Huchchara Santhe

Thattekad birds II

2012-03-04T00:47:00.000+05:30

Read the earlier post here

Photo courtesy - Amit Krishna

With a unplanned trip, called Gireesh and he reluctantly agreed as we were only 2 of us, next was the hectic task of booking tickets - all that I could manage was the last 2 seats in the 7pm KSRTC Volvo Multi Axle bus to Muvatupuzha (enroute Kottayam) from Bangalore and the return journey too in the last 2 seats of an similar service. I generally rely mostly on KSRTC (Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation) services as they are efficient, time keeping and generally good (the bus being filled to capacity is another testimony for their efficient and reliable services).

It was a smooth transit from Perumbavoor to Kothamangalam to Thattekad in the local privates buses, the only hindrance being the Malayalam language, still could manage with the people speaking broken English :) Gireesh's home stay is right inside the sanctuary gates with a couple of more houses around and is in an excellent location. As we landed, Gireesh was out with a group on the morning trail and we met his wife and later his mom who told us the guide would be available in the next hour or so.

Sanu was our guide for the morning session, and it was almost around 9am when we started off, a little late for early morning birding. The roosting Brown Hawk Owls were our first captives for the day and we saw them almost the entire day perched in the same place dozing peacefully. The lake just beside the main road is another spot for Kingfishers and the common water birds like the Darter, Coots, Moorhens and a few migrants if you are lucky. As we entered the trail inside the sanctuary, there was absolute silence with fewer calls here and there just like 'a lull before the storm' and then the frenzy started everywhere. The canopy is high and thick and the birds perch far away and its no easy sighting them forget capturing them, its a tough task and many a times I had to back out owing to neck pain. Chestnut winged Cuckoo, White bellied Treepie, Drongo Cuckoo, Brown breasted flycatcher and a whole lot of Woodpecker were all lifers for me ( in the sense seeing them for the first time ) and to top it up, the Malabar Trogon made a brief appearance and so did the treepies', drongo's, sunbirds, oriole's and a hell lot more...

In an hour or so, we had sighted so many species and most of them first time for Amit and few of them for me too and we were enjoying every bit of the fun. Back at the homestay after an eventful morning session, we met Manisha Shah and Falguna Shah from the cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad who were here for birding too and we would be going out in the same group in the later part of the day for those elusive Frogmouths.

For the evening session, we both along with Manisha and Falguna and a 3 'phoreners' were taken by Gireesh to the nearby Bhoothatankettu and Idamalayar dam region for some more birding activity. Gireesh knows nook and corner of the region and various roosting spots of many birds like the Frogmouth or different Owls and he is so accurate in sighting them and he knows their behavior too.. incredible to say the least!

As the Frogmouths were missing from their usual spots, we went to a nearby small stream somewhere in the middle of thick jungle terrain and waited for the frenzy that was about to begin. The birds come to the stream to quench their thirst and have a bath and you can sit at a distance and silently observe all the fun that unfolds, you loose track of the time spent when doing this. White bellied Treepie's, Orange thrush, Rusty tailed flycatcher, White bellied blue flycatcher, Indian blue robin and many others paid a quick visit and entertained us, another good session and got to see some new species again.

Sun goes down too fast and it was quite dark at 6pm and finally Gireesh searched out a lone Srilankan Frogmouth perched on a dead branch about to start for the day. With absolutely no light, we had to use the torch carried by Gireesh to sight and capture the elusive beauty. Frogmouths are so very difficult to identify even if you are standing right next to them as their camouflage is so very brilliant. They choose to roost on dead branches and their body color matches the surroundings and they are very still and that makes it all the more difficult to see them.

This was the only individual we got to see and we were pretty excited about this sighting. After dinner, Gireesh drove us around for some nocturnal sighting of the Owls and Frogmouths, but all that we saw was the Jerdon's Nightjar right on the middle of the track, another first time sighting for me!

Next day, woke up to Gireesh's call at 6am (we were so damn tired of the long journey from home and all the walking and running for the entire day), we headed out to a nearby hillock passing through some rubber plantations and climbing up to get an wonderful view of the sun rising in all its glory. Elephant dung was all around and leopard scats too and that itself was quite exciting news early in the day.

Here, another kind of frenzy started with the Malabar Grey Hornbills flying in from all over the place, I presume we saw nothing less than 50 individuals flying all around, it was a mela out there with many trees fruiting and these hornbills basking in the golden sunlight. Oriole's were all around and so were the many kinds of bulbuls, sunbirds, barbets, bluebirds, minivets and many others, it was a feast for the sore eyes.

The Black Baza was missing and so were the raptors except the honey buzzard that posed for us coming in from nowhere. All of a sudden the surroundings were reverberating with the alarm calls of a frantic barking deer very close in the dense thickets in the valley region beyond the hillock we were standing and in all probability it should be an leopard considering the fact that we saw their scats on the cliff we were standing on. The calls were so near and so loud, I'm sure he would have seen us and avoided coming into direct view of us, unluckily though! Back at the homestay, after breakfast we headed out to an secluded place for some quite birding and were not lucky to sight anything great in the afternoon sun.

After lunch and some rest and a small walk through the trails, Gireesh took us on the final ride to some nearby places to possibly sight some Owls and drongo cuckoos' instead we returned sighting the Whiskered tern, pygmy woodpecker, stork billed kingfisher and few more species. Falguna and Manisha dropped us till Kothamangalam and it was an uneventful journey back home from there.

