birds of india – Riya's own space

Beautiful frames to make in OMH

Bird photography at Old magazine house forest resort

In two of my earlier blogs, I have talked a lot about this birder’s den that belongs to karnataka forest department situated in the beautiful location near to Dandeli, i.e Ganeshgudi. If you haven’t go through them, here are the links to them.

Old Magazine House, Ganeshgudi

Ganeshgudi~ A birder’s paradise

In today’s blog, I will be more talking about the beautiful photographs that you can make in their birder’s hide organised by the OMH team just for watching and taking snaps of the birds that come to take a dip in the fresh water and perch on the little branches above them. So lets get into the frames that I created and decide whether they are worth the word ” beautiful” or not.

When in the wild, its quite difficult to first spot the bird, then wait for it to come and take an open perch and then take the perfect shot with correct exposure. But, when you are birding from a hide out, the difficulty level goes down a bit and chances of getting more perfect shots increases quite a bit. So I was quite excited about the idea when i booked my room in OMH. And nevertheless to say I had an amazing first time experience. So lets jump in to the shots that I have selected here to just show you the kind of frames that one can imagine getting here.

PS: Here in this blog, you wont see all the bird species or all the frames that I have made, but a very few of my favorites I recently processed. Others are there in my other posts,the links to which are above 🙂

White Rumped Shama was one of the birds that was on my mind when I planned for OMH in the first place.Its probably because of its beautiful pictures that I have seen in my instagram feed. Hence I waited for it to find its way to the bird bath for the two days I have booked room for. But it only arrived an hour before I was about to leave on the third day early morning. My happiness had no boundaries and I clicked the individual in all possible manners. Here it is when it sat on the bird bath for a quick fresh dip. The sun was beautifully lighting up his eyes. I loved capturing it.

This was my very first glimpse of the beauty. Stunning ..Isnt it?

And this was the kind of shot I thought of taking. Splashes of water everywhere. What a marvelous bird it is to photograph. Its delighted to see it bath .

One of the most common birds you will see foraging on the ground around this place or any other wildlife sanctuaries in Goa/karnataka is an orange headed thrush. Still this was one of the positions that I loved taking shots. Eye level shots when you don’t need to lie down on ground on your tummy. The beautiful close up with my 150-600mm creating a lovely bokeish background, nietherless to say about my happiness.

Hey, have you seen my tail? Asking the dark fronted babbler 😀 When babblers take bath in low light, you get frames like these. A very low key image making an almost dark background.

Discussing about global warming here 😀 They are adorable to watch and even more adorable with their cunning stare. Light was okayish on them as I shoot.

Talking of adorable birds, there has to be place for oriental white eyes. The spectacled birds come in bunch to play in water and gives you ample opportunities to make frames. I saw them each time I was at the hide.

This was the number of white eyes that perched on this beautiful branch for me. Isn’t it making an adorable frame? Though it was taken at really low light and edited henceforth to make it bright and more eye catching.

You cannot miss clicking a black naped monarch when in old magazine house. They may seem common there but don’t get misguided by ignoring them. They never disappoint you, so click them each time they show up. Look at the background I have got here. Different and very pretty.

Oriental white eye & Black naped monarch

Another amazing thing to do in here is to make frames of different birds on a single perch. I have photographed bulbuls, white eyes, monarchs, yellow tits, like this. Sometime, some where they do show up together. Hence an mesmerizing opportunity you should definitely grab.Always look for up the perches and not the bath tubs. My personal preference is to watch them while bathing and click them while drying up.

Here is a close up of this beautiful flycatcher just after the shower. I have had more beautiful pictures of these beauties in here : Ganeshgudi~ A birder’s paradise

Another definition of cuteness is the female counterpart of the white bellied blue flycatcher. Such a poser it is. Look at the cleanness it provides . Just beautiful to capture and calm to eyes.

Another close up shot of the stunning spider hunter who did not plan to give us much time to click him on any perch.Takes a quick dip and leave. I missed photographing it on natural perch, you may not.

Another old world babbler giving a striking pose in between the branch bend.

Frames like this are so satisfying to make with winter migratory birds like this blyth’s reed wabbler here who loves to spend winter in India, sri lanka and bangladesh.

Who doesn’t love a paradise flycatcher.. everyone does. I saw all sort of paradise flycatchers here but unfortunately shareable images I could only make of this female one. I saw white and Rufus morphed males quite a few times. Using a tripod helps you getting this bokeh.

Tickells blue is another common flycatcher of western ghats, but perches like this aren’t just everywhere to be found. Look out for them as well. I love this shot 🙂

Such a beautiful frame for this cutie. If you are lucky , you can see a lots of migratory flycatchers in winter and obviously make amazing frames.

