India-11/2024- introduktory text-Malabar Grey-Hornbil

My account of a two-week stay in India must begin with the acknowledgment that I had the opportunity to see only a fraction of this vast country. India is over ten times larger than Poland, and during this trip, we covered approximately 1,300 kilometers by car in the southwestern part of the country, visiting areas around Kochi, Mysore, and Bandipur National Park. To fully appreciate the diversity of this country, a trip to the northern regions would also be necessary – a region with a completely different natural character than the south. Who knows, perhaps I will have the chance to realize that in the future? In the meantime, I return to describing what I managed to observe during this journey.

In terms of the number of bird species photographed, the results were not surprising. In Africa, during an intensive two-week photography expedition, the standard is 200 species (e.g., Tanzania – 220, Ethiopia – 205, Botswana – 203). In Asia, the average is about 150 species (Thailand – 152, Sri Lanka – 151). In India, I managed to photograph 139 bird species, 78 of which were additions to existing galleries, while 60 were new species. This number of 60 new species is particularly significant to me because, after adding them, the total number of bird galleries on my website surpassed 2,000 species. Although this was not the goal of the trip, I can now jokingly say that every fifth living bird species in the world has its gallery on my site.

This jest stems from the fact that there are just under 11,000 bird species in the world, so 20% is around 2,100 species. However, the milestone of surpassing 2,000 species is worth highlighting in this digital diary of mine.

During the trip, I didn’t focus on photographing species that are part of Poland’s fauna, although I always aim to add a few such species to my list during my travels. This time, before the trip, the organizer confirmed the possibility of photographing three new species for me from this group. Unfortunately, I failed to photograph any of them – the first such case during my travels.

India is both captivating and shocking due to its population density. People are almost everywhere, which translates into traffic jams, the noise of car horns, and the constant competition between humans and nature for space and resources. (I encourage you to read the text in the Indian Cobra gallery.) Despite this, birds and other animals have managed to adapt. Over crowded cities, black kites and brahminy kites soar, and in hotels, unexpected visits from monkeys can occur, especially if windows are left ajar. In one instance, a monkey entered our car through an open window and took some food. In rural areas and forests, animals were much more skittish. It was in the thickets that we had the chance to see a tiger – the largest cat in the world, an encounter that was both thrilling and unnerving, given that we were walking around the area in search of birds.

My bird photography in India can be divided into two types. The first involved photos taken from hides, where the best photographs were produced, although sometimes the birds were so close that they didn’t fit in the frame, especially those with long tails. I missed having a shorter lens (300 mm), which I couldn’t bring due to carry-on baggage weight restrictions. The second type of photography took place while searching for birds on the outskirts of villages, in rice fields, and in forests. My 600 mm lens was further supplemented with a 1.4x teleconverter, and even then, cropping was often necessary. Birds, particularly parrots, were very skittish, which limited the number and quality of the photos.

The first bird species I photographed in India was the Malabar gray hornbill, endemic to this country. For this reason and the interesting portfolio of images of this bird, I chose its gallery as the lead feature for the expedition’s narrative. While India’s national bird is the peacock, compared to Sri Lanka, I wasn’t able to take better or more interesting photos of this species.

Finally, a few words about my website. After two years of intensive work, a new version has been launched. Changes were necessitated by technological advancements and software updates, which have made the site now operate faster, despite hosting nearly 60,000 photos. The new version of the site is better suited for mobile devices, and the photo format has been upgraded from 1200x800 to 1920x1080 pixels.

As is customary after returning from a trip, I include in the information section of each gallery a list of newly created or updated galleries featuring photos from the expedition. This list also serves as a collection of links to those galleries. If a letter “T” appears in parentheses next to the species name, the gallery includes a text about that species, and a “G” means the gallery contains a sound recording. To quickly browse all bird galleries created or updated after photographing in India, simply search for the keyword “India-birds” in the “keywords” tab on the right-hand side of the browser.

