Wednesday, March 30, 2011

(delhibirdpix) Blue-winged Leafbird sighting at CKBS

Hi
i visited CKBS today at 10am after birding with friend Debarshi
Chakraborty in the Kalikapur wetlands. My friend cudnt accompany me in
the CKBS birding program.
The entire park was vibrating with bird calls and there was good bird
activity. After taking some shots of the Orange-headed ground thrush
in the thickets, I tried to locate the Plaintive cuckoo by its
peculiar mournful call. It took me almost an hour to get some decent
shots of this shy cuckoo.
At 1PM, I was almost going to come out of the park ,when I noticed a
bulbul-sized green bird preening on a Star apple (Jamrool) tree near
the bird-bathing pool infront of the office. I recognized the bird and
took as many shots as I could. Light was poor due to cloudy weather.
It was the rarely seen Blue-winged Leafbird (Chloropsis
cochinchinensis) that has been spotted few months back in CKBS. It
hopped among the branches in search of insects and flew into the dense
canopy of a mango tree. It was a very restless bird, and sometimes it
became difficult to distinguish the bird from the leaves.
The bird looked very similar to the Gold-fronted Leafbird that I had
seen in the forests of Duars...but this one has a blue moustachial
streak and bluish tinge on the shoulders and wings (prominent in the
second image). It lacks the golden-yellow forehead of C. aurifrons. I
never expected to get this rarity. It was certainly a Lifer for me.
Cud have taken better shots if there was ample light.

regards
Shantanu : )

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