The same bird showing its back asking me to stop for today now 😛

These are just a few example from my recent collection of favorite frames from this particular bird hide. Other beautiful birds that I shot at this particular hide were : Emerald dove ( 4 of them at once), taiga flycatcher, yellow browed bulbul, flame throated bulbul ( giving enormous poses and frames to create), brown fulvettas, jerdon’s leafbird, indian black bird, indian yellow tit, and many more. watch out at this section of my website for more 🙂

Many more to come… See ya there.

Olds:

Ganeshgudi~ A birder’s paradise

Detailed information about the resort :

Old Magazine House, Ganeshgudi

Other bird photographing activities:

Zuari river ride ~ Birding in Goa

Migratory Bird Area, North Goa

Birding in Pilerne lake, North Goa

Any question or suggestion are most welcome in the comments. Would love to response all of them 🙂

Connect to me on instagram @riya_wingstofly

Until next time,

Keep clicking, keep sharing love and awareness. Know birds, Know life ❤

Much love,

Riya

Ganeshgudi~ A birder’s paradise

What Can I say more about Old Magazine House that hasn’t been already said by the bird
watchers since ages. A birder’s paradise is what we all know this place being called. And its true to its word. You will loose your mind to reach up little close to your soul in the nature that this resort provides. I had very high expectations (I know one shouldn’t have when it comes to our avian friends who have full freedom to fly away wherever they want) when I booked room in here and let me tell you, I wasn’t at all disappointed even for a minute, not only because it was my first birding trip outside Goa but also because you will be so busy listening to the chirps and watching their tantrums on the bird bathes, that you will be forced to forget everything else in the world and just live in the moment. And these moments aren’t limited there. You just need to grab your camera or binoculars(if) and jump into the moment.
In my last post I have already discussed every keen details about the resort including stay options, activities, staff, food etc. You can always go through it from here– Old Magazine House, Ganeshgudi

In today’s session I would be concentrating on the variety of birds that I got to see in the first day of my 2 day trip, mainly that is what we want to know right? Lets jump in then.

We left Goa early in the morning but it took time on the way due to deforestation after entering Karnataka. When we reached at around 1pm, we checked in within minutes, settled in for a few minutes, freshened up took my camera ,binocular, tripod and went straight to explore the place. Just outside our building with rooms, a few old people from England were having their silent time watching birds sitting on the edge on chairs, with whom later I made good of friends and shared some nice evening time. I felt calm looking at this view. Moving on amidst the beautiful jungle resort, we reached where we needed to be. The hide and the food court. As soon as I set up my tripod and camera, it was time to feed our starved stomachs.

By the time I went to have lunch, we had an awesome session by two Malabar giant squirrels. I was immensely happy looking at their activities. They are so naughty and cute that I wanted to bring one of them home 😀

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After having an amazing home cooked veg/non-veg buffet, we were back to the hide by
2.30pm that is when the most activities can be seen. If your are there, don’t miss the evening birding session in the hide between 2.30pm to 5pm or till dusk. There were just a few other birders beside me as it was mid week that we went to avoid the weekend rush, who waited patiently for the birds to come and take bath one by one or all at once sometimes 😀

The first bird that came for me was a yellow browed bulbul and a few oriental white eyes. White eyes are quite common there and gives you poses every now and than. The maximum number I could capture in one frame is 6.

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The next bird I would like to talk about is a stunning yellow body with black head and red throat is the flame throated bulbul,the state bird of Goa that I saw for the first time in Ganeshgudi. It was quite the show stopper for the day that I personally loved capturing.

The Indian yellow tits were also there peeping once in a while on the bird baths along with other yellow feathered species.

The dark fronted babblers took their positions on the perches to stare at us and giving angry looks. I say this because whenever I go through the images I clicked of this babbler are all with the almost the same look. They depicts the perfect ‘angry bird image’.

Another stunning bird that caught everyones attention was the Indian black bird. It should be named as the ‘Indian black beauty’ with its sharp features and eyes. Here is the image of one such rare moments where the Indian black bird is posing for me on the bath while the background was being designed by the very beautiful and colorful Emerald dove.

Here is the close up of Indian black bird after a quick bath.

How can I miss the color popping bird out of all. The definition of cuteness Black naped
Monarch who is also a known attraction of OMH.

The monarch came quite a many times to attract our attention but failed to when the majestic Emerald doves arrived. It is said that a maximum of 4 emerald doves come there and I was lucky enough to witness them all together.

