Cranium Bolts

Saturday, February 06, 2021

Evening birding at Hoskote

I usually visit Hoskote lake early in the morning. Last Sunday, due to some morning engagements, I visited the lake in the evening around 4:30 PM. It was a satisfying one hour of bird watching. Here are some pics...

I was lucky to spot a Pied kingfisher trying to spot a fish and make a dash...

The sky was starting to get dramatic...

It started drizzling causing a bit of anxiety to a Rock pigeon...

A Jerdon's Bushlark was happily sitting and enjoying the weather change...

So was a Paddyfield pipit...

A squirrel got something to nibble...

Then came the male Red Avadavat sporting its non-breeding plumage of dull red colors. It will change into bright red in the breeding season...

Mrs. Avadavat was seen foraging on the ground...

An Indian Pond heron...

Intermediate Egret...

A female Indian Robin was the last bird of the day. Her eyes glistening in the evening sunshine...

The sky became even more dramatic as the sun was setting. I took a shot of the silhouette of bamboo leaves and distant coconut palm trees...

I headed back home after the enjoyable one hour of exploration. Hope you liked the post. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below...

Saturday, January 30, 2021

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.

Sunday, July 26, 2020

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...