Spotted Flycatcher

We spend our one of the best days in Kutch. So we always feel connected with Kutch somehow. Every year we tried to visit Kutch to recall such golden memories along with birding. Before going to Kutch at this season, I had a chat with my friend Nirav Pomal at Bhuj. As per his opinion we can most possibly see passage migrants like Spotted Flycatcher, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin , European Roller etc. in good number. Spotted Flycatcher and Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin are on the top of our wishlist. We started our journey at early morning after pick-up Nirav from his resident. We move towards ‘Fot Mahadev’ – a famous birding scrub area near Nakhatrana. When we take a final turn from state highway towards Fot Mahadev, we really don’t know what a fortunate events waiting for us...! It is like shower of Spotted Flycatcher on us. We were able to spot around 20 + Spotted Flycatcher on that unforgettable day. It looks like they are scattered everywhere in that area. It is not that we did not see Spotted Flycatcher before but clearly, we never see them plentiful…!

When we came out of our vehicle, this bird shy out so we decided to remain in vehicle and try out window photography…! After some minutes Spotted Flycatcher settled down, looks like get used to presence of our vehicle. We were able to observe some specific details.

This is an ordinary looking small bird with noticeable streaked crown and breast with brown, giving it significant name Spotted Flycatcher. It is winter passage migrant in Gujarat, appears around Diwali times, so its Guajarati name is ‘Diwali-Makhimar’ (દિવાળી માખીમાર), which is also appropriate. It has short and black legs; bill is black and broad pointed shape typical of aerial insectivores and dull grey-brown upperparts plus off-white underparts.

We observed this Spotted Flycatcher hunt from exposed lower perches, mostly catches passing by flying insects in the bill and often returning to the same perch. Sometimes it hunts from the ground but remain in same area all the time. Its upright posture is very beautiful. It has a thin, soft and high-pitched call like wee weeppp…

We also sighted the Common Cuckoo juvenile, Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, Minivets, White-naped Tit, Indian Bushlark, Barred Button Quail and plenty of other locals. We take plenty of beautiful shots and move ahead in search of Rufous-tailed scrub robin.

18^th Septmber 2016

Kutch, Gujarat, India

Nikon D500

Nikkor 200-500

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પોળો ની પાળે....

અરવલ્લીની ગોદમાઁ સમાયેલા પોળોના જંગલો પ્રક્રુતિ પ્રેમીઓ માટે ઉતમ સ્થળ છે. ખાખરો, મહુડો, ઉંબરો, આંક્લો, બોર વગેરે જેવા વૃક્ષો અને ઔષધીય વનસ્પતિઓ થી આચ્છાદિત ગિરિમાળાઓ કુદરતી જળસ્ત્રોત, પંદર્મી સદીનું સ્થાપત્ય અને ખાસુ અદભુત જૈવિક વૈવિધ્ય તેના પ્રાકૃતિક સૌંદર્યમાં વધારો કરે છે . પોળોના જંગલો રીંછ, ચિલોત્રો અને લુપ્ત થતાં ગીધ જેવા પક્ષીઓનું પ્રાકૃતિક નિવાસસ્થાન છે. વહેલી સવારથી જ પોળોના જંગલો પક્ષીઓના કલરવથી ગૂંજવા માંડે છે તેમાં વણાય જતો વહેતા પાણી નો અવાજ મધુર કુદરતી સંગીત નો અહેસાસ કરાવે છે. સવારે સાત વાગ્યે અમારા પક્ષીની નિરીક્ષણની શરૂઆત આઠથી દસ ખેરખટ્ટા ના ટોળા થી થઇ. પોળો કેમ્પસાઇટ પક્ષી નિરીક્ષણ માટે એક સારી જગ્યા છે. સહેલાણીઓની અવરજવર ઓછી હોય તો આ વિસ્તારમાં ઘણા પક્ષીઓ જોવા મળી જાય છે. અહી વડ, ઉમરા જેવા પાકેલા ફળો ધરાવતા વૃક્ષોમાં પંખીડાઓ ના અવાજની ભરમાળ સાંભળી ચકિત થઈ જવાય છે. અહીં ચિલોત્રો, લક્કડખોદ, કંસારો, તુઇ, પિળક, સુડો, ખેરખટો જેવા પક્ષીઓ ના પોતાનો અનોખો અવાજ થી હાજરી પુરાવી કે જુઓ અમે અહિયાં જ છીએ. વળી લીલા કંસારાના બુલંદ અવાજ ની પડઘમ તો આખા જંગલમાં વાગે છે. હરણાવ ન

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