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Color Bombs of Ratnagiri
Every Monsoon, the Konkan coast on western side of India turns to be a breeding ground for Black Backed Dwarf Kingfishers.
We were delighted to visit Ratnagiri for some wonderful sightings of this colourful bird.
While we were photographing the ODKF feeding its babies inside its nest, we observed some unique behaviour of this Kingfisher.
These kingfishers typically feed their chicks very frequently, app. every 5-10 minutes. They get skinks, small frogs and any small lizards from the nearby water streams, dead wood habitats and other small wet areas where skinks breed. Every feed routine is unique, they get a skink in their mouth and land near a branch of wood close to the nest. They watch the nest to check if any predators are around and enter the nest with the food, feed their chick and retract backwards from the nest! Their flight to the nest and back is also unique. They fly very close to the ground after feeding and when they fly back to get the feed, they flow above the ground.
While we were photographing these Kingfishers, we heard a loud noise from a woodpecker. We turned back and started clicking pictures of the woodpecker as it was nearby and was making loud noise.
When we turned back our attention towards the Kingfishers, we saw one of the parent Kingfisher was sitting on a wire close to the nest and without a feed in its beak! We were inquisitive and continued to watch its activities. To our surprise, this Kingfisher did not yield and sat on the wire for more than 30 minuts just watching the nest.
Later we realised that the Kingfisher was guarding its nest from the Woodpecker!!
This was one of my best trips as I got good opportunities to get best shots of this colorful bird, but also got a chance to get few more lifers like Blue Eared Kingfisher, Stork Billed Kingfisher, Vigor's Sunbird.
Travel notes
Best time to visit is definitely during Monsoon season.
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