the map and all we needed to do was believe and drive. His face showed the level of his faith in Google as he mumbled something derogatory about nuts and lakes under his breath and prepared resignedly to drive me to the kingdom come. He was a sport tho' as it turned out and in short order he had the area of the lake pegged and after a little shady driving on the wrong side of the road with a weather eye out for cops on bikes, he brought me to the same fields and ponds where I had lost my way last time.

Here the haryanvi paid off and he asked some people for directions and of course they knew the lake, so before you could say sweet lassi, we were off lickety-split down the road to the lake.

I spotted a group of curlews and stopped him and as I set up my camera to shoot he really got the shutterbug bug (to coin a phrase). I shot the curlews and over exposed them like the khans. Further along a shikra caught my eye and that I did better with.
When I got back in the car he asked me all about my camera and my other bag (tripod) and all that I was up to. As I explained I realised I had a tripod toter right here. When we arrived at the lake which is adjacent to a nice resort type place (where the beer is cold btw), I asked him to join me look at birds. He was flipped and after paying 5rupees (!) each we were given a free rein over the 150 acre of parkland and lake.

Let me tell you that there were no flamingos at the time I went. Apparently about 100 species of bird migrate to this place in the winter, I got a good look at a few birds but it was a lean time. The heronry was almost enpty with only a few grey herons and painted storks there. The purple heron which is seen here a lot is a shy bird and even the long lens could not give me a shot, though there were a few. A whole slew of ducks and other swimmers were in evidence, shovellers and teals and so on. I am really bad with ducks so could not id a lot of them. Purple Moorhens and teals were in the reed beds groping for food, the kingfisher was in action close by and gave me a lot of practice focussing the manual lens. The dear taxi guy Krishen carried the tripod and we had a long 6 km walk around the lake into the dry areas and grassland behind the lake.

There are a few raptors in residence there and we saw a few fish eagles and one that looked a serpent eagle but too far to really clearly id him. The parakeets both rosy ringed and alexandrine keep you company with their calls. The dove population is really up there with collared and spotted doves everywhere. They are called 'thodi' in haryanvi. nice!

The grasslands proved to be rich in bird life and I got munias, a handsome drongo, a redstart and a 'wryneck' never heard of it but my buddies on indiamike say its true. Another bird I spotted was a beautiful red all over, a little perching bird. since I could not get a clear shot I could not id it.

All in all the lost lake was certainly worth the wait and the drive. I hope to make it a regular feature earlier in the morning so the heat does not kill me. ha!

GETTING STARTED

As an avid wildlife entusiast all my life, i finally got a decent camera and have started posting pics on facebook and enjoying it.
Birdwalkin is going to be a simple blog of my nature walks and camera antics. hope to post some of my pics here both animals and birds and other beautiful sights of nature.
I hope any one who reads it will have good laugh and good relaxed fun read.

The joys and frustrations and victories and defeats of a casual birder. Some times we all wish we were into landscapes that dont fly, flit about and fly away. ha!