Ideally 3 days is some good time to spend here and that is precisely my plan for my next visit to Thattekad and a re-visit to Gireesh's place. A wonderful birding trip to say the least and will surely not disappoint the birder in you :)

Checklist:-

1. Ashy Drongo

2. Ashy Wood swallow

3. Asian Brown Flycatcher

4. Asian Drongo Cuckoo

5. Asian Fairy bluebird

6. Asian Paradise flycatcher

7. Black Drongo

8. Black headed Cuckoo shrike

9. Black hooded Oriole

10. Black naped Oriole

11. Blue throated flycatcher

12. Brown Hawk Owl

13. Brown capped Pygmy Woodpecker

14. Cattle Egret

15. Chestnut tailed Starling

16. Chestnut winged Cuckoo

17. Common Flame backed Woodpecker

18. Common Iora

19. Common Kingfisher

20. Common Koel

21. Common Myna

22. Crested Treeswift

23. Crimson fronted Barbet

24. Darter / Snake bird

25. Eurasian Golden Oriole

26. Golden fronted Leafbird

27. Great Tit

28. Greater Flame backed Woodpecker

29. Greater Racket tailed Drongo

30. Green Bee eater

31. Grey Wagtail

32. Grey headed Bulbul

33. Heart spotted Woodpecker

34. Hill Myna

35. Indian Pond Heron

36. Jerdon's Nightjar

37. Jungle Babbler

38. Jungle Myna

39. Lesser Yellow naped Woodpecker

40. Little Cormorant

41. Loten's sunbird

42. Malabar Grey Hornbill

43. Malabar Parakeet

44. Malabar Trogon

45. Orange headed Thrush

46. Oriental Honey Buzzard

47. Oriental Magpie Robin

48. Plain flowerpecker

49. Plum-headed Parakeet

50. Pompadour Green Pigeon

51. Purple rumped sunbird

52. Purple Sunbird

53. Red Wattled Lapwing

54. Red vented Bulbul

55. Red whiskered Bulbul

56. Ruby throated BulBul

57. Rufous Treepie

58. Rufous Woodpecker

59. Rusty tailed Flycatcher

60. Scarlet Minivet

61. Spotted necked Dove

62. Sri Lankan Frogmouth

63. Stork billed Kingfisher

64. Whiskered Tern

65. White bellied blue flycatcher

66. White bellied Treepie

67. White cheeked Barbet

68. White throated Kingfisher

69. Yellow browed bulbul

You can see Amit's blog here!

Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, Kerala I

2012-02-28T00:17:00.000+05:30

Well, Thattekad was off and on my list for almost 2 years now, the distance and having no company had put this off quite often. Winter is probably the best time to be there and specifically the months of December to February when the weather is pleasant the bird life is active with lot of migrants visiting here.

Planned it on a weekend in January only me and Amit made this sudden rush to the place just to have a feel of the place and its quite sure I will be again visiting for a longer period here sooner than later.

Thattekad is famous for its bird sanctuary named after the 'master' or the 'legendary ornithologist' Dr Salim Ali and is also called as the Thattekad bird sanctuary in the Kothamangalam taluk under Ernakulam district on the north bank of river Periyar. Dr Salim Ali has described this place as "the richest bird habitat on peninsular India" and true to his words, this small sanctuary of 25sq km hosts more than 250 species of birds (resident and migrants)!

How to reach ->
Air - Take a flight to Kochi International Airport, from there 2 hours drive to Thattekad bird sanctuary.
Rail - Aluva is the nearest station about 48kms away. Local buses available from here.
Bus (this is how we traveled) - Bangalore to Muvatupuzha by KSRTC Volvo bus that goes to Kottayam(we alighted at Perumbavoor just before Muvatupuzha).
Perumbavoor - Kothamangalam by local bus that is about 15kms away.
Kothamangalam - Thattekad by local bus about 13kms away.
From Perumbavoor, it took us about 90 minutes to reach Thattekad.
Local bus transport operates efficient services to Thattekad from Ernakulam, Perumbavoor, Kothamangalam and Aluwa.
Road (from Bangalore) - about 550kms - Bangalore-Salem-Coimbatore-Kanjikode (Salem-Ernakulam highway)-Thalikode-Amballoor-Chalakudy-Perumbavoor-Kothamangalam-Thattekad.

Stay - We stayed at Jungle bird homestay run by Gireesh, he and his mom Sudha are excellent guides.
Gireesh - 09847034520, Sudha - 09947506188
junglebirdhomestay@yahoo.com
Facilities were sufficient and served basic Kerala food, so don't expect any fashion foods out here.

K V Eldhose - said as one of the best guides from this region, but with his increasing popularity, lot of people who go with him have been inconvenienced.
http://www.earthfoot.org/guides/eldhose.htm

The Hornbill camp - http://www.thehornbillcamp.com/

A 3 storied watch tower inside the sanctuary has 2 beds, a kitchen and a toilet, contact The Assistant Wildlife Warden, Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, Njayapilli P.O. , Kothamangalam, Kerala Phone 0485 588302 (not sure of the number though)

Lodges available at Kothamangalam and the PWD rest house near Bhoothanthakettu dam.

Birds Lagoon - http://www.birdslagoon.in/PHP/Tariff&Booking.php

Food - No food available here, you need to make out of what ever is available at the sole shop at the sanctuary entrance. Its better and recommended to stay in a homestay who would take care of the food and lodging.

Best time to visit - Avoid monsoons because of zillion leeches and because some part of the sanctuary would be flooded with water. Light is also an issue as the canopy is thick. October to March would be good, specifically January to February end.

Timings - The sanctuary is open b/w 6am to 6pm, lot of other interesting spots to visit other than the sanctuary for bird watching.

Entry fee - Nominal entry fee charged at the sanctuary and camera's too. Guide fees separate (around 500 for one session that lasts for 3-4 hours). Sanu is a good guide here.

Photo courtesy - Amit Krishna

Look out for the Part II with loads of photos soon... :)

A year ends and a year begins...

2012-02-09T00:31:00.000+05:30

31st December 2011
I'm not a party animal and I do not follow any 'dancing into the new year' stuff. Being a weekend, I wanted to end the year doing what I love to do the most, off I went on a nature and bird watching trail along with Deepa, Vaibhav and the super spotter Deepu to Bannerghatta National Park.

We don't enter the park premises nor go to the 'safari joy crowded tamasha rides', rather we move around the park, near the pond, quarry, behind the parking lot, behind jlr campus and we get to see good amount of birds in their natural habitats here. Also mammals from the Herbivore safari area are visible on the fringes as do wild elephants sometimes that come in search of partners (domesticated elephants).

Overcast conditions was not very helpful, but still we saw more than 40 species of birds that day and sighting the Pied, Common and WB Kingfishers all in one place excited me no end.

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01 January 2012
Similar thoughts as previous day and being a Sunday, I wanted to start off the year birding and off I went straight from the bed to my backyard, Madiwala lake armed with my binocs and my cameras.

