I got a call from Mahesh Devarajan asking if I would be interested in going to the Bannerghatta forest area for a little birding. Of course I jumped at the chance, and when he came over for lunch, I was able to winkle KM too out from behind his desk and we drove to where Geetanjali Dhar and her husband Subir, and their delightful two-year old, Avantika, were waiting to put us on the right road.

So of course as we drove into the forest area, it started pouring and pouring and pouring and pouring…and even more naturally, it only stopped when it was almost dusk!

So a couple of LITTLE GREEN BEE-EATERS, SPOTTED DOVES, a YELL0W-BILLED BABBLER, a couple of female INDIAN ROBINS, and PIED BUSHCHATS were all we could see, and NOT photograph; in the gathering dusk, Mahesh finally managed to get one fairly grainy shot of the LONG-TAILED SHRIKE (anyone know why they are called “fiscal” shrikes in Africa?):

And as the gloom deepened…we saw the utterly handsome, Bollywood-hero-style spectacle-sporting BLACK-SHOULDERED KITE on a tree…

The first was with the S3; the second with the Canon 20D with the 300 mm prime lens…but when the light is really too low, there is little one can do…or at least, that’s what I tell myself to explain the lousy pictures!

We returned home with the rain following us, and found that the ODI match had also been washed out, along with India’s chances of winning…!