Winter mornings at Sultanpur…. part 1

Come winters and enthusiastic bird-watchers flock to lakes and marshes around Delhi to view and photograph migratory birds that come here to breed in large numbers.

Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary is situated 40 kilometres from Delhi and is a delight to everyone who visits. Since the numbers of birds are numerous, this post will be split into several posts to share all the photographs.

The morning started off with us taking the past least taken :-) which was in a clockwise direction around the lake, as most visitors (non-birdwatchers usually) take the anti-clockwise path.

The air was still a bit hazy although it was around 10 in the morning, but the nip in the air was really enjoyable. One of the first birds we saw was a Large Egret (Cosmerodius albus) (shown above) wading through the shallow waters while a Hoopoe (Upupa epops) was flitting in and out of the trees, and searching for insects on the ground. (shown below)

But the most fun was when we spotted a (female?) Black-winged Stilt or Common Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) which usually feeds on insects and small crustaceans trying to swallow a fish. We spent  about 10 minutes seeing its attempts at trying to swallow the fish before moving on :-)

 

The next set of pics will be posted tomorrow

Flickr Tags: Hoopoes,Upupa,epops,Large,Egret,Cosmerodius,albus,Sultanpur,National,Park,Delhi,Bird,Birdwatching,sanctuary,Black-winged,Stilt,Common,Himantopus,himantopus