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Published: March 11th 2009
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27th January 2009
Today I was determined to find and photograph the Indian Pitta. This is a forest bird a little larger than our Song Thrush but very brightly coloured. It behaves very similar to our native Thrush, running around underneath bushes turning over leaves looking for insects and invertebrates. I told Pili this was my plan so she left me to it and headed for the beach and her waiting throng of children.
Instead of heading out at dawn when all the other birdwatchers seem to be out I thought I’d change tack and head out late afternoon and stay until dusk.
I used the morning making photo cd’s for various people that I’d promised and writing my blog.
At 3:30pm I caught a taxi down to Arpora wood and started my search through the forest and grasslands. I had a great afternoon and explored many new areas. I saw plenty of species and caught most with my camera. A highlight was a male White Bellied Sea Eagle which was soaring above me. I also photographed another first the elusive Shikra which is like an Indian Sparrow Hawk.
The heat was intense and I was
soaked through from head to toe. I was sweating like Gary Glitter in a Thai Orphanage!!
At 5:30 I decided it was time to head back. While walking back through the bush I heard some rustling underneath a bush. My guts told me instinctively this had to be the elusive Pitta. As I tried find a gap through the undergrowth I saw a flash of emerald green and tangerine, then the distinctive black and white eye stripe, PITTA!! My heart nearly stopped where I stood. I’d spent two months looking for this beauty while in India, let alone the 30yrs of imagining this moment in my fantasies. My hand was shaking like a shitting dog, my photos were useless but it didn’t matter, I’d seen the bird. I laughed openly to myself and it felt like my smile would never leave my face. Floating on air I made my way back up to the path that led me out of the forest.
As I reached the top of the small hill leading to my exit there in front of me sat in clear view on a waist high branch was another male Pitta. Surely I was dreaming, I
The Shikra
The Indian Sparrow Hawk slowly raised my camera and started clicking away. My heart rate was way up and I realised that this was the best chance I’d probably ever have to photograph this bird in the wild. All the local experts I’d met had told me only one male Pitta lived in this part of the forest and of course it was very shy. Yet here in plain view was a second male bird, posing like a fashion model for me. After approx 15 seconds it hopped down to the ground and started turning over a few leaves, then it froze and just stared at me. It was now or never to get the shot. I calmed my breathing and steadied my hand and clicked off a dozen shots before it hopped away into the maze of undergrowth never to be seen by me again.
I stood in the dapples forest light dripping wet with sweat and checked my photos, I got him. At least eight good shots, my quest was finally at an end. It’s very hard to express the sense of achievement I felt and I suppose it’s hard for anybody reading this to fully understand, but I can assure
The White Bellied Sea Eagle
The largest eagle in the Indian Sub-Continent you these brief moment will live with me for ever especially with the help of those few precious photos.
One downside to today’s adventure, I was slaughtered by mosquitoes; they’d bitten right through my shirt all across my shoulders. It wasn’t until I was sat with my friend Nisar at the book shop recounting my success that I realised to the extent of the attack. I’d been bitten at least twenty times and now I was really paying for my passion.
In the evening we decided to order take out chicken Tikka from ‘Fire and Ice’ and I was glad to stay in and tend to my bites. The Tikka melted in our mouths and we settled in to watch a film, I was exhausted from the day’s events, heat and insects.
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