Birding in Dandeli-Anshi-Ganeshgudi: April 2016

Witnessing freedom of birds is indescribable...we visited Ganeshgudi-Pradhani-Anshi in Summer of 2016...this place comes in NW Karnataka which homes rich flora and fauna, including over 200 species of birds...blessed by river Kali....no wonder it is lush green....btw, we are six birds; three generations, 3-girlz and 3-boyz - Mom, Wifey, Pop...including two birdies, Aditya and Vidyalakshmi...and...i..:) 

  
Along the banks of Kali we witnessed a flock of Malabar Pied Hornbills, which are residents in the Western Ghats...and a ride in a coracle allowed us to frame the romance among these heavy bills, believe me blokes, they are not shy of PDA...they make knocking sound, clapping their bills against each other...you will capture this magic if you chose to visit the place after 5 pm, just before the dusk we saw these biggies crossing the river banks and displaying romance in air, and this gave veda and i a moment of our own to exchange a smile...

The ride got us close to ever hovering River Tern in action...diving...for a luck-for-a-munch...we recommend to carry a fast fps camera body with minimum 400 mm f/5.6L lens to frame this white glory...above us were the Little Cormorants flying in the high skies...showcasing the formations....veda gave an excited shout to see the "jewel of the thicket", the Indian Golden Oriole...baba, adu and even chutku were quick on their feet and this forced the smooth floating coracle to give us an SOS...:)

The coracle ride, as if was not enough, we visited Ganeshgudi next morning at dawn and found that Mruthyunjayya, our naturist had different plans...he took us on the main road and we said, "what?, no!"...but we found that the easiest and the best location to spot birds was walking on the road facing west....looking at the fruiting trees....we were welcomed by the very Sun's angel...the Orange Minivet...not one, or two but sometimes more than 3 on the same branch and these were no less than mr. Indian Golden Oriole....baba was excited to witness these red-flames using his binocs...his expressions walked me in nostalgia when i saw the bird first time, myself. As we strode, we realized that the Orange Minivet was not the only one, we were greeted by a great "hi" from White-rumped Shama male and bro...what a beautiful bird it was !!! 

Later, we witnessed Cicada being caught by White-cheeked Barbet, which is commonly spotted in the Western Ghats of India. Cicadas produce loud sound from their tymbals, so next time if your vehicle crosses their territory and you hear the sound but do not see anyone around, do not make too many guesses, just wave in air, they would wave back...or sound their presence. 

As we walked along the road, we saw many such colors of nature, such as jackals peeping out of bushes and aai was speechless, the Pampadour Green Pigeon or Grey-fronted Green Pigeon staring at us, one tail missing Greater Racket-tailed Drongo; Jerdons and Golden-fronted Leafbird camouflaging in the leaves - even now when i revisit the frames, i say "why did i click the leaves"; Yellow Wagtail crossing the road with its characteristic wagging of tail and the usual suspect, White-throated Kingfisher was as if keeping the company in all our visits to the woods...the colors were too many for me to capture in one visit and thus Ganeshgudi-Pradhani-Dandeli-Anshi area calls for a second cheers...

...standing in front of the trees, the magic of birds easily swayed us into them...in the deep...where breath just slows down...we cannot really wait to visit the splendid  "vocabulary" of birds, again, tidlidooo !!!