Gandhari
Gandhari Visit – 09.10.2010
Remarks –
- Visit with new birder friend- Abhijeet Pachpande (Thane)
- Weather extremely foggy till 9 am.
- Sighting of Blue-tailed bee-eaters, Small Minivet pair, Pied Cuckoo, Asian Openbill Storks, an Osprey (near roadside flying along with kites)
Gandhari Visit – 10.10.2010
Remarks –
- Went alone cycling to Gandhari for the first time
- Sighting of ever elusive Painted Francoline for the first time and got decent shots 🙂
Gandhari Visit – 11.12.2010
Remarks –
- Visit to Gandhari (for bird photography) after almost 2 months
- Advent of cold weather was soothing.
- Imp sightings – Common Rose finch, Cotton teal (5-6 individuals), Western Marsh Harrier, Black-headed cuckooshrike, Indian Grey Hornbill pair feeding on fig
Gandhari Visit – 05.06.2011
After a lot of confusion about deciding between Yeur and Gandhari, finally made it to Gandhari. Rain had already made a soil moist on the earlier evening and this resulted in some snakes making their appearance visible on a open land. (For the first time, I saw 4 snakes on a single day – 3 Rat Snakes ( Marathi – Dhaman), 1 Spectacled Cobra (Marathi – Naag)).
Pied Crested Cuckoo (Marathi – Chatak) pair was happily feeding on the ground insects – easy food for them after the first rain ! This was my closest encounter with this beautiful bird !! (This bird is a summer migratory bird – originating from East Africa)
Remarks –
- For the first time, encountered 4 Snakes in wild on a single day
- Rat snake caught a Toad but size, and moreover, determination of Toad to survive, saw Rat Snake loosing the battle. Those were the exciting 2-3 min for me and surely for the Snake & the Toad as well :-).
- Closest encountered with Pied Crested Cuckoo. Pair was seen feeding on ground insects for a long time.
Gandhari 9th/16th/22nd/23rd Oct 2011
With extreme dew all over the area, spent 7 out of last 23 mornings at Gandhari. With Diwali approaching, there was hint of winter since last few days (just a slight hint indeed 🙂 ) and hence, Sun didn’t really bothered much. Sept end – Oct are good months for macro photography (usually with no rain and ample sunlight). You can see butterflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, flowers…everything so fresh!! These are the shots I managed to click over the weekends.
Remarks –
- Blue-tailed bee-eaters seemed to have arrived in Oct 1st week.
- Sighting/ Photo of not so commonly “seen” Eurasian wryneck by Dhanashri (21.10.2011)
- Very good Booted eagle sighting (migratory eagle from Europe, north Africa wintering in Sub-Saharan africa and South Asia. Didn’t carry camera however photo is clicked by Santosh Gulvani (09.10.2011)
- Pied kingfisher sighting after a long time (By Dhanashri – 21.10.2011)
- Pied Crested cuckoo’s still at Gandhari
- Painted Francolines’ activity was heard till 16th Oct but no activity heard on 22nd/23rd Oct. (This resident bird is heard only around monsoon season)
- Asian Paradise Flycatcher was surprisingly seen on a comparatively open area
- Uncommon mating of ‘Six spot ground beetle involving 3 specimens. (Sadly, didn’t carry camera and had to take photo using mobile cam…. For the first time realized that Mobile cam technology is not so useless :-)) – Evening of 02.10.2011
Gandhari 12th Oct 2013
Just realized that it’s almost after 2 years that I’m posting Gandhari images :-).
superb……..Abhijeet….
you have been gifted by god, with the great skill of keen observation and capturing the life in camera as it is.
keep it up man….
Comment by Rajesh — October 10, 2010 @ 10:29 am
Great dude,
And pictures are very good. Even of European Roller
U r too good
Keep it up…….
Comment by Sagar — October 11, 2010 @ 5:39 am
painted francolin in Kalyan… what a news… photos pf damsselflies are superb!
Comment by Atul Kolhe — October 11, 2010 @ 11:29 am
Faarach bhari Macros………..
Comment by manali — October 11, 2010 @ 11:37 am
mastach… Abhijeet
Great !!
Keep it up.
Comment by Swati — October 14, 2010 @ 12:39 pm
Hi Abhijit,
Excellent photographs. Would love to visit Gandhari with you once again 🙂
Congrats for your Nikkor 300/f 2.8 !!
Comment by Santosh Gulavani — October 16, 2010 @ 10:48 pm
kharach khup chan
Comment by Gautam — December 12, 2010 @ 11:35 am
Cracking images Abhi!! Your 300 mm f/2.8 rocks !!
Comment by Animish — December 12, 2010 @ 12:10 pm
Too good pics. As always.
Comment by Sagar — December 13, 2010 @ 3:02 pm
Sahi mitra……….. amhala pan gheoon chal kadhi tari
Comment by Mayu — December 13, 2010 @ 10:53 pm
Great Pics.
Comment by Mohandas — December 14, 2010 @ 11:57 pm
hey i have a pair of purple rumped sun bird in our garden and i think i will soon b able to aet some live experience of their nesting
Comment by jyutika — December 15, 2010 @ 10:00 pm
great post, thanks for sharing
Comment by Daniel — December 17, 2010 @ 9:22 pm
Masta. Teen dhaman, ek kobra eka diwsat! Mala shevatchya phototlyacha tura faar avadla 🙂
Comment by Gauri — June 6, 2011 @ 12:46 am
Surekh photos aahet. Gandhari has got variety 🙂 . Loved all the pics
Comment by Animish — June 6, 2011 @ 9:55 am
Miissed it !!
Very nice pics abhi.
Comment by Harish Chandak — June 6, 2011 @ 2:06 pm
great pics….mast….
Comment by prachi kulkarni — June 6, 2011 @ 8:31 pm
Lively pics. Pratyaksh pahilela Snake & Toad cha tharar photo tun jivant zala.
Thanks for sharing. Would like to meet again..
Comment by Bhuvnesh & Sheetal — June 6, 2011 @ 9:39 pm
Thanks a lot!… will surely meet !
Comment by Abhijit — June 6, 2011 @ 11:35 pm
Superb snaps Abhijit. Pied cuckoo snaps are too good. Wondering whether the toad would have survived after getting whole of it’s head in snake’s mouth !!
Comment by Santosh Gulavani — June 7, 2011 @ 12:43 pm
Rat Snake on a hunt! That was a wonderful shot, Abhijit !
Hats off to your efforts.
Keep clicking.
Comment by Shishir — June 8, 2011 @ 9:59 am
Stupendous Abhi !……….Want to see the video too of the Snake and toad !!
Comment by Heera — June 16, 2011 @ 8:56 pm
awesome… 🙂
Comment by Gouri — October 24, 2011 @ 2:34 pm
Unbelievable that these are around Gandhari , Beauty is in the eye of beholder , so true …:)
Comment by Manoj Binhani — October 25, 2011 @ 2:13 pm