Now its time for some very pretty flycatchers as they are the highlights this season. The white bellied blue flycatcher to get started with. Here is one pretty male.

Here comes the female with no blue patches on it. She became quite common in sometime for the next two days just like the flame throated bulbul.

When we get to click frames like this with 3 species on a single perch 🙂

PicsArt_02-24-01.21.42.jpg — Oriental white eye, black naped monarch,Yellow browed bulbul

Another stunning bird without which my OMH would not have been accomplished. When I planned for this trip,this bird was on the top of my list which I only got to see in the 3rd day morning before leaving that amazing stay. White rumped shama for you all. I will talk to you about the next two days in my upcoming blogs. So stay connected. Lots of beautiful bird images on the way 🙂

PicsArt_02-24-01.39.41.jpg — White rumped shama

We were talking about flycathers, so here is one cute migratory flycatcher. Taiga flycatcher.

Other birds that we got to see in the campus but did not give us a perch in light were, racket tailed drongo, leafbirds,munias, a few more flycatchers and the great of all- the trogan couple.( wait for my next post )

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One or many, A dandeli related blog cannot end wihout a hornbill photograph. So here is one Malabar Pied hornbill couple roosting under the sun.

A few more images from the same hornbill sighting that we got to witness when we were taken on the jeep by the OMH bird guide to the exact place-the bridge where they come to roost everyday after taking dips in the river kali.

Malabar pied hornbill in flight (low light evening shot)

So, this was almost all about my first day in Old Magazine house. Hope you have enjoyed reading the blog as much I have while curating . Stay connected. Be healthy. Spread love and happiness 🙂

Me with husband on the River kali bridge after hornbill session

Tell me in comments if you would like to know details of any particular photograph and I would be happy to share 🙂

Until next time

Much love

Riya ❤

Parra – A birding hour

Parra, as the name must be known to most of the Indians by now who watch bollywood movies as this beautiful location has been shown in the movie Dear Zindagi featuring Shahrukh Khan and Alia Bhatt. And also the movie poster featured beautiful parra. Parra is indeed a beautiful location to shoot and make videos. I have visited this parra panchayat area quite a few times in my 2 years stay in Goa but it only became my favorite when I saw the mesmerising sunrise there one lovely morning. Scooty ride is a must in that road while in a Goa stay. I don’t know why but I feel attached to this place. And now that I know its a wonderful place for birding as well, I have made it a special space in my heart. I couldn’t make it to the place at dawn again but whenever I visit, it reminds me of the glowing sun peaking out from the bushes while I sat on my scooty, my back facing the beautiful tiny, smooth road with long palm trees on both the sides [worth reason for its popularity]. It looks amazing on the screen but you have to be there to feel the essence of nature so close to you.

Talking of videos, we recently shot a video in this particular location for Ankit’s new original tune called “LIFE” which is now live on youtube. This music takes me to some unheard realizations of life,that Life is a mere journey in circles. You walk around in search of answers which are never found anywhere. But what you gotta do is keep moving. Moving on, moving up or moving away but just keep moving. That is all LIFE is about. Isn’t it? I have tried to show it in the end of the video. Watch it in full HD and tell me what you liked more, the music or the location. Do come back in 3 minutes (plus buffering time :P) Here it is

Now enough about Life, lets get back to what I have come here for. Bird photographing. Well after shooting the video there, we went twice to have some getaway time with birds twice in this monsoon. We literally have to be mentally prepared for running away any moment as rain showers in Goa are so unpredictable. I leave this duty to my husband all the time (he is a good weather forecast for me), I simply listens to him when he says ‘time for pack-up’. So here I will show all the birds that I have spotted at anytime in Parra in my two wonderful short visits.

Birds are usually scattered here and there. You can see more than usual numbers of White throated kingfishers and bee-eaters on wires and branches. But I always go somewhere to see something unusual, something that I haven’t seen before. New wings,new habits. Nature is very creative with its creations. The best examples are the birds. We cant imagine how many different varieties and colorful birds are there in this whole planet. lets see, what all I got to see in Parra till now.

I will start with the majestic beauty. Indian national bird. Indian peafoul

A habitat shot of national beauty. Exif:: f/6.3 SS: 1/1000 ISO:400 @600mm

They were three of them that we chased that day until they vanished in the big bushes.Its always a pleasure to watch the national bird in its own habitat. Often heard a saying that they along with some other large birds destroy a lot of crops in Goa, and are hated by most of the farmers. But whatever it is, it just makes my mood whenever I watch them in the green grasslands, that is too often in rainy days 🙂 Yet to capture their rain dance though.

