My Photo Blog

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Trip to North East India - Part 8 - West Bengal (Paschim Banga) - Lava

After completing the Tiger Hill visit we started for Lava.

It was the last leg of our trip. Spent 2 days over here birding.

Veridit Flycatcher

Need ID Type of Sparrow female

Need ID Type of Sparrow male

Blue Winged Minla

Need ID type of warbler

Need ID

Need ID Type of warbler

Need ID type of Sunbird

Need ID

Need ID

Black Bird female

Need ID type of warbler

Laughing thrush

Need ID type of warbler

Need ID type of flycatcher

Need ID type of flycatcher

Need ID type of flycatcher

Need ID type of flycatcher

Need ID type of flycatcher

Need ID

Need ID type of flycatcher

Need ID type of warbler

Great White tit

Need ID type of warbler

Need ID

Need ID

Niltava Male

Niltava Female

Butterfly:

Green Peacock

Need ID

Green Peacock

Textures:

We left Lava at noon on day 3 to Bagdogra from there we took a flight to Delhi and from there we took train to Vadodara.

Life hasn't been same since this trip. Waiting to visit North East again, this time for a minimum of 2 months to cover all states of North East.

Links to the other related posts

Part 1 - Assam - Hoollongapar

Part 2 - Assam - Kaziranga

Part 3 - Assam - Nameri

Part 4 - Arunachal Pradesh - Eaglenest

Part 5 - Sikkim - Gangtok

Part 6 - Sikkim - Peling

Part 7 - West Bengal - Darjeeling

Monday, September 8, 2014

A visit to Gir/Girnar - the home of Asiatic Lions

Another very important and must visit place of Gujarat. In fact this is the only place where one gets to view wild Asiatic Lions.

Gujarat state government has take great and care of these beasts and brought them back from extinction. There were just 180 left in 1984 and today there are 411+.

I was planning to visit since 2012 and managed to implement the plan this year in May along with a great photographer friend.

Following are the images from the tip:

Standing tall: The Lion King

King trying to get hold of a fly

Taking a dirt bath

Bruised but not broken

Afternoon siesta by lake side

You guys gotta leave me alone

Other than Lion

A type of owl

Master of camouflage: Savana nightjar

Mooted owl

Thick knee: Locals say that these bird drik water only once in a year

Gorgeous national bird

Sleepy eyes: Spotted owlet

A honey eye buzzard

Jungle crow

A Monitor Lizard

A cattle herder trying to cool off his buffaloes

Friday, September 5, 2014

A visit to Bharatpur/Keoladeo Bird Sanctury, Rajasthan

This trip was part of my first trip of 2014. We covered 3 birding spots in Rajasthan and Bharatpur was first location.

We reached Bharatpur by train, left our luggage at clock room of railway station and left for Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary. Sanctuary is located around 5kms from Railway station. We took an Auto-Rickshaw (Rs90) to reach Bird Sanctuary.

Sanctuary can be explored on foot or by bicycle. The sanctuary administation provides the option of hiring a bicycle or cycle Rickshaw. We hired bicycles(Rs 50 for 6 hours) and a Guide(Rs500 for 6 hours). In the beginning we didnt want to hire a guide, however they convinced us by promising to help us spotting Owls and NightJars. So if you are visiting don't believe any claims of Guide.

Sanctuary is pretty big and takes more than one day(Dawn to Dusk) to cover the sanctuary.

Following are the images that I have captured at the Sanctuary:

Pair of Yellow footed green pigeon.