Birds of India #67 : Corbett national park - Part 4 of 4

Wishing all our blogger friends Happy Holidays

We hope that through this four-part series we were able to give you a glimpse of Corbett the birding paradise. As we were leaving, we vowed that we would be back there soon as there are so many more species to be seen and photographed. In this last part we feature birds most of which were photographed at the waterhole and feeder located around the "Thatch" at the Camp Forktail Creek.

The full frame composition of the Rufous-bellied Niltava, which is a common resident there, was surely the highlight of our birding at the Camp Forktail Creek. This Crimson Sunbird was a frequent visitor at the bird feeder and the red color of the feeder paled in comparison to the brilliant red plumage of this species. The early morning sunlight gave us an opportunity to get this silhouette image of the Grey-backed Shrike. You can see more frame filling images in an earlier post here. We got the below record shot of the endangered species of the Great Hornbill in the Bijrani range of the Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary. The House Sparrow is also one of the most frequent species seen around the bird feeder at the camp. And finally, we have the Emerald Dove, which was busy drinking water from the numerous tea cups, placed strategically in the undergrowth near one of the waterholes in the Camp. This gave us an opportunity to get some decent images of this beautiful species.

Birds of India #66 : Corbett national park - Part 3 of 4

Corbett is indeed a birding paradise and in this third part of the "Birding in Corbett" series we feature some more of the beauties that we sighted there.

The first of the lot was the Crested Kingfisher, whom we chanced upon when we went on a quick evening drive to the banks of the Ramganga river, which runs through the Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary. This stunning bird, which has a distinct crest is a resident of the Himalayas and is much larger than the Pied Kingfisher in size. We caught a glimpse of it and were just within range to take a couple of images.We photograhed the below Common Kingfisher in the Bijarani range of the Corbett Wildlife Sanctuary. You can see more images of this beauty in an earlier post here.This image of the Long-billed Pipit washed in golden morning sunlight was taken along the fringes of Camp Forktail Creek.And finally, these couple of images of the Plumbeous Water Redstart were taken on the banks of the Ramganga river, where we had also sighted the Crested Kingfisher.

Birds of India #65 : Corbett national park - Part 2 of 4

Continuing with the series on Birding in Corbett; we saw this Grey Bushchat, which was busy singing, thereby giving us an opportunity to get close to it and get some reasonably good images. The Red-vented Bulbul is another bird, which was one of the frequent visitors to the bird feeder at the camp. Below are some full frame images of the bird that we got there.This image of the Siberian Stonechat was taken at the Bijrani range in the Jim Corbett National Park. You can see more images of this beauty in an earlier post here. We always wanted to get a closeup of the Red-whiskered Bulbul to show the beautiful red whiskers that it has. We managed to get that shot right at the camp when this one was having a quick bath in one of the waterhole's located there. The Scaly-bellied Munia was another species that we photographed in the tall grasses in the Bijrani range within the National Park. Another post with more images of this species can be seen here. The impressive front curling crest of the Himalayan Bulbul is something that we found quite interesting. We will surely be dedicating a full post on this species, later in the blog.

Birds of India #64 : Corbett national park - Part 1 of 4

The Jim Corbett National Park is situated at the foothills of the Himalayas in the state of Uttarakhand, India. Apart from the Tiger, the Asiatic Elephant and the fish-eating Crocodile species named Gharial, Corbett is home to over 600 bird species. In this four-part series, we plan to give you a glimpse of this birding paradise.

During this first trip to the Jim Corbett National Park, we stayed at Camp Forktail Creek - a wonderful place set up by Ritish and Minakshi, the hosts, who have taken great care to ensure it blends beautifully with nature. Most of the camp is made from locally available material and the fact that there is no electricity just adds to the entire eco-friendly experience. It comes as no surprise that they are the winner of 'The John Wakefield Most Inspirational Eco Lodge of the year 2010' instituted by TOFT Wildlife Tourism Awards.

The Camp is nestled amongst moist deciduous Sal forest, on the north eastern periphery of the Reserve, which makes it an awesome birding hotspot by itself. Most of the birds photographed in this series is at the various bird feeds and waterholes located within the camp. All images have been taken with our trusted D300, 300mm f2.8 lens mounted with the 2x TC.

We were fortunate to observe this Slaty Blue Flycatcher taking a quick dip in the makeshift waterhole at the Camp. It was around for a couple of minutes giving us adequate time to get some frame filling images.
Given the abundance of food at the bird feeders, the Oriental White-eye is a widespread resident at Camp Forktail Creek.Next in the series is the beautiful Red-billed Leiothrix. We are told that by early Feb next year, getting frame filling compositions of this beauty is guaranteed at the Camp.
This image of the Red Jungle Fowl was taken in the Bijrani zone of the Corbett National Park. You can see more images of this species in an earlier post here.The White-crested Laughing Thrush normally are noisy and gregarious birds seen in flocks of 6-12 or more. We saw flocks of 7-8 birds a couple of times at the Camp and the image below is from one of the sightings at the bird feeder.