I was very happy to have my friends Abhijit, Ammu and Hassath over from Delhi. AMS has been an unfailing source of help with my faltering steps in birdwatching, and has never once laughed at the mistakes I keep making!

So off we went (with AMS’ friend Vinay, Rohit, and Krupakar at almost the last minute!)…so of course, the sun was still playing hide and seek with the cloud and the trees. However, the drizzle that we started with, did stop, and the sun came shining through the foliage:

For more pics, click here We ambled through the paths, and the recent rain gave us the sight of this collection of diamonds, strung up in the air...imagine the Giant Wood Spider who has a house of diamonds, that any millionaire might envy! It was lovely to see the winter visitors to our shores; I enjoyed listening to several GREENISH LEAF WARBLERS singing together in the trees, a joyous sound. We also saw two PIED KINGFISHERS flying in formation to their perch above the "Croc Pond", and three GREY WAGTAILS swooped and dipped and chased each other through the trees...and one finally landed on a branch as if to pose for us! Our residents are no less beautiful...it was fun to watch this COPPERSMITH BARBET pretending to be a woodpecker, pecking at the bark of the tree to get breakfast. I took a shot of the JLR Hill View Restaurant as we left, with the hillock behind still shrouded in the clouds... I only wish, when there are jeeps and other cars and regular traffic on the roads, Forest Guards would not keep telling us we are not allowed on the public paths! Several jeeps and vans sped on their way past us while we were there, but we heeded the words of the guards and walked away, missing our regular sighting of the TICKELL'S BLUE FLYCATCHER. The bird list: Babbler, Jungle Babbler,Tawny-bellied Barbet,Coppersmith Barbet,White-cheeked Bee-eater Small Green Bulbul,Red-vented Bulbul,Red-whiskered Bulbul,White-browed Bushchat, Pied Bushlark,Jerdon's Buzzard,Oriental Honey Cormorant,Little Crow, House Crow,,Jungle Dove,Laughing Dove,Spotted Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Black Drongo,White-bellied Egret,Little Flycatcher,Asian Brown Flycatcher,Asian Paradise Flycatcher, White-browed Fantail Francolin, Grey Heron,Indian Pond Kingfisher,Pied Kingfisher,Small Blue Kingfisher,White-breasted Kite, Black Kite,Brahminy Lapwing, Red-wattled Leafbird,Golden-fronted Munia,Scaly-breasted Mynah,Brahminy Mynah,Common Mynah, Jungle Oriole, Eurasian Golden Parakeet, Rose-ringed Prinia,Grey-breasted Prinia,Plain Prinia.Ashy Robin, Indian Robin, Oriental Magpie Shikra Shrike,Brown Silverbill,Indian Sparrow, House Sunbird, Purple Sunbird,Purple-rumped Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Barn Swift, House Tailorbird,Common Treepie, Rufous Wagtail, Grey Wagtail,Pied Warbler, Greenish Leaf White-eye,Oriental Rohit, meanwhile, was getting some butterflies: Common Cerulean (wsf) Blue, Tiny Grass Bushbrown, Common Bushbrown, Long Brand Grass Yellow, Common Grass Yellow, Three-Ring Jezebel, Common Psyche Swift,Bevan's Tiger, Common