Wednesday 12 October 2016

Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Birds of Curtorim Lake, Goa - September 2016

Goa, a lovely place and where I have spent my beautiful 12 years and still I had not photographed single bird till September this year. Frankly speaking, I always thought wildlife was just animals or mammal, but once it stuck, birds are also a part of wildlife and they are not to be ignored at any costs. From then on, I never missed a chance of photographing birds may it be Goa or Karnataka.

This Ganesh Chaturthi, I was at home and thought could go and click few birds and who knows might get some exotic birds or migratory birds. So I sped off to the nearest lake, Curtorim lake. Oh, I stay in Margao, the 2nd big city of Goa, first one being the capital of Goa - Panjim. So the first bird of the day was beautiful Grey-headed Swamphen , the next bird was Baya Weaver Bird.

Weaver birds are known for the nest they weave and they are marvellous, the way they weave is just an art to admire and that particular nest will help you spot them. The weaver birds found in India are called Baya Weaver. They are very small birds like sparrows.and they feed on different types of insects.

That particular morning, apart from Swamphen, I could not spot any other birds at that time, so I moved on a little further towards another lake and on the way spotted the nests and then there were like 6-7 nests and like 12-13 Baya Weaver birds. They were busy feeding and maintaining the nests. Both male and female were constantly working hard for their family. They would a long distance and come back with food for their babies and would feed them in such a way, which from the spot I was clicking, could not see it clearly and they would go in the nest upside down. For us it might look little unreal but for them its their everyday work. I was their for more than like 20 mins and could very well see the way they were working and we think we only work hard, but every animal or bird works hard for their living. It is the part and parcel of their life or routine.

Here are the images:


































One can easily see the nests and the upside down acrobat. They are very tiny but beautiful birds and are admired for their art of weaving such beautiful nests.

Next I found the Red Wattled Lapwing and in pair. They are lovely birds with mixture of red which extends upto teh beak and black with a white patch which runs down upto their belly and lastly the legs are yellow. The name Red Wattled comes from the wattle they have in front of their eyes. They are basically found in lakes, swamps, grasslands and ploughed fields. They are very vigilant and give out loud chuckles like "did-he-do-it" and hence sometimes called as Did-He-Do-It birds. These chuckles help as an alarm calls and hunters were tired of these birds.

So when I found them, they were very quiet and were having their breakfast of insects, snails or invertebrates.

See the images here:














After I had enough affair with Red Wattled Lapwings, I saw the Common Kingfisher, it was sitting and looking out for fishes, here is the image:













Last but not the least, saw this beautiful Red vented Bulbul, it can be easily identified by the crest over its head which gives the face a  squarish look. It is really a beautiful bird with a red tuft at the rear oart of the body. It can be found in the Indian Subcontinent. it can be found in dry scrubs, forest areas & civilised places (where I found it). It builds its nest around 2-3 m high and lays normally three eggs in one nest. It breeds from June to September.

I found it sitting on a branch of a tree, here is the image:


Wildlife and Wildlife Photography - Grey-headed Swamphen, Goa 2016

Goa, the place to enjoy the life to the fullest, and that even reflects from the lifestyle of the people of Goa (me included). Yes, my whole education, graduation, first job & PG has been from Goa, I have spent my 12 beautiful years here. I love Goa because of it's people and the beautiful place it is.

Goa is a small state of India, located on the western side and adjoining the Arabian Sea, which is popularly known as the Konkan Coast. Konkan area starts from the Maharashtra side to Goa to the North Karnataka. Since, it is a part of Western Ghats, the biodiversity has to be there of birds and animals.There are many birds you can find in Dr. Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, a lot of variety of birds can be found including the state bird of Goa - Yellow Throated Bulbul.

This Ganesh Chaturthi, a grand festival where we bring home Lord Ganesha with all pomp and grand celebrations. Every household brings the idol of Lord Ganesha was one and half day, three days, five days or full ten days, depending upon the reverence or vows you have taken while bringing the Lord Ganesha home. After the set days, the idol of Lord Ganesha is immersed in the water, so that he can return quickly next year, This festival is celebrated all over India, but mainly in Maharashtra & Goa.
So this year's Chaturthi I was at home in Margao, Goa, though we do not bring home the idol of Lord Ganesha, but we go to friend's home or relatives who bring lord home. So I decided to go to the nearby Curtorim lake to spot some beautiful birds and took my Nikon D7100 with Nikkor 300mm lens with me.

Curtorim lake is few kms away from my home and it is very vast & beautiful lake, the first bird I got was Grey-headed Swamphen. Grey headed Swamphen is a subspecies of Purple Swamphen and it can be found in Middle East, full Indian Subcontinent and China as well. It is a very beautiful swamphen with red beak, purple-greyish body. It makes loud chuckles to impress the female swamphen. The taxonomy has been just changed from Purple Swamphen to Grey-headed Swamphen, it has been divided based on the different types of colour of Swamphen, found in different countries of World.

When I was trying to spot my first bird of the day, this colourful bird appeared from nowhere and I could not stop admiring it, till I got a call from dad stating, there is one more nearby and I thought wow! this bird just made my day. When I saw it, it was just curiously staring at me and my camera. I thought it might get disturbed, but it was quite bold and beautiful and was still there only after I left.

Check the image here:





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