India 2015 | Part Two: Dimapur

This is the second of several posts I've been writing about our trip to India in late April. The first post can be found here, India 2015 | Part One: Kolkata.

We landed in the mid afternoon at the not-so-bustling Dimapur Airport. We were greeted by many Asian Palm Swifts and other unidentified swifts swirling around.

Landing in Dimapur

Once we arrived at our host's house I popped outside to see what I could find. It was hot and there was little to see in the middle of the afternoon, but I did find some of the more common species such as Red-vented Bulbuls, Common Tailorbirds, and  Oriental Magpie-robins.

A loudly chirping Red-vented Bulbul.

 These somewhat annoying bulbuls (they sound like this) were ubiquitous everywhere we went in India.

Typical village scene

Asian Palm Swift

This is currently my best digibinned photo of a swift, by a very large margin.

In contrast, here is a wretched real-camera pic I snagged of a fly-by probable Grey-hooded Treepie. These corvids reminded me a lot of our jays and magpies back home with their loud, grating calls.

Photography was quite challenging due to the prevalent low light, (we arrived at the beginning of the monsoon season) so please excuse the poor photo quality in these posts.

Grey-breasted Prinias were quite common in Nagaland. This individual was singing loudly, a trill reminiscent of Chipping Sparrows.

I saw a few other interesting species (full list here ) including a White-throated Kingfisher and a White-rumped Shama (amazing birds) the next morning before leaving for a village deep in the hills of Kohima state.

And with that, stay tuned for the next installment; From the Village of Tseminyu.

Joseph

India 2015 | Part One: Kolkata

This spring I had the opportunity to accompany my father on a short trip to India. Needless to say, I was very excited about this chance to visit another part of the world! This is the first (brief) post I'm writing about our trip.

After many hours of traveling, we arrived in Kolkata late on the evening of April 22. After having some hassle involving our luggage not making it with us, we headed to our hotel. We had a connecting flight the next morning, so although I didn't have much time, I woke up early, eager to see what birds I could spot from our hotel window. There were quite a few! Common Mynas, House crows and Red-vented Bulbuls were all over the neighborhood. A couple Little Cormorants flew past in the distance, and a Spotted Dove appeared on the rooftop next door.

A Common Myna holds forth.

An inquisitive House Crow

A Spotted Dove

After a quick breakfast of scaldingly spicy curry, we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Dimapur, in the far north-eastern state of Nagaland. We spent the next several days with the Naga people, exploring the villages and learning about their history. I'll write more about our time there in a later post. 

And no, despite our proximity to Nepal during the earthquake, I did not feel it. My dad did, but we felt fortunate that the area we were in was not at all affected.

Joseph