Birding on the first day of 2017, Ramnagara
January 2, 2017
Just four of us: Jayashree, Padma, Ramaswamy and I…went to
for some evening birding, and to see the critically endangered
at the betta.
On the way, we saw three Spotted Owlets in a tree.
The beautiful rocky outcrops welcomed us in the evening sunlight.
Usually, the gates to the hill are closed, but on this day, they were open, and I clicked several cars coming down after the passengers had visited the rAmA temple at the top.
We saw a couple of
Egyptian Vultures
first:
and we were also able to locate their nest.
and then I saw this
Short-toed Snake Eagle
perched high on the edge of the cliff.
It then treated us to a flight display as well:
Muniyappa, a young boy from the nearby settlement, came to join us. He was quite good at spotting birds, too.
Jai lent him her binoculuars.
Finally, a lone
Long-billed Vulture
came out on to the ledge and preened itself, delighting all of us.
The sun sank behind the hills on the opposite side,
and I captured Jai against the moon and Venus.
We stopped at Bidadi for
on the way home, and though Jai had to do some marathon driving through the choked highway, we returned home content with our evening’s birding!
Pics on my FB album