Last March towards almost the end of the season, I decided to make a dash to Bhitarkanika which was very strongly recommended by my friend Sumit Shaw as a Kingfishers' paradise.
Landed in Bhubaneshwar in the morning and with the able guidance of Mr. Anupam Dash we reached Bhitarkanika by afternoon and went immediately on a boat ride.
Lo behold and within 5 mins of the ride there were Pied kingfishers waiting on the branches
Very soon I saw my first ever sighting of a brown winged kingfisher...
... followed by a Black capped Kingfisher...
... and a common blue kingfisher to round off the day
I was wondering, what else can be seen over the next 1.5 days especially when we had such a wonderful start.
Bhitarkanika is the second largest Mangrove forest in India (after the Sunderbans) and it has one of world's largest population of salt water crocodiles.
and it has lots of birds 😊
While I have seen white bellied eagle before, I could shoot them for the first time
saw my first Pacific Golden Plover
Common Redshank
Striated heron
and Whimbrels all around
On the ground one could see Hoopoe
Eurasian Collared dove
and around the Forest accommodation where we stayed, we saw spotted Owlets
Oriental Scops owl ( a lifer)
So on day three, we focused on getting good shots of Kingfishers.
including the cleanest shot I have of the collared kingfisher.
But the biggest surprise was the close call we had with the Jungle cat
Bhitarkanika park left a lot of fond memories and it is sad to know that it bore the brunt of Cyclone Fani. Hope it is rebuilt fast and the ecotourism is restored soon.
Landed in Bhubaneshwar in the morning and with the able guidance of Mr. Anupam Dash we reached Bhitarkanika by afternoon and went immediately on a boat ride.
Lo behold and within 5 mins of the ride there were Pied kingfishers waiting on the branches
Very soon I saw my first ever sighting of a brown winged kingfisher...
... followed by a Black capped Kingfisher...
... and a common blue kingfisher to round off the day
I was wondering, what else can be seen over the next 1.5 days especially when we had such a wonderful start.
Bhitarkanika is the second largest Mangrove forest in India (after the Sunderbans) and it has one of world's largest population of salt water crocodiles.
and it has lots of birds 😊
While I have seen white bellied eagle before, I could shoot them for the first time
saw my first Pacific Golden Plover
Common Redshank
Striated heron
and Whimbrels all around
On the ground one could see Hoopoe
Eurasian Collared dove
and around the Forest accommodation where we stayed, we saw spotted Owlets
Oriental Scops owl ( a lifer)
So on day three, we focused on getting good shots of Kingfishers.
including the cleanest shot I have of the collared kingfisher.
But the biggest surprise was the close call we had with the Jungle cat
Bhitarkanika park left a lot of fond memories and it is sad to know that it bore the brunt of Cyclone Fani. Hope it is rebuilt fast and the ecotourism is restored soon.
