One of the great entertainments for me when I stay at the Lal Ghat Guest House in Udaipur is hanging out on their 'chill spot' or on our balcony watching the birds do their thing. There are a fair number that migrate through, but these are ones that seem to be around a lot. As the longest lens I have with me is 300 mm there aren't a lot of close-ups that I can easily do, so some of the images are as close as I can get.
As usual, please click on the pic to embiggen.
First, there are, of course, pigeons. Lots & lots, hanging around anywhere they can hang around, except when they get scared & swarm off for 30 seconds before roosting again
Anywhere.
It helps if they get fed and watered daily.
The lake sometimes get covered in water birds at sunset.
There are a couple of cute little guys that nest in the walls of our hostels. The look pretty ordinary when settled in, but when flying & swooping they're lovely and really fast (too fast to pic).
These are the most common birds on the lake right now.
They do a lot of diving and eating weeds.
Lovely on the lake at sunset
These guys are so screechy.
But attractive in flight.
These look like they belong in Beacon Hill Park in Victoria
Very common on the lake.
As so are these.
Getting together at the side of the lake for a group bath.
And really enjoying it!
Just watching stuff happen.
A good spot for watching for bugs to eat.
Kingfishers, of course.
One of the most beautiful 'swoopers' on the lake (don't know their name). Love to watch them.
Of course there are the kites. Large eagle-like predators found all over India. A few years ago, while sitting on the balcony here at Lal Ghat, just minding my business, a large swarm of pigeons came swooping through the building windows right in front of me, and right behind them flying right in front of me came a huge kite trying to catch a dinner! It actually did catch one, then proceeded to eat it at the lakeside just below me.
Great pics Dave! I remember there were places where you could buy a little grain and feed the birds along the roadway from Jagdish Temple, so I looked up the religious significance of feeding birds and found a whole lot of bird and other animal feeding goes on in India http://www.indiaprofile.com/religion-culture/animalfeeding.htm That appears to be a commercial travel site in India; maybe it's true?
ReplyDeletecassandra
There is a fair amount of animal veneration apart from cows. There's all the God's vehicles - like the rat is the vehicle of Ganesh, so there's places like the rat templ e in Bikaner, or the 'rat Baba's we encountered here the other night. He had live mice & rats on the wide brim of his hat. I see the occasional feeding of animal groups here & there.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete