28 March 2010

Walk like an Egyptian........ & a Thanx giving day

Every person is unique
You may never be a king
But no matter how far
Just reach for your star,
Dreams have ways of coming true
You may be astonished at the things you can do
Whatever others say
may you make it
come true someday......


Another year has chugged past

At this years annual day, with immense help from Kirti didi we performed a play "Walk like an Egyptian". We rehearsed the play for a week, it was fun........

Now we have a weeks break........ i get a chance to go to Bombay to be with my folks.

Till then.....

adios !!


20 March 2010

Lets celebrate World House Sparrow Day............






Today's World House Sparrow Day and therefore let's celebrate and spare a thought for this tiny bird amidst us which has enlivened our surroundings for millenia.

19 March 2010

Whisper of the Wings series.......10. Common Tailorbird

Wiki says The Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) is a songbird found across tropical Asia. Popular for its nest made of leaves "sewn" together and immortalized by Rudyard Kipling in his Jungle Book, it is a common resident in urban gardens...........



This one actually was not bothered by my presence close by.

I also love to watch its tail, i feel the tail is doing the talking !!

12 March 2010

Whisper of the Wings series.......9. Purple Sun birds


Sun birds are in full plumage during this season
through out the day i can hear their calls to each other
& they look too good while foraging on the flowers in my balcony

don't they ??

11 March 2010

sketches series.....9. A Leopard resting




Here is my sketch of a Leopard resting
its infact one of my favorites

6 March 2010

Watchers of the sky....1. Changeable Hawk Eagle


Watchers of the sky is a new series i am starting dedicated to all the raptors i have seen.

This is the first : The Changeable Hawk Eagle is an amazing bird and has a lovely
call.

These pictures that i have taken are from Corbett National Park.

The first is an adult and the second is a juvenile calling.







3 March 2010

In Orchha, with the Long billed Vultures


Orchha is a town in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. The town was the seat of an eponymous former princely state of central India, in the Bundelkhand region. Orchha lies on the Betwa River, 15 km. from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh.

Mom has been there before & had seen the Long billed Vultures, so during the Holi break we took off to Orchha & i could not wait to see them.

We went by the Bhopal Shatabdi train and reached Orchha by 1:00 in the afternoon. After a sumptous lunch we went to our rooms. The balcony of our rooms looked out upon the river and i couldn't resist the temptation to take a little walk outside. I saw lots of bee-eaters and also a swallow sitting on the wires.

In the evening we had a little swim in the pool there, a very nice dinner and a good night's sleep.
The next morning was finally what i was waiting for, to go to the palace and see the vultures.
At first, I thought there would be a few vultures but by the time i reached the palace it felt as if there were a million of them. Every little ruin around, had at least one vulture sitting on top.
This was seriously vulture paradise. We came to this ruin that was like a courtyard with a tower on each side. As we approached it we saw a vulture on top of one of the towers and i got an amazing view of the bird. We then went to the other side to only find ANOTHER vulture actually sitting on its nest.




But guess what !! That wasn't it, there were two more vultures sitting on that same ruin. This was truly awesome.




I spent my afternoon sitting and taking pics & watching birds in and around the river & in the evening we went down to the river. Well, that is what we did for the next two days, just hanging out around the river, going to Orchha Nature Reserve & also swimming a lot in the pool, thanks to maasi, i learnt how to do the breast stroke

The Betwa river was lovely. We spent a lot of time along the banks, watching the river, the birds, the moon rise etc





Here is the list of some of the birds we saw

Long Billed Vultures…. Lots of them

Egyptian Vultures


Red Headed Vulture

Booted Eagle

Crested Serpent Eagle was always near by

Shikras

Common Kestrel (Female)



Green Bee eater active as ever & catching bees in flight



Cormorants fishing

Black headed Gulls & Swifts

Red Wattled Lapwings with chicks

Olive Backed Pipits

Rufous Tailed Larks

Tailor birds

Three different types of Tits

Blue Rock Thrush

Grey backed Shrikes, though never got it in the classic pose of sitting with its meal nailed in to a tree

Citrine Wagtail

Wagtail

Prinias




Grey Breasted Prinia



Chestnut Shouldered Petronia

A different type of Babbler

Lots of Sunbirds

Grey Hornbills

Pea hens & fowls

Flower peckers

Woolly necked Storks

Night Herons

Egrets

Spotted Owlets on a moon lit night !!

Finally as always all good things in life have to come to an end, so reluctantly we all headed back & me back to school !!