An eventful session and an wonderful start to 2012...
I have nothing much to write and will let the pictures do the talking... Enjoy :)

Calendar 2012

2012-02-08T23:51:00.003+05:30

From the last 2 years, I have been making desktop calendars from the images I take mostly for my friends, family and few other people who encourage me to do so...

I try to assign a theme and prepare the calendar on that theme every year, the 1st year was more of nature in general, the last year's theme was birds and this year its birds and wildlife.

This year, I took the help of information from this site in designing my own calendar templates so that I could just go to the printer and place the order.

here it the site that helped me - GrafX-Design.

My printers are Print express located on Richmond road, Bangalore-25. They have set templates for calendars and cost effective too, customization is an option if you need.

Finally, thanks to all individuals who have been supportive enough and helping me improve my photographic skills and special thanks to my team who 'put up' with me and my equipment's in the field.

February and March month sample images

If any of you need a copy, just send drop me a note either as an email or comment :)

Syntheri Rocks (Dandeli) (Part II)

2012-01-27T00:15:00.000+05:30

Well, the 2nd part is finally here after appearing as a guest post on My Yatra Diary, blog by Arti from Mumbai. I selected this article for her when she asked for an guest post on any topic of my choice.

Here is the link -> http://myyatradiary.blogspot.com/2012/01/syntheri-rocks-at-dandeli-western-ghats.html

or here -> Syntheri Rocks guest post

If you are an traveler and love visiting temples and heritage spots, please go through her blog she has some brilliantly composed detailed stuff over there and you can have a virtual tour of every other pilgrimage center she has visited. I thank Arti for the gesture and giving me another chance to guest post on her famous blog. Thanks :)
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Me to Raja - What shall we do tom when Nag and Guru come, any plans?
Raja - As said earlier, either Kavala caves or Syntheri rocks
Me - Y not jungle safari at Dandeli
Raja - Check
Parshu(staff at JLR) - Sir, safari cost, 850/- head, not advised
Me- Kavala?
Parshu - Sir, total 8hrs reqd, need to leave at 4am to travel 40 odd kms and then trek, if needed will arrange vehicle.
Raja - Syntheri?
Parshu - Sir, 30kms away, ok ok place, should visit early before crowd comes in, will arrange jeep for that too, economical too.
Raja - Ok, will decide after boys come tom.
Next day
Me - Boys, plans as such, let us know your choices...
Nag - Kavala or Syntheri...
Guru & Raja - anything fine
Me - Safari? Boys - Not interested
Raja, Nag, Guru - Syntheri , Syntheri - at least 1 place shall visit...
Me - hmmm hmmm (still thinking of safari)...sigh!
Boys - Kavala is too tiresome, lets check out Syntheri this time.
Me - hmmm hmmm...
Boys - Parshu, ask him only!
Me - (finally) Ok, as per boys wishes, Syntheri it is!
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A monolithic single granite stone with a height of 300ft with the river Kaneri flowing at its base. It’s a huge, massive limestone rock formed due to volcanic eruptions some zillion (how many is your wild guess!) years ago. It is named after an English lady called Ms. Cinthera who is believed to have discovered this place in the 20^th century. A flight of 200 odd steps downwards leads you to the base where the river flows and you get to see a giant rock formation from the bottom. There are numerous caves within and its not accessible hitherto you have special permission from the department to study and explore which is very unlikely.

It’s tall, wide and mesmerizing to say the least, wonder how they were created! Added to this there are numerous and numerous bee hives here and flocks of pigeons and smaller birds reside in the deep holes of the caves unseen to us. Being a tourist centre has its own disadvantages and as Syntheri Rocks is located close to the temple town of Ulavi, hordes of people visit this place on their way to and fro from Ulavi and when the annual fest (or jathre as we call it) happens at Ulavi, this place literally becomes a picnicker’s paradise with people and vehicles everywhere messing it up completely, sad but true is the case, as with other tourist spots.

But, the forest department is doing its bit in maintaining this place by putting up warning signboards and posting guards to not allow people getting into the river as the flow is heavy and with strong currents pose a threat.

The entrance to the area is from the main road with a nominal entry fees charged and the smaller vehicles are let into up to the designated parking area from where you need to climb down the steps to reach the base. The distance from the entry to the parking lot is easily more than a km and its midst of bamboo plantations, some old, some new and here is where you get the forest feel. Wish entry of vehicles is completely banned inside so that people walk from the entrance leaving their polluting vehicles outside which may deter in few people not visiting due to the walking…

The steps are big and nicely placed and railings on each side do not allow you to wander. Along the side, small concrete towers are erected and on each tower you get to see different kinds of sample rocks cemented with useful information provided on each of them as to what are they and what they constitute of – a true geologist’s paradise. But sad to see the sorry state of affairs of the towers – some of them missing, some with moss growth and some defaced. I would love to see some more boards depicting the importance of this place and providing more information to the visitors. Still, the place exudes a charm that’s successful in hordes of people visiting here and this place is similar to Yana and Kavala caves.

We were quite pleased to have visited this place that often went unvisited on our multiple trips to areas around Dandeli, thanks to the boys :)

Location: Dandeli-Ulavi highway

Distance: 30 odd kms from Dandeli,

Transport: Local jeeps on hire/sharing are the best bet.

Food: None.

Time: 9am to 6pm if I’m not wrong (forgot to confirm this)!

Bird watching at Hesaraghatta lake, Bangalore

2012-01-24T00:14:00.000+05:30

Well, somehow I had been here only once so far and put off my the many number of vehicles seen everywhere. Hesaraghatta can be called the grassland of Bangalore as it's a dry, scrub land and vast in area with a water body too. The lake has lost its original charm and is now only a mere shadow to what it was.

But, on the flipside it hosts a variety of birdlife and many winter migrants especially the raptors that fly over oceans to spend the winters here. After multiple weeks of planning and dropping me and Amit finally made a visit here on a weekend in December.

As we reached braving the bitter cold outside, it was a foggy welcome with visibility very poor all around and there were already a couple of cars waiting. For the next hour and a half , all we did was wait for the fog to clear and get some visibility. All along a lone Harrier was roosting on a anthill patiently waiting for the sun too. In the meanwhile, we met Dayananda (a friend me earlier in Ganeshgudi too) along with Rakesh Gupta, Kartick VB, Sachin and few others and the men-men discussions started off to whale the time.