A landing egret. [I chose here one of the many images of each species that I clicked there, else wise it would have been a very long post with too many pictures of each species. For more images of a particular bird, I will give a link to my detailed post about that bird whenever and wherever available. I will keep on posting blogs about my new bird shots]

About to land. Exif :: f/8.0 SS-1/1000 Iso-360 handheld @ 360mm

Post on Egret: Egret

Oriental magpie Robin -juvenile

Close-up. Exif :: f/6.3 SS:1/1250 ISO:1250 @600m

I selected the closeup shot here as I liked the details on the young bird’s body against the natural green background. I will use the bokeh background shots in my upcoming blogs. so stay updated with me.

Detailed post of Oriental Magpie robin: Oriental Magpie robin (Copsychus saularis)

A commoner White throated kingfisher

Close up. EXIF:: f/6.3 SS:1/1250 ISO:800 @600mm

This is a close up image of white throated kingfisher I made,that took a perch on a high cemented post against a very dull sky. Check out full detailed post of White throated kingfisher here.

My favorite image from Parra session ,1st day, is of a very common water bird. Indian pond heron.

Spreading the wings. EXIF:: f/6.3 SS:1/1600 ISO:640 @600mm

I loved how it showed its big wings with white underparts. Detailed post on Indian pond heron here.

A very fluffy green bee eater/ or may be Indian version of little bee eater.

Look at me. Exif:: f/6.3 SS: 1/800 ISO:1000 @600MM

Bee eaters usually perch on high wires and have been found hungry catching bees most of the time. This one for a change was having its own time alone with no intention to hunt. Have a look at a juvenile below.

Juvenile green bee eater. EXIF:: f/6.3 SS:1/1250 ISO:800 @600MM

Here is one Red wattled lapwing image for you all.

Red wattled lapwing. EXIF:: f/6.3 SS:1/1250 ISO:500 @600mm

A habitat shot of Red wattled lapwing. Rule of thirds works so well in habitat shots when your subject is in tact focus.

Lapwings are ground birds that cannot perch on a tree or wire, hence always a ground level image unless its flying which makes a beautiful composition because of its color against the lush green grasslands.

Now lets have a look at the small passerine birds that often went unseen by most of the people. But birders go hunt for their one sight. The little munias, weavers and finches are delight to watch. They are almost always together in quite a few number creating a chui-chui-chui sounds 🙂

House sparrow with nesting material. EXIF:: f/6.3 SS:1/1250 ISO:400 @600MM

House sparrows were too common when I was a child and was the only bird that was seen everyday in a big numbers except crows. North Indian people often consider sparrows when they use the word ‘chidiya‘ (hindi word for BIRD actually). So much known bird, but only decreasing in number day by day due to lack of habitat. They are hardly now seen in urban areas and hence a delight for photographer to take some good shots before they go risk in the extinction meter. (Wishfully they don’t).

Scaly beasted munia

A large number of scaly breasted munias can be seen in Parra feasting at the ground with a few white rumped munias and baya weavers. I wish I could go ground level to get their better shot. But I had to do my job from the road while they enjoyed on the muddy field.

White rumped munia. Chose the close up one for better details.

White rumped munia. EXIF:: f/6.3 SS: 1/1000 ISO:800 600MM

A bunch of them visited my house one rainy day. wait for my upcoming balcony birding posts.

One of my favorite weavers, BAYA WEAVER.

Ms. Baya weaver .EXIF: f/6.3 SS:1/800sec ISO:400 , spot metering , no flash, hand held @600mm

I absolutely love how this close up image turned out and I thank the individual for perching close enough for a few seconds. Sadly I haven’t came across any baya weaver nest by now and I am eagerly waiting for that, and once I get that I won’t wait for a second to share with you all as they are known as the most intelligent birds with architectural qualities for their immensely brilliant nests they make.

An ashy prinia.

Ashy prinia. EXIF:: f6.3 SS:1/1250sec ISO=250 handheld @600mm

Again used rule of thirds to create this image of Ashy prinia which I often see these days from my balcony as well as they seem comfortable with me now. Knowing about new birds is always so fascinating but knowing new facts about the birds that were always around you is even more fascinating.

Learning and gaining knowledge has no end. So for me,its everyday that I learn something new. I am ending up my parra birding session with this beautiful shot of a common butterfly.

Beautiful butterfly . EXIF:: f/6.3 SS:1/1250 ISO:640 @267mm 😛

Hope you all have enjoyed as I always do while creating up my post. And if you have any queries or you visit this place, don’t forget to leave a comment for me 🙂

Some more images in my next post.:)

Until next time,

Much love,

Riya

Red Whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

Hello lovelies,

First of all, a very happy and warm new year wishes to all my bengali and punjabi friends( I belong to both the communities :D) May your life gets better each year. And for me,may this year brings more and more opportunities for photographing the most beautiful creations of God i.e. birds.

