Uttarakhand Himalayas - Birds of Kumaon - Part 4

The birds featured in Part1, Part2 and Part3 of this photo blog were shot in Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand. Some of the birds I showcased there could be found in Bangalore as well - as I guess both places share a similar altitude. However, the birds I am going to showcase below are true Himalayan species as they can be found only in these parts. The altitude is 1900m. The place is Ranikhet. Our stay in Holm Farm Heritage in Ranikhet offered a splendid photo opportunity.

Red-billed Blue Magpie

What a beautiful bird! Unfortunately I could not capture this bird in flight. Just like the Asian Paradise Fly-Catcher, this bird looks even more beautify when it flies. Its a multi-colored bird - the body is blue and white, the head is black and the beak is red. I saw this bird from the balcony of our hotel room. Determined to locate this bird and take a shot, we ventured into the surrounding hilly forest on foot. We were able locate it and shoot some pictures and videos.

Scarlet Minivet

The beauty of this bird is not its size or the length of its tail but its color. True to its name this bird is scarlet colored. Wikipedia defines scarlet color as "bright shade of red that is slightly toward orange". Perfect color! Shooting this bird however proved a challenge - the bird made regular appearances on the Silver Oak tree outside my bedroom balcony. It was a good 60 feet away. Utilizing the 560mm (20x optical) zoom lens on my Canon Powershot SX10is, I managed a decent hand-held shot. The light was not too good - it was an overcast day and the portions of black on this bird meant that exposure had to be compensated accordingly.

 Green-backed Tit

Another tiny bird - this time bright yellow.

Himalayan Bulbul

After the Red-whiskered Bulbul and the Red-vented Bulbul, here's another Bulbul, the Himalayan one. I like this one the best among the three. What do you think?

Himalayan Swiftlet

These tiny birds are quite common in the Himalayan region but for 'plain' folks like us, they are different and need to be captured on camera :-)

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