White-browed Bulbul - Pycnonotus luteolus
I think this may be the last picture of a new bird I picked up from India on my trip at the end of May. June has been a record month for postings and the best month I have had since I started the Task - all thanks to the one 3 night trip.
At the end of the first day's birding Dhillon and I went for a walk around a small patch of scrub jungle around a rocky outcrop. The sort of place you find Sloth Bears he said - and Quail (we saw neither). What we did turn up was a good crop of new passerines incluing the rare Yellow-thoated Bulbul and this White-browed variety and good views of an Iora. The light was perfect. What I have learned is that it is better to try and get some foliage in the background if you can otherwise the picture is pretty washed out. These guys were so good they were moving to places with the best background or perch and then "pishing" (making bird calls) to try and draw the birds in. Some guys even have Ipods with recordings on to act as lures.
The birds were singing and the Bulbuls had a lovely melifluous tone to their song. There is a rule with birds - bright gaudy colours means rubbish song and a fairly plain bird will normally have a better song. Think of blackbirds for example compared to a blue tit. I think that rule does the White-browed a disservice as the head pattern is charming - the clear white supercilium and crescent below the eye and the sub moustachial stripe bordered by a yellow chin patch. I think these are attractive birds with fantastic song.
The sun continued to set over the rocky outcrop, the birds sang but I have to say my feet were killing me ! My luggage had not turned up in India as my monopod had been mistaken for something dodgy in Dubai on the bag taken off the plane. It turned up in peices eventually ! I had the clothes I was stood up in and my camera and binoculars. I had spent the day walking for miles in Birkenstocks. My field kit consisted of a new pair of jeans from a shop opposite the hotel and a pink polo shirt. Comments had been passed by Bopana and Dhillon about my atire - I ignored them. The next day with my new lightweight Columbia rustle free jungly gear and new walking boots (my bag turned up) I still ended the day with sore feet. The boots at size 11 were a birthday gift but the left one was just slightly too small so that climbing and descending was agony on my big toe. I used them for the day so they have been put on one side for the time that one of sons makes it to size 11.
I have always been somewhat dismissive of birders in the UK clothed head to toe in serious backwoodsman kit. Most reserves have paved paths ! Why do you need clothing designed for trecking through the rockie mountains. Ray Mears is allowed - you or I really are not unless we are going to wrestle a grizzly. I am perfectly prepared now to take the plunge into safari tones as I have earnt my wings crashing through "jungle scrub" in the company of an award winning wildlife photographer. I have been learning what colours attract Tse-Tse fly (blue) for Tanzania and I have no choice but to go khaki. Dillon also had Columbia lightweight trousers and a jaunty cap but also a natty checked shirt. It may take me a while to find my style but I can already tell you that a water bottle and a pocket somewhere for an extra camera battery are essential. Give it a few years and I will have my favourite jungly trousers, sweat towel and hat. I have a wide brimmed hat with an orange gingham band - not very rambo at the moment - more it Aint Alf Hot Mum. Kit for birding is mostly focused in optics - I cannot get too excited about clothing - when it's hot and dirty though there are some practicalities that need addressing - I am sure I will adapt from Boden to something that looks a bit more paramilitary. Not wearing bright colours helps - I am not sure I won't feel like a bit of a fraud if I dress like a BBC cameraman from SpringWatch.
On reflection my two days in Banaglore were extremely good for the soul. Each evening I would return to my 5 star luxury room at the Oberoi (I got a good deal online) and after a long power shower I would come down for a couple of cold Kingfisher beers in the garden before supper. The taste of cold beer after 14 hours of solid birding in dusty, hilly scrub is fantastic ! A curry tastes fantastic after a day in the field. Its all heightened. The most satisfying birding in a long time. It is very satisfying to leaf through a field guide making notes - ticking off the species - you do feel like your own small adventurer. I love working through the pictures on a camera card. I would set up office at the edge of the bar and process the day. I think I had something like 400 shots on the first day - it takes a lot of time - I reckon a full camera card is an evening's work at least.
