Indian Magpie Robin.

So what can you do when it is raining incessantly?  Even though I made an attempt to go out first thing it was just ridiculous to try to do anything.  Not too much of a hardship really because there is always the veranda of the villa where I could  sit in comfort and under cover.  I had the camera set up and from time to time Purple -Rumped Sunbirds came to the flowering shrub close by to drink nectar.  As well as the pair, there was another young male.  I have had numerous chances to take a really good shot and I found it frustrating as I have yet to take  one that is fantastic.   This is because the bright yellow of the belly is a stark contrast to the dark of the head.  I desperately need a remote flash which I  left at home unfortunately.  With a flash at half power or less I would be able to pick out the detail in the dark areas of the bird. 

This is a Yellow billed Babler, a strange bird with no strong recognisable markings except a slightly blue eye!  They move around in small family groups and remind me of a group of unruly kids.  They are noisy and seem to fly slowly in a way that is hard to describe but seems unlike any bird I have ever seen before. They then move around on the floor together picking up little bits of fruit and scraps.  They seem to be omnivorous, but are probably not seed eaters, however but they love to eat coconut and papaya.

As well as the Purple rumped we also had at least one Purple Sunbird here very early but I didn't have the camera ready at the time!  The resident Red vented Bulbuls are coming to eat the banana and papaya that I had put in the dry, out on  the tile. They seemed  to appreciate both the food and the place to keep out of the rain.  I had been hoping for  a new species and my luck was in when a Lotens Sunbird female came to catch insects around a pot of bouganvila.  I have seen this species and photographed it before but not a female so I was pleased. Later on in the day – when it had stopped I found a place where there was a pair as well as other sunbirds, I think they were Purple rumped again.  They were defending a flowering shrub in exactly the area that I saw Lotens last year so I am sure I will get some great shots of this species tomorrow or when I go there again. In the garden again I  managed a photograph of a Drongo which is a weird looking bird about the size of a European starling with a mostly black shiny body and an usual forked tail which is the “trademark” of this family of birds.  The Brown Headed Barbet came to the wires again but I will never be able to improve on the photo I took the other day.

When I arrived here on Tuesday I had quickly looked  on the beach nearby for a territory of Blue tailed Bee-eaters and it wasn’t that hard to find where they are.  They seemed to be favouring high wires to hunt from but from time to time they would come down to the sand.  I thought I would place perches low down and stuck in the ground around the area.  It has worked well.  I went back this morning – in the rain and there on one of my perches were 2 Bee-eaters – perfect.  I had to leave because the weather was so wet and the rain was driving in to my face.  If I had set the camera up it would have been wet through within seconds, so there was no point.  I am excited though because knowing the way that Bee-eaters feed they will use this perch regularly and on their foraging forays they will fly from there  and then return in much the same was as a flycatcher.  It's a good way of getting some special flight shots.  Later on in the afternoon, just before dusk I returned and the bee-eaters were still using the same perches. I then walked on further down the beach and eventually arrived at a more wild area I came across several Stone Curlew, at least 10 and then 5 Nightjar of a species I couldn’t recognise, took to the air as I walked through the undergrowth.  Also the sunbirds as described above and a small warbler – probably a Blyths Reed Warbler that I have seen there before.  By 4.30 it had stopped raining which was  good and that's the way it has remained.

Dinner was a Tuna Steak with fresh green beans and carrots and some slightly undercooked chips! I enjoyed the meal as I chatted to the family who are as lovely and engaging as ever.  They are playful, a good way to describe their humour which is innocent and childish really. They love life and never seem unhappy except if they think you are.  I was trying to explain about my injured knee which happened in 1969!  Due to the language barrier they thought I was saying that I had just fallen over and hurt it which made them fuss over me in a very concerned way as they tried to help.  Eventually I managed to get through to them that it was an ancient injury and they laughed as though I had told the worlds very funniest joke!!!!