Birding at Nandi HIlls - Part 1 - Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

As usual, its been a while since my last post, in this four part post, i will put up images of three species commonly found at our local birding hotspot Nandi Hills.

Nandi Hills is an old hill fortress in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka. It is approximately 60 Km from Bangalore City. Nandi Hills has typical high hill vegetation. Every morning the trees of the forest are covered with water as the forest acts as a substrate for cloud condensation. The patch of forest on the top of the hill is evergreen and makes for a favored wintering location of many winter migrant species such as flycatchers, warblers and thrushes.

I will start of with the most common and easy to photograph species here, the Tickell's Blue Flycatcher.

The tickell's blue flycacther is a small passerine bird of the flycatcher family. It is 11-12cm in length and feeds mainly on insects. The male is bright blue with a deep orange/reddish throat with the remaining underpart whitish in color, while the female is a duller shade of blue. They are usually found in thick cover and shade.

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, Cyornis tickelliae

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, Cyornis tickelliae

Part - II of this series will be on the Blue-capped Rock Thrush

EQUIPMENT USED:
Nikon D3S
AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR
Gitzo + Wimberley

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