Young Birdwatcher's Club

Rose-ringed Parakeet, not more than the size of a myna but has a long pointed tail.  It's green colour is a unique one and it camouflages itself very easily when on a tree.  It is difficult for a common that is a phone camera to capture a parakeet and differentiate between the leaves and the bird.  It is a commonly found bird and is a part of our folk - lore across the country.  However, it has unique features and that is it's round red coloured beak and its ability to hang on to a fruit on a tree up-side down and peck and eat it, as if defying the gravity.   They are found flocking in large groups and are fond of  eating fruits, berries, nuts, grains and seeds.   They are caged the most for their ability to mimic our languages making them vulnerable to extinction.   Parakeets hold an esteemed position in our culture as a symbol of love and friendship.  It is the vahana of God  Kamadeva .  Goddess Meenakshi of Madurai...

  Indian Nightjar The Indian Nightjar is smaller than their cousins and is found across Indian Subcontinent. They are particularly active during dawn and dusk. In grasslands, open cultivations and forests, one can hear their distinct call and flapping of the wings at the as the sun sets. Nightjars mostly sit on ground or low trees and feed on insects. During day time, they mostly sit still on the ground where they are practically invisible due to its perfect camouflage. Although they differ in colour and plumage depending on the surroundings, mainly the colour is greyish brown with little white spots in the tail and whitish feathers on the chest. Many a time driving on forest roads during dawn or dusk, you may find a Nightjar sitting in the loose soil and little reddish eyes gleaming in the headlights of the car. They sit perfectly still till the last minute before taking off when the vehicle nears. We feel extremely lucky to find this shy bird in our neighbours’ compound few...

Months of February and March, travelling through the country side in the Indian Subcontinent, you see a spectacular change in the skyline.  Suddenly, you see forest is on fire, and then, you realize that Palash is in full bloom. Butea Monosperma, known as Palash, Kesudo and sacred tree are very significant to Indian Mythology but also has a lot of value in Ayurveda.  In our Mythology, Lord Krishna plays Holi with the Palash flowers.  During Saraswati Puja on Vasant Panchami flowers of Palash are must.  The indigenous knowledge derived through generations pins the remedial properties of Palash flowers to control various skin problems due to extreme heat in the Summers.  Leaves of a Palash tree are traditionally associated with making of biodegradable cutlery known as "patrala".  Roots of the tree has medicinal properties while the trunk of the tree is used as fire wood.  Although, bright orange is the colour that is associated with Palash, you can find ...

Red-wattled Lapwing is a bird commonly seen and found in Indian Sub-continent. Very agile, vocal and graceful bird who always protects her nest on the ground by trying to misguide intruders, which is known as the broken wing pattern. It has a significance in Indian Mythology. The story goes that during the Mahabharata War in Kurukshetra, once a Lapwing approached Lord Krishna and asked about the safety and security of her nest on the ground, owing to the large scale destruction everywhere.  Lord Krishna, helps the little bird by putting a wheel over the nest to protect it. This is a ground bird, it builds its nest on the ground and is astoundingly camouflaged near a water body.  It constantly guards over her nest and gives out an alarm call every now and then because of the movements of the animals and humans. In a agrarian society it also has status of farmer's friend. Call of a Lapwing during summer and monsoon helps farmers in predicting rains. 

Shikra - An Avid Hunter Shikra, a small bird of prey are also known as Banded Goshawk and are found in entire Indian Sub-continent. Though its small in size, its a excellent hunter of smaller birds and even small mammals like squirrels, lizards and chameleons. In the mornings and evenings, you can hear sharp two note call of Shikra and flipping sound. Resident to India and Africa, this small but powerful birds, could be found even in vicinity of cities and town, especially in parks and places where there is green cover. Males have grey upper body with yellowish-white underbelly while females have brownish appearance with banded design. A curved beak, sharp eyesight, deadly talons combined with speed, they instill fear in smaller birds on arrival. A pair of Shikra is permanent resident of our society and few days back we were lucky to have a male bird visiting out garden with its prey - chick of Common Mynah. The photographs presented here are Shikra perched on our Kadamba tree with its...

A tiny little bird, which hardly is visible due to it's small size, it's ability to camouflage itself and it's constant flying around the place.   Greyish and yellowish coloured bird with a prominent white circle around the eye distinguishes itself from other smaller birds.  Because of the white ring around it's eye it is called Shwetakshi.  It prefers dense bushes and smaller tree.s for nesting. They feed on small insects and nectar.   It was after an effort of almost four months that we bring to you the photographs of the Oriental White Eye in our own garden. By the time you get ready with the camera the bird gets completely out of sight. And again you have to look for it pin point it as it never sits still at a place.

