Tourist Guide to Birds of Kashmir II I Blog By Eshaan, 11, Bangalore

Tourist Guide to Birds of Kashmir II

 

The amazing introduction

Hello everybody and welcome back. I, Eshaan, have come back from another amazing trip to Kashmir. This time, I climbed to much higher altitudes, meaning seeing more exotic birds. I also had many bird identification guides with me to identify these birds (thanks to all my friends who gifted me these books on my birthday). From totally secretive birds, to birds that will almost let you stroke them, let’s soar into the birds that dwell in Kashmir.

“Tourist Guide To Birds of Kashmir-II” features the following birds:

Their Disguised Names: Try and Guess Their Actual Names

• Wired-In              

• Avian Biscuit     

• Cute Killer          

• The Bird of Thousand Voices    

• Gigantor

• The Forever Flyer

• The 3rd place

• When a Rock Likes Chatting

• Collared But Not A Dog  

 

The Royal Guard

 

Okay, so we can definitely relate this bird to a Royal Guard. You know those tall, serious guys with a beehive—I mean, big hats on their heads—in London who always stand in the same place, day and night, just minding their own business? …this bird is similar. They really don’t care about anything; at least it looks like that. You can almost jump over the White Capped Water Redstart  and still see it sitting in the same place. It comes in with almost an entirely black body with a reddish brown breast and tail.  As the name suggests, it has a white patch on its head. They live around gushing rivers as they usually find their favourite food… pizza… I mean insects around there.  Now you’d think it may live all over Kashmir as it has many gushing rivers, but let me spoil it for you and tell you that it only hangs out at an altitude between 2000 m and 5000 m high in the Himalayas.  The White Capped Water Redstart has a loud and sharp call.  The call goes  like an almost distinctive tseeeeeeeeee call. Despite the name I gave, The Royal Guard, this birdie is extremely restless and won’t stay in one place, just like me! You can find it at a certain glacier in Sonamarg, Kashmir.

 If you ever encounter one, go up close and snap some pictures.  I know adults are ‘take-a-photo’ addicts.

Wired In

This bird, despite the name, has never heard the term electricity in its life, and anyone who thinks that it has wires literally on them should rethink. This bird, called the Wire-tailed Swallow, is a teeny weeny bird that has two thin tail streamers that give it its distinct name. It has an almost entirely blueish body with a white, blue, and orange on its head. It also has a white breast. They don’t usually rest on a tree or anything.  They just seem to be flying forever. They sit for a long time if they do decide to rest, just like the adults of this generation. They won’t get into a centimetre radius of a human, as they see us as a threat for some reason.  I never heard the call of these birds so I can say that it could be a quiet bird. It comes around households… so just keep an eye out!

 

Avian Biscuit

 

This birdie isn’t literally a flying biscuit. It has the same brown colour as a biscuit, and it sure is cute. Meet the Russet Sparrow. Well, it looks like our friend, the house sparrow; full information on this is in ‘Tourist Guide to Birds of Kashmir-I’.  Russet sparrow has more lively colours than a house sparrow. It has a white underneath. It has a light brown, black & white back and a rustic brown head. The Russet Sparrow can be placed in the brave category of birds. They are used to humans around. You can go up close but don’t try to scare it away.  You will instantly lose its trust. You can find it in hilly areas where there is grass and water bodies. I recommend going to Betaab Valley, Pahalgam, to spot it.  I found them frolicking around the lake there—lots of them.

 

The Cute Killer

Many people say, “Never judge a wolf in a sheep’s clothing.” This applies to everything, even birds.  I have to say that the Long-Tailed Shrike is tiny and absolutely adorable and cute.  They capture smaller birds and insects for food using their strong talons and impalm them on thorns. They are known for this different way of handling their prey.  The long-tailed shrike usually sticks around short, leafless trees and waits for something to pounce upon. It has a light orange breast, a grey back, black wings, a grey tail and a light orange, black and grey head. It doesn’t mind going near households to find food but if it sees anything approaching it, it will immediately fly away. Perhaps it sees us as a threat too. Piece of advice? To enjoy its colours, stay out of its sight. They can be brave when they want to and can come close to households, so there is no need to go to some faraway places to sight them. 

