Winter visitors are coming................Sultanpur, Oct 2008. The Pied King Fisher & the Avadavat !!

I am so happy when winter is approaching, that is the time when a lot of birds fly in from thousands of miles away. I went to Sultanpur to check out the scene. A Pied King fisher really gave us a treat, diving into the water many times in front of us

The water hole was rather full of waterfowl; including Shovellers, Garganey, Gadwall, Common Teals, Comb Ducks, Spot-billed Ducks and a few Common Moorhens. The islands held large numbers of Black Headed Ibis and Painted Storks and a lone Asian Open bill. Also present were Purple and Grey Herons,Median and Great Egrets, Black Crowned Night Herons, the abundant Pond Herons, and all 3 species of Cormorants. On one of the trees on the island,there was quite a large raptor right at the top, but the distance was far too great for any of us to identify it. A Pied Cuckoo was also present on one of the Keekar trees next to the lake. We also saw Black Rumped Flamebacks, both species of Barbets, and a Common Stonechat.

But the colours of this Avadavat really caught my imagination.

As the day became warmer we got out of the park, but surely will be going again after a month or so to pay my respects to all the winter visitors.

We ended the morning with a round of some lovely sandwiches & a cake which was baked by my maasi.