Kanchanar Trees are laden with beautiful flowers during onset of winter, it blooms to the fullest.  The beautiful flower are found in threes shades of purple, pink and white.  It is spread across the Asian Continent.   It is known as bauhinia and other common names includes Mountain Ebony and Kanchanar in the Indian Subcontinent. It attracts a lot of bees, insects and honey suckling birds and monkeys during the flowering season. We are sharing with you photographs of one such tree fully laden with Kanchanar flowers in Ahmedabad.

Wagging a tail is normally synonymous to dogs but today we are presenting a bird, which is known as Fantail because of its habit of wagging its tail continuously. White Wagtail is a bird of medium size with black upper feathers and white belly. Mainly surviving on insects, these birds are found in open spaces and grasslands with water bodies.  The Fantails have been found in many continents and are a common sight near habitats.  It also features on postal stamps of many countries. The video and photographs of this wagtail is taken in Indroda Nature Park, Gandhinagar.

Stocky birds of the size of a hen and are commonly found in the Indian Subcontinent.  Their stone grey upper part and white breast and belly could be identified from a distance.  As the name suggests these birds are mainly found near the water bodies and sometimes also in open drains in urban areas.  During the mating season you can hear a loud and repetitive croaking sounds near a water body.  They mainly survive on small fish, insects, seeds and plants growing in and around water.  We were lucky to sight this bird at Indroda Nature Park, Gandhinagar during our visit.  

Black Drongo, as the name suggests is a bird which could be distinguished from even far off due to its shiny blueish black colour and agility. Perched on top branch or a stem, with two very prominent tail feathers forming V shape, this bird is a excellent hunter of insects and bees flying mid-air. Black Drongos are very protective of its territory and aggressively react to invasions by other birds, even larger in size. Common across Indian Sub-continent, these birds are a common sight in agriculture field as well as in places with green cover in cities. Todays we are presenting some photographs and a video of Black Drongo pair, permanently residing in our society in Ahmedabad. These beautiful birds have adapted to urban invasion.  The snaps/video are taken in my own garden (on our Kadamba Tree) today morning....   

A short and stocky bird commonly found across the Indian Subcontinent is a resident of wetlands.  It is about 30 -40 cms long and a thick yellowish beak and a brownish plumage, Indian Pond Herons mainly survive on fishes and amphibians.  During the mating season males grow a very distinct greyish white plumage.   These birds are normally found with other wading birds around ponds, rivers, canals and streams.  They have excellent camouflage which sometimes enables to approach them till a close range before it takes the flight.  Because of this, there are many myths around this bird that it is short sighted but actually extremely focused on its prey. We were lucky to sight one Pond Heron at Indroda Nature park, Gandhinagar to be able to capture photographs and videos of it hunting fish in the waterlily pond and we are happy to share the same with you all.

Everybody and anybody would admire the beauty of Parijaat tree, the beautiful flowers with a an orange stalk and white petals that bloom in the late evening and night and by morning they come off the tree and are spread all around it.  It has an exquisite fragrance which encompasses all your surrounding. This tree is a specie of Night flowering Jasmine and is native to South and South East Asia. In our Mythology, Parijaat is the heavenly tree, tree of the Gods.  And it came into this world during the Samudra Manthan and because of its sheer beauty it was planted in the heavens by Lord Indra as the Kalpa Vriksha.  Lord Krishna is credited to have brought it to the land of mortals and first planted it in Dwarka. These really are the flowers of the Gods and the Gods, the only flowers, which could be picked up from the ground and can be offered to the Gods.   Parijaat has many names, one of which is Haar Shringar.  In Marathi it is called Prajakta, in Bengali i...

This Myna loves human company more than its common counterpart.  It is found to be more agile than the Common Myna.  Looks similar to Common Myna but has pale bluish grey instead of brown body and has orangish around the eyes. We found these Bank Mynas in a big group flocking around an eatery in Jambusar of Bharuch district.  It was the best case of complete trust and co-habitation of humans and birds.  The local shop keepers told us that they are so comfortable around humans that they tit bits from their hands whenever people offer them.  The unfortunate part of this co-existence is these Bank Mynas have completely forgotten its natural food habits and through out the day flock around the eateries to eat offered by humans.  In a long run this might affect their metabolism.