INDIE jezyk Angielski

India-11/2024- introduktory text-Malabar Grey-Hornbil
Newly created galleries:
BIRDS:
1.Malabar Grey-Hornbill(T). 2. Brahminy Starling. 3.Malabar Lark(V). 4.Black-rumped Flameback. 5.Jungle Babbler. 6.Greater Racket-tailed Drongo.(V) 7.Common Hill Myna. 8.White-bellied Treepie. 9.Indian Blue Robin. 10.Black-and-rufous Flycatcher.11.White-naped Woodpecker. 12.Bay-backed Shrike. 13.Common Woodshrike. 14.Chestnut-shouldered Petronia. 15.Indian Nuthatch. 16. Green Leaf-Warbler. 17. Blue-capped Rock-Thrush. 18.Crested Goshawk. 19.Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon. 20.Nilgiri Flycatcher. 21.Jungle Myna. 22.Common Hawk-Cuckoo. 23.Purple Swamphen. 24.Black Drongo. 25.Red-naped Ibis. 26.River Tern. 27.Malabar Starling. 28.Malabar Parakeet. 29.Blue-eared Kingfisher. 30.Red Spurfowl. 31.Rufous Treepie(V). 32.Blue-throated Flycatcher. 33.Orange-headed Thrush. 34.Mottled Wood-Owl (V). 35.Spotted Owlet. 36.Jerdon's Nightjar. 37.Small Minivet. 38.Indian Pygmy Woodpecker. 39.Malabar Whistling-Thrush. 40.Kerala Laughingthrush. 41.Black-throated Munia. 42.Grey Junglefowl. 43.Indian Scimitar-Babbler. 44.White-browed Wagtail. 45.Square-tailed Bulbul. 46.Rufous-bellied Eagle. 47.Nilgiri Pipit. 48.Yellow-crowned Woodpecker. 49.Yellow-throated Bulbul. 50.Greater Flameback -Malabar Flameback. 51.Rufous Babbler. 52.Asian Fairy-bluebird. 53.Vernal Hanging-Parrot. 54.Jungle Bush-Quail(V). 55.Yellow-eyed Babbler. 56.White-browed Bulbul. 57.Red-headed Vulture. 58.Indian Grey-Hornbill(V). 59.Grey Francolin(V). 60.Oriental scops owl.
MAMMALS:
1.Indian giant squirrel. 2.Bonnet macaque(V). 3.Gaur. 4.Indian boar. 5.Jungle palm squirrel. 6.Black-footed gray langur. 7.Nilgiri tahr. 8.Barking deer – Muntjac. 9.Asian elephant. 10.Indian flying fox.
REPTILES:
1.Common Wolf Snake. 2. Indian cobra(T). 3.Common house gecko.
Changes in galleries:
BIRDS:

1.Jungle Owlet. 2.Coppersmith Barbet(V). 3.Grey-headed flycatcher. 4.Pied Bush chat. 5.White-breasted Waterhen. 6.Western Yellow Wagtail. 7.Greater Spotted Eagle 8.Booted Warbler. 9.Brown-breasted Flycatcher. 10.Brown Wood-Owl(V). 11.Kashmir Flycatcher. 12.Banded Bay Cuckoo. 13.Velvet-fronted Nuthatch. 14.White-browed Fantail. 15.Long-tailed Shrike. 16.Indian Peafowl. 17.Spotted Dove. 18.Pygmy Cormorant. 19.Eurasian eagle-owl. 20.Red-wattled Lapwing. 21.Bronze-winged Jacana. 22.Black-crowned night heron. 23.Little Egret. 24.Green Bee-eater ( Asian green bee-eater). 25.Rosy Starling. 26.Asian Openbill. 27.Grey Heron. 28.Brahminy Kite. 29.Spot-billed Pelican. 30.Black-headed Ibis. 31.Greater Coucal. 32.Red-whiskered Bulbul(V). 33.Oriental Magpie-Robin. 34.Ashy Drongo. 35.House crow. 36.Malabar Trogon. 37.Ceylon Frogmouth. 38.Yellow-browed Bulbul. 39.Indian Pond Heron. 40.Crested serpent eagle. 41.Indian Pitta. 42.Indian Scops-Owl. 43.White-throated Kingfisher. 44.Grey Wagtail. 45.Shikra. 46.Crested Hawk-Eagle. 47.Yellow-billed Babbler. 48.Flame Minivet. 49.Purple Sunbird. 50.Purple-rumped Sunbird. 51.Blyth's Reed-Warbler. 52.Chestnut-headed Bee-eater. 53.Scaly-breasted Munia. 54.Oriental White-eye. 55.Intermediate Egret. 56.Little Spiderhunter. 57.Oriental Darter. 58.Cattle Egret. 59.Jerdon's Bushlark 60.Plain Prinia. 61.Common Tailorbird. 62.Asian brown flycatcher. 63.Asian Paradise-Flycatcher. 64.Common Kingfisher. 65.Ashy Prinia. 66.Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark. 67.Cotton Pygmy Goose. 68.Red-vented Bulbul. 69.Common myna. 70.Tawny Pipit. 71.Oriole. 72.Painted Stork. 73.Woolly-necked Stork. 74.Black Kite. 75.Jacobin cuckoo (Pied Cuckoo).76.Yellow-wattled Lapwing. 77.White-bellied Drongo. 78.Indian Robin(V).79.Brown-cheeked Fulvetta.
MAMMALS:Chital.
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