There are 1375 species in my Birds of the Indian Subcontinent book so many more trips to come. In two days I think I cranked out 100 species many of which I had seen before. I am not sure I could keep the pace up for more than a couple of days. I have actually posted 43 new species photographed from the trip starting with the Grey Hornbill at post 119 that were new for me. I will count it as a successful trip.
I will admit that I felt a bit stupid at first booking myself on a long weekend and a bit odd getting on the plane. I must have looked like a geek pouring over my field guide and my world list. When I look at the Emirates flight map now though with all the lines out of Dubai to every corner of the planet I just feel lucky. I do feel very capable now of just dispearing into the "bush" for a couple of days and getting a buzz out "collecting" some more birds. I am going to stick to 5 star hotels for where I can though and get a driver or guide.
It just makes sense rather than getting lost, mugged, kidnapped or injured. These places are the third world. I have to say though that the most dangerous thing I have done in my life (even though I have run the bulls at Pamplona twice) was crossing the road in Bangalore to get to the clothes shop opposite the hotel. I have a good life - I do not want to end up dead in a jungle somewhere because I wandered into an opium plantation or trod on a snake. I was told to be careful a couple of times in India crossing ditches full of leaves - what do you do though ?? Tread softly ?? There is going to be some risk with walking in jungles or outdoors in any of these places - getting a good guide and staying in a nice clean upmarket lodge should limit that. I am just debating with myself what I am prepared to do for my birds. We'll take it a step at a time. I am not about to just walk into some steaming jungle on my own. Suicide.
Where next then ? I don't know why but Burma or Myanmar is calling me. I have been to Hong Kong years ago so its not the farthest East I have been - I think a couple of days of proper steaming jungle is needed. I want to get into a proper rain forest and hear monkeys and birds and twigs snapping. Just dip my toe for a day or two and see what that feels like. I could actually get that in Goa or right up in the mountains of the Western Ghats. I am sure after the plains of Tanzania I will have a yearning to get into the forest in Uganda or Rwanda - the proper steaming jungly stuff. The middle of Africa is a giant jungle and the plates of birds in the books are to die for. Easy goes it though - some investment in anti-leach gear will be required ! Mrs C sent me off with a pot of table salt last time but I was fine as the rains had not yet arrived. I will post some heroic leach shots at some point and tell you some funny stories about the children in Sri Lanka. Back to my train of thought - Weekend dashes really have to be within 4 hours flying time at the most. Its quite fun just looking at the flight routes and seeing where they go ! I will list them the next time I post - every route which is less than 4 hours for starters ! I think Burma may not make the cut and I will stick to Emirates flights for now.
So that was India - a day of new birds, a cold beer, a curry and some great shots on the camera. All very good for the soul. I have a sunset in the company of I think of 4 life ticks to remember - even Dillon had a broad grin as one of the birds (The Yellow-Throated bulbul) is listed as vulnerable by Bird Life International. Less than 10,000 left in the wild and this small patch of scrub was a new site for the bird. So I did some good on my trip - a couple of Southern India's top birders now know a new site for a rare endemic. That is a start to protecting them. They did say that it wouldn't be there for long. The charcoal burning issue again. Even if you bought the land the local villagers would still come onto it to chop down the trees - it has to be protected day and night and when you have 1 billion plus people who need food and fuel whats a patch of jungly scrub ?
I will look back through the shots but I think that is the end of the new species I picked up from Bangalore on the camera. It has been good to go back through the all the shots a month later and remember all of the places. One last thing I have realised - I need two camera bodies or a small camera - just to take snaps of the place as well. You cannot swap lenses while you out very well and pictures of the place as well as the bird make the memories stick much better.
That was a longer post today. I really am looking foward to posting up a picture of a lion and an elephant in the next month or so. Tanzania here we come. Beyond excited now.
White-browed Bulbul, Pycnonotus luteolus
Karnataka, India, at sunset
25 May 2012
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