Every bird lover exploring the Tal Chhappar mainly for the Raptors and of course the Black Buck photography makes it a point not to miss this bird which is not found in the grassland where you observe hundreds of black bucks but in an area adjacent toy it known as Gaushala.

This bird can be observed at the Kejri trees as is comes on them in search of insects which he finds them in the bark of the tree and since it has a marbled black and white plumage it make difficult to spot while it forages on the trunk of dark, fissured trees from its curved long beak. The best time to see any bird is the breeding season. For this bird it is from February to May.

Some how we observed the bird in the beginning of the day after a great difficulty but once you spot it than it is easy to follow as mainly you find it on the trunk. Usually it starts from the most lower part of the trunk and then it moves up and stop where he is hopeful of having its food.

Image from the wilderness of Tal Chhappar wildlife sanctuary in the state of Rajasthan taken on 5th January 2020.

About Vinod Goel

He joined Customs & Central Excise service in 1982. As a civil servant, his job takes him to various parts of India, which gave him an opportunity to capture our wild heritage, through his camera. His passion for wildlife photography started in 2004 when he was posted at Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and this passion continues till today.