Thursday 15 December 2016

White-capped Water-redstart...

I have to admit - I absolutely adore this little bird. It is available in my area all along the Himalayas virtually throughout out the year. It does disappear - but I feel that is more to do about me not searching for it than it disappearing. And as the name suggests it is a Redstart that has a white cap. The cap is white so pure that one wonders what washing powder it uses 😀. 

The bird quickly hops from branches where it perches for very short time to go down to water and rocks among them... 
It is not a shy bird but definitely gives a challenge to click it at eye level... 

The distribution map places this bird as Indo-Chinese endemic - wonder if it counts...
The birds I have observed in and around my area seem to be altitudinal migrants, coming down to the lower hills/ foothills in winters and going up to higher levels during summers. That may be the reason I miss seeing them in the middle of summers generally. Most of the sightings are near the source of water, streams seems to be preferred but also sometimes near or in villages. 

Though I clicked this bird many a times over years but it never gave me a eye level shot. Last visit to Renukaji last month (Nov 16) - and seeing these birds made me absolutely determined to show patience and bag this bird for good. Luckily the birds obliged and here I am with two shots that I think are good for me. The problem is the camera got tricked with the dark black colour and the eyes seem to be reflecting too much light. I did not really want to photoshop the picture and make them unreal so some other time perhaps.


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