Info from Wiki:
Hesaraghatta is actually a man made reservoir located to the north west of Bangalore.It is a fresh water lake created in the year 1894 across the Arkavathy River to meet the drinking water needs of the city. The reservoir is reported to have filled up last in the year 1994 and thereafter the lake’s deterioration and drying up started, reducing its reliability as a water supply source. The reasons attributed to the lake’s drying up are erosion in the catchment and consequent capacity shrinking due to continuous silting. As of July 2009, the lake is completely dry.

But, still the area supports a vast variety of birdlife and some very good sightings have been reported from here in the recent years, the latest being the sighting of the Lesser Kestrel from here. All we did was car birding, ie., sit in the car and drive around on the tracks. Birding from the car here is very rewarding with the raptors feeling comfortable amidst the vehicles rather than humans. Harriers, Kestrels, Eagles, Falcons, Larks, Quails, Drongos, Flycatchers, Chats and Robins and not to forget variety of water birds are to be found here in abundance.

I was pretty happy to sight the Marsh Harrier, Kestrel, Skylark, Siberian stonechat from close quarters. Drongo's are the best bet and their boldness amazes me, you literally point the camera near its face and it does not fly off!!!

All in all, a good outing to a great place. But as bird watchers and photographers and most importantly being educated, we should restrain ourselves from behaving like morons in the field, after all the bird is a bird and it needs its space too and they too have families and some of them nest along the ground as they have been doing it for ages.

Directions to reach- Right turn on Tumkur road at 8th mile, reach Hessarghatta, then right towards the board pointing to Adarsha Film Institute, 10mins drive from here you reach Hessarghatta lake.
Carry water and food (if required), but please don't litter the place and please do your bit if you come across bird traps in the field.

Respect Wildlife, Respect Nature!

Wild Bandipura (Part III)

2012-01-14T00:03:00.000+05:30

Well, Part II will appear as a guest post in one of my favorite blogs, you people need to wait for that for some more time... Let me quickly jump to the next phase of my adventures at Bandipura National Park :)

After the boys left, had an intense birding session and finally had to rush to catch the bus to Dharwad from Ganeshgudi and just made it in the nick of time. Carrying two heavy bags, one with all the equipment and the lappy and the other with apparels and shuffling b/w buses was a big task to accomplish. All along it was just one song playing in my mind -
Musafir hoon mein yaaro,
Na ghar hain na tikana,
Mujhe toh bas chalana hai,
Bas chalte jaana hai!

Similar song in Kannada-
Ellige Payana, Yavudo daari,
Ekangi Sanchaari, Ekangi Sanchaari!

After a heavy dinner at Dharwad, I traveled to Mysore bypassing Bangalore in the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus service, well the ride was pretty decent and comfortable. Sleep walking into the Mysore bus terminus and after a cold face wash and breakfast later, boarded another bus towards Ooty to alight at Melkamanahally check post (Bandipur National Park entrance) where the property of JLR (Bandipur Safari Lodge) is located. I would be here for the next 4.5 days only to roam the jungles, eat and sleep, solo.

After a warm welcome from the staff, inspite of the long journey and sagging shoulders, I was feeling energized just because I was there where I wanted to be :) Probably, for the first time, I had carried books to read (EH Aitken's 'A Naturalist on the Prowl' and Kenneth Anderson's 'Nine Man-eaters and One Rogue'). I never wake up to the alarm ringing at home and finally it snoozes getting tired..., well here I didn't require an alarm to wake me, my senses were sufficient and I never missed the time all the days :) Such wonderful things happen when your mind, body, heart and soul are in the place they want to be. Waking up early, safari ride, bfast, break, lunch, break, safari ride, snacks, dinner, sleep was all that I did but the excitements of each day made it interesting. Due to an unforeseen cyclone effect, the weather was cloudy and rains were happening on and off dampening my spirit. Well, all that in my mind was 'Why the rains when I had to be there?' :)

Spotting Deers, Gaur are quite common in Bandipur and you get your share of them more or less in all safari rides. The first safari passed off peacefully w/o much activity in the forests and just as we were heading back to the resort, saw a big sloth bear passing just beside the main road in twilight. So far never been lucky with bears and it continues... Overnight rains were quite heavy and early morning the situation was more or less similar from which I believed would be a wet outing in the jungle. Good things do happen and in a span of 15 minutes, the entire cloudy weather cleared up and the sun shone like there was no tomorrow. Just as we entered the jungle and within minutes I could see a bright flash against a tree basking in the golden sunlight! It didn't take much time for us to realize it was indeed a 'Tiger' basking in the sudden sunlight available.

Just as we moved towards him, he moved inside off the track into the field keeping a watch on us sitting, rolling, sleeping in the shade of a tree. Every now and then he would raise his head, look around, gaze and us and again go back to his slumber. I was so excited that the first few beautiful frames of him were all shaken (I realized this only after few days). If my readers recollect, just in the last post of Bandipur I had mentioned I was due for a long tiger sighting and the day had arrived. The beautiful, bold male that we were seeing is about 14 months and one from the successful litter of the current reigning queen of Bandipur, Gauri (You can see her in my Bandipur post of 2009 crossing the track).
-> http://adventureanytime.blogspot.com/2009/08/bandipura-wishes-coming-true.html

Tigers are generally elusive and especially cubs are more so shy and they avoid humans like hell but this little young chap was all grace and confidence and his stare so charming you just could not take your eyes off him. We enjoyed his company for the next 20 minutes till he decided enough was enough and walked away into the bushes probably to join his siblings there. 45 minutes later roaming other parts of the jungle, we came back to the same place to see him again basking under the sun and he was around again for the next 25 minutes with us seeing him roll, stare, doze and finally walk away not to be seen again. Along with me in the jeep was an ace photographer from Mumbai Vedwati Padwal along with her family and we thoroughly enjoyed the show but I thoroughly missed my boys during this.

Back at the resort, it was the hot news for the day and we enjoyed the discussions thoroughly. Wonder what happened next - the clouds and the overcast conditions were back and the next 2 safari's were literal washouts in spite of no other vehicle other than ours roaming the jungles in the morning and evening. That is luck and when it decides to leave you, you are just left nowhere!

Next, in my 5th safari, one cloudy evening just as we entered the park, Kiran, the driver shouted Wild dogs and so my luck continues with their sightings every time I'm in a jungle. It was a pair and probably searching for their pack and they kept us company for the next 30 minutes until we decided on the insistence of other people to jeep to move ahead. Wild dogs or Dhole's are very relaxed once they find the vehicles are no threat to them and they stick around for a long time till you are bored. In this scenario, asking the driver to leave them and move put me in jitters as these kind of opportunities are few and far.

So far, tiger, elephants, gaur, sloth bear, mongoose, deers were all sighted and the missing link was the leopard and to say I have poor luck with them is not untrue! Finally after extended stays, in my last safari at Bandipur, just about the time we had to leave the park got a chance to see the leopard crossing the road in a fraction of a second. All that I could manage was a shaky image of the ghost crossing the road, yet I was happy and content on seeing it in the first place. I know my time will come and the lady luck will smile upon me... :)

Meanwhile in all the dull safari's, birding was opportunistic and soon I realized the variety I could see and the list grew longer and longer much to my surprise and mind you all this from the moving jeep. Also was nice meeting Thomas, Vineet and others and had a good time with them.

Finally, time to leave with GB's of photos, heart-full of memories and with little intent to go back home. Rested for the night at Mysore and was back at home early next day thus ending my mega trip covering Ganeshgudi and Bandipura.

Travel partner - ever dependable KSRTC - www.ksrtc.in
Stay partner - Jungle lodges & Resorts - www.junglelodges.com

Bird checklist -
1 Oriental Magpie Robin

2 Yellow Wagtail

3 Jungle Fowl

4 Peafowl

5 Indian Roller

6 White Breasted Kf

7 Pied Kf

8 Hoopoe

9 Jungle Babbler

10 Common Flameback Woodpecker

11 Lesser Flameback Woodpecker

12 Streak Throated Woodpecker

13 House Sparrow

14 Scaly Breasted Munia

15 Rose Ringed Parakeet

16 Plum Headed Parakeet

17 Yellow Footed Green Pigeon

18 Spot Billed Duck

19 Common Coot

20 White Ibis

21 Spotted Dove

22 Laughing Dove

23 Brown Fish Owl

24 White Breasted Waterhen

25 Asian Paradise Flycatcher

26 Darter

27 Blue Faced Malkoha

28 Ashy Drongo

29 White Bellied Drongo

30 Racquet Tailed Drongo

31 Pond Heron

32 Red Wattled Lapwing

33 Indian Grey Hornbill

34 Eurasian Golden Oriole

35 Bay Backed Shrike

36 Long Tailed Shrike

37 Large Cuckooshrike

38 White Browed Fantail

39 Common Iora

40 Rufous Treepie

41 House Crow

42 Jungle Crow

43 Hill Mynah

44 Jungle Mynah

45 Common Mynah

46 Brahminy Mynah

47 Green Bee Eater

48 Common Hawk Cuckoo

49 Black Kite

50 Brahminy Kite

51 Black Shouldered Kite

52 Crested Serpent Eagle

53 Short Toed Snake Eagle

54 Malabar Starling

Wildlife -

1 Hanuman Langur

2 Bonnet Macaque

3 Black Naped Hare

4 Spotted Deer

5 Sambar Deer

6 Barking Deer

7 Grey Mongoose

8 Stripe Necked Mongoose

9 Wild Boar

10 Wild Dog

11 Malabar Giant Squirrel

12 Indian Gaur

13 Elephant

14 Tiger

15 Leopard

16 Monitor Lizard

17 Garden Lizard

18 Tortoise

19 Indian Rock Python

20 Water Snake (Un Id)

More photos on my FB pages here and here :)

Huchchara Santhe blog reviewed

2012-01-11T22:53:00.002+05:30

"All around me are familiar faces

Worn out places

Worn out faces

Bright and early for the daily races

Going no where

Going no where"

Well, these are the opening lines of my blog review's post done by The Fool (as he calls himself) in his wonderful, diverse blog Lucifer House Inc.

Yet again, this was possible only due to Indiblogger where I found his topic inviting people to submit their blogs for review. It is a real good sign from people who would want to invest so much of their time to go through your blog and pinpoint as to what is right and what is wrong and my heartfelt appreciation to "The Fool" on this great job done.

It is always good to know what people think about your blog, what you write, how you write, the contents, the widgets, the layout, the colors, the photos, all that is visible on your page to the world. Feedbacks, suggestions, reviews are very important for any blog to develop in this virtual world.

After an extensive review, he sums it up this way :)

"In the end analysis, I must say a really great blog for anyone who loves nature. It has a wealth of information on travel in the Western Ghats in Karnataka and observation of birds and other flora and fauna."

As I have mentioned there, this blog is due for some makeovers and changes and hopefully it should happen soon...

Read the complete review here -> Review of Huchchara Santhe

I request all of you to visit the link, read it and leave your valuable footprints all over Lucifer House :)

Well, with this review, I would also like to invite any other interested people who would want to review my blog, just leave me a note.

Suggestions and tips from readers are also welcome.

If you want your blog to be reviewed by The Fool, just follow the instructions given on this page -> Blog Reviews

Thanks again for all the support, appreciation and feedback and hope this journey goes on and on... :)

Ganeshgudi JLR camp - Team outing

2012-01-06T00:12:00.000+05:30

Part I of my long / mega trip of 2 weeks done during Nov-Dec 2011.

The highlight of the trip was that all 4 of us were present after a long time and all the more merrier as Raja accompanying us very soon after his wedding, thanks to his wife :)

Me and Raja went a day early and Guru and Nag joined us the next day. We took the KSRTC Volvo to Dharwad and NWKRTC local buses from there to Dandeli as I was keen on visiting the Timber depot for some bird watching. Thanks to the build up of traffic and a mini accident on the highway, we reached more than an hour late and after the mandatory breakfast at 'Hotel Santosh' and dropping off our luggage in the 'States lodge', we proceeded straight towards the Timber depot area.

The Pied Hornbills were all over the place, especially the fig tree at the entrance with loads of fig and probably we saw around 15-20 of these birds congregated near the tree and giving them company were the Bulbuls, Koel, Sunbirds, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Egrets and the Malabar Giant Squirrel - it probably was sort of a congregation of variety of birds on a single tree. As we ventured inside and around the park, the activity was few and far as the trees bore no fruits but a lone Common Kestrel kept us busy for some time hunting grasshoppers from the ground.

After a good session here, picked up our bags and went straight to OMH camp where Parshuram and team were waiting for us to arrive. After exchanging pleasantries and freshening, immediately started our birding activity. Winter time is always good as the birds are quite active throughout the day and they keep visiting the bird baths kept all through the day. Quick and heavy lunch later, I was all over the place trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive but beautiful and elegant male species of the Asian Paradise flycatcher that looks like a ghost flying around with its bright white body and long dual tail that always amazes me no end.

All along the light was good and sufficient but post 4pm, the light started dropping and it is a challenge photographing in low light conditions. The lights turns bad as the camp is surrounded by thick forests and high canopies thus preventing light to sneak through. If you closely observe, most of the snaps have got the noise effect visible on them (i.e., grainy pixels) and I also attribute this to the high ISO value I was using.

The next day as usual I was up early than the rest and was busy sitting out in the open and listening to the wonderful song of the Malabar Whistling Thrush as the Orange thrush was hopping all around me. Forget photographing, sometimes observing them itself gives you so much joy! Me and Raja opted for the boat ride post breakfast hoping to catch the elusive Great Indian Hornbill or the Black capped Kingfisher but to no avail! Back at the camp, Nag and Guru arrived travelling by the train and it was indeed good to see them there.

Presence of the Malabar Trogan made me run amok on a wild goose chase and finally got a sight of the elusive beauty and trailed it for more than an hour tracking amidst the thick canopy hoping it would pop out into the open, alas it didn't and preferred to stay in the thick foliage. In the meanwhile met Dayananda, Satisha and couple of other fellow birders and photographers from Bangalore and it was good meeting up them there. Birding was very fruitful with the Malabar Trogon making repeated appearances and the Emerald Dove, Thrushes and the Flycatchers posing for us. Post evening campfire, a sit out with snacks and then a heavy dinner ensured we all get sound sleep in the cozy bunkers of the camp. Slowly but surely the clear weather was changing and it was turning cloudy making light disappear all the more faster!

Next day after the routing early wake up and birding session and the breakfast later, we hired a trax to visit the "Syntheri Rocks" that I intend to cover in a separate post soon. Probably we were venturing out of the camp to any other tourist spot for the first time in our many visits. On our way back on the roadside, an lone Indian Jackal greeted us and vanished into the thickets hearing the sound of the trax we were travelling in. Jackals have always caught us by surprise and never ever have given us a good chance to spend time with them.

Post lunch, we met Dr Ravi, Sadat and Vinay all with big cameras and bazooka lenses out there to capture everything on offer. With clouds looming large, the afternoon was spent around the camp loitering around and birding, the session was a mixed bag as by now there were 8-10 of us shooting together and I personally chose to shoot from a distance w/o wanting to disturb the bird or venturing too close to it. Post evening again the campfire, sit out and snacks and finally dinner to close the day.

I personally love the time spent with boys during the evenings or while on walks cracking silly jokes, poking fun at each other, discussions and sometimes going overboard. We particularly had a good time there with the staff laughing the butts out of ourselves and stopped only when our stomachs started aching :) Good times and I hope they last forever...

Next day, prior to the departure of Raja, Guru and Nag, we were up early and visited a couple of other camps nearby, the Bison river resort and the Hornbill camp in search of the elusive Great Hornbills and raptors that were being seen there regularly, but with the dark clouds hovering we were to return disappointed after stopping over at the bridge area for some time.

Post breakfast, the boys departed towards home and I stayed back as I was scheduled to leave only by evening towards Mysore on the way to Bandipura. Dayananda and team also left the place as they had to drive back till Bangalore. Post lunch the light conditions dramatically improved and we got to see good display of the thrushes, flycatchers, emerald doves and the many other little one's around.

A sudden call of the Trogon sighting made all of us run and the next hour or so was spent in tracking the elusive one. Rains hampered the activity as I hurriedly got back to leave towards my next destination.
Parshuram, Joma, Anand, Singh, Vinay, Mylari and the others have been very helpful to us as always and continue to do that whenever we are there. A heartfelt thanks to the team there from all of us, its a pleasure being out there!

From Ganeshgudi in the north of the state, I traveled to Mysore via Dharwad and further towards Bandipura National Park to the southern part of the state where I would be spending the next 4-5 days in wilderness :)

Bird checklist:-

1 Malabar Pied Hornbill

2 Malabar Grey Hornbill

3 White Breasted Kingfisher

4 Common Kingfisher

5 Grey Wagtail

6 Pied Wagtail

7 Brown Cheeked Fulvetta

8 Orange Minivet

9 Crimson Backed Sunbird

10 Purple Rumped Sunbird

11 Emerald Dove

12 Vernal Hanging Parrot

13 Rose Ringed Parakeet

14 Plum Headed Parakeet

15 Malabar Parakeet

16 Rock Pigeon

17 White Rumped Shama

18 Oriental White Eye

19 Wooly Necked Stork

20 White Cheeked Barbet

21 Chestnut Tailed Starling

22 Golden Fronted Leafbird

23 Chestnut Headed Bee Eater

24 Eurasian Golden Oriole

25 White Breasted Waterhen

26 Barn Swallows

27 Jungle Fowl

28 Banded Bay Cuckoo

29 Black Lored Yellow Tit

30 Velvet Fronted Nuthatch

31 Hill Mynah

32 Jungle Mynah

33 Common Mynah

34 Brahminy Mynah

35 Common Iora

36 Blyth's Reed Warbler

37 Ashy Drongo

38 White Bellied Drongo

39 Black Drongo

40 Racquet Tailed Drongo

41 Red Whishkered Bulbul

42 Red Vented Bulbul

43 Yellow Browed Bulbul

44 Ruby Throated Bulbul

45 Asian Koel

46 Black Headed Munia

47 Puff Throated Babbler

48 Dark Fronted Babbler

49 Scimitair Babbler (Call)

50 Jungle Babbler

51 Common Flameback Woodpecker

52 Rufous Woodpecker

53 White Bellied Black Woodpecker (Call)

54 Blue Capped Rock Thrush

55 Orange Headed Thrush

56 Malabar Whistling Thrush

57 Asian Paradise Flycatcher

58 White Bellied Blue Flycatcher

59 Tickells Blue Flycatcher

60 Bar Winged Flycatcher Shrike

61 Asian Brown Flycatcher

62 Black Naped Monarch Flycatcher

63 Verditer Flycatcher

64 Kestrel

65 Malabar Trogan

66 Spotted Dove

67 Laughing Dove

68 Pond Heron

69 Brahminy Kite

70 Black Kite

71 House Crow

72 Jungle Crow

73 Indian Pitta (Call)

74 Little Cormorant

75 Darter

76 Common Coot

Mammals and Others

1 Malabar Giant Squirrel

2 Indian Jackal

3 Water Snake (unidentified)

4 Scorpion

5 Tarantula Spider

6 Barking Deer (Call)

7 Leopard (Call)

8 Draco Lizard

More images in my Facebook album here :)

Greetings 2012

2012-01-01T00:25:00.000+05:30

Well, 2012 is in and let me kick off with few greetings :)

People are shouting at the top of their voices, screaming, boozing, dancing, singing, god knows what all... buy why :D

Wish people don't act funny and end up 'damaging' themselves or their neighbors (somehow it keeps happening) :P

Mega and major plans for 2012, let's see how it unfolds... :)
Keep a tab on this blog for updates...
Keep blogging, Keep clicking, Keep following, Keep commenting, Keep smiling :D

Cheers 2012 :)

Adios 2011, Welcome 2012

2011-12-31T23:34:00.000+05:30

2011 has been a mixed bag of emotions for me, a little joy, a little sorrow, hard decisions, inconsistent health, exciting travels, overall can be termed as a good year!

A new year and a new job straight away :) Kicked of the year with our group outing at Ganeshgudi OMH camp (see) and river rafting on the Kali was the highlight.

Maddur and Ramanagara visit happened clubbed with a in house function. Raja and me had a good time birdwatching here...

Kudremukha trek was long due and finally we did it again as a team. Bad health and probably the first time I thought of returning mid way, thankfully with god's grace completed the trek. This is our only dedicated 'trek' for the entire year!

Brother's wedding and I sneaked out to Maidenahalli for a super quick visit along with Raja. Curse me or Praise me :)

In the meanwhile a new beginning called "Indiblogger" kicked off for my blog, what a game changer it has turned out to be!

Peak summer and Bandipura was not to be missed, but somehow turned out to be a dampener and horribly expensive!

Visit to Kasargod happened all of a sudden and so got a chance to re visit Bekal fort along with Raja.

Biggest game changer of my life - attended the "Naturalists Training Program" (NTP) conducted by our guru S Karthikeyan!

After this NTP, every other weekend I'm at some lake or any forest patch in and around Bangalore itself looking for birds, insects, butterflies, anything and everything :)

Family Piligrimage to Mantralayam - a visit long due finally happening, I'm blessed! Thanks to Raja for lending the Figo, it was a cruise.

Monsoons and next were the visits to Ganeshgudi OMH camp again and Aditya's Simha farms for 'macro' activity.

7 months done and only 6 odd outings, very untrue to our normal behavior, work and personal commitments in the way, can't help it sometimes!

A quick trip to Agumbe with half the team during end of monsoons happened, things were about to change after this.

Family health problems and other issues kept me occupied for some weeks together, tough times, now relieved that it got over!

Raja got busy with his wedding and finally one bachelor from the team got hooked up during October. Directly proportionally his participation reduced thereon, its a normal phenomenon and we support it :)

Off went my bike and waiting for the new one to arrive...

Got to know Amit, having similar ideologies and fancies, immediately happened the small trek and bird watching around Muninagar, Bangalore.

A delicious outing for me and Nag at Food street, Bangalore here...

Then self and Nag camped at Honey Valley estate, Kodagu and came back heavily impressed!

Then with fellow NTPians, bird watching sessions happened at Shivanahalli, Nandi hills and Madiwala lake.

The next events are yet to appear on the blog, so can only summarize for now :)

As a group, we were back to Ganeshgudi for a couple of days and had a jolly good time with the newly married groom coming along :) The last group outing for 2011!

Never thought I would be tripping alone w/o my group so early but it happened faster than anticipated on my solo trip to Bandipura during November, eventful trip but missed my buddies.

An early morning visit to Hesarghatta lake, had a good session along with Amit.

Last day of the year and ends with an early morning bird watching outing near Bannerghata Zoo, an eventful outing irrespective of the bad cyclonic weather :)

The blog has risen to a new level especially this year due to the increase in the visitors and the readers and I'm thankful to each one of you for the constant encouragement and support provided.

Got to know some wonderful travel bloggers like Arti, Dhiraj, Anu, Amit, Aravind and it has helped me in a lot of ways. Thank you people! My bows :)

All in all Adios 2011, Welcome 2012...

More greetings will follow!

Birdwatching at Madiwala Lake, Bangalore

2011-12-25T23:51:00.000+05:30

Last visit to Madiwala lake was quite some time ago and I was put off by the stench and bad maintenance. Cut to present and the lake looks much better and clean and more importantly the migrants have started visiting the lake and should be here for the next couple of months!

Lately, I was getting good feedback and decided to visit the backyard lake once with Sumeet, fellow NTPian. Was very pleased to sight my first Marsh Harrier here and the Pelicans and the Sandpipers, all being winter migrants.

We spent a couple of hours early in the day and I returned back in the evening primarily to test my Canon 40D on field and to get used to it prior to my mega trip kickoff.

Bird checklist:

Eurasian Marsh Harrier

Shikra

Oriental Honey Buzzard

Brahminy Kite

Black Kite

Spot billed Pelican

Grey Heron

Purple Heron

Darter

Little Cormorant

Little Grebe

White breasted Waterhen
White breasted Kingfisher

Purple Moorhen

Barn Swallows

Red wattled Lapwing

Grey Wagtail

Ashy Prinia

Common Coot

Bay backed Shrike

Little Egret

Pond Heron

To add more clarity, this visit to Madiwala lake was in November 2011 and the mega trip happened at the end of November itself, well forgot to mention the dates!

Bird watching at Nandi hills

2011-12-19T01:31:00.000+05:30

A previous account here way back in 2009.

