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Sinhagad is mountain fort in Pune district located at about 30 kms from Pune city. One can trek up the hill, to reach the fort on the top (Altitude 1350 m), well known for the historic battles in King Shivaji's times.
At the foot of this mountain (Altitude 560 m) lies a valley having a patch of semi deciduous forest and small agricultural farms dotted with small village houses. Western Maharashtra is dotted with such thousands of hills (western ghat).
Sinhagad is one of those hills, frequented by birders, due to its vicinity to Pune city.
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Welcome to Sinhagad valley.
Under the majestic hill of Sinhagad, is the small valley where variety of birds can be seen with some luck and knowledge.
The place is well known in birders in Pune. After parking the vehicle in Atkarwadi (a small village at the foot of the hill),
take left and follow this herdsman to reach the valley. In this gallery, I have included some images from my both winter and summer visits to the place.
| Welcome to Sinhagad Valley.
| Red Vented Bulbul :
The red vented bulbuls and Red whiskered bulbuls are plenty here. They are common birds. In Sinhagad valley these birds allow you to come close.
In winter, when I was waiting for the flycatchers to appear at the waterhole early morning, the bulbul gave me this nice pose.
The bird was drying its wings after the bath. The bird was photographed by me in January 2008
| Oriental Magpie Robin, the owner of the water hole : In winter, no matter when you visit the water hole, you will find this bird
on the tree branch nearby waterhole. He is the owner of waterhole and takes care of visitor birders till other flycatchers visit the place in the morning.
Oriental Magpie Robin is great Singer, with various tunes. The bird sings particularly in Summer, during breeding season. The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
I noticed that this bird used to overturn the leaves around waterhole, looking for the insects underneath. The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Tickell Blue Flycatcher : The bird is quite common whole year in bushes all around
Pune. Though the bird is common, the nice colors of the bird generates the interest among photographers. The fellow gives nice good steady poses.
This bird has tendency to sit on the branch and it turns all around looking for food. In the process, it gives various poses, looking left, looking right,
looking at you, looking behind......... The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Ultramarine Flycatcher Male : This is the dream Bird. It is common bird in himalayan region.
This fellow visits Pune in winter and stays at Sinhagad valley.
Truely wonder bird, mesmerised me, I could take only three snaps, as I tried for the perfection before taking snaps.This particular one is male.
I was lucky to get almost full frame shot of this tiny beauty. Expert birders visit Sinhagad valley in winter with the hope to see this bird.
In winter the bird visits the waterhole everyday with its female, but for very brief time early in the morning.
The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Ashy Prenia : These birds are very much friendly with humans as compared to other
places I have seen. They hop all around looking for insects. Here I have used manual focus, just predicted where the bird will hop, and I succeded. It landed at the
edge of rock with perfect sunlight with dark bush behind. The belly color is refreshing. I love the eyes of this bird.
The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Ultramarine Flycatcher Male : The ultramarine was sitting on the branch,I got nice front view of the fellow with unique blue and white.
The bird stays for very less time at waterhole in winter and vanishes in no time.
The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Ultramarine Flycatcher Male : This time I got him clean on the floor, It observed me carefully from close distance. It picked insect from the leaf and went off.
The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| White Bellied Kingfisher : I have seen this bird perching at the edge of the waterhole quite often. I used to wonder what knid of food it enjoys
in this forest. Oneday it was waiting for me, perched on the mango tree and showed me what it had caught. The image was taken in January 2008.
| Verditer Flycatcher Male : The bird visits the waterhole but for very short time. This bird unlike other flyctahers, is shy, very shy.
It keeps the distance from humans. The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Female Oriental Magpie Robin : Lovely white with grey upperparts, make you feel that it is wearing a dress. The bird is always around with its male counterpart.
The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Tickell Blue Flycatcher: The bird stays at Sinhagad valley whole year. This image was taken during winter.
The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Red breasted Flycatcher Female : Cute little bird was seen at waterhole early morning.
The bird perched in the bush close to waterhole. The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Red breasted Flycatcher male : Cute little bird with red breast, was seen at waterhole early morning.
