Adarsh and Nisarg took me along to Madivala Lake this morning, and though we didn’t have a great variety of birds, the SPOT-BILLED PELICANS, the ASHY PRINIAS, the TAILOR-BIRDS, a magnificient BRAHMINY KITE, CORMORANTS, CATTLE EGRETS, POND HERONS, PURPLE MOORHENS, GREY HERONS (apart from the usual crew of KMC…KITE/MYNAH/CROW) made for a very interesting time indeed.

Here’s the scene that greeted us as we entered the gate:

You can see the pelicans serenely floating around…the water-hyacinth that has choked up the lake may actually be keeping the boaters from approaching the birds too closely….

This trip, for me, was a learning experience in terms of backlight. Here are the silhouettes of the two people who were with me this morning: Everywhere, there were pelicans. Some made great silhouettes by themselves with the backlight... Sometimes there were two going in different directions: And here's a backlit view of a pelican landing: On INW, where I posted this photograph, it was instantly dubbed the "Jesus Christ" pelican! ;-) The morning light picked out a few tiny treasures, like this web just above the surface of the water: Here's an adult Ashy Prinia in that light... And here's a young one, looking so engagingly innocent: Even the strands of grass looked like jewels in the light.... And as we went back out, I was able to get this shot of the Brahminy Kite, which was sitting on an African Tulip (Spathodia) tree....

And the keen eye of the raptor…er…en”raptored” me!

A lovely morning…thank you, Adarsh and Nisarg!