ALL INDIAN SUBCONTINENT BIRDS WITH BLUE EYES!!
Call it madness or a labour of passion or a childhood infatuation with actress Mandakini’s blue eyes - but about a year ago I decided to cover all the birds with blue eyes (either cornea or iris or pupil of blue colur)! There were 18 of them as per my diligent and rather painstaking research (and another 6 which had “blue linings” around the eyes). I realised that I had covered 9 of them already - so had another 9 more to do. And then the same cycle of planning, pursuit, frustration and finally sucess started!
The easy ones were found in Manila, Uttarakhand. The White-browed Shrike Babbler with its chirpy noise was happy to oblige. The Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon, with one of the most melodious sounds of any birds in my view, led me to it like a pied piper!
Then I realised that the blue-eyed city of start-ups (Bangalore) could get me started with 4 more blue-eyed birds! Yellow-billed Babbler was easy to find. But the Jungle Myna made me run around madly, and finally finding one amongst a large flock behind a pig sty of all places! The Blue-faced Malkoha played truant and did not turn up in my first visit to Bangalore. The next time I was in Bangalore was during the cyclone period that had happened in South. I took my chances and this time against all odds, the Malkoha came right on the street to greet me! In the same trip I decided to visit Lalbagh in Bangalore and within five minutes found the Great Cormorant in a great pose!
Now there were 3 left. The quarter finals, the semi finals and then the grand final! As usual and expectedly at this stage of the “Indian Premier Blue Eyed Birds League”, these were the toughest! I started with the Grey-headed Bulbul in Mangalore. One of the most shy birds which loved to hide in tall and dense trees, it made me search for it for several hours before giving a quick glimpse of its royal blue eyes!
Then came the trip to Karimganj to find the other bulbul - this time the Black-headed one! This was as shy and difficult as the Grey-headed one, especially since it was no longer coming to the “hide”. However in the last hour of my stay there, I managed to get them posing in singles and in pairs - perhaps they had FOMO (fear of missing out) of this “League of Extraordinary Blue Eyes”!
Finally came the grand final. This month in late April. I went ready with all fireworks to Singalila. To find the Black-headed Shrike Babbler. While I was “comforted” before my trip that “no problem sir, we will find it”…from my prior experiences of such assurances, I was circumspect. First day, no sound and no sight. Second day, sound was heard just when I was lying down on a muddy slippery slope of a bamboo forest photographing the Red Panda! Surely I couldn’t be blamed for ignoring that sound! To ignore a blue-eyed bird though is to invite misery upon oneself. And what a miserable one and half day it was! Rains, hailstorm, fogs - all my “fireworks” was truly “damped” by now!
Now in the final over of the final game, I had a couple of hours left. We went searching for it in deep forests, which are the preferred hide-outs for this bird. Last ten minutes of the 2 hours were left. Nothing yet. It was now the last ball and I had to hit a six (apologies for a bit of the “melodrama” but this is exactly as it happened - my guide Pritam will confirm too!). And then in slow motion, the last ball..sorry the last call started! Like a swinging ball, the call came nearer and nearer, swinging in direction from one side to the other! The ball had to hit the ball..the camera had to hit the bird! And it struck..it struck gold! The bird was right in front, slightly hidden behind a small tree! Maybe it was not a clean hit “shot” but was still enough to cross the boundary!
Target reached, I left immediately to catch the flight…
…Next flight of passion..of madness! 😊