The bird perched in the bush close to waterhole. The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Paradise Flycather female : The bird used to perch on the tree. Suddenly it used to dive into the waterhole, after taking the dip
in the water, the bird used to go back to the perch. The bird was also seen having insects near the waterhole for its breakfast.
| Paradise Flycather female : The "baanpakshi" or the "swargiya nartak", as known in Marathi, is truely worth watching. The bird
does mesmerising movements while taking off from the perch. The bird takes dip in the water and surprisingly reverses and returns back to the perch.
The dark black blue color of its face and lovely white under color is beautiful.
The bird was photographed by me in January 2008.
| Red vented Bulbul : As the winter gets over, after February, the waterhole starts drying up. The birds from the whole valley come to waterhole
for drink. Red vented bulbuls were caught drinking water. Image was taken in February 2008. As the summer peaks up in April and May, most of the shrubs and bushes shed their leave.
The birds from the higher altitudes arrive at the lower levels in valley inserach of food, shade and water. Umber and Banyan trees get lots of fruits. The
fruits attarct lot of small insects and the birds gather around the trees for the feast of fruits and insects.
| Golden fronted Leaf Bird : In summer, the birds were seen by me in pair. The photography of this bird, is
different than that of other birds. This bird always remains inside the canopy of leaves. Typically seen in the
tree with nectar flowers, it rearly gives full view. The bird is very proud of some flower trees in Sinhagad valley.
When it is enjoying the nectar in the morning, it attacks sunbirds and do not allow them to feed. It also shows the stress and
competition among the birds. In this category of birds, being one of the largest, it bulies on other birds. Whiteeye, robin, and flowerpeckers however keep distance from
the main part of the tree where leaf bird was feeding. Leaf bird was having feast on the flowered plant, parasite Dendropthoe falcata.
The bird was photographed by me in May 2008.
| Red Rumped Swallow : The red rumped swallow is the bird which is quite common. These birds fly in the air in the manner worth
watching. When they land, the birds go round and round and smoothly land. They feed on insects in the air.
I got very good close snaps of this bird. A small tree near the waterhole helped me to get stable hand.
You can see this tree in Swallow's eye. I will remember this bird, for all my life. The eyes, the face and the streaks below on the belly, is simply beautiful.
The bird was photographed by me in May 2008, at waterhole in Sinhagad valley, early morning at the sunrise time.
| Red Rumped Swallow : The bird at waterhole in Summer May 2008.
The rusty red with blue on overhead,as if the blue hankerchief on the head, lovely streaks on the underbody,
and lively eyes with beautiful glow, The long tail feathers to swim in the sky,
the beauty of the bird can not be descibed in the words.
| Tickell Blue Flycatcher: This image was taken during Summer. What is striking is that
in Summer the bird looks quite thin as compared to that in winter. The bird was photographed by me in May 2008.
| Oriental Whiteeye : Rush on Banyan trees in Sinhagad valley, is worth seeing. The birds of various types gather on the tree.
Whiteeye birds are seen wondering on all kind of trees. The birds were seen eating some knid of insects/leak from the backside of the banyan leaves.
Acrobatics in doing so was very nice to watch. Two such birds were photographed by me in May 2008.
| Red vented bulbul: As the summer peaks, in May the umber fruits start ripening. The insects all around the umber fruits, attract
many birds. Umber tree is full of small ants, worms and insects.
The bird was photographed by me in May 2008.
| Orange Headed Thrush: In winter I never could locate this bird. The bird suddenly became visible in Summer. Call of the bird
is worth listening. This particular fellow was looking for insects and grain in cowdung.
The bird was photographed by me in May 2008.
| Orange Headed Thrush: On Banyan tree I saw this bird having afternoon siesta. The bird was on the perch for almost half hour.
The bird was photographed by me in May 2008.
| Eurasian Blackbird : The bird unseen in winter is seen in large numbers in Summer.
The bird was photographed by me in May 2008. These birds were seen eating fruits on Banyan tree.
| Iora: The mesmerising color and amazing whistle is what makes you observe and photograph this bird.
| The colors of lizards.
| The eye of lizard
| The smile
The other birds that are seen in Sinhagad valley are Blue napped Monarch flycatcher, Purple rumped sunbird, Tawny bellied babbler, little green bee eater,
yellow sparrow, indian robin, white browed fantail flycatcher, jungle babbler, Jungle Myna, yellow tit etc.
| Contact me at kale_v@rediffmail.com for any queries and
suggestions.
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