Its been a while and its been a really long while since i last used my tele lens this year for some proper bird photography. It travelled along with me to Meghalaya but the birds there preferred to take vacation when i was there. All thanks to lot of non-wildlife and non-birding related photography commitments that i have been into, the lack of shooting birds was actually catching up on me. This last weekend when i drove down to Waynad with couple of my friends I had decided that i will force myself to some birdings in morning and evenings in and around the place where I would stay. But the almighty had a different plan all-together for me during the 3 days. This beautiful property called Kudajadri Drizzle where i was staying in Waynad was a paradise for birding and bird photography. Right from the moment i parked my car in their campus when i noticed a Vernal hanging parrot busy feeding on a guava tree right above the car, till the last day i could see and hear birds everywhere. We for once know that if there are fruiting tree or if there is flowering trees then the possibility of finding birds are really high and this place just multiplies the opportunity by many folds. During my stay I hardly got to walk more than 50mts within the garden in the homestay premises during which i could see more than 20+ varieties of birds at a time. Many a times it was just matter of sitting in a corner and just start writing down the names of all the birds that i could see let alone photograph. The homestay property has a very big and beautifully maintained garden with lots of flowering plants and trees and couple of huge guava tree in the middle of their garden is the centre of attraction for parakeets, barbets, bulbuls, green leaf birds and many more who just come and eat their heart out. The very sight of seeing a pigmy woodpecker and common flameback within a matter of minutes and then closely followed by a close call with a common cuckoo was something i would definitely want to highlight from this place. There are lot more birds that i saw than i could manage to photograph, but never the less am happy that i got to visit this beautiful place filled with so many opportunities and also good that i got a chance to get back to basics and shoot some stuff which i always loved shooting. So if you are looking for a nice weekend or a longer vacation away from city and have plans of visiting Waynad then definitely consider this place both for its stay and also the wonderful opportunity it gives for birding. This is one place i would like to say is highly recomended place for birding (and relaxation) in Waynad.
nice work……