As soon as I stepped into the garden, I noticed a small brown bird sitting on one of the light-poles, towards the right. It was more or less fully dark drown. Only its bottom was orangish. A man walked past it, and it settled on the top of a nearby plant. It was a rather quiet bird, which apparently didn't mind being seen in the open. As it stood there, shifting its tiny head from side to side, I was trying to register as many details as possible. Black legs, black beak, black eyes. While on its perch, it wagged its small tail much like a Wagtail, although with less ferocity. I had never seen this bird before, and the closest matching bird I could think of was the Brown Rock Chat. But a rock chat would be found near rocky terrain, and this garden wasn't exactly rocky!
I cursed myself for not bringing the Grimmett field-guide. I had left it at home thinking it will make my bag too heavy! So I resorted to the next best thing: committing everything to memory. After giving me the nice long view I needed, the bird flew deep into the left side of the garden.
I followed. I soon noticed another bird, smaller than a sparrow and about the same size as the previous one, fidgeting on a medium sized bush by the side. I stopped. The bird was just 8 feet away! It was totally black but with a conspicuous white bottom. The sighting of a Pied Bushchat at Malshej Ghat instantly came to mind. But that one had a white patch on the shoulder. This one didn't. It had a black beak, black eyes, black legs...much like the previous one....and its chest seemed dark grey, almost ashy...
This bird too wasn't shy. It moved about in the bush. For a moment or two it even appeared to hover like a humming-bird. It hardly took any notice of me, and soon settled on a thin twig. I adjusted my view. There it was, right in front of me, swaying on the twig, while I was contemplating the excellent but missed photo opportunity. After what looked like ages, I finally managed to drag myself away from the bird.
Two new birds at the very beginning had built up my enthusiasm. I retraced my path back to the garden's gate and ventured further into the garden, this time on the right hand side. This part of the garden was relatively diverse, as it had lawns, bamboo thickets, and also a pond.
As I ambled along one of the garden's paths, I noticed the ubiquitous Yellow Wagtails busily moving about. Some seemed to quarrel, some were looking for insects in the grass. Others were kept company by White Wagtails, which looked a tad bit bigger than the Yellow ones.
I soon came to the patch of bamboo trees. White-Throated Fantail Flycatchers were active here as usual. There were 2-3 of them. As I looked about, I saw a small bird on the edge of one of the thickets. My binocs locked into position. Surprise! Red-Breasted Flycatcher! A lifer!! It is a species similar to the Red-Throated Flycatcher which I'd seen just a month back for the first time in my life. My excitement went up a notch. I watched the bird for some time, before it disappeared into the bamboo.
moving on, I approached the pond. Red-Wattled Lapwings were on display as usual. But the look through the binocs was amazing. The sun was behind me, and I could see a pink fringe on the Lapwings shoulder. Never had I seen this before. As I stood there, marvelling at this common bird, something flew into the Nilgiri trees on the left. Surprise #2! Pied Kingfisher!! Well, well, I thought. This really is a good day!
The kingfisher had perched on one of the lower branches. It was a beauty! I realized that the black-and-white plumage that looks so striking in a book, manages to camouflage the bird decently enough on Nilgiri trees! I was hoping it dives into the water. And soon, it did just that! What a sight!
It was getting a little late, so I decied to head back. On the way, I got the best view of a Black Drongo that I have ever had. Sitting about 10 feet away on a light-pole, it was amazing. With the sun beding me, its plumage appeared to shine and show shades of blue. I could also see the white spot at the base of its beak, a fact that a friend of mine (Amit Gupta) had pointed out just a few weeks back!
Then I also saw a male Eurasian Golden Oriole. This too was so close that I could see its brilliant red eye. Green bee-eaters, sunbirds, bulbuls, prinias, were there too. I packed my binocs and headed for the office building. As though the birding I'd done wasn't enough, I saw a pair of Large Pied Wagtails on the lawn adjacent to the building!! There was a White Wagtail too, and so I also got a size comparison between the two species, the Pied Wagtail being distinctly larger.
What a day!
The two birds mentioned in the beginning were later identified as a female and male Pied Bushchat respectively, with the male in non-breeding plumage. The one I had seen at Malshej was in breeding plumage, and hence it had a white shoulder-patch. These birds are residents over a major part of the sub-continent, and they feed mostly on insects.
Pied Kingfishers and Large Pied Wagtails too, are breeding residents found over most of the Indian sub-continent.
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