Swallows of Hampi

05-08-11

Matanga Hills | Hampi

A pleasant morning with a hot cup of tea served at 6.30am was enough to give a kick from being lethargic!! ‘Haawhh…Let’s Go!! I exclaimed positively.

Today was the day for birding at the Matanga hills (As per our discussion last night which I completely forgot this morning, as usual).This hill is generally known for its picturesque sunrise. (Unfortunately its monsoon season with the sun playing hide and seek with us) Known to few it is an amazing place for bird watching. Geared up with my camera and lens I, Eva and my naturalist Mahesh were in search of YTBs

YTBs ?

Its Yellow Throated Bulbul (Came to know now as my naturalist abbreviate it)

Any ways…

My wait didn’t last much long as a pair of YTBs flew above our heads chirping and greeting Good morning!! Their calls are very similar to that of Red vented bulbul. But today I was disheartened with my pictures and glad for amazing YTB sightings.

We decided to move back but my young and dynamic naturalist Mahesh decided to give it one more try from the other side of the hill. We hoped to encounter it lil near this time to photograph.

So we went climbing, dismounting the piled up rocks of Matanga hills. Surprisingly on our way we encountered Red rumped swallow collecting wet mud for building its nest. These gregarious birds came to pick mud from a small stream near the fringe of an agriculture land. I lay on the ground and tried some ground level shots which are published below. It made my day as I totally forgot what we all came here for; the YTBs

May be some other day!!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 5th, 2011 at 7:20 pm. It is filed under Wild Encounters and tagged with Daroji, Hampi, Wild Encounters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.