My Quest for the ODKF 

Every birder has a bucket list of the species which they would like to be in their repertoire. The Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (ODKF) had been on my "bucket list", for quite some time now, but due to various reasons, I didn't get around to fulfil it. I finally did it a few days ago.  My husband and I contacted Mr. Vinayak, who guides the birdwatchers to visit the nesting grounds of the ODKF, near Rasayani-Patalganga.
 

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher aka Black-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca)

ODKF or Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher is one of the smallest kingfishers. It is only slightly larger than a medium-sized hummingbird and measures 12.5 to 14 cm in length, and that includes the bill and the tail! This tropical kingfisher is a partial migrant and is found in the western ghats and Konkan region, especially during the monsoon, when it is their breeding season.

It is a very colourful and attractive bird, with a coral-red bill, orange head, blue-black forehead, and blue and white patches on the side of the neck. It has a dark blue back (which looks almost black) and wings, a white chin and throat, and yellow-orange underparts. There is no sexual dimorphism, with both male and female looking alike. It has three toes, so it is also known as the Three-toed Kingfisher and alternatively as the Black-backed Dwarf Kingfisher. But for the bird-watchers, it remains the ODKF or Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher; (Scientific name: Ceyx erithaca). Egg laying occurs during July to September in west-coast of peninsular India. C. erithaca is classified as a "Near threatened species" under the IUCN Red List, primarily due to deforestation and creation of resorts at the cost of natural forests. 

We reached the location at 7 am.  It was supposed to be a 15 -min walk from there....! It was pouring relentlessly and the skies were completely grey and overcast. Mr Vinayak was accompanied by his friend, Mr. Prashant. We waited in our cars for 10-15 min, but there were no signs of the rain abating, so we started our trek.  It was a densely forested area dotted with paddy fields. We started from a small village called "Jatade".  We passed by a few small houses and later some cattle sheds. The incessant rains of the past few days had turned the ground slushy, making it difficult for city dwellers like us to walk.  We also had to cross running streams and rocky patches. My limited mobility was a slight hindrance but I managed to walk with the help of Mr Vinayak and my husband. 

Towards the end of the trek, we came to a broad stream where the water was flowing with great force.  Our guide advised that we should wait for the force of the water to lessen a bit.  We waited for almost 20 min before venturing to cross it. We had to climb down and cross very large rocks almost submerged in the rapidly flowing water, before climbing up again!. I couldn't have done this without the physical help and motivation of our guide! There was a heart-stopping moment before I climbed the opposite bank grasping at whatever I could and holding on to dear life. Thus, what was supposed to be a 15-minute walk became an hour-long trek for me.

We finally reached the hide with a sense of relief. The ODKF had made its nest in the mud wall of the hill across a stream. The nest is nothing but a horizontal hole, about 2-3 meters above the bank of the stream. The hide was just a green net, strung around four bamboo poles, surrounding a wooden bench. We could sit on the bench and point our cameras towards the nest, through a gap in the net. So essentially, we were hiding and were not visible to the birds, but we could see and photograph them.

Both the parents were foraging for food and bringing various food items, turn by turn.  The babies were being served a several-course gourmet meal of spiders, dragonflies, small frogs, etc. I am sure, they were spoiled for choice! The parents would appear suddenly and sit on a perch momentarily, looking around to check the safety and dart inside the nest swiftly. It hardly used to take a minute or two to feed the babies.  They used to fly out equally swiftly, making it quite difficult to catch them on camera. But we managed to get some photographs and videos of quite a good quality, if I may say so!

Click this link to watch their typical behaviour described above....

You may be wondering, why anyone in their right minds would attempt this trek in such foul weather! But you see, we didn't have much choice; we had a time limitation - once the ODKF babies fledge out and leave the nest, the whole family would disappear from that site! As per Vinayak, there were only a few days remaining for the babies to fledge out. And then, we would have had to wait for next year's monsoon to visit them!

By then the rain had abated a bit, so we could walk a bit leisurely and watch the transplantation process in the paddy fields, and admire the scenic beauty of the surroundings.

After spending a couple of hours marveling at the beauty, colours, and feeding techniques of this wonderful birdie, we started our return journey.

It was a very novel experience of trekking in the rain for me. There was a great sense of achievement of overcoming my limitations and succeeding in accomplishing my goal! We returned home with hearts full of happiness, our cameras containing several lovely pictures and our minds overwhelmed with a sense of wonderment at the beauty of the tiny Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher!!