Eaglenest: A walk in the clouds and birds in the bushes

It was on my bucket list for a while to visit Eaglenest Wildlife sanctuary. Eaglenest is a stretch of abandoned road that connects Tenga valley in the north and Telamara in the south. This is in the western part of Arunachal pradesh and is known for some of the rare species that are endemic to the region.



Finally I could manage some time to visit in March,2016 with Toehold Photography. Thanks a lot to Sachin Rai and Santosh Saligram  of Toehold cortsey whom we we had a wonderful week.

The place is one of the most pristine jungles that I have ever visited with trees which I am sure would be 300 years old. Just to give you sense of the forest

We started our birding after crossing Bhalukpong. The first one to greet us was a Streaked spider hunter. What a start with a lifer !!



This was followed by a Blue throated barbet



Black bulbuls and Hodgson's redstart ( female)







Near the Army cantonment at Tenga valley we saw some brown dippers frolicking in a river.




We reached Eaglenest sanctuary in the evening and stayed at the Lama camp. It was biting cold. A great experience staying in tents without light ( for most part) and running water. But the view from the tent made up for it




The first sighting the morning was not a bird but an orange breasted squirrel, endemic to the region.




Sibias both the Beautiful sibia and the Long tailed Sibia are common.








There are a variety of Yuhinas. Spotted quite a few . Here are some shots

Stripe throated Yuhina




Rufous vented Yuhina




Warblers are seen in abundance. We saw grey cheeked warbler



Ashy Throated Warbler




Chestnut crowned warbler




Green tailed sunbird






A bhutan laughing thrush at a kissing distance !!





Olive backed pippit




We then proceeded towards Bompu camp with lot's of birding on the way. We saw a crimson browed rosefinch




A black faced laughing thrush



Brown Parrotbill which was the most fidgety and shy bird I ever photographed.



A Mountain Imperial pigeon whose call resonates through the valley


The birding near Bompu camp started with a curious grey headed canary flycatcher




A rufous bellied woodpecker


A typical shot taken through the bushes, a yellow bellied fantail



A striated bulbul



Sultan Tit




Large woodshrike



Saw a few wren babblers which are endemic to the region. It's amazing that such small birds have calls that were so musical. A rufous throated wren babbler



A maroon backed accentor



A fire breasted flower pecker




A rufous winged Fulvetta



Back in Lama camp on our way back a Striated laughing thrush



Can you spot the bar throated Siva?




Yellow bellied blue magpie




Spent a lot of time looking for the Bugun Liocichla , but was rewarded with this Cutia



On our way back from Eaglenest we saw orange bellied leafbirds






Black throated tit



Eaglenest is not an easy place to bird. The birds are not used to humans and you seldom get a clean shot. So is it worth the travel and the hardships ?

Well you get to see over 100+ species in a 5 day trip and if it is your first time in Arunachal Pradesh most likely 80% of them would be lifers. Though you can't photograph many of them, you leave with a lot of memories of birds which are very rare and a forest that is so unique.

Birds from Coorg and Ooty

After almost a year long hiatus, I was back with some birding action over the new year holidays.

First, I was very excited to try this new lens , the Nikkor 200-500mm f5.6 . My initial thinking was that this will be a lighter and more versatile version instead of my Nikkor 300mm f2.8 which usually required convertors and tripods.

All the images below are captured with the Nikkor 200-500mm. To test the lens,  I went to the Gandipet lake area in Hyderabad.




To our disappointment the lake has receded significantly as Hyderabad did not receive much rains this year. The year before last, we saw Flamingoes and gulls here. None of them were around. We saw some Black drongos, Common Hoopoe, Swift and Paddy field pippit.



There were tall grass/ reeds growing on the lake bed and we saw a lot of Zitting Cisticolas doing their amazing movements up in the air.






With not much action, we aborted our visit and got this parting shot of a Juvenile Common Kestrel.




Coorg:
We went to southern part of the Kodagu district near Virajpet and stayed at the Glenorma Tea Estate of Tata plantations. It is rare to see a Tea estate among coffee plantations.  The first day sunrise was amazing from our Bungalow.




We trekked in and around the Tea and coffee estates. The first day, up one hilly patch, I was surprised to see the Verditer Flycatcher. I had seen it only in the Himalayas and did not know they could be seen in the Nilgiris.




Got to see a few more birds like the Wire tailed Swallow:



the Golden Oriole




Next day, I could spot a Brown Shrike ( for me a lifer) just outside the bungalow



Also a Ruby Throated flycatcher (female) greeted us near the road


Scarlet Minivets were around at a distance,


a greater Racket-Tailed Drongo with its long tail perched nearby



and the fidgety Golden Fronted Leaf bird has always been a challenge for me to shoot especially when it is feeding.



On my way back I suddenly saw a green bird crossing the road and perching itself on a flowering tree. Being the 1st day of the year, I was in the midst of wishing my Dad and the rather elusive Vernal Hanging Parrot (also a lifer for me) was in front of me !! This shot was taken with my head bent as I was speaking on the phone.



Next day we started with spotting a group of Ashy Wood Swallow (another lifer for me) . It was great to see how they cuddle up as a group in spite of the available real estate on a branch !!



I started walking near the coffee estates. I was told that Nagarhole park which was 30 km away had scarcity of food and Elephants are very commonly seen in the coffee estate looking for fruiting trees.



We saw the rather common Chestnut Tailed Starling,



Green and Chestnut headed Bee-eaters






Southern Hill Mynas



Malabar Parakeet,



another brown shrike.




A Plum Headed Parakeet couple were having a Tete-e-tete



The best part of the tour was that we did not stay in a National park, yet the coffee and tea plantations had so much variety to offer.





Ooty:
Our next stop was Ooty. A couple of visits to the Botanical gardens and Sholas resulted in spotting a few species. This was not a very focused birding trip. Started with the commoners : House Sparrow, Jungle Myna, Large billed crow.










In the protected forest areas saw the Great Tit,

Grey-Headed Canary flycatcher,





and the Blackbird for the first time. The Nilgiri one is a separate species (Turdus Simillimus) and is sometimes called the Nilgiri Blackbird for its pale colour.




In addition, Ooty had lots of Pied Bush chats








and Bulbuls

We caught a grey backed Shrike feeding on a worm,



and talking about reptiles a parting shot of a chameleon enjoying the morning sun.




It felt good and e  to do birding after a while. So, what is the feedback on the lens:

+ Pros:

• Amazing clarity
• Versatility of 200mm- 500mm range very useful especially when the bird is near
• Lightweight
• Cheaper than other prime lenses ( ~INR 85000)

- Cons:

• At 500mm results are always better with a tripod. I did not use one and it shows !!
• Auto focusing is a bit slow at 500mm, but still better than with convertors.

If you are a Nikon user and thinking of investing in a lens for bird photography, this might be a good lens.