In India for a 2-day conference I had no time to explore farther afield and all my birding was done from the verandah of my third floor room in the elegant Claridges Hotel in a very leafy district of Delhi close to Lodhi Park.
I was fortunate enough to be in an end room, hard up against a copse of mature trees that included a couple of casuarinas, several tree with small but clearly attractive fruit and a couple of palms. My birding was limited to a couple of hours at dawn on two mornings and an afternoon.
I was roused by the pre-dawn bubbling of a Linneated Barbet and then blasted out of any vestiges of slumber by rapier-tailed squadrons of Ring-necked Parakeets blasting between the treetops and over the roofs shrieking like banshees, yellow underwings flashing in the first rays of the sun. An immaculate White-throated Kingfisher flipped up into the casuarina, delivered a couple its mocking fanfare, and flashed off in a riot of dazzling blue.
The first birds in the trees right next to the balcony were a nice-but-dim-seeming party of grey-brown soft-plumaged Jungle Babblers and a funereal Asian Koel. They were joined by four Linneated Barbets, Red-whiskered and Red-vented Bulbuls and a much smaller Purple Sunbird. Black Kites were emerging out of the trees and drifting about at eye-level, and small groups on Indian Pond Herons and Cattle Egrets began heading eastwards. House Crows put in a typically seedy appearance along with several Common Mynas and a pair of Magpie Robins, three or four Black Drongos looped casually over and a Large-billed Crow flapped steadily by.
I was very pleased to eventually enjoy wonderful close-up views of a couple of handsome Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, an elegant combination of dove- grey crown and nuchal collar with fine yellow feet and leggings adding a perfect counterpoint of colour. Overhead a Besra was harassed out of sight by some parakeets, while small bands of House Swifts and the odd Barn Swallow drifted over.
The highlight of the afternoon was a surprise Brahminy Starling, while Common Tailorbird was a familiar friend from home, and a YBW-likephyllosc and a Lesser Whitethroat reminded me that autumn migration was well underway. I also had an unidentified falcon that swept away out of sight without so much as a wingbeat. I suspect Hobby, but a suspicion is all it is.
The most surprising bird was preceded by a clear piping call and I zipped round to the edge of the verandah just in time to see a Red-Wattled Lapwing landing on the roof! Looking up from here a few Ring-necked Parakeets were in the top of the casuarina, one of them dangling casually upside-down for no very good reason except that the branch was bending. Sill, it seemed perfectly happy, so who am I to judge?
25 species plus a stripy squirrel of some sort in a couple of hours was a great return, especially given the limited birding opportunities – wonderful India!
Cheers
Mike
Nice to do so well from a hotel balcony! I'm not quite sure which of these you might see in HK, but I'm always glad to see barbets, and the lovely green pigeon I assume isn't a common sight for you.