Dandeli is a great place for birds; small wonder then, that even after missing all the thrushes that are common there, like the Orange-headed Thrush, the Blue-capped Rock Thrush and so on, we still wound up with a bird count of well over a hundred!
Dandeli’s speciality is the Hornbills, and I’ll devote a separate post to the Malabar Pied Hornbills that we saw; but apart from that…..
We started at Attiveri, where, in the morning light, we got the
BLACK-HEADED IBIS:
There was an
ORIENTAL DARTER
that flew in, and landed amongst the
CORMORANTS
and was drying its wings:
Several
STORKS
flew across the waters:
this
SMALL BLUE KINGFISHER
sat hunched up on the bund, waiting for fish:
Deep in the valley, we spotted a
SHIKRA:
We were excited about what this bird was, but when I went home, alas, it was not a lifer, but the
COMMON HAWK CUCKOO:
another familiar friend was the
SCALY-BREASTED MUNIA:
then, of course, we spotted a lovely raptor, the
GREY-HEADED FISHING EAGLE:
Our guide, Mahesh, went too close, and the bird flew rather far away, where two
WOOLLY-NECKED STORKS
were:
a
PURPLE HERON
skimmed over the water with grace:
I couldn't id this bird, Garima says it's the
BAR-WINGED FLYCATCHER-SHRIKE
and AMS feels it might be a Rock Thrush:
Krishna spotted a
PADDYFIELD PIPIT:
The next morning's birding was full of mist and I got only silhouette shots, such as this one of a
SPOTTED DOVE
and
PLUM-HEADED PARAKEETS:
Later, on the Kali river bridge, we saw several
SCARLET MINIVETS:
but an amazing and unexpected bonanza awaited us in the last hour of birding, right outside the Kulgi Camp gates; we saw an incredible number of birds, including this
BROWN-CAPPED PYGMY WOODPECKER:
as we headed back home, we stopped near a water body where we saw several
SMALL MINIVETS:
in the bamboo thickets, against the evening sky, we saw the silhouettes of the
GREATER RACKET-TAILED DRONGO:
It was lovely to see (though they were against the light) the
VERNAL HANGING PARROTS
quite literally hanging about!
I couldn't get any closer to the
HILL MYNAHS:
Other creatures included the
FUNNEL-WEB SPIDER:
the
GOLDEN DARTLET:
the butterflies were also interesting; here's a
DANAID EGGFLY:
a
COMMON NAWAB
which was a lifer for me:
A
NIGGER:
We all enjoyed snapping this posing
BLUE TIGER:
Another beautiful lifer for me was the
GLAD-EYE BUSH BROWN
...a name that made a lot of sense! :)
Everywhere, green
GRASSHOPPERS
hopped:
The only two mammals we got to photograph were the
BLACK-FACED LANGUR:
Here it is, feeding:
And since I got a good shot of the
MALABAR GIANT SQUIRREL
at BR Hills, this time I'm posting a shot of it as it flicked itself off:
Krishna also spotted this lovely fan-shaped
MUSHROOM:
this
STRANGLER FIG
has already started growing around the tree, and will, in the course of time, strangle it:
Even a
TEAK LEAF
from the plantations, looked beautiful as it lay fallen on the path:
I enjoyed seeing many types of spider webs; this one is the web of a
TENT SPIDER:
Some beautiful, un id'd
WILDFLOWERS
delighted us:
I do know that this is a species of
IPOMEAIA:
And here are all of us, making the bird list!
I got this regular
SPIDER-WEB,
glistening with the morning dew:
When one sees so much, how can one be disappointed?