Hill Myna has been on our list of birds to photograph for a very long time. They normally perch in the canopy, rarely coming to lower branches and its tough to find positions to get decent pictures of them. All that changed when we checked into Coorg Wilderness Resort. Their hill view suites are the perfect location to catch these winged wonders in all their glory. You normally hear these birds before you see them – their calls reverberate in the valleys of Coorg. We heard them many times during our stay at the Resort and this time they perched on an open perch not far from the balcony of our suite. We made the most of the chance that presented itself and the picture of the Hill Myna as it opened its wings to take off was a bonus.

It was not great lighting conditions and we did what best we could do. That evening, almost at dusk, again not necessarily during best lighting conditions, we spotted an Ashy Drongo perched on the treetop. The balcony of our suite being almost at the same height, provided a near eye level position and I boosted up the ISO and took a couple of pictures of the Ashy Drongo as it sat their preening itself.