Birding and Nature Diary @Horsley Hills

 

Life feels like blessing,when you wake up to the chirping of birds(not alram clocks)and sensation of fresh air which clear all your worries of mind & heart.

I’m yet to overcome from the chirping of birds which enjoyed for two days.Although I was late to bed(say by 4am partying under moonlight has its own charm) during vacation ,still it was so much excitement to get up by 6am.And delighted to share my pictures ,I was really lucky  to get good clicks in the morning of BIRDS.So here I comes with my clicks and bird list.

I feel proud and overjoyed to add three new additions to my current birding list-

First one is Indian Treepie,initially I had impression that there is Coucal around because of her coop coop sound …later I could figure it out ,when I saw and luckily could click it too.I hope to get better zooming lens for closer shots.

Indian Treepie

Second ofcourse is reward of the trip(because Treepie I have seen earlier,but failed to click it)- Indian Pitta which is vibrant colorful bird,I got to see in the early hours of day.It was very smooth click without any struggle.

Indian Pitta

 

Third one is…

Verdict Flycatcher-Again far away shot…guess some big zooming lens required.

 

 Rest of Birds

Red vented Bulbul

Plain Prinia

 

Bushchat Male

 

Jungle Babbler-Lots of babblers were around.

 

Red whiskered Bulbul

Sunbird

 

Oriental White Eye

 

Magpie Robin

In total saw three Hoopoe but not a single shot..

 

For me travel is now synonyms with birding.

 

Sunset Beauty

 

There is no doubt that hill stations are one best places to witness Sunset and sunrise,wrapped with those

special vibes of day.

 

Magic of Spring Collection-

 

 

Hope you had great time enjoying nature’s beauty.

Thank you.

 

Cheers

Ashu

 

HORSLEY HILLS-Memories for Life.

 

Blog number 101….Special Travel Story of Andhra Pradesh.

For long time my blogging stories are full of birding adventures with family near the close location.So this time fortunately I have change on my board.

Bringing travel memoires of hill station with family and friends.

After a gap of one year after Andaman memorable trip, another addition to my memory cloud is HORSLEY HILLS. The best part of trip was,we hardly have any checklist of places to visit, things to do and still at the end we got soul satisfying journey and experience ,credit goes to place and of course the company.

Scenic beauty on the way

  

 

 

Journey details-

Distance between Horsley hills and Bangalore-157kms

Time taken to reach place-(three breaks in between one for the breakfast and two to capture scenic beauty on the way)-four hour and back journey in just two and half hour without any breaks.

We chose to stay at Hotel Haritha which is at excellent location in terms of proximity to visit and enjoy nature especially when you have kids along with you. The Haritha hotel  itself abundantly blessed with dense green belt which is maintained excellently, Kudos to Andhra tourism for same, maintaining such a huge premises effortlessly.

 

Nearby Delights

Mini Zoo which is just opposite to Hotel premises.Again kids had wonderful time watching Emu,deer,peacock,ducks,crocodile,parrots,rabbits.For my younger one this was kind of first zoo visit which he enjoyed to the core.

 

View point which is actually gazebo where some last hour of day, watching sun go down gives u peace,calming and soul satisfying experience.It is so delightful to see sun hiding behind mountains ,taking break for the day,connecting with yourself in fast and stressed life and getting ultimate peaceful time.

 

Trekking and watching sunset –A confession to make here,although I love nature but trekking on steep mountains is something I will think twice to do…but when u have company of adventurous people, height does not matters.So it was core of trip ,trekking and reaching on top of mountains,rewarding ourselves with heavenly sunset view .I will surely cherish it .Pat on my back!!Thanks to my friend Sujata for motivating pulling me out of my comfort zone,doing something which is surprising for me.

 

Relaxing Sunset moments.

 

Some more clicks of trips

Fun @Cave

 

Kids play area comprising of different swings for kids ,perfect to match up their energy. Walking on peaceful path where we witness different colours of spring blossoms…fortunately went in spring season.The Hotel also had swimming pool which again enjoyed and cooled themselves in sunny afternoon.

