Harshad Barve
02-02-2010, 05:30 AM
Dear all
It was month of august and I was pretty much relaxed and all NP in India were closed for heavy monsoon. No way I could go out to sight stripes. It was raining heavily and my cell phone delivered me SMS of Adesh Shivkar , the most talented birder of India ( BPN Member ). Start tonight for Mumbai , I had no clues but I was sure he must have sighted something special. I just replied what kit I should carry. Got reply 600mm, tripod , raincovers and camera body. I called up taxi and we were off the road to Mumbai.
It was 4 in morning and I reached the place. After talking to Adesh on his cell and after his guidence I was near the foothiils of one 3500 feet hill. I was suppose to hike that. I was confident to climb soon and started to hike. Within 15 mins of hiking with 20 kg on my back my confidence was dashed by mother nature and I realized that it was darn steep. Leopard was calling and it was heart sinking morning for me. I had only tripod to fight. After few mins I got relaxed and I assured myself, Harshad you love big cats and I was hoping they too love me.
It took nearly 3 hrs to climb and Adesh was kind enough to climb down 1000 feets to help me. There was one temple on hill top and we had nice cup of coffee there. The hot coffee relaxed me bit and I was eager to meet JEWEL OF JUNGLE. Adesh asked me relax a bit and get over my excitements. We started walking around to find him and within few mins we heard loud whistle of Jewel , The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher.
I was ready with Camera and fired 10 frames. Images were not worth enough but I was stunned to see this beauty. The fluroscent colors , grace and speed left me speechless and it was Adesh who pinched me after bird flew away. We hugged and all my pain was gone. The weight of kit and pain in hiking was paid off by this sighting and now we were eager to make most of the oppurtunity.
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/5706/0dkf117.jpg (http://img59.imageshack.us/i/0dkf117.jpg/)
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6523/77317799.jpg (http://img508.imageshack.us/i/77317799.jpg/)
Soon Adesh found out the location of his nest and I found myself in hopeless conditions. The nest was inside the rocks in water stream and there was no chance to photograph. After looking at my face Adesh told me not to worry. YEIL RE TO PARAT , FANDI SHODU AAPAN ( he will come back and lets find the perch where he seats )
Experties of Adesh made sure that we find a perch where he perches before he enters the nest. We hide ourself behind the bushes and ODKF landed there with food in his beak. After that he arrived so many times with so much variety of food. Three hrs of shooting , 12 gb of memory and hundreds of keepers.
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/1807/0dkf7.jpg (http://img42.imageshack.us/i/0dkf7.jpg/)
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/9145/0dkf14.jpg (http://img535.imageshack.us/i/0dkf14.jpg/)
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/8041/odkf1.jpg (http://img46.imageshack.us/i/odkf1.jpg/)
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1/odkf2.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/i/odkf2.jpg/)
As a we were keen not to disturb bird , we left place once we found the pair was resting. We were back to temple and had awesome Maharashtrian lunch. After lunch and short rest we decided to decend. Soon I found slippery hill was more difficult to climb down:eek::eek:. It took 2 hrs to climb down and we were so happy.
I dropped Adesh on the way and my taxi was running back to Auarangabad. In the morning I processed few images and posted them on Indianaturewatch.net and BPN. I was surprised to see so many people appreciating. For rest of life I am indebt to Adesh and ODKF
The ODKF is a breeding migrant to our region and very little is known about its wintering grounds…..I suspect, it comes from Sri-Lanka, but this needs further study. Though, it is from the Kingfisher family, its diet consists mainly of insects, crabs, lizards, geckos, mantis etc….. The mango orange underparts, iridescent blue mantle, the dazzling lilac head , coral red beak, glistening purple rump….ODKF is like that only :)
I hope you will enjoy images
All Suggations and comments are most welcome & much appreciated
Harshad
It was month of august and I was pretty much relaxed and all NP in India were closed for heavy monsoon. No way I could go out to sight stripes. It was raining heavily and my cell phone delivered me SMS of Adesh Shivkar , the most talented birder of India ( BPN Member ). Start tonight for Mumbai , I had no clues but I was sure he must have sighted something special. I just replied what kit I should carry. Got reply 600mm, tripod , raincovers and camera body. I called up taxi and we were off the road to Mumbai.
It was 4 in morning and I reached the place. After talking to Adesh on his cell and after his guidence I was near the foothiils of one 3500 feet hill. I was suppose to hike that. I was confident to climb soon and started to hike. Within 15 mins of hiking with 20 kg on my back my confidence was dashed by mother nature and I realized that it was darn steep. Leopard was calling and it was heart sinking morning for me. I had only tripod to fight. After few mins I got relaxed and I assured myself, Harshad you love big cats and I was hoping they too love me.
It took nearly 3 hrs to climb and Adesh was kind enough to climb down 1000 feets to help me. There was one temple on hill top and we had nice cup of coffee there. The hot coffee relaxed me bit and I was eager to meet JEWEL OF JUNGLE. Adesh asked me relax a bit and get over my excitements. We started walking around to find him and within few mins we heard loud whistle of Jewel , The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher.
I was ready with Camera and fired 10 frames. Images were not worth enough but I was stunned to see this beauty. The fluroscent colors , grace and speed left me speechless and it was Adesh who pinched me after bird flew away. We hugged and all my pain was gone. The weight of kit and pain in hiking was paid off by this sighting and now we were eager to make most of the oppurtunity.
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/5706/0dkf117.jpg (http://img59.imageshack.us/i/0dkf117.jpg/)
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/6523/77317799.jpg (http://img508.imageshack.us/i/77317799.jpg/)
Soon Adesh found out the location of his nest and I found myself in hopeless conditions. The nest was inside the rocks in water stream and there was no chance to photograph. After looking at my face Adesh told me not to worry. YEIL RE TO PARAT , FANDI SHODU AAPAN ( he will come back and lets find the perch where he seats )
Experties of Adesh made sure that we find a perch where he perches before he enters the nest. We hide ourself behind the bushes and ODKF landed there with food in his beak. After that he arrived so many times with so much variety of food. Three hrs of shooting , 12 gb of memory and hundreds of keepers.
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/1807/0dkf7.jpg (http://img42.imageshack.us/i/0dkf7.jpg/)
http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/9145/0dkf14.jpg (http://img535.imageshack.us/i/0dkf14.jpg/)
http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/8041/odkf1.jpg (http://img46.imageshack.us/i/odkf1.jpg/)
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1/odkf2.jpg (http://img132.imageshack.us/i/odkf2.jpg/)
As a we were keen not to disturb bird , we left place once we found the pair was resting. We were back to temple and had awesome Maharashtrian lunch. After lunch and short rest we decided to decend. Soon I found slippery hill was more difficult to climb down:eek::eek:. It took 2 hrs to climb down and we were so happy.
I dropped Adesh on the way and my taxi was running back to Auarangabad. In the morning I processed few images and posted them on Indianaturewatch.net and BPN. I was surprised to see so many people appreciating. For rest of life I am indebt to Adesh and ODKF
The ODKF is a breeding migrant to our region and very little is known about its wintering grounds…..I suspect, it comes from Sri-Lanka, but this needs further study. Though, it is from the Kingfisher family, its diet consists mainly of insects, crabs, lizards, geckos, mantis etc….. The mango orange underparts, iridescent blue mantle, the dazzling lilac head , coral red beak, glistening purple rump….ODKF is like that only :)
I hope you will enjoy images
All Suggations and comments are most welcome & much appreciated
Harshad