Black-crowned Night Heron

On the edge of water

As the name suggests, Black-crowned night herons are closely related cousin of pond herons, which I have mentioned in a previous post. Relatively less common than pond herons, the males are very distinguishable from pond herons, with a black coloured shield running from the back of their head. The red-colour of their eyes also stand out like anything.

A little more shy than pond herons, they are usually active around twilight, mostly resting during the day. Hence the name 'night heron'. It's legs are a pale pink in coour, with a shade of brown in its lower parts of the wings.

Food habits are closely related to pond herons, mostly being fishes, frogs, insects etc.

Me and my friend were able to catch sight of this bird in Gudavi bird sanctuary, on the same visit when we saw white ibises.

Scientific name for this bird is Nycticorax nycticorax.

White Ibises and a bird sanctuary

Perched on a branch in Gudavi, Shimoga district

Oriental White Ibises, also called black-headed Ibis,  are birds thriving in marshes. Their white body and completely black neck, head and bill, which is really long along with being black, give these birds a rather funny look - the type known in Kannada as 'Nakali Shyama'. In addition, their bills are kind of curved at the end, adding to the comic looks. Legs are black as well. All in all, one of the easiest birds to identify once you see them.

But to see them, best place is a rather famous bird sanctuary in Shimoga district, called Gudavi bird sanctuary. Gudavi is nearly 120 Kms from Shimoga, and is easily one of the better bird sanctuaries around this place. Every monsoon thousands, and I literally mean thousands, of Ibises come here to build nests and breed. It is a treat for any birding enthusiast to enjoy this sight. Agreed that Monsoon is also the worst time to travel around, as the rain will be nearly non-stop in and around Gudavi.

Salim Ali notes that this bird sometimes feeds with its head submerged momentarily. Also, he points out that this bird does not have real voice-producing organs, and the sound that we hear is kind of ventriloquial grunting.

Scientific name of this bird is Threskiornis melanocephalus.

Visiting Gudavi:
First, reach Shimoga!! From Shimoga, the best route is reaching Sagar, which is en-route to Jog Falls, and the road is excellent till here. At Sagar, you need to turn right towards Sorab, which is a Taluk head quarters. The road kind of goes bad for 5-6 Kms, but then again becomes well-maintained. From Sorab Gudavi is about 15 Kms, and that part of the road is quite manageable in a car.

Sagar is about 70 Kms from Shimoga, whereas Soraba is another 30 Kms.

Bird sanctuary itself is open from morning 6 to evening 6, and there is an entry fee. I have heard that evenings are better because birds will be returning to their nests between 4-6 in the evening, but honestly that did not matter to us because of the sheer number of birds even at mid-afternoon!!!

Black-shouldered Kite

Perched on a wire

A lesser known and much lesser seen kite around Shimoga, Black-shouldered Kite, also called Black-winged Kite, was pleasantly perched on the electric wire when I first saw this. The most striking features of this bird are the black-colored wings on the otherwise mostly white body. But as I got closer, its blood-red eyes stood out. Surprisingly, it allowed me to approach it much closer than most birds.

Salim Ali notes that this bird is rather crepuscular, which means it is active mostly in twilight. He also notes that it has a rather distinctive way of catching preys - apparantly it hovers in mid-air and keeps its wings vertical when bearing down on the prey. Unfortunately I have to wait for another day to catch this behaviour.

Scientific name of this bird is Elanus Caeruleus.