Black Drongo

Adult Black Drongo Perched on a tree

One of the most courageous birds around Shimoga, Black Drongo is instantly recognizable by its long tail split at the end. Completely black in colour, this is known as Kajana in Kananda. The reason I say these are courageous is, well, they are fearless. They are known to attack even larger birds and birds of prey. They feed on insects, mainly.

Tricky to get close, I know of a Drongo which regularly teases me to photograph it in the mornings besides Matthur lake, where it just sits atop a bare tree and keeps flying away as soon as I get close enough to shoot a picture!!  Otherwise you should be able to spot these birds around cultivation and water sources without too much difficulty, especially in the early mornings.

Scientific name for this bird is Dicrurus macrocercus.

Spotted Dove

A frequent sight in Karnataka, a spotted dove on a wire

The most common dove in Karnataka, the Spotted Dove is very frequently found near cultivated areas and villages. Brownish in colour, with white spots around its neck, this bird is a medium-sized dove, belonging to the family of Pigeons.

I have seen these every so often, walking to and fro in groups on the ground, picking off grains, small insects and seeds. Many a times I have seen these in groups of 8-10 birds, scattering quickly when approached.
Not as friendly as some movies might suggest, these birds much prefer us humans to be at a safe distance :).

Scientific name for this bird is Streptopelia chinensis.

Yellow-billed Egret

Egrets belong to the family of herons - wading birds that hover around the water and feed off small fish and other small aquatic animals. These are probably the most well-known fish-eater among us. Also, these are very common near Shimoga.

I have regularly seen Yellow-billed Egrets in Matthur, mostly in our cricket field and fields used to dry arecanuts. Of course, the bird sanctuary at Mandagadde is famous for these birds, where they come to nest every year. Unfortunately the sanctuary is half-sunken in the Tunga river after the Gajanur dam's height was increased recently, but you can still see a small island in the middle of the river where these birds flock. You can see more than 50 of these birds in about 2-3 trees.

Although these egrets are famous for catching and eating fish, there is one very funny story told by K.P.Poornachandra Tejaswi of a fish scaring an egret - and almost killing a kingfisher!! Apparantly Tejaswi witnessed a fairly large fish swimming quite close to the banks of the river and trying to attack (literally) a small kingfisher sitting at the edge of the water - kingfisher escaped just in time. A little later the same fish tried to attack an egret, but the egret was cautious, and moved to a safer place before the fish can come close enough to the bird. You can read this interesting tale in detail either in "Parisarada Kathe", or in "Minchulli" - I can't remember which of the books it is.

Scientific name for this bird is Ardea intermedia.

A flying Egret I shot in Mandagadde

Shikra

Shikras look remarkably like our kites, to whose family these birds belong. I mistook the Shikra I photographed to be a young black kite, actually. With strong talons, hooked bill and yellowish eyes, a Shikra is a miniature eagle, only more attractive and beautiful because of its smaller size. The fact that Shikras look so much like bigger falcon is probably the reason we don't pay too much attention to these birds when we sight them - many people just assume that they are looking at a younger common kite.

Like its family members, this is a bird of prey, and survives on lizards, smaller birds and animals like rats. It is not afraid to come close to human habitation either, often seen close to villages. I was fortunate to be able to take the picture here right outside my house, while it was sitting on a mango tree. Otherwise I have seen this bird on medium-height trees, scanning the ground for prey, especially in the evenings.

Wikipedia notes that this bird is found pretty much throughout South Asia, so no prizes for sighting this in Shimoga.

Scientific name for this bird is Accipiter badius.

Indian Grey Hornbill

Indian Grey Hornbill

Indian Grey Hornbill is the less famous of the hornbill family, though Salim Ali notes that this has a wider range of habitat in India than the Malabar Pied Hornbill, which I covered in a previous post. This bird is completely grey in colour, and has a considerably shorter beak than the other hornbills. It is still distinguishable, and is the easy mark for identification. Also, its long tail stands in sharp focus when viewed from a side.

Close-up while sitting on a coconut tree

I have seen this bird in much closer proximity to humans than the Malabar pied hornbill, in fact on coconut trees in the backyard of my friend's house in the middle of our village. I will long remember the early morning when I skipped over 2 compounds and ran to the roof of his house to get a close shot - and the bird stayed put when I was within 25 feet of the bird.

You can see this in and around Matthur in the early hours - even though I shot the picture on a coconut tree, Papal tree seems to be the favourite for this bird.

Scientific name for this bird is Ocyceros birostris.