 

Adventure activities for kids and elders-Rope walking ,trampoline, Archery and some adventure activities.

 

 

 

Some more raw fun for kids and getting bonded with nature.

 

 

To sum up whole journey a refreshing and rejuvenating experience, cherished memories for life.And special mention of location of Hotel and whole premises .

 

Cheers

Ashu

Black kite special-Blog #100-Khwaish Photography

After four year of blogging, taking breaks ,reviving and finally I 'm glad I writing my 100th blog. In whole journey discovered so many ideas to be connected with nature and enjoyed process all the way. Nowadays blog has turned into birding page and greencrafting team is all fascinated to discover new colour everyday .





Black kite pic taken by Khwaish



Black Kite pic by Khwaish 



Indian Robin Male-Khwaish
 



So most recent was blogging story at international school near to my place where my husband goes for football fun. As I always say when it is about waking up early in the morning, our only MOTTO is BIRDING....we give company to him not for the football but for our hobby.

In school common bird like Myna, pigeon were there, but still more captivating sightings could be seen outside the school. I would like to mentioned about some of awe struck pictures of  Black kite clicked by Khwaish!!


In addition to black kite we watched some other birds too...we are lucky everytime to watch so many birds. Enjoy!!
 

Ashy Prinia

Indian Robin Female

Jungle Myna

White throated Kingfisher

Purple rumped Sunbird

Spotted dove



Black kite (Pariah)
 

Ashy Prinia Pair

Drongo

Greater coucal far away
 

That day was dedicated to kite birding...we saw whole flock near to that school,and believe me this creature is astonishingly HUGE...initially i thought it is Vulture but that is rare view .

We have plan to explore that place more,let's see how much my husband plans going to favour us!!


Cheers
Ashu




Enjoy the clicks of day....................

Greater coucal to dream bird .

 

Saturday was one more fulfilling day ,it started with some sight s of greater Coucal which is staying in bamboo bushes near my apartment, few days back I have seen it during morning birding session ,just glimpse of it!!And I located its nest,pair is staying there.....so keeping eye on that place for many days(seen 9'o clock in morning and evening after 6),so my calculation was right .And spotted same around 10 near silver Oaks ,rushed with my gears to have pic....and BINGO, I got it!!Just hope sometimes can catch it with open wings, beautiful long bird with copper color wings opens like umbrella.

 



Greater Coucal



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Usually I post blog and followed by pictures on my page on facebook, this time it is other way around. Last weekend Saturday we had preplan of going to Bommsandra lake ,again near to our place. Got to know about same because every year apartment is doing Ganpati visrajan at this place.

 

Fisherman checking nets for fish

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this time started on right time and reached lake at close to 4'o clock,and this time Khwaish's friend Prapthi accompanied us with her Camera, I guess I 'm creating whole team of Birders( :)))giggles).

 

First sight of few cattle egrets around the corner of lake, followed by few parakeet (difficult to catch them, due to their colour ...quickly hide inside tree).

 

I was super happy on this visit because could catch my dream bird Brahminy kite ,I mentioned it in my earlier kite blog....Yipeee!!It was bonus for us ,usually I have seen Brahminy in little small size in photographs, but one I saw was HUGE one really!!

 

 

Dream bird ...Brahminy Kite :)

 

 We tried our luck inside the farm also ,it was more of chirping than sights.Finally we decided lake view is better idea under a big tree,no wonder we were right .

 

 

So in the end this is what we could capture

 

Black shouldered Kite

 





Coppersmith Barbet




Purple rumped sunbird



Western Reef Egret



Prinia

 

 
 
 



 





 

 



 

 

 

Chameleon

 

White breasted Waterhen





Green bee eater

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Egrets Flying over in cloudy sky



Red whiskered Bulbul



 

 

 

Red wattled Lapwing

Cheers

Ashu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 





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