On a whim, we decided to head to Kundapura on a weekday and chill. Well, work too. A couple of things didn’t work out as planned – chilling and working. A day after getting there, my throat started acting up and I was positive (poor choice of words) that it was due to the heavy breeze right through the evening. Turns out, after evading the virus like a ninja for close to two years, we finally decided to make contact.
Although, I couldn’t do much birding as I slept almost half of the trip, here are some lifers and fun moments from the beach.
As we drove in, hundreds of Lesser black-backed Gulls greeted us. Such graceful and amazing birds.
Got to watch a number of Gull-billed Terns as well including a sad ending to one of them. On that, in just a bit.
The Common Greenshanks are fun to watch while fishing near the shore in groups.
Eurasian Curlews on a fading evening light, is wallpaper-worthy stuff.
Some noisy friends were around too.
Ever seen an Indian Peafowl on a beach? You have now.
The last time I was on a beach, I was fascinated by this majestic beauty – White-bellied Sea Eagle.
After perching on that branch for a few minutes, it raced into the sea for a kilometer or so where it was almost not visible to the naked eye. I tried to watch through the lens. It was actually attacking what seemed to be a Gull-billed Tern. This went on for a few minutes before it finally caught the small bird. Truly fascinating, although I couldn’t capture it well enough due to the distance.
Behind the house on a wire, found one of my fav bee-eater, the blue-tailed one.
On the day we were leaving, saw a whole bunch of Egrets, Herons, Kites, Terns, and Crows trying to get some of the fishermen’s catch.
And, for the last lifer on this trip, a Western Reef-Heron.
What is a west coast beach without some sunset shots?
Really cool shots 🙂