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Ultramarine, Paradise Flycatchers at Nandi Hills
The recent outing to Nandi Hills with other bird watchers revealed to me that it could be a good
place for photographing too. So I went to Nandi Hills early morning on the 11th December.
It was a very cold and misty morning, and one had to ride very slowly with near-freezing hands to
reach Nandi Hills.
My plan for the day was to try and photograph the Paradise Flycatchers that were at Nandi Hills
this winter. However for the first couple of hours I didn't even see them, nor did I get any good
shots of other birds, and wearily I settled down in front of a small tree, deciding to shoot whatever
came by to that tree. Some sunbirds, prinias passed by, but didn't offer any good shots, and then a
Red Throated Flycatcher came to that tree. It remained there for some 30 minutes and I did get a few
good shots of him. Then he also left, and I got up to go to other places around the hill.
As luck would have it, the moment I got up, a small blue and white bird came to that tree.
I sat down again, and in the next half hour managed to get some good photographs of that bird.
I couldn't identify it, but knew that it was some sort of a flycatcher. There after, I left the place
in search of other birds, and did get a few good shots of a pair of Egyptian Vultures and on the
way back, a lone Shikra.
Back at Bangalore I processed the blue and white bird and sent the photograph to a popular
nature photography mailing list for identification, and within no time a friend bird watcher called me
up by phone and said the bird is Ultramarine Flycatcher and that it is a record sighting so far south.
The bird guides indicated single records of the bird, and, indeed, it seemed a record sighting and
photograph.
The friend was keen to see and photograph the bird again next day, so on 12th Sunday we both went again
to the same place, and at the same hour as the previous day, the Ultramarine Flycatcher came to that same
tree and remained for sometime. My friend treated himself to a good series of photographs of the rare flycatcher.
I was really amazed at how accurately the bird came to that same tree, at the same hour, on both days.
It proves that birds have habits, and if you see a particular bird at a particular place at a certain time,
there is a good chance of seeing them again in the same circumstances next day too.
Of the Paradise flycatchers, I didn't get any photographs of them on Saturday, but on Sunday as we were
photographing the Ultramarine Flycatcher, the Paradise Flycatcher also came to the vicinity, and after running
after the beautiful bird for sometime and several wasted shots, I managed to get a decent enough shot, but still
not very happy with it.
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