While eating lunch today at one of my favourite cafés, I noticed that a pair of tailorbirds were sewing their nest together in a potted fiddle-leaf fig right in front of my eyes — what an unexpected treat! 🤩

Below, a different tailorbird on another tree from some moons ago.

#Birds #Birdwatching #Birding #CommonTailorbird #OkhlaBirdSanctuary

Every time I was outdoors last week, I’d see coppersmith barbets https://ebird.org/species/copbar1?siteLanguage=en_IN. Finally on a trip to the local bird sanctuary on Saturday, I managed to snap up some pictures. And loveliest of all, the barbet serenaded us with its beautiful, metronomic birdsong for as long as we stood watching.

#Birding #Birdwatching #BirdPhotography #CoppersmithBarbet #OkhlaBirdSanctuary

Coppersmith Barbet - eBird

A small, widespread, and cute little barbet with streaked underparts and a well-patterned face. Most populations have a red forehead, yellow around the eye and throat, and a black eyestripe all bordered at the rear of the crown by a black band. Also note red “badge” on upper chest. Female averages duller than the male, with some yellow on a narrower red “badge”. Immature lacks all red and has faint streaking on the throat. Subspecies in Sumatra, Nusa Tenggara, and the central Philippines have bright red-and-black faces. While common, can be hard to see; listen instead for its call, a prolonged and unmistakable “kuk-kuk-kuk.” Favors open woodlands, forest edge, and gardens in lowland and foothill areas; ranges up into higher elevations in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Go for the birds, stay for the hand-painted letters! If I was responsible for getting people to Okhla Bird Sanctuary, that’s what I’d be telling them.

Take this welcome sign for instance, well-intentioned but lovingly crooked. The ध in the द्ध conjunct is beyond tiny and my favourite bit: the shrike has pushed the ै matra off the stem in the है.

📍 Okhla Bird Sanctuary, Noida (Uttar Pradesh)
📅 February 2022
🔗 https://indiastreetlettering.com/okhla-bird-sanctuary/

#IndiaStreetLettering #Noida #Handpainted #OkhlaBirdSanctuary

Okhla Bird Sanctuary – India Street Lettering