Cat on the prowl! The Warning calls galore!

Constant tweeting made me open my hall window and check out and amidst the foliage of the peacock flower stood this little imp making a racket of sorts, it had actually spotted a little cat in the bushes below tending to its three little ones and this one had decided they were all threats and kept on calling all and sundry!

Jumping up and down, screaming for attention!

Which it got plenty from me, thankfully hid behind the curtain of my window it didn’t see me and allowed me to get a few close up shots!

Handsome na???

Once all others were called, the babblers, mynah’s and bulbul’s he then quietly stood displaying the fact that he had poise too, he then just looked about as the bigger birds got to the job of warning all others about the cat and the kitten! He spotted them and relayed the message to the others. Job well done I say!

The look

With looks like these… the paparazzi are a given! 😀

Taken on the banks of Narmada river at Kukarwada whilst on a sunday morning cycling trip with the Bharuch Bikers! 😀

More of Painted Stork’s!

That image looks straight of the Jurassic Park Part 3 eh?! No? I am sure it could atleast have worked as an inspiration doesn’t it!?

These huge storks flew about circling over the tree top where they have a colony, trying to land on the highest perch and balancing themselves on it. I wonder how these huge birds have such balance and wonder how they are so light that they can manage to stand on such thin branches!

Bronze-winged Jacana

Whilst on the way to Vadhvana Bird Sanctuary, on the outskirts of Dabhoi village, there are lots of water bodies, quite a few of them shallow and with lots of vegetation. As I drove partly paying attention on the road, partly surveying around for birds, I saw something move on the vegetation!!

It was this fellow!

I didn’t know what species it was right away, I had to get a close up and then ask Shail or put it on Indian Birds to get to know the name! I loved the colours this fellow had! When I actually Wiki’ed this bird up I came across this very interesting fact!!!! 😀 😀 😀 I am sure all the ladies here will love this fact! 😀

Bronze Winged Jacanas have a territorial, sex-role reversed system. They are polyandrous, and the females are larger and more brightly colored than their male counterparts. The females compete with each other for harems of males to incubate their clutches of eggs. Each female’s territory encompasses one to four males and their individual territories. The density of breeding territories can be limited by habitat availability and the territorial competition with other females and their harems.

Wire Tailed Swallows

I am pretty sure most of us have seen swallow’s flying about, whether we identify the species or not. They are always seen as pretty swift fliers in the air. Because they are tiny and fly fast at a distance they always appear black unless ofcourse you can manage some day to spot it from very nearby like I finally had a chance to do! 😀

These fella’s were flying at crazy speeds over the water in Vadhvana Wetlands acrobatically grabbing insects in their flight. This bird is an insectivore and mostly catches flies when in flight!! Finally this Wire Tailed Swallow rested for a few seconds on a window and I could get these snaps! 😀 😀

Great Egret

Although the cattle egret is quite common, the Great Egret, larger in size, is a lot more elusive. Apart from elusiveness the grace with which it walks, hunts is a lovely sight. It will stand like a monk for minutes and then slowly and very gracefully does a dawdling walk with its neck extended and its wings close to its body. It hunts very much like a heron and mainly feasts on fish! A lot of Great Egret were killed for their plumes, especially in America to the brink of extinction after which conservation efforts at the end of the 19th century in America ensured the species survived.

Today we can see a fair sprinkling of these great egret in India too in winters.

Asian Open Billed Stork

I saw it.
Slammed the brakes.
It saw me.
I went for the camera.
It became weary.
I got the camera ready.
It looked alert.
I shot.
It flew, but before it did, I got this snap!

Spotted this Asian Open Billed Stork enroute Vadhvana Bird Sanctuary in a field.

Did you know?

A stork can live 20 to 30 years.
Some storks are colony nesters; others only nest in pairs.
Storks can hiss, honk, croak, squeal and whistle. They also clatter their beaks.

A bench by the lake..

When I first read about Vadhvana Bird Sanctuary about 80kms from my house I learnt they were wetlands. A sight similar to Nal Sarovar was the image that came to my mind. Shallow water full of weeds, water plants and algae was what I visioned. When we reached the place at around 11.30 after driving about 80 kms and taking lots of breaks alongside shooting all birds in all marshy water bodies and lakes of villages that came on the way we were greeted by 3 earnest fellows sitting on a table. They charged us Rs. 5/- for parking and Rs 10/- for me and my wife (5each) for entry to the sanctuary. The kid went free!!

As we climbed the first few steps to reach the level of the reservoir, the above sight was what greeted us. Amazingly the small lake or wetland looked like sea! There was a strong cool breeze and the lake almost had wave’s!!!! For me and wifey sitting on this bench and just feeling the gust of breeze in our faces would have been paisa vasool! 😀 The fact that we also got to see thousands of birds here was just a small bonus.

Doesn’t this place look just superb to sit for long hours and watch the water? In these cold winter days even at 12pm it was quite pleasant and amazingly refreshing sitting here.

In the next few days I will post pictures of this sanctuary and the birds we spotted there. As far as this post is concerned, I felt the above benches themselves deserved a post of their own! 🙂

Vadhvana Bird Sanctuary timings are from 8am to 5pm. Below is a small collage of the things that you can expect to find there and the location of the place.

The Birds :

The location