Flying beauties of Himachal Pradesh

Was lucky enough to locate the cup shaped nest of black drongo, hidden within the leaves on the top of a walnut tree. Made up of fine twigs and fibres the nest was very neatly stitched on a fork at the extremity of a branch. The Drongo is very bold for the defence of its nest. No one can dare to harm the nest in presence of Drongo.

I could locate a nest of Asian Paradise flycatcher hidden within the thick cover of leaves on the top of a Celtis tree. As read in the bird guides it was infact a compactly wooven cup of fine grasses and fibres, plastered outside with cobwebs. Built on and with the support of the branches of Khirak (Celtis asutralis) tree, it was very high so could not get the glimpse of the interiors of the nest. It was great fun watching the male and female taking turns for the safety of the nest and for bringing food. lovely!!!!!!!!!!!!

About 10cm in size this tiny bird of the size of sparrow is perhaps one of the smallest of the woodpeckers.The bird has olive green upperparts and whitish underparts intercepted with bold black spots and a soft rounded black and white tail.A blackish olive band behind the eye and onto the neck is bordered conspicuously with white bands.The male has got a orange coloured patch on the forecrown. The bird can be seen and heard continuously making a persisitent drumming sound on dead/dry branches probably looking for the insects/ants. it can be found upto an altitude of about 2000 meters normally singly in moist deciduous and semi-evergreen areas. With nesting season in April-May it drills hole in bamboos or dead branches to make its nest. Sony Alpha A230L 10.2 MP Digital SLR Camera with Super SteadyShot INSIDE Image Stabilization and 18-55mm Lens

Finally the number of bird species seen in Manali on 21st May 2011 has been confirmed to be 111.  Ofcourse the actual number of species residing in Manali area will be more.In the earlier checklist prepared by Trevor Price and others of Delhi Birds, the number of species reported was arround 140. But the interesting fact is that out of 111 species noticed now 22 species have not been reported in this checklist.So that leads us to the conclusion that the number of species would be more than 160. The birds not reported in the earlier checklist include Common starling,Black Bulbul,House Crow,Long Tailed Shrike,Common Tailor Bird,Black Kite,Slaty Headed Parakeet,Rose Ringed Parakeet etc                                                                       

Got the chance to attend the bird race at Manali organised by Wild life division kullu on 21st May 2011. It was first such initiative of this kind in this favourite  tourist destination. Many keen bird watchers from across the state and Childern from the local schools were also part of the team.The teachers accompanying the students could also not resist the bird walk. The event got a great response from the tourists who were quite eager to join the event. Apart from other enthusiasts the event was attended by Mr AK Srivastav Director Great Himalayan National Park,    BS Rana  DFO(WL) Kullu, Suveena Thakur ACF(WL) Kullu, Sandeep Sharma, ACF GHNP,Urvashi ACF Probationer,  Devender Dhadhwal RO(WL) Pond Dam,  and Sachin Sharma RO(WL)Manali. All the teams flagged off at arround 6:00am in the morning  covered various areas in and arround Manali town.Though the data of the current event is being  compiled and exact figure along with checklist is b...

  Black-rumped Flameback is the most common flameback and has white spottings on the black throat and white spots on the shoulders.. The black rump also distinguishes it from other flamebacks. About 29cm in size it can be seen in open forests and areas  in lower hills upto 1000 mtrs but it generally avoids dense forests.

The Male common stonechat(about 15 cm) is a black headed bird with white rump, orange-brown breast and black neck. There are conspicuous white patches on sides of the neck and on the wings.    Female has dark streaks on the upperparts which are rufous brown in colour. It has also got a white wing patch and the throat is whitish in colour. Common stonechat can be seen in dry fields with bushes, in scrub areas, grasslands and cultivations between altitudes of about 700m-3000m.