Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher Tour

                                                                      ...1...

This is Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher ( ODKF). Just look at the amazing colours that it has- red, orange, black, blue, purple, yellow! It is almost a riot of colours! You could fall head over heels in love with this bird! It is around 13 cm in length & weighs just around 20 grams! But this guy has some strength in the wings! He travels all the way from Kerala or even Sri Lanka to come to Konkan at the onset of monsoon, which is also it's breeding season. The bird builds the nest which is at a height of 5-6 feet from the ground. The nest is built inside the mud, like a tunnel & it could be about a meter long. The nest is so camouflaged by the ferns & the green vegetation that it is v difficult to locate it. The female lays 3-4 eggs which get hatched in about 17 days. That marks the beginning of an industrious activity for both male & female- that of feeding the young ones! Initially they feed the chicks with small insects like dragonflies or wasps. But with the growing age, the demand for the food increases. So the size of the kill increases. Then the parents bring skinks, geckos, crabs, fish, small frogs etc. So you could make out the size of the chicks looking at the kill in the beak of the parent! 

Before entering in the nest to give feed, the bird sits just for a while on that horizontal perch. It moves back & forth & then disappears in the nest. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guDx4b46dgg
(Video courtesy; Phani Krishna Raavi)
Not before giving you an opportunity to capture some beautiful shots! 
Thanks to Ashish Inamdar,who organized this wonderful ODKF tour on 15 & 16th July, for this wonderful experience that has opened up a world, that had remained unexplored for me.
A world created by Nature Conservationist Mr. Nishikant or Nandu Tambe, at Village Shiravali off Chiplun- Guhagar road. More about it some time later....

                                                                            ..2..

Seen in this photo with me is Mr. Nishikant or Nandu Tambe! He must be around 30-35 years of age, as is typical of people from Konkan area, he too is slim. Wearing T-shirt & a Bermuda.When you go for the ODKF tour, the arrangements for the meals are at Nandu's cousin brother's place( his name- Shriram or fondly called Rambhau). Nandu is so unassuming that you would find him arranging tables, arranging plates & even serving food at all the tables! You might not even recognize that he is the same person who has done a pioneering work for the conservation of ODKF. To add to it, Nandu is quite shy & talks very less. That too only to the point.This stands out as a stark contrast in this era of marketing, projection & blowing your trumpet! I asked him in the style of a seasoned journalist as to how did all his work begin. Nandu very hesitantly showed us a video that depicted the beginning, but he also told us not to share it on a larger scale as there was some problem with the voice-over.
From the video we came to know that in one of the rainy seasons, due to heavy rains & storm in Chiplun area near Nandu's house,a tree fell off around the nest of ODKF. Frightened by this, the male & female birds ran away, leaving behind the vulnerable chicks. Nandu, an expert on snakes, then called his friend Abhay from Pune & then started their mission to rescue the young ones. First, they kept a big mosquito net around the area of the nest. Then they fed the chicks with the kills. They even went fishing & brought fresh fish. Nandu was bitten by a snake which was near the nest. But they caught the snake & released it in the jungle. Gradually the chicks grew up. They even taught the birds to kill. Then it was about time to release them in the wild. Unfortunately, two birds died-couldn't survive.But the ones that survived later on came for a few days more & sat on Nandu's hand!
Now Nandu has around 17-18 active nests in his area. The commitment shown by Nandu about this work is worth appreciating. Whenever he sees a bird building in a particular area, he stops human activity there to minimize human interference.If the nest is in someone else's area, he even compensates them financially for stopping activity there. Of the 17-18 nests, only 4 are open for photography. He says his first priority is the comfort of the birds. Photography is not even second in that priority list! He decides which group would go on which site & allows 3-31/2 hours for each session. This gives some breathing time & space for the birds. He intends to fit GPS ring on the birds so that he would be able to track which bird came back to which nest etc. Actually, ODKF is not an endangered bird. It is in large numbers & distributed widely. But the passion with which Nandu is working for this bird is simply amazing. Hope this inspires many more to undertake many such works of conservation... 

                                                                       ..3..
While we were patiently waiting for the ODKF to come & sit on the perch, for we take take its photos, sometimes, the wait was very much testing & even frustrating. Few minutes would seem like hours. It was in this in-between time that this bird-Tickell's Blue Flycatcher- would come as a filler of sort! He would do all the similar activities. And boy! He too was beautiful! We would practice focusing on this bird & that helped a lot when we resumed shooting the ODKF. So we must be thankful to this little guy...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBvDFfwzOug 

(Video courtesy- Sanjeev Phadtare) 

                                                              ..4..

Before signing off,sharing few more photos from the ODKF tour ....