Endemic birds of Western ghats
This was long time pending.
Last month, I got a chance to make a quick trip to Munnar and Thattekad with the excellent bird guide – Eldose. I decided to go on this trip in the last min, as Eldose called me up and promised to show me two of the rarest bird species in south India – The Broad-tailed grassbird and the White-bellied shortwing. I took the next flight out of Bangalore to Cochin to meet him as my friends Ramki, Swarna and Saurab were planning to go there as well.
Traveling in low-cost airline is great for personal travels. But ofcourse you pay the price eventually. The Airdeccan bastards forgot to load my bag in Bangalore. So there I was in cochin in the middle of the night with 2 big bags of camera gear and not even a pair of extra shirt. There was a taxi waiting to go to Munnar, so I could not wait for my bag to come either. So in middle of the night, I found some shop at a village on the way and picked up the only things I could buy there – lungi and 2 very jazzy looking short T-shirts.
So anyway we headed to Munnar and Eldose being the excellent guide that he is, showed us both the birds the next day. I managed to get the best shot of the White-bellied shortwing till date by anyone and also prob one of the only photographs of the Broad-tailed grassbird. The added bonus was that he showed us a lot more endemic birds of western ghats in the whole trip. I’ve uploaded all the photos from that trip into my photo gallery.
There are 16 endemic birds of western ghats and now I’ve cracked some of the rarest of them. Eldose promises to show me the rest in 2 months time and if I can all of them, I will be the first to have photographed all the western ghats endemics.
Two years ago, I used to get amused and even laughed at looking at all these birdwatchers, who would go around the world to see one very rare bird and now here I am, doing the same in India.
Oh well.
i can’t find the photos of your new lungi! ;/
Thankfully, they were not photographically documented 🙂
both photos are v. cool 😀
thanks for the nudge. Btw 10 more days before the black eagles chick goes away 🙂
Luaghing hard at the lungi story. And about the black eagle chick…what a chance I missed by coming one day late to BRT that time…I am so glad, though, that the chick is doing well.
Yes, Kallu, I am also catching this disease that you talk of. I am going to the St Louis Zoo and looking at the captive exotic birds just for having birds to look at…yesterday I learned that the cheetah in the Zoo has had three cubs, which the authorities will not display until spring because of the cold. I am emailing someone/ calling someone there to find out if, as a special case, they will allow me a sneak peak…and if they will allow me to take a couple of pics (I am sure the latter won’t be possible though…)
hehe… was expecting the lungi photos.
ROTFL.. Cant stop imagining it 😀
“So in middle of the night, I found some shop at a village on the way and picked up the only things I could buy there – lungi and 2 very jazzy looking short T-shirts” …..
i just cant stop laughing dude ….
btw excellent pics …. and good to know that you will be able to see the rest of them also in the next couple of months ….
Black eagle … wish i was able to make it there to witness it
Found this shocking video on youtube.Have to really appreciate the kind of work you guys doing for wildlife .Keep it up Kalyan!!!
Hoping that atleast this clip be an eye-opener for everyone .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHaxsWjFquk&mode=related&search=
Indexing
So, how do you match the birds with their photographs later? Do you note down the photo ID with the appropriate bird-name in some other external document? Just curious. I’d be pleasantly surprised if you tell me that you can do the mapping later from just memory.
where are pics of you in the lungi>???
oh.. That video is so cruel. Just cudnt see it. Wonder why ppl do that.
:p
Re: Indexing
Well, I just know the bird names 🙂
I think I know most of the south Indian birds.. and even if I see a new bird in the field, I take a shot and come back and refer the photo with guide books.. and I will nail the bird ID. Once you get it, its tough to forget.
Ofcourse if I go to a new country or even say north east India, I will have to keep a small notepad to atleast note down the names of birds that I have seen 🙂
Thats a very badly edited clip. They mixed up seal hunting with meat butchers to plain chickens from farms. They are all totally unrelated and are treated in diff ways. The seal hunting is banned now and no one is allowed to do that. There are also lot of people like PEta figting for ways to kill the farm animals for their meat. They are not saying.. go veggie.. but more about how to treat and slaughter animals.
Anyway these images touch peoples heart right away.. unfortunately not the bigger things that we do in the cities which are doing worse things to people and animals in the wild.
hmm..looks like I’m going to miss that :(((
Hey make our day and wear the outfit you bought for the party tonight 🙂
Party tonite ?
BAH!! I am missing all the fun! 🙁
You missed the new year party luzer…
Ofcourse.. we had only gaurav to crack all cheapass jokes without you and mrinal.
Huh, what new year party! Its only the 16th !!
Kallu in Lungi… ROTFL. Have you ever tried one before 🙂 ?
Anyways… congrats on the photographs. Wish you luck for the last 2.
Atul and his family is off to germany next week. Hence an early one…
You being in the US.. am sure everything is shut off for the next 2 weeks.
Hey you didn’t wear your lungi!!
To JD , the party was great.It was a christmas come new year come Shanu birthday come Noella’s birthday party. Gaurav and Shreyas were on a roll making pj’s one after the other. It was like a circus act!
Re: Indexing
Hi Kalyan,
…Been daily tracking your e-mails as a silent witenss for a year now!!
Do you have any idea of the name of this bird that calls our during the months of April (we call it in malayalam Vishu-Pakshi). Its related to Cuckoo family but I wish to know its exact english name. Any idea!!
Rgds
V!nod
re:Endemic birds of Western ghats
Fabulous photograph man. Keep posting more like this.
-Sanjoy
Re: Indexing
Its the Hawk cuckoo. Its call sounds like its saying ‘brainfever.. brainfever..’
How can i get rid of my 2 month notice period 😛