Early Morning Birding Trip - Bashipota Village (Pic Heavy)

Raj_55555 · Feb 6, 2015

Went on a birding trip last month, didn't find much time to post the pics here. All the pics are using my point and shoot(I needed the reach), so excuse the image quality.

The trip was to a village called Bashipota, an untouched and little known village, famous only among the veteran birders, one of whom invited me to this trip. We left at 4:30 AM in the morning, reached here at about 6AM and found endless fields bathing in the beautiful golden sunlight.

I thought a look at the terrains would be called for, so I've included some of the landscapes and a street shot before the actual bird photographs!

#1. Endless Crop fields: This is the view we got at 6AM in the morning.

#2. Some local farmer going to work

#3. Photographers getting in position

#4. A sight to behold

And now come the birds, the birds gave us a hard time probably because they are not used to being photographed or chased around, one of the disadvantages of a virgin destination. There were quite a few species, here are the few decent one's I got:

#5. Brown Shrikes in golden sunlight

#6. ID unknown

#7. ID Unknown

#8. A flock if Brown Shrikes

#9. Another pair

#10. Cattle Egret

#11. Asian Open-bill Stork

sm4him · Feb 6, 2015

Some really nice shots with "just" a point-and-shoot, Raj!
I much prefer areas like that to the more popular spots, because you can get a better variety of birds. You might have to work harder at stalking the birds, because they aren't used to humans, but maybe I just enjoy the thrill of the "hunt!"

I love the Brown Shrike and the Asian Open-Bill Stork, as well as the landscape shots. Nice to see the area that others are actually shooting in!

By the way, I'm not convinced that the birds in #8 and 9 are shrikes. Shrikes--like the one in #5, have a very distinct downward "hook" at the end of their bills. The birds in 8 and 9 look more like some type of sparrow.

Raj_55555 · Feb 6, 2015

what? Wait, you're right! I never really noticed it properly, they don't even have the black patch near the eyes.. my mistake :lol:

I'll get them ID'd in the evening and update the post.

And yes, it was certainly a different experience, but those open-bills were really a nervous bunch. I found a nice place (where the cattle egret is), where they were hunting at least 10 of them and I was hoping to catch them in action. They flew away when I was almost 50 meters away

sm4him · Feb 6, 2015

It looks like an absolutely wonderful area! Hopefully, you can return on occasion, places like that sometimes take some diligence--and repeat visits-- to get the action shots!

Raj_55555 · Feb 6, 2015

true.. but it's 1.5 hours of drive, and I am permanently relocating 1300 miles farther in a weeks time! :lol:

sm4him · Feb 6, 2015

Raj_55555 said:
true.. but it's 1.5 hours of drive, and I am permanently relocating 1300 miles farther in a weeks time!

Oh well...yike.
I knew it was about 90 minutes currently--a drive for sure, but doable. Actually, I almost always end up driving at least an hour to a lot of my spots, even though I'm five minutes from some really nice places!
But uh...yeah...1300 miles is another matter. Any chance of making another trip out there before you go?

Raj_55555 · Feb 6, 2015

sm4him said:
Any chance of making another trip out there before you go?

Nupes!! I'll need someone to tag along with me, because shameful as it is, as I can't drive! :redface-90:

And my partner here, who drove me last time would be busy this weekend operating on some poor fella! (He's a surgeon).

They were planning a visit last week of Feb, but unfortunately I'll just miss that by a few days :Sad_anim:

Ted Evans · Feb 6, 2015

Raj_55555 said:
Went on a birding trip last month, didn't find much time to post the pics here. All the pics are using my point and shoot(I needed the reach), so excuse the image quality.

The trip was to a village called Bashipota, an untouched and little known village, famous only among the veteran birders, one of whom invited me to this trip. We left at 4:30 AM in the morning, reached here at about 6AM and found endless fields bathing in the beautiful golden sunlight.

I thought a look at the terrains would be called for, so I've included some of the landscapes and a street shot before the actual bird photographs!

#1. Endless Crop fields: This is the view we got at 6AM in the morning.

#2. Some local farmer going to work

#3. Photographers getting in position

#4. A sight to behold

And now come the birds, the birds gave us a hard time probably because they are not used to being photographed or chased around, one of the disadvantages of a virgin destination. There were quite a few species, here are the few decent one's I got:

#5. Brown Shrikes in golden sunlight

#6. ID unknown

#7. ID Unknown

#8. A flock if Brown Shrikes

#9. Another pair

#10. Cattle Egret

#11. Asian Open-bill Stork

Some nice shots and very interesting, thanks.

baturn · Feb 6, 2015

Nice shots, Raj. Particularly interesting for an old westerner like me, with no hope of ever seeing it for myself. Thanks for sharing.

funwitha7d · Feb 6, 2015

really like #1, great colours of the crops birds relying on this food also, as above a scene I am otherwise unlikely to see in person. #2 is interesting showing workers, nice light

Radical · Feb 6, 2015

Raj,
very cool set.

Raj_55555 · Feb 7, 2015

Ted Evans said:
Some nice shots and very interesting, thanks.

Thanks Ted

funwitha7d said:
really like #1, great colours of the crops birds relying on this food also, as above a scene I am otherwise unlikely to see in person. #2 is interesting showing workers, nice light

Thanks a lot, I'm glad you like them