Dandeli...the beings (except the Hornbills)

November 23, 2010

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: