This is the first time I saw the sun during this trip in India. Every single day in the last week – be it in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kalyani, Lucknow or Kanpur, all I saw was totally overcast skies – and I mean not a single break in the cloud cover the whole day.

It is like India got a head start on the full solar eclipse a few days earlier…

For the first time, on the drive from Kanpur to Lucknow airport, I was able to spot the sun. Asked the driver to stop the car so I could take a couple of shots…

We called it “Kokil” (this is from the cuckoo family). Has the distinct blood shot red eyes…
Shot with a DSLR from bout 40 yards away..

Found in my father in law’s garden. Again, taken with an iPhone…

Taken with an iPhone at less than 6 cm distance…

And here is the crow…

I am not sure if all my friends in India will agree with this – these days, there seems to be far less number of the common birds that we grew up with. I remember seeing a lot of sparrows (chorui pakhi), crows (kaak) and common mynas (salikh) everyday in those days. I barely see any these days.

This trip, so far I have spotted a common myna and a crow from the balcony of my dad’s house…

This is the common myna.