Hoopoe and Nilgiris

The movement of the brown capped pygmy woodpecker was interesting to watch, especially the way it pecked off the outer bark of the tree to inspect if any insects were hiding in the crevice. (can be seen in the video) Don't miss the matching pattern of its wings and that on the tree.

Had been to the Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu) last month. A beautiful place as far as nature and wildlife is considered.

Bison (Indian Gaur) roam the hilly slopes and are generally calm unless provoked.

Heard that there were wild bears where we stayed and I was lucky enough to get some footage of him lumbering up in the hills.

Sighted a Hoopoe. While reading about it, I came across interesting stories including the fact that Hoopes were thought of as thieves in much of Europe and harbingers of war in Scandinavia

It is nice to see different species of birds basking in the morning sunlight. Be it the tickell's blue flycatcher, or the pied bushchat or any other bird.

I was even happy to see the common sparrow, which is now not so common in the cities.

From far, this looked like one of those vintage porcelain insulators used on telephone lines, but when I zoomed in with my camera I realised that it was a long tailed Shrike

The black winged Kite was looking majestic sitting at the top, but what is spectacular about it is the way it hovers in mid air over open grasslands, probably looking for a prey. Managed to capture that action in video (though there was a slight camera shake considering the fact that the camera was hand held)

Sighted many more birds but the giant squirrel was a first for me. Its huge coffee coloured bushy tail is very mesmerizing.

I found that it was sort of friendly and didn't mind me taking photos while it went about the business of eating the fruit from the tree.

I Heard that they did sight elephants too passing by (twice in the last three years) The vegetation too adds to the attraction for the animals like this bunch of bananas which I clicked in the valley.

Talking of vegetation, I saw this tamarillo for the first time. They say its a type of tomato . Prior to 1967, the fruit was known as the "tree tomato" but the new name tamarillo (which was not the name in Spanish or any other language) was chosen by the New Zealand Tree Tomato Promotions Council in order to distinguish it from the ordinary garden tomato and increase its exotic appeal.