Backyard Visitors

Backyard Visitors

Off late, I have got some new visitors in my backyard. A few of them have become regular visitors and friends as well. All of them are very interesting in their own ways. Here are their photos.

All these photos were shot from inside my house. Never stepped out to photograph these fellows.

Shikra - (Accipiter badius)  -  A common urban raptor. It can be found hunting squirrels and other rodents.

Common Tailorbird - (Orthotomus sutorius)  -  This is a new member of our neighborhood.

House Crow - This one needs no introduction. A regular visitor and a friend, so close that it will demand food in the morning and afternoon. We can even get quite close to fellow and he wont mind it.

Yet another Shikra. Looks like a sun adult female.

Squirrel with its breakfast. This fellow was happily nibbling away the mango. My Sigma 50-500mm lens did the job for me.

Curious Friend. This one is a new friend. He would sit in a branch which is a bit further than this from my window. On hearing the clicking sound of the camera, he came closer to have a look. He did that every day on hearing the camera sound. And I got a real close shot!


Not just the birds and squirrels. There were some critters as well. Beautiful and scary in their own right.

Jumping Spider

Not sure what bug this is. Found it in my house one day.

Caterpillar. Found this fellow among the vegetables. Took a few photographs before leaving him out.

Crimson Rose Butterfly. Beauty written all over it!

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Bird Watching at Vedanthangal

Bird Watching @ Vedanthangal

Here are some photos taken during this trip and the past

I visited the Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary with friends this weekend to check out the feathered friends that may have come from various parts of the country.

I somehow had a feeling that the number of birds has reduced this year as compared to last year. But I am really not sure and will leave that to the professional bird watchers to determine.

Personally, I was able to spot more birds than what I spotted last year. That probably is an improvement. And that Greater Coucal which has been eluding me for quite a while was not able to do so this year. I not only spotted but also photographed the bird, finally!!

And of course, there are lots of excellent opportunities for macros as well. Never miss those.

So here goes the list of birds that I had spotted.

Red-vented Bulbul

Pied Bushchat

Little Cormorant

Greater Coucal

Oriental Darter

Black Drongo

Cattle Egret

Little Egret

Grey Heron

Indian Pond Heron

Night Heron

Purple Heron

Black-headed Ibis

Glossy Ibis

White-throated Kingfisher
Common Moorhen

Common Myna

Eurasian Golden Oriole

Spotted Owlet

Rose-ringed Parakeet

Spot-billed Pelican

Oriental Magpie Robin

Asian Spoonbill

Open-billed Stork

Painted Stork

Purple Sunbird

Rufous Treepie

White-browed Wagtail

So, when are you guys planning your visit?

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Bird Watching at Siruthavur

Bird Watching at Siruthavur

Here is the link for more photos - not so much though

I had planned to visit some "unconventional" place for Bird Watching near Chennai. Quite similar to what I had explored earlier this year. I inquired with a few people and I was informed about Siruthavur, which is about 5 kms or so off the Old Mahabalipuram Road.

I along with 3 more friends set out early on the morning before Christmas and reached the OMR around 6:30 AM. We searched for the place and to my pleasant surprise found it in the same route that we took last time for bird watching, and numerous times before for bike trips. Only that we had to take a small deviation from the route we took the last time to reach the Siruthavur lake and the adjoining forest.

We reached the place around 7:30AM, thanks to excellent sense of direction and distance of the guards in the toll booth.Once we reached there, I realized that the place had more of the native birds, that too the ground dwelling ones, than the waders, irrespective of the big lake. But that does not matter. We we there for bird watching and the purpose was served.

Following are the birds that we spotted here.




Green Bee Eater
Red-vented Bulbul
Pied Bushchat
Crested Bushlark
White-eyed Buzzard
Little Cormorant
Black Drongo

Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Pond Heron
Night Heron
Pied Kingfisher
White-throated Kingfisher
Asian Koel
Red-wattled Lapwing
Yellow-wattled Lapwing
Common Myna
Indian Peafowl (Peacock). Never expected this one there.
Paddyfield Pipit
Little Plover
Ashy Prinia
Indian Robin
Purple Sunbird
Purple-rumped Sunbird
White-browed Wagtail

The highlight of the day, according to me, was the spotting of the Peacocks and White-eyed Buzzard.

There are also opportunities for some good macro photography for people who are interested in that. This place is worth visiting another time and if we can spend more time, we can spot more birds.

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