Colours at Nandi Hills

November 13, 2008

A group of us went to Nandi Hills last Saturday; and though we did not sight a single raptor apart from the good old black kites, it was a very enjoyable morning indeed. Because of the “black” kites, I thought of this morning as a series of colours….

It started with this mauve and pink sunrise:

mauve sunrise nandi hills 081108

Then the sky changed to the more usual yellow shades, with the dark hill contrasting: sunset in the corner I decided to get the sun in the corner for that one! White was represented by the ORIENTAL WHITE-EYE: oriental white eye nandi hills 081108 Green by the SMALL GREEN (WHITE-CHEEKED) BARBET, which, in this photograph, is a Leafbird! (this is the way most birds show themselves to me...) 081108 small green barbet "leaf bird" Can you see its eye peeping out between the leaves? The PURPLE-RUMPED SUNBIRD: purpleprumped sunbird Though it's called the ASHY DRONGO (Thanks for correcting the id, A), the predominant colours were black/bronze: black drongo 081108 More black, in the form of the silhouette of this SHIKRA, which never gave me an opportunity for a better shot: shikra silhouette nandi hills 081108 Brown was the colour of this baby MACAQUE, that was lit up by the sunshine in its mother's arms: baby macaque light Here's a GREY PANSY: 081108 nandi hills grey pansy A lovelier shade of brown, and some golden yellow, were provided by this CHOCOLATE PANSY, and the WASP approaching with its pollen sacs full: chocolate pansy and wasp White was contributed by this tiny MOTH on a leaf: tiny moth in nursery area Of course, the flowers came in a variety of colours. This red bell-like flower covered the rocky slopes: red bell-like flowers covering rocks Here's a closeup: un id pink bellflower nandi hills 081108 The pied effect was this BLACK-EYED SUSAN: black-eyed susan nandi hills 081108 This sunburst-like flower provided a bright yellow: un id yellow burst-like flower nandi hills This YAM FRUITING BODY was multicoloured: yam fruiting body Some more bright yellow from this flower, that looked like a light bulb! "light bulb" yellow flower 081108 here's as bright a red as it's possible to get, from the POWDER PUFF FLOWER: powder puff flower 081108 A green background, with dots of orange: un id small red-orange flowers Subtle greys on the LICHENS on the tree bark were so lovely: nandihills lichen on tree Just the shades of green, in the pattern of some of the leaves was lovely with the backlight: leaves pattern A most delicious shade of dark rich brown was cake that Garima had baked and brought: garima's cake

And finally, here’s the BLUE-CAPPED ROCK THRUSH that sat patiently for us…but sat so deep in the shade that we couldn’t really get its brightness!

blue-capped rock thrush nandihills 081108