Mornings are foggy and cold these days and I find it hard to get out of bed and venture out of home. However, we (the hubs and I) took the dogs out for walk this morning. It was still dark and the fog made a chill run down my spine. Regardless of the weather the birds were up but only the sun birds were chirping.
Sunbirds love the nectar the Chinese hat flowers provide them. These bushes have grown wild in the park. The area where the so called tiny park was developed was the hideout for thieves earlier I was told. Our neighborhood association decided to convert that wild forested space into a park by clearing the trees here. They set up CCTV cameras to ensure that the unwanted social elements don't use this space for their nefarious activities. Now this place has become a safe haven for us.
I love listening to the clear, silvery notes of the sunbird. The most common sunbird here is the purple backed sunbird. The black feathers flash purple and sometimes a green iridescence in good light.
The low light this morning didn't help me capture these amazing colors of this bird. This sunbird was disturbed by my presence and it took off as I got close to it.
There was a lone drongo perched on a dead tree. A drongo is a grayish black bird with a forked tail. The low light combined with the dull colors of this bird didn't make things any easier for me.
Later as we walked around the park we noticed another drongo close by, this was the first time I saw a drongo this close.
This drongo was hiding in the middle of a tree. It hardly made any sound while we were there. I have heard it make a loud rather irritable noise often. Drongos are known to imitate other bird sounds very skillfully.
Beyond the park is the railway track and there we noticed a cattle egret walking around, I wonder what it was doing where there are hardly any cattle around. It's always fun to watch these guys go for a ride on a cow or a buffalo in the countryside.
The green bee eaters were all around but they were further beyond the railway tracks. We cannot cross over the railway tracks and get to the other side. This area has been fenced off due to half a dozen accidents which had happened before we came to this neighborhood. So it was almost impossible to get some decent pictures of this beautiful bird.
The green bee eater is a richly colored, slender bird. While the main body is green in color it has a bluish throat, almost mask like painted eyes and a reddish tinge on it head. This bird eats bees, wasps and other tiny insects. The Chinese hat flowers not only attract sun birds they also attract a lot of bees and as a result these bee eaters seem to hang around this place. These birds just dive from their high perches and grab these insects as they fly about hence they don't come near these bushes or close to human beings.
These birds sit high on the high tension electric wires and it is hard to see them sit still for a moment. I found it rather hard to photograph these birds because of their constant flight. There were at least about ten birds here but only 3-4 could be seen together at a time. It is said that these birds mate for life.
A female cuckoo was seen high up on the tree. As usual these bird hate to be seen by humans. It was hard to take a photograph of this one today. However, as I was attempting to get a picture a bulbull appeared from somewhere and disappeared magically.
There are a couple of trees which seemed to have died suddenly in our neighborhood. I found a morning glory vine which seemed to have clung to the tree and reached right up to the top.
We waited for the sun to come up so I could better pictures, but the Sun shone through for a while before disappearing into the clouds. As we walked away disappointed we got to see a kingfisher sitting in a rather dismal looking house overgrown with trees. The light here was once again very poor, even though it had become much brighter by then.
It was a dull, cold morning but it was worth going out in such weather. These birds brightened my mood with their magic as always do. We came back home with a couple of hungry dogs who feasted on some cookies and milk.
This was a great way to start this day. I hope you have a wonderful day as well!
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