By anil on 2008-09-22 19:48:35 - 1 month and 29 days ago.

Flameback comes back

A chance meeting when this Flameback revisited after a long time.... there are a bunch of them who were regular visitors but I've not spotted them in a while though I hear them sometimes. Today while waiting for «my» Sunbird to come for his daily portrait session, I heard this Flameback tapping the wood of the tree behind the other window. I was able to get a few nice frames and then it looked at me straight and went on digging for worms in the bark. Meanwhile, the Sunbird was back so I had to leave the Flameback to go get a few pics of buddy...which I will add here later once I've downloaded them from the camera. Pic of the Sunbird uploaded.

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Black-rumped Flameback [Dinopium benghalense]

By anil on 2008-09-21 18:18:43 - 1 month and 30 days ago.

Becoming 'friends'

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This Sunbird comes to the Mango tree every day a few times a day and is getting used to seeing me... he comes closer [and allows me to approach a foot or two closer than ever before].
He came  perched on this branch chirping, and looked directly at me taking photographs. I was shooting into the sun directly, and therefore used  a fill-flash. The flash did not seem to bother the Sunbird. Will they be feeding from my hands next? High-hopes!

 

Purple Rumped Sunbird - Leptocoma zeylonica.

By anil on 2008-09-19 17:46:26 - 2 months and 1 day ago.

A tiny «wild-life sanctuary» in the City

A beautiful home where our friends used to live, now torn down by the property-owners to make way for yet another condo, is the lot next to ours. After the house was pulled-down, the lovely trees all chopped-down, and the ground dug up to start the new foundation, the rain water has stagnated and little «islands» have formed with the rubble, bricks and mortar. Grasses, shrubs and weeds abound. Tadpoles and tiny fish in the water pools. Birds in the shrubs. Dragon flies and butterflies.... this place has turned into a tiny little haven for these creatures. The caretaker tells me that a small Kingfisher visits every early morning and sometimes again in the evenings... I have yet to spot it. Today being a holiday, prefect to visit the little sanctuary and spend a few hours looking at the birds, and photographing them. A Magpie Robin came to take a dip, then dry out on the warm rocks.... a couple of stray cats were lurking too - hoping to find a tasty meal! They went hungry.

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Seen above are White Wagtail - Motacilla alba [the one with the 'heart' shaped marking on chest]; White-Browed Wagtail - Motacilla maderaspatensis; Oriental Magpie Robin - Copsychus saularis; House Sparrow - Passer domesticus.

Article also posted at GlobalBirdTrekkers

 

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