We are planning to arrange a
formal get together of our WhatsApp group ‘Birds watchers of Gujarat’. With the
help of Haresh Pandya and Pratik Bhatt we finalize our meeting on 28
th
Febarury 2016. Early morning 7 am, we all meet at the gate of Thol Wildlife
Sanctuary. We headed towards the campus site for having breakfast arranged by
Anand Varde. We divided other birders in small groups for birdwatching. We
started preparation for lecture. Once we finished the preparation, we also
started our birdwatching. On that day, our mood was more in birdwatching than
photography. We note down the name of species in the notebook. We saw this
darter perched grandly on tree. It was sunning at that time. It looks beautiful.
We like it much particularly due to its slender sexy neck.
It has a long and slender neck
with a straight, pointed bill and, like the cormorant, it hunts for fish while
its body submerged is in water. It spears a fish underwater, bringing it above
the surface, tossing and juggling it before swallowing the fish head first. The
body remains submerged as it swims, and the slender neck alone is visible above
the water, which accounts for the colloquial name of snakebird. Like the cormorants,
it has wettable feathers and it is often found perched on a rock or branch with
its wings held open to dry.
28th Febuary 2016
Thol Wildlife Sanctuary, near Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Nikon D7100
AF-S Nikkor 300mm F/4D IF-ED + AF-S Teleconverter TC-14E
f/8, 1/1250, iso-500
