As The Wheels Roll and The Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Ashy Prinia...
This passerine bird is found in dry open grassland, open woodland, scrub and in home gardens in many cities. The northern limits of the species are along the Himalayan foothills extending into the upper Indus river system. The species is absent from the dry desert zone of the west of India and extends east into Burma. The Sri Lankan population is found mainly in the lowlands but going up into the hills to about 1600 m [wikipedia]

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Oriental Magpie Robin... as if I can feel the bird in my hand...

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Indian Paradise Flycatcher...(female)
Adult Indian paradise flycatchers are 19–22 cm long. Their heads are glossy black with a black crown and crest, their black bill round and sturdy, their eyes black. Female are rufous on the back with a greyish throat and underparts. Their wings are 86–92 mm long. Young males look very much like females but have a black throat and blue-ringed eyes. As adults they develop up to 24 cm long tail feathers with two central tail feathers growing up to 30 cm long drooping streamers. [wikipedia]

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Tickell's blue flycatcher (Cyornis tickelliae) is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family. This is an insectivorous species which breeds in tropical Asia, from the Indian Subcontinent eastwards to Southeast Asia. Its range stretches across all the countries from India to Indonesia. They are blue on the upperparts and the throat and breast are rufous. They are found in dense scrub to forest habitats. The name commemorates the British ornithologist Samuel Tickell who collected in India and Burma. [wikipedia]

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Am I a doll or what???

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

White-bellied Sea-eagle tearing apart a Cormorant...

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Buffy Fish Owl...

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

The Oriental white-eye (Zosterops palpebrosus) is a small passerine bird in the white-eye family. It is a resident breeder in open woodland in tropical Asia, east from the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia, extending to Indonesia and Malaysia. They forage in small groups, feeding on nectar and small insects. They are easily identified by the distinctive white eye-ring and overall yellowish upperparts. Several populations of this widespread species are named subspecies and some have distinctive variations in the extent and shades of yellows in their plumage.

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Just got back from a week long vacation from Coonoor. We stayed at Salvation Army Retreat Center very close to Sims Park. The visited the Doddabetta Peak, Botanical Garden, Sims Park (3 times) and did some lazy drives on the mountain down till Kotagiri stopping when spotting birds.

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher...
The metallic song of the bird includes a series of clicks followed by five or six notes that end abruptly. The metallic song consists of short clicks followed by five or six notes resembling that of the white-browed fantail-flycatcher. Alarm calls include churr and clicking notes. It is a wary bird and not always easily observed. It is a forest-loving species which is found in thick cover and shade, and particularly haunts the banks of wooded streams. [wikipedia]

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

On the way up to Coonoor...

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Early bird catches the worm... @ the property where we stayed at Coonoor

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Black and Orange Flycatcher... chick
The main population of this bird is found in the high elevation plateaus (above 1500m) areas of the Nilgiris, Palani Hills, Biligirirangans (Bellaji and Honnametti) and Kannan Devan Hills. They prefer areas with high leaf litter and undergrowth in open shola grassland habitats. The density was about 2.8 ha per pair during the breeding season. It is a highly parochial bird and no local movements other than dispersal of young has been noted. To the north, it occurs in the Kudremukh National Park and the Bababudan Hills and south to the Ashambu Hills. Some old records of the species from Maharashtra and Sri Lanka have been considered dubious. [wikipedia]

@500mm, f/5.6, 1/40, ISO640, handheld

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

The blue-winged parakeet, also known as the Malabar parakeet (Psittacula columboides) is a species of parakeet endemic to the Western Ghats of southern India. Found in small flocks, they fly rapidly in forest clearings while making screeching calls that differ from those of other parakeet species within their distribution range. Their long blue tails tipped in yellow and the dark wings with blue contrast with the dull grey of their head and body. Adult males and females can be easily told apart from the colour of their beak. [wikipedia]

@700mm, f/8, 1/60, ISO400, Mono-pod.

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

White-cheeked Barbet... on a lazy drive around Coonoor
Like many other barbets of Asia, these are green, sit still, and perch upright making them difficult to spot. During the breeding season which begins at the start of summer their calls become loud and constant especially in the mornings. The call, a monotonous Kot-roo ... Kotroo... starting with an explosive trrr is not easily differentiated from that of the brown-headed barbet. During hot afternoons, they may also utter a single note wut not unlike the call of collared scops owl or coppersmith barbet. Other harsh calls are produced during aggressive encounters. [wikipedia]

@700mm, f/8, 1/500, ISO640, handheld

 

[Highway Ranger]

Re: As the Wheels Roll and the Shutters Click…Travel Reminiscences…

Nilgiri Blue flycatcher...
The juvenile is dark brown with creamy spots and a scaly appearance on the throat and breast. The bill and legs are black and the iris is dark brown. This species is found in the higher hills (mostly above 1200 m) of the Nilgiris, Palnis, Anamalai ranges, the Brahmagiris, Bababudan and Biligirrangan hills. [wikipedia]


@500mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO800, handheld