We went to Lalbagh today (in alphabetical order: ,, Jaimon (whose website I don't know), ,and Mahesh ,to see the Mottled Wood Owl, and of course, whatever else we could see....

We came home very, very, happy with our sightings, and I downloaded the pics to my new laptop and then started uploading a few to my Flickr account. Felt very sleepy, so decided to do the rest later.

While we were all clicking away at the Mottled Wood Owl (or MWO as serious birders would probably call it), Mahesh joked that the minute we got home, there would be a race to both post the pics to INW, as well as on to our respective blogs….

So naturally, when I tried just now, the new laptop refuses to connect to the Internet at all, and since all the pics are on that (and of course I deleted all the images on the CF card promptly, I am SOOOOO efficient!), I cannot post the nicest pics….! I wish I was in the habit of using 4-letter words, because I would most certainly use some…!

Oh well, let me share the images that I did manage to post to Flickr…

Here’s one I like, though (of course!) it is not really a ‘great’ shot….in the middle of the Ficus Benjamina leaves and figs, you can see a WHITE-CHEEKED BARBET, balancing itself with the help of legs and wings, and feeding on a fig…

On the same tree, we saw a couple of GOLDEN ORIOLES…here’s one, fluffing itself up (probably the winter weather!)

I loved the appearance of this creeper; it makes an appearance in one of 's bird photos, and I was thinking of him when I snapped it.... I also wanted to capture the dew on the clover leaves....and that ensured that my shoes were totally soaked! Here's one shot I really like. That's Jaimon and Mahesh, hard at work, capturing the SPOTTED OWLETS (yes, SSO's...Sainath's Spotted Owlets!) on their CF cards....and the rays of the sun filtered through the trees on to them. I therefore decided to call this a picture of two Satyajit "Ray"s! And as we were leaving, I ...er...spotted this SPOTTED DOVE. It really, really posed for us, even though it sat somewhat in the shade and we were practically sitting on its head with our lenses before it finally flew away! </lj-cut> And last but not least, in keeping with my traditon of including serious, thought-provoking pictures, here's a picture that's, er, two feet tall.... Tomorrow...no, on Monday...I hope to have my laptop (grrrrrr) working properly again, with 's help, and post the pics of the MOTTLED WOOD OWL....!