A weekday holiday in the form of Shivratri got us some time and a few calls later - Madan, Vimal and I decided on paying this black buck territory a visit.
Started early and stopped several times enroute with some good sightings.
Plum headed parakeets
Rose ringed parakeets
The Indian roller in the morning light - sorry about the un-natural perch of the electric line
After crossing the bumpy roads, reached Jayamangali black buck reserve with the bee eaters providing us some fantastic photo ops!
The female
Madan got this fantastic shot of the bee eater spitting out the pellet - which is an amazing way of getting rid of the tough exoskeletons of the insects the bird consumes, talk about packaging!
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The land's a lovely grassland, we were really hoping to spot some Indian coursers and maybe if lucky even a Fox.
Making our way into the reserve we saw a few juveniles running across the road (dirt-track)
A little distance inwards, we spotted this large male. And as it turns out these would be the only saving grace in terms of black buck shots.
The black bucks society is a harem - a dominant male with several females and other juveniles.
The female here seen with her lovely large and sparky eyes!
A young male, which most likely would have been driven out of the herd by the dominant male. Young males often form male only "groups"
Driving around we could not spot any more :( Madan told me last time they saw herds and herds. Well, that's how wildlife goes! It's a large reserve and they could have been anywhere.
The drive though did provide us some good birding ops.
The Ashy crowned lark male
A female lark
Crested lark
A pipit
Purple sunbird
Indian roller
A couple of bay backed and grey shrikes also spotted, sadly against the light.
We explored the surroudings a bit more and spotted another small herd and watched them from a distance.
The dominant male with a juvenile
A Montagu's harrier scouting around for prey providing some entertainment for both us and the blackbuck ;)
Stopped at a couple of water bodies on the way back, but did not spot much.
A shot of the cattle egret in flight
A Indian Spotted Eagle that was being chased by kites
Thanks to Madan for the drive, we know it was a tiring one!
All these with the Sigma 150-500, and almost full frame shots in most cases. Certainly enjoying the reach..
Adios till the next ride then ;)
Cheers,
Hayath
