Seeing birds after 7 months

Hello folks! Yes. I had been silent in the blogging world for quite some time. It has been a challenging period for all of us. I had been really cautious and didn't go for my usual bird watching adventures for 7 months. We were just worried about stepping out. Covid cases have seen a downward trend in the last 3 months. Wife and I decided to go to Hoskote lake this week to check out the birds and bees around there. In this post I have also included few pictures from my garden, which I had clicked during these past seven months. 

We planned to reach Hoskote lake by 6:45 AM, the sunrise time according to weather app. But we found Hoskote covered in mist with very poor visibility...

We decided to stay in the car until the fog cleared. It was nice to watch the swallows flying around. I took a video with my phone camera...

After some time, wife ventured out to explore the farms nearby. She found this patch containing rose shrubs...

Few roses eventually made it to her plaits...

Jackfruit tree laden with ripening fruits...

Hibiscus flowers were drenched in dew drops...

Everything seemed drenched in diamonds, even the harmless Signature spider... 

The weather and the sun started to smile upon us as we spotted a male Indian Robin...

A Paddyfield pipit caught our attention...

A Black-winged stilt and a Gray heron...

It is always a delight to see a White-throated Kingfisher...

A Painted stork was patiently trying to catch fish...

On a far away tree, sat the stunning Indian Roller. Please zoom to see it clearer...

A pair of lovely Beach Moon flowers...

Black-winged stilt...

A pair of Long-tailed shrikes probably evaluating the length of their tails...

The short trip after a really long wait was such fun. I am posting some more pictures from my terrace garden...

A blister beetle...

Some moth or butterfly eggs...

A Jumping spider gorging a damsel fly...

An Indian Green Tortoise beetle...

Housefly...

A Tussock moth caterpillar...

Lynx spider eating a wasp...

It was nice to write a blog post after so long. Hope you liked the post. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Critters from my garden

I am posting here after a month. COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire in Bangalore and I am not stepping out. Today after lunch, I saw a beautiful footman moth in my terrace garden. I decided to have a closer look with my Macro lens and check out other critters. Here are a few critters I saw before the sun forced me in... 

Here's Nepita conferta - the footman moth...

One really tiny shield bug...

This one was almost invisible...

Then saw this really colourful long-legged fly...

Another angle...

A grasshopper...

I could find some moth eggs in the underside of a leaf...

An assassin bug?

Common housefly...

A shield bug...

Show stopper of  the day was this Indian Green tortoise beetle...

Hope you liked the post. Do let me know your thoughts in the comments section below...

Monarch and the chicks

Last Saturday, I happened to see the nesting activity of a Black-naped Monarch. Here are a few pics. 

Utmost care should be taken to avoid any harm to the birds during nesting season when they are most vulnerable.

Here are a few guidelines to follow during nest photography:

1. Do some research on the bird's and the chicks' behavior, conservation status etc.

2. Observe and read any signs of distress or fear.

3. Use telephoto lens and shoot from a distance.

4. Protect nest from predators and don't disturb the surroundings.

The black-naped monarch or black-naped blue flycatcher is a slim and agile passerine bird belonging to the family of monarch flycatchers found in southern and south-eastern Asia. They are sexually dimorphic, with the male having a distinctive black patch on the back of the head and a narrow black half collar ("necklace"), while the female is duller with olive brown wings and lacking the black markings on the head.

Male Black-naped monarch...

Female inspecting the nest...

Here's a video of the male Black-naped monarch made from a burst...

Some feeding shots...

I also saw a Tickell's blue flycatcher...

Ended the day with the sighting of a beautiful Little Ringed Plover...

Hope you liked the post. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below...