In my last week’s post, I have started a series on “About the bird” with my very first post on White throated kingfisher. If you haven’t read it yet, HERE’s the LINK.

So today’s post is on yet another one of the most beautiful yet common bird in India and outside.

Before we start, I want to share a little, very little, happiness of mine. There is a non profit organization called “Wild bird Trust” who runs a blog on behalf of National Geographic and shares “Top 25 birds of the week” ever week depending on the theme of that particular week. So last week’s theme was “The birds that were saved by MBTA (Migratory birds Treaty Act-1918)” and one of my images was selected in this week’s Top 25 birds. The selected image is of ‘Little Stint‘ that I clicked in Carambolim lake in Goa on 31st of march 2018. Have a look.

Little Stint . *Exif: f/7.1 exposure-1/320 sec ISO-100 @484mm*

Feel free to have a look at the Top 25 birds by National Geographic for the 2nd week of April 2018. -> https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2018/04/13/top-25-mbta/

By now, you all must be knowing that I use my nick name ‘Riya Roy Pahuja’ as an alias for my photographs.

NOW, lets get back to business 😉 Today’s lesson.

Red Whiskered bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

Red Whiskered bulbul or crested bulbul (Scientific name – Pycnonotus jocosus) is a passerine bird found in Asia and one of the most common in bulbul (Pycnonotidae) family in western ghats (where I live). I can say this because I meet them every morning 🙂

*The beautiful perch. Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/800sec ISO-100 @600mm*

Bulbul family has around 150 species ,out of which a very few are residents of India. Red whiskered bulbul sized around 20cm in length and considered as a medium sized bird. Not easily recognized from a very far distance but quite easily distinguishable from a little closer.

*Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/640sec ISO-320 @435mm*

Unlike Yellow throated bulbul, which is the state bird of Goa, Red whiskered bulbuls have a beautiful black crown on their head and red face patch makes the beautiful cherry cheeks with white patch on lower ear-coverts bordered below by black moustachial stripe.

*Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/500sec ISO-500 @600mm*

The upper body parts are almost brown with white under parts with a dark patch running onto the breast at shoulder level. They have not-so-curvy beaks, long tails (with terminal feather tips )and sharp feet that rolls around the tree branches making it easier for them to perch on almost everywhere and anywhere.

*The portrait. Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/800sec ISO-100 @600mm*

They live for around 11 years. But they make sure they are heard till they die. Their very distinctive 3-4 note call “kink-a-joo” can be heard almost all the time when there is a red whiskered bulbul nearby. Their call has been described as “nice to meet you” at some places and their song is called the scolding chatter.

*Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/800sec ISO-250 @600mm*

They are mostly seen in groups of 2-4 and love to sit on the top of tree branches and call loud in the mornings(sometimes with other bulbul species too). They love to fly and change perch frequently but seems like never wanting to break the bond.

*The pair* . *Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/800sec ISO-800 @484mm*

Red whiskered bulbuls feed on fruits, flower nectars and insects.

Breakfast. Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/500sec ISO-500 @600mm

This active species resides in lightly wooded areas, open forest, gardens, orchards, bushes around villages and cultivation. This particular bulbul is known to be a famous cage bird ( 😥 ) in south east Asia, once in India too ,but thankfully not any more.

[ My personal view : I don’t support caging of birds as they belong to wild and had been created by nature in such a way that they can adjust with the wildness of their habitat. Human interference only disturbs them. ]

*Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/800sec ISO-320 @361mm*

They breed once or twice in a year. Season includes december to may in southern India and march to october in northern India. Males usually bow their head, spread the tail and droop their wings as courtship display.

*Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/200sec ISO-100 @600mm*

I often get chance to photograph these little beauties and I call them my friends/sisters as I see them having their breakfast and singing. My husband has started calling me ‘bulbul ‘ so you may understand the relationship between bulbuls and I 😀

While they fly, they display their white under parts and shades of brown and white through their wings. Currently they are my alarm clock. I love to wake up with their songs 🙂

*Exif: f/6.3 exposure-1/320sec ISO-500 @600mm*

My gear- CANON + SIGMA

Location-Goa,India

So this is it for today’s birding session nature loving people. I hope you have gained some knowledge as I did while documenting all about Red Whiskered bulbul. I will see you all on next birding session. Till then happy birding. Be blessed.

Much Love,

Riya