"A walk in nature walks the soul back home."- Mary Davis
The ultramarine flycatcher owes its name to its colour "Ultramarine" - a deep blue color pigment originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. The Latin word ultramarinus means "beyond the sea" since the pigment was imported into Europe from mines in Afghanistan by Italian traders during the 14th and 15th centuries.
The ultramarine flycatcher breeds in the Himalayas and winters in the plains of India. It is one of the shy winter visitors to the Sinhagad valley back home in Maharashtra and its sighting is greeted by exclamations of "ultra" or "UFC" by bird photographers here. Although I had a few record shots of this bird at Sinhagad in winter, it wasn't until my trip to the Himalayas in summer that I managed a clean shot.
Ultramarine flycatcher
White-browed blue flycatcher
(Ficedula superciliaris)
Sony A77II
Tamron 150-600
f/6.3, 1/640s, ISO1000, 420mm
Kedarnath WLS, Chopta (India)
May 2019