[aravind84]

With the birding season almost coming to an end in terms of migrating birds to this part of the world, I have always been thinking of a quick weekend trip to Ooty to capture some of the beauties from the hills. With the thought lingering in mind for sometime the first week of May gave me the opportunity. My friend was visiting his in laws place in Coimbatore and we quickly planned a 2 day dash to Ooty.

Day 1:
I started from Chennai on a overnight KPN bus admist all the political chaos due to an arrest of a local leader. The drive till Villupuram toll was smooth and post that the buses were sent as a convoy to avoid any unneccessary chaos. I reached Coimbatore at 6 in the morning and my friend picked me up in a zen. We set off around 8 AM from Coimbatore and decided Coonor as the first stop. Reached Coonor around 10 AM and headed straight to SIMS Park. After about spending half a day at Coonor we left to ooty via Kothagiri. The Ghat road via kothagiri is in excellent condition. Upon arriving at Ooty rains welcomed us and our afternoon plan of birding was spoiled due to Rain. Later in the evening we headed out to Side walk cafe for dinner and retired for the day.

Day 2 :
We woke up early in the morning and headed out to the botanical garden. The Garden opens up at 7 AM and it is quite peaceful around that time as the tourists are yet to pour in. We spent quite sometime at the garden and captured some of the real beauties from the hills. We finished up at around 1 PM and headed back to Coimbatore . Reached back by around 5 PM and took an overnight return bus to Chennai. In all it was a very short trip but well worth it in terms of the check list of birds i wanted to cover.

Here i am sharing some of the real beauties from this trip.

Black and Orange Flycatcher

Crested Goshawk

Crimson Backed Sunbird

Bar Winged Flycatcher

Great Tit

Grey Headed Canary Flycatcher

Indian Yellow Tit

Nilgiri Flycatcher

Brown Capped Woodpecker

Red Whiskered Bulbul

[Venom_rider]

Awesome set of pics there again @Aravind84.

Cheers!
Goutham

[gd1418]

Aravind, awesome pictures. Seen the crested goshawk for the first time.

[getsurya]

Hi Arvind, Great pictures with stunning clarity!


May I ask what equipment was used to capture these beautiful birds?

[aravind84]

Originally Posted by getsurya

Hi Arvind, Great pictures with stunning clarity!


May I ask what equipment was used to capture these beautiful birds?

Thanks Surya. I use Nikon D7000 with Nikon 300mm F4 lens and a 1.4 TC

Originally Posted by gd1418

Aravind, awesome pictures. Seen the crested goshawk for the first time.

Thank you sir. These guys to my knowledge are common around the hilly terrains

Originally Posted by Venom_rider

Awesome set of pics there again @Aravind84.

Cheers!
Goutham

Thank you Goutham

[Chillout]

Aravind as usual great pictures. Its a pity that a beautiful place like the
Botanical gardens becomes a complete mess with tourists pouring in by hundreds in a couple of hours and each one of them screaming and shouting at their top of their voice. I did not know that they open at 7:00 am, however I do remember that when I visited a decade back there wasn't much crowd and it was a pleasure to play Frisbee in the great lawns.

I don't think we can even dream of doing something like that now.

Hopefully I should make a visit in the next few months and look forward to some great birding.

[motomaverick]

Wow some nice up close pictures of birds, seeing them after a long time. Love the Nilgiri birds shot, great dof and smooth background. Considering that you used a Tele-converter, was lighting an issue at 7am as the f-stops will increase? So any more catches for the day?

[vindrider2626]

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[thalavoy]

Beautiful pictures Aravind. The goshawk was a surprise

[SCORPION]

Absolutely amazing pictures aravind84. Some of these birds can be seen during most part of the year in the nilgiris but you rarely pay attention. Your snaps make them look so majestic that even the humble bulbul, which is an everyday bird in the nilgiris and sorrounding areas, looks so regal.

[aravind84]

Originally Posted by SCORPION

Absolutely amazing pictures aravind84. Some of these birds can be seen during most part of the year in the nilgiris but you rarely pay attention. Your snaps make them look so majestic that even the humble bulbul, which is an everyday bird in the nilgiris and sorrounding areas, looks so regal.

So true, these are the real gems of Ooty and i would make much more trips to spend time with these beauties. Thank you for liking the pics

Originally Posted by thalavoy

Beautiful pictures Aravind. The goshawk was a surprise

THanks thalavoy. It was a surprise for me as well. I never expected i would have this beauty which was a real lifer for me

It indeed are around and have adjusted well to the conditions

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Wow some nice up close pictures of birds, seeing them after a long time. Love the Nilgiri birds shot, great dof and smooth background. Considering that you used a Tele-converter, was lighting an issue at 7am as the f-stops will increase? So any more catches for the day?

Motomaverick, thank you for the comments. Lighting indeed is an issue . The Nilgiri flycatcher and the canary flycatcher were shot with 1/80 shutter at ISO 640. These guys are well hidden in the garden and so light always is tough. But at the end of the day, thats the fun with bird photography right

Originally Posted by Chillout

Aravind as usual great pictures. Its a pity that a beautiful place like the
Botanical gardens becomes a complete mess with tourists pouring in by hundreds in a couple of hours and each one of them screaming and shouting at their top of their voice. I did not know that they open at 7:00 am, however I do remember that when I visited a decade back there wasn't much crowd and it was a pleasure to play Frisbee in the great lawns.

I don't think we can even dream of doing something like that now.

Hopefully I should make a visit in the next few months and look forward to some great birding.

Yes buddy, early morning would be ideal as the garden will be free from crowd. Also ensure you go to the end of the garden as crowd will always reach there late. Have fun when you go out there. Let me know in case you need some spots to look out for

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by aravind84

Motomaverick, thank you for the comments. Lighting indeed is an issue . The Nilgiri flycatcher and the canary flycatcher were shot with 1/80 shutter at ISO 640. These guys are well hidden in the garden and so light always is tough. But at the end of the day, thats the fun with bird photography right

Yeah true, thats what the fun is plus those little fellows are too energetic and don't stay put at one place for a long time, especially the sun birds. Post some more if you got, even slight noise in the photograph would not matter

[mallumowgli]

Amazing pics. Great angles - how do you get these birds at eye level?