Adventures Into The Wild

During my diwali break I visited  Bandipur National Park for four days with my father. Bandipur was once the King of Mysores hunting ground and was converted to a tiger reserve under Project Tiger.  This was my 4th visit to Bandipur and I have finally seen the elusive cat known as the tiger up close and personal. My previous visit had resulted in a tiger sighting but at 900 meters away.This time we saw the tiger (Prince) while it was walking to feed of its Gaur kill. The king of the forest Prince Prince Pince Changeable Hawk Eagle with a kill Nose Picking  Indian Gaur Indian Gaur  Indian Gaur  Gray Jungle Fowl Gray Jungle Fowl Peafowl Peafowl Changeable Hawk Eagle

Parts Of A Bird To identify a bird one must first learn the parts of a bird.      Head : The bird's head is one of the best places to look for field marks such as eye color, malar stripes, eyebrows, eye rings, eye lines and  auricular  patches. The crown (top) and  nape  (back) are also key parts of the head that can help identify a bird.        Bill : The size, shape and color of a bird's bill is critical for identification. Also check for any curvature in the bill or unique markings such as differently colored tips or bands.     Chin : The chin, directly below the bill, is often hard to see on many birds, but when it is a different color it can be an exceptional body part to check for identification.         Throat : A bird's throat may be a different color from its surrounding  plumage , or it may be marked with spots, streaks or lines.  Malar stripes  may frame the throat as well, helping set it off from the rest of a bird's body. For many birds, the ch

Sundarbans is a majestic place that I feel one must visit at least once in their life time. It is very different from all the jungles I have visited till now. Two major differences were that it was not accessible by jeep but rather by boat and that the tide level mattered more than the light. The tide in a six hour period varies by almost two meters. We landed in Kolkata airport to find a queue of 50 people waiting for prepaid cabs in the airport , after a thirty minute wait we decided to try our luck outside. After three failed attempts to hail a cab we finally managed to get a cab. It took us an hour and a half to reach our hotel as we had to travel  through the jam packed roads of Kolkata. On our way to the hotel we saw many different sights.   2 October 2014 A group of 14 including three guides set of from Kolkata airport in a Force Tempo  traveller at 9 o'clock and in three hours we reached the Godkhali Port. There we got onto a boat and spent the entire day cruis

Asian Brown Flycatcher Asian Paradise Flycatcher Black Bulbul Black Lored Tit Bue Tailed Bee-eater Blue Winged Minla Cat Chestnut Bellied Nuthatch Common Kingfisher Great Barbet Green Backed Tit Green Bee-eater Grey Treepie Kalij Pheasant (female) Kalij Pheasant (male) Kalij Pheasant (male) Oriental Magpie Robin Peacock Red Billed Leiothrix Rufous Sibia Rufous Sibia Scene Steppe Eagle Steppe Eagle Verditer-Flycatcher Verditer Flycatcher White Throated Laughing Thrush Wood pecker