I visited CKBS today with the sole motive of taking some decent shots
of the "controversial" warbler that had been spotted by Debarshi
Chakraborty and Avishek Chatterjee few days back. I know very well
that a proper conclusion about a species can be drawn only after doing
a lot of field work. And I have done the actual field work....thats
why instead of going to school, I searched for this bird in CKBS in
the extreme heat of the day. I also wanted to know whats the exact ID
of the warbler which is creating so much controversy.
I am thankful to my friend Debarshi for his continuous support and
also for giving me the informations on the excat location where he had
spotted the warbler earlier.
The habitat where the warbler was seen by Debarshi is full of
entangling creepers, and is almost inpenetrable. After a long search
in the dense thickets, finally I got a glimpse a yellow tiny bird that
flit among the bushes. It was very restless, and never perched
anyhwere for more than a second. But I was also determined to take few
good shots of the bird to put an end to the controversy.
The bird was darting like a tiny bullet, and at one point of time it
seemed to me that I could never succeed in taking its photos. I tried
to follow the movements of the bird, without even knowing where I was
going. After sometime I found myself in the midst of a dense forest of
thorny bushes and creepers. The bird couldnot be seen anymore and so I
decided to return. But coming out of that place was not that easy. I
couldnt even understand which way i came there. I was fully covered
with sticky spider-webs and dried leaves. After struggling for a few
more minutes, I came out of this maze of dry thickets.
It was almost 11am, and I was sure that the bird would return to that
spot very soon. So i waited outside taking pics of the other resident
birds of CKBS. Then I again went to that place where the bird was
seen. But I was disappointed to see that the bird was not there
anymore. There was no movement anywhere around me. There was complete
silence. I was almost going to return when a faint whistling note
caught my attention.
I turned back, and found that tiny warbler perched only a few feet
away from me. It was singing loudly and searching for insects.
It seemed that God gave me a second chance. I sat down on the forest
floor , as any further movement might scare away the bird. My camera
clicked and I missed the bird again and again. The bird was gradually
coming closer to me. It prefered to stay in the lower layers of
vegetation near the ground. Finally it perched on an exposed branch
and gave me the opportunity to take few snaps. Then it vanished into
the bushes.
I looked at the images on the LCD screen...and found that the images
were good enough for identification.
The third image is a bit blurred, but the black head streaks are distinct.
I hope these images will help in the proper identification of the
warbler. The bird bears more resemblance with the Golden Spectacled
Warbler (S burkii).
I would request the experts to confirm the ID.
Thanks for going through the account on my experience in the field.
regards
Shantanu :)
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