Monday, May 9, 2011

Around Hampi, Kamalapur and Daroji

After more than four months from the trip to Hampi, here comes a post on it along with some pictures. Apologies to those who we kept waiting for this long....

The 3 day trip in the end of December was an amazing one, with a pretty decent list of birds, for us beginners. What was satisfying was that this time I religiously maintained notes during all the three days while birding. As always, we spent more time with the nature than with the monuments and ruins :) There were birds almost everywhere - in and around the ruins, on the road sides, Kamalapur, the JLR property (we didn’t stay there but visited there and went on the nature walk with them), the road next to the canal, leading to Daroji....

This White throated Kingfisher in one of the ruins site let us go very very near to it - up to almost 8-10 feet! Every time I see it, I am awed by the beautiful, vibrant colors it is made of!


Rose ringed Parakeets were in huge number

So were Plum headed Parakeets; watched a huge group for a long time.

Saw the Pied Kingfisher for the first time. It’s amazing to watch it fishing. It eyes on its prey in water at almost 20-30 feet above the surface of water and stops mid air at the same point by continuously flapping its wings. And at a suitable point in time, sometimes after about half a minute of staying at the same point in mid-air, it dives down straight into the water - as if it fell off losing gravity. And in the next moment, comes out flying, if lucky, with a fish in its beak! We were lucky to witness the whole drama many times during those three days.


Spotted Owlets were pretty common too, mostly near the ruins, staring straight back at us!

Yellow Wattled lapwings were in groups on the stream side

So were these tiny Ashy Crowned Sparrow Larks
This Green Bee Eater gave a pretty close access for a long time
So did this Rufous Tailed Lark (Please correct if we're wrong in Id)
This Little Cormorant also stayed still for a long time

Some of the other birds we managed to click....
The cattle Egrets who had a meeting by the stream side
Yellow Wagtail

White Wagtail

Common Sandpiper

Rufous Backed Shrike

A Common Kingfisher (has not been so common at least to us!)

This Pallid Harrier (Juvenile)? gave us a short glimpse before it flew off

Brahminy Starling

Blue Rock Thrush ?
Here's the complete list of birds we managed to note:

Hampi - Around the monuments and ruins
Kingfisher, White throated
Sparrow, House
Bulbul, Red vented
Egret, Cattle
Wagtail, White Browed
Wagtail, Yellow
Parakeet, Rose Ringed
Dove, Laughing
Hornbill, Grey
Bee Eater, Green
Parakeet, Plum headed
Hoopoe, Common
Owlet, Spotted
Robin, Indian
Barbet, Coppersmith
Cormorant, Little
Egret, Large
Sparrow-Lark, Ashy Crowned
Cormorant, Little
Tern, River
Shikra
Kingfisher, Pied

Around JLR, Kamalapur and way to Daroji
Common Pochard
Sparrow-Lark, Ashy Crowned
Cormorant, Great
Tern, River
Kingfisher, Pied
Lapwing, Red Wattled
Sandpiper, Common
Kingfisher, Small Blue
Starling, Brahminy
Francolin, Grey
Sunbird, Loten’s
Coucal, Greater
A Warbler, making very loud, shrill calls.. Could not id it
Shikra
Wagtail, White
Lapwing, Yellow wattled
Koel, Asian
Swallow, Wire tailed
Bushchat, Pied
Weaver, Baya
Pallid Harrier

As always, please do correct us if we've wrongly Id'ed some bird.

Cheers,
Sumana & Deepak.


7 comments:

  1. Enjoyed the pics and text very much, Deepak and Sumana! Looks as if you had a wonderful trip. How hot was it when you visited? And did you spot the Barred Button Quail couple in the JLR campus?

    Deepa.

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  2. Thank Deepa. its fabulours around Hampi.

    No..we couldnt manage bookings at JLR , our stay was very brief there.

    The very next day of visit, JLR folks were heading to spot YTB around Hampi. Not sure they managed to spot one or not!

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  3. aah finally the much delayed post! glad you didnt need much id help this time around

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  4. Ya, Chandu... this time i religiously had a notebook and pen in my hand, which helped, while Deepak had his camera...

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  5. Nicely written and wonderful pics to add to it!
    And you are right, the last bird pic is of a Blue Rock Thrush.

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Any more interesting stuff on these birds? Any corrections in Ids? Please do drop in your valuable inputs...