The Black ! Chinned ! Babbler !

Ramgarh, Uttarakhand

I was pretty excited and nervous about my Uttarakhand trip last year mainly because I’d never taken photos of the little birds that I was going there to see. These guys are known to be quick and so I prepared. I tested how fast I could get the shutter on my camera and I played around with it in different light situations to set up boundaries beyond which there was no point pushing the machine. The weight of the camera on foot would be a problem given my hip’s condition. The walking trails would not be an option open for me on this trip. It was going to be a challenge, skill wise and physically.

The Black Chinned Babbler was the first small resident species that I ran into up close. These guys are like 6 inches long, 4 inches tall and weigh about 20 grams or so. Yeah, he’s huge, just look at that menacing face. Looks like he inspired the masked professional wrestlers. In fact, if you say the species name like a ring announcer …… its fun haha!

They were out in a group of 3 or 4 and everything happened in a flash. They came out of their bush and were moving fast while chirping to each other. Their heads darted this way and that as they walked and hopped along a little branch and I realized that I would not get anything clear on file if I left it to a repeating shutter. Their heads were faster than the shutter. But, these guys seemed to move their heads in a pattern. I stuck to my calculation of that individual’s pattern instead of getting into cam settings. Who knew how long they’d hang around given the flurry of activity? Framing was out of the question, leaving it all to the center was the only option at this speed of events.

20 seconds (give and take). That’s how long they were out of their bush for. They came, inspected and darted back into the bush. These guys beat the adrenalin in my body. The thrill hit after they had left. WOW! I’m smiling here as I type this thinking about that sighting.

I was glad for preparing for this as I checked my pictures back in the car. I couldn't have sensed the slow shutter otherwise. I’m thankful now; I didn’t see these beauties again for the rest of the trip. I did keep the cam settings on super fast from then on though.