This post is of NO interest whatsoever to anyone who is not interested in birds, so on to the next friend’s post…..

And for those who are interested, I have posted such a variety of bird pics, that you need to look only when you have leisure. I realized that so many factors are conspiring against my posting bit by bit as I want to do, so am just listing out all tbe birds I caught, as I have to do a mammals post and a butterflies post and a Wildgrass post and a Shillong post and a…..

I think I should give up either photography or travelling…or posting!

OK, here goes, starting with the LESSER ADJUTANT STORK:

There were plenty of ASIAN PIED STARLINGS;must look out for them now in Bangalore, too. This GOLD-FRONTED LEAFBIRD, so difficult to see in Bangalore, was jumping high in the canopy at Wildgrass: We have the golden oriole in Bangalore, but here was the BLACK-HOODED ORIOLE: The WHITE-RUMPED SHAMA, that we sighted briefly in Valley School in Bangalore, was far more visible in Kaziranga: SMALL BLUE KINGFISHERS are also quite common: I got this DARTER (SNAKE BIRD) sunning itself when we crossed a bridge: The water attracted a lot of waders, like this GREENSHANK: This GREEN SANDPIPER, too, wandered along the riverbank: Another lifer for me was the RED-BREASTED PARAKEET: I snapped this raptor, which my friend AMS id'd as a JUVENILE RUFOUS-BELLIED EAGLE: Another Bangalore winter visitor, the SPOT-BILLED PELICAN, was around in Kaziranga, too: I saw several PALLAS' FISH EAGLES, this one was taking some soft furnishings back to his home! I was also lucky to see this beautiful raptor, the PEREGRINE FALCON: There were COMMON STONECHATS everywhere, too, but generally far away: One other old friend was the ORIENTAL HONEY BUZZARD: The BLACK-NECKED STORK took fright, and flight: This GREATER FLAMEBACK woodpecker was quite busy! We saw a kill, and next to it was a LONG-BILLED VULTURE, a bird that is endangered, and not easy to find in south India. The BLUE-BEARDED BEE-EATER made a great multicolour subject! I thought of when I saw these BAR-HEADED GEESE (which is what we call those who are heading for the pubs in Banglaore): They made a lovely picture, flying: Two WOOLLY-NECKED STORKS sat around: This ALEXANDRINE PARAKEET sat too high for me to take its typical red spots on the wings: Our guide told us this was the STORK-BILLED KINGFISHER, which I had once had a glimpse of in Bheemeshwari when I went there with ...I got a perfectly terrible shot of it, I remember, it was about 3 days since I had started using the 20D!....Here it is: There was also a GREAT EGRET, I have learnt to tell the great egret from the intermediate one by the length of its eye near the end of its bill. I enjoyed clicking the colourful GREY JUNGLE FOWL: A very good sighting was of these SWAMP FRANCOLINS (our guide called them Grey Francolins, but the markings match only the Swamp ones) There were BRONZE-WINGED JACANAS, here's a juvenile: Now I am giving you the birds that I saw in the grounds of Wildgrass Resort in half an hour, while waiting for the safari jeep... The RUFOUS TREE-PIE finally posed for me in Kaziranga after skulking in the bushes in south India and in Kanha too... This GREEN IMPERIAL PIGEON looked calmly at me... The GREY-HEADED CANARY FLYCATCHER was a first-timer for me: The ever-present LONG-TAILED SHRIKE was making a meal of a beetle (I can imagine its wife telling it reprovingly, "You're hitting the beetle too much these days, dear." (I have posted a similar picture of a shrike devouring a beetle in my Tanzania post.) This WHITE WAGTAIL was nodding about, tail wagging, along the emptied-out pool of the resort: And one of the trees in the garden was just covered with these YELLOW-FOOTED GREEN PIGEONS! On a silk-cotton tree, this TREE PIPIT hopped around as I desperately tried to get a halfway decent shot: And in the foliage sat a VERDITER FLYCATCHER, which I have seen in Valley School! Off we went on the safari, and we saw this ASIAN BARRED OWLET: Soon it was raptor time, and this GREY-HEADED FISHING EAGLE came into view (we saw several during our trip) Far in the distance sat an old friend, the CRESTED SERPENT EAGLE: </lj-cut> As I was making this post, it turned 2 am, and promptly the BSNL server message went from "automatic" to "manual"...I could no longer send or receive anything. Well, I have covered the photographs of the birds of Kaziranga, but the birds of Nameri will have to wait... Will be calling BSNL to complain...it's now 8.30am and still the connection says "manual", and it's my Vonage modem which is working now. Part 2 (Nameri) will be posted shortly.