Beauty Dressed in Green: Blue Cheeked Bee-eater by RiazSiddiki

Blue Cheeked Bee-eaters are not very common in our region – but this season I spent more time with Blue-Cheeked Bee-eaters, than Green Bee-eaters and Blue-Tailed Bee-eaters………….I must say that every minute spent in the colony had something magical about it………….

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Brown-Fronted Woodpecker by RiazSiddiki

This beauty goes on with its business (seemingly) oblivious of presence of three shooters spending hundreds of shutters on its each move ☺

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Northern Pintail by RiazSiddiki

Went on to meet the winter visitors to Head Marala………..Beautiful Northern Pintail………..our visit was sadly cut short by forest guards……….who confused us with hunters………….and didn’t allow us to sit in our hides…………still it was nice to see birds in good numbers…………

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Handsome Little Plumbeous Redstart (Male) by RiazSiddiki

It’s really a nice experience to have several pairs of plumbeous redstarts visit us again this winter………I happened to spend half an hour watching this beautiful little bird this weekend………

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Purple Swamphen – Feeding by RiazSiddiki

Wow……what a lovely evening spent in the company of large number of birds at Kalar Kahar Lake; we were greeted by purple swamphen, stilts, little egrets, great egrets, grey herons, cormorants, coots, kingfisher, marsh harrier, eagle, mallards, wagtails, lapwings, and mostly in good numbers ………….all this made our journey worthwhile………

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Male Baya Weaver looks-on for a mate: by RiazSiddiki

Baya Weavers are known for their exceptional skills in building nests………..male Baya Weavers build an interwoven structure………..suspended from a tree (mostly) overlooking water………the male skillfully weaves grass strips to form a nest………that he shows off to females with flutter of his wings…………If a female approves of the nest……..she will mate with him……….the male gives finishing touches to their home once his mate selects him………………

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Inquisitive Little Blue Cheeked Bee Eater by RiazSiddiki

Most interesting (and most satisfying) aspect of bird watching and photographing is that one gradually becomes sensitive to each and every little move of birds……..I often wonder what the birds would be thinking when they do something or act in a particular way…….it’s better than watching TV ☺

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Baya Weaver Series: by RiazSiddiki

Baya weaver is best known for its hanging retort shaped nests woven from leaves. These are sparrow-sized (15 cm) and in their non-breeding plumage, both males and females resemble female house sparrows. They have a stout conical bill and a short square tail. Non-breeding males and females look alike, dark brown streaked fulvous buff above, plain (unstreaked) whitish fulvous below, eyebrow long and buff coloured, bill is horn coloured and no mask. Breeding males have a bright yellow crown, dark brown mask, blackish brown bill, upper parts are dark brown streaked with yellow, with a yellow breast and cream buff below.

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Fluffy and Puffy: Paddy-field Pipit by RiazSiddiki

Came across this beautiful little bird enjoying the sunrise………the pictures I took of it………….came out beautiful because of directional light and golden tint………early morning shooting really makes the effort worthwhile………….

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In Flight: Pheasant Tailed Jacana by RiazSiddiki

Our time with Pheasant Tailed Jacana was really enjoyable one……….there were four birds in close proximity………what we noticed was that, sometimes two and couple of times all four birds, flew to same location…….spend some time there together and then flew back to their nests……….at separate locations………they were keeping in touch with each other ☺

Jacana flies quite low……..parallel to water surface……….and creates lot of noise while in flight…………By the look of things……….we were late visitors as the birds were losing their prime colors towards the end of breeding season………..

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