Flycatchers of the Sinhagad Valley - 4
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
a British army officer serving in India during the 1800s, an era when the scientific world was moving through a new, exciting age of discovery and debate. Colonel Tickell can well be considered as one of the founding fathers of the study of bird life (ornithology) in India. He was a contemporary of Brian Hodgson, Allan Hume and the famous Charles Darwin and his contribution to ornithology and mamma logy (study of mammals) was pioneering.
Like other flycatchers the Tickell's blue flycatcher also catches insects in flight but the abundance of insects under the drying broad leaves of the Sinhagad forest floor tempts it to feed off the ground.
It's call is like a melodious version of a swing or see saw ending abruptly in shrill notes reminding one of a children’s playground!
Tickell's blue flycatcher
Sony A77ii
Tamron 150-600
f/6.3, 420mm, 1/640s, ISO 3200
Sinhagad Valley, Pune (India)
Dec. 2018