 

Bird of a Thousand Voices 

Drongos do have the ‘imitate-other-animals’ reputation, don’t they? Only a few species of Drongo can imitate animals like the Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo.  What we are talking about here is the Black Drongo, which can’t actually imitate other animals like the greater racket-tailed Drongo does. I still gave this title as it gives a dramatic flair. The Black Drongo, as the name suggests, is entirely black. I spotted these Drongos when I went around my home one day randomly naming birds because I was jobless. I ended up naming a long-tailed shrike, Lanius (their scientific name is Lanius schach). The most hilarious one was when I named a sparrow, Jack sparrow (from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”).    I also named a Drongo ‘Flame’ after the dragon from the book series ‘Wings of Fire’. Now back to the Drongo. They have distinctive tee-tee call, which is somewhat loud. They live near households too but they are more common at higher.

 

Gigantor

This bird is the biggest of its kind. Any guesses? No? …. I’ll give you a hint.  It’s a kingfisher. Still no? I’ll reveal the answer: The Pied Kingfisher. This is the biggest kingfisher,  and no!  It doesn’t have anything to do with pies. ‘Pied’ is the term used for black with white here-and-there or the opposite. Now, don’t start calling Zebras ‘pied horses’ because they are not . I don’t have to tell you what it looks like, because all of us can deduce that it’s a kingfisher, which is black and white. They can be found in regular altitudes. If you want to see them, go near Dal Lake in Srinagar. I don’t know if it is brave or secretive, as I never got the chance to approach it but I got to say it is  beautiful. 

 

The forever flyer

I have never seen this bird sitting down.  This is the Crested Tree Swift—a tiny little bird that looks totally like our friend, the wire-tailed swallow.  It is always flying and seen at a safe distance high up  in the air.  They prefer to fly in a flock. They have a distinct crest on their head, a gray body and an orange streak on their cheek . I haven’t heard their call.  They have a long tail that they generally keep folded.  They usually fly for long periods of time. I get tired  just holding my hands up for a few minutes and  we’re talking about hours here… phew! That must be tiring.

 

The 3rd Place.

Okay, this bird is a Drongo too but with a huge colour difference. It has a blue-ish back and wings and in other ways, it looks similar to that of a Black Drongo. Any guesses? I knew you’d get it wrong! This is the Bronze Drongo.  Sadly, this can’t imitate any animals either but it looks good!  It has a similar behaviour to that of the Black Drongo. To see this bird, I recommend going to Gulmarg, as they seem to enjoy the Ferris Wheels over there. They are not very approachable as they stay at high altitudes. Don’t try and go to the same altitude as them!!

 

When A Rock likes chatting

The Brown Rock Chat is nowhere related to a rock. It just likes hopping around rocks, but sadly, unlike me, it is definitely not talkative. I have only seen this bird once. It was sitting next to the bushes bordering our front yard. It is also entirely brown and is a small bird.  It sometimes rapidly cocks its tail upwards and then suddenly brings it down, as if it’s trying to fan someone who is totally respectable, like me! The Brown Rock Chat is not a very common bird around households. They are usually found high up in the mountains. They are rather calm birds. 

 

Collared, But Not a Dog 

Who says that the only thing that needs a collar is a dog? Why not a bird? I definitely got my answer with the Eurasian Collared Dove. What a long name! Can I call it ECD for now? It is a good case of paranoia and will fly away even when you offer it some food! I spotted this bird a long time ago but I never identified it. This time, I was able to. Since I didn’t find it anywhere on the internet, I thought it was an entirely different species and called it the Crae-geon, a combination of the names of a crane and a pigeon.  The crane in the name came in as this dove made a funny crane-like sound. Craegeon—a funny name, right? I thought ‘funny sounds and funny names’ totally reasonable! Don’t blame me! It has a soothing  brown colour, like when a bit of chocolate powder gets stirred in a lot of milk. It has a black ring on its neck.

The Revealed Names

• White Capped Water Redstart

• Wire-tailed Swallow

• Russet Sparrow

• Long-tailed Shrike

• Black Drongo

• Pied Kingfisher

• Crested Treeswift

• Bronze Drongo

• Brown Rock chat

• Eurasian collared dove

 

Le conclusion ( Fake French for the conclusion)

What an amazing array of birds! All of them were so colorful and special in their own ways. These are the birds I witnessed during my visit to Kashmir in the months of April and May of 2024.

Which bird or which part of this write-up did you find the most interesting? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading.

By Eshaan Arshad, 10, Bangalore

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Photo Credit – Eshaan, 11, Bangalore

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