All NTPians, myself, Deepa Mohan, Sumeet Moghe, Kannan, Poornima Kannan, Nandan Bhatkal and Naveen grouped along and visited the place for some bird watching activity. The Devanahalli road was foggy enough to reduce the visibility to bare minimum and a cuppa of hot tea later, my sleep had vanished as we reached the ticket counters. Weekend, long queue and I did the honor of grabbing the tickets and we drove up and got off well before the parking area.

Highlights of the day for me were the Indian blue Robin and the Asian Paradise flycatcher (male, female and sub-adult) and also not to forget the Blue capped Rock thrush that was very co-operative all along.

We strolled around the area scanning for the birds and the Grey Wagtail was the first among them to gather our attention and the Greenish leaf Warbler kept calling all around us only showing glimpses of himself. Being such a small birdie, wonder how he manages to fly so long for spending the winters here...amazing!

The area around the Tippu drop has been reconstructed and the edges of the cliff all fenced due to the many people who tend to jump off from this cliff and that's a good move but sacrificing the natural beauty of the place with iron barricades all around. Monkeys are pretty large in number and sometimes very volatile snatching whatever they can from your hands and bags.

A day well spent and a wonderful getting back to Nandi hills, need to visit here back soon before the winter vanishes and thanks to Poornima Kannan for those sooper Idlis that all of us gobbled in no time!

Bird checklist-
Asian Paradise Flycatcher
Blue capped Rock Thrush
Indian Blue Robin
Greenish Leaf Warbler
Tawny Bellied Babbler
Olive backed Pipit
Oriental white Eye
Tickell's blue Flycatcher
Grey Wagtail
Ashy Drongo
Black Drongo
White cheeked Barbet
Common Buzzard

Bird watching at Shivanahalli

2011-12-19T00:07:00.000+05:30

Shivanahalli Ramakrishna Ashram

One of the good trails for small treks / nature trails / bird watching around Bangalore is the Shivanahalli Ramakrishna Ashram near the periphery of the Bannerghatta forest area about 25kms away from BTM layout, Bangalore. The resident Swamiji, Swami Vishnumayanandaji here is quite unusual, a tech savvy person, he has greened a lot in the campus and the forest patch adjoining, encourages students there to accompany visitors on nature trails, very hospitable and tea/snacks are offered to everyone who visit.

I had heard a lot about this place through bngbirds group and their blog, and finally got an opportunity to visit the place along with Sumeet, fellow NTPian. Residing in the same part of the city, we left early in the day to get advantage of the early rising sun.

How to reach- Take the left turn towards Anekal at the Bannerghatta circle junction, a couple of kms away at the Ragihalli bus stop, you will find the Ashram board and a Ayyappa temple hoarding, turn right here and after 10kms you would reach the Ashram at Shivanahalli. Our first stop was enroute near the Peepal tree for the Spotted Owlet that is a regular there, my first Owlet sighting till date and the Rosy starlings kept us occupied for some time with their flying antics until some crows decided to take over and chase them away.

Had to wait for some time till the guide arrived and we passed the time sipping the hot tea offered and loitering around chasing the Asian Paradise flycatcher and capturing the wood spiders around. We walked, lugging around slowly on the trails passing through many private properties and forest tracks uphill and downhill, crossing small streams and finally reached a peak top to get a good view of the valley around. By this time the sun was up and hot and the bird activity had reduced considerably and we made our way back slowly observing the chasing the lovely wonderful butterflies all around. Overall, our nature trail lasted more than a couple of hours and it was quite rejuvenating.

Back at the Ashram, thanked the swamiji and Sumeet had some donation to do, finished it and were on our way back home. The swamiji is open for donations and would love to meet the person upfront whatsoever the donation amount may be.

Bird & Butterfly checklist-
Rosy Starling
Spotted Owlet
Asian Paradise Flycatcher
Plum headed Parakeet
Crimson backed Sunbird
Purple rumped Sunbird
Oriental White Eye
Bay backed Shrike
Green bee Eater
White cheeked Barbet
Greater Coucal
Pied Bushchat
Indian Roller
White breasted KF
Cattle Egret
Pond Heron
Black Kite
Brahminy Kite
Pale billed Flowerpecker
Indian Robin
Yellow Wagtail

Pea Blue
Common Leopard
Danaid Eggfly
Mottled Emigrant
Common Sailer
Common Rose
Striped Tiger
Common Tiger
Common Jazebel
Grass Yellow
Common Hedge Blue
Plain Grass Blue

Deepa Mohan and Vaibhav have some wonderful write-ups and lots of information about Shivanahalli, Ragihalli and more... Check them out :)

Butterflies Part II

2011-12-07T23:22:00.001+05:30

Some more butterflies in part II of the series...

Common dart butterfly

The Common Dart (Potanthus pseudomaesa) is commonly known as the Indian Dart or Pseudomaesa Dart, is a butterfly belonging to the family Hesperiidae. It’s abundant in the hills and jungles and in fairly wet regions. A fast and powerful flier, it settles frequently on flowers and leaves.

Three spot grass yellow butterfly

Three-spot grass yellow (Eurema blanda) is a small butterfly of the family Pieridae, i.e., the Yellows and Whites found in India. A butterfly of lowland forests and resembles the common grass yellow.

Chocolate pansy butterfly

The Chocolate pansy (Junonia iphita) is also known as the Chocolate soldier is a butterfly found in Asia. Individuals maintain a territory and are usually found close to the ground level and often bask in the sun.

Fulvous pied flat butterfly

Fulvous pied flat (Pseudocoladenia dan) is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae. An inhabitant of moist, cool and dense jungles, it visits flowers, bird droppings frequently and water rarely. It’s fond of basking in the sun on the upper surface of leaves close to the ground. With extremely rapid flight, it makes long lasting aerial sorties occasionally in shady clearings.

Part I here...

Honey Valley Estate, Kodagu

2011-12-07T14:34:00.001+05:30

Got to know about this retreat from the always helpful Aravind, Sankara and Amit. Called up Suresh of Honey Valley Estate, Coorg and after a long discussion booked the 2 thatched huts for the weekend for 3 of us as Raja was not in and me, Guru and Nag were supposed to go.

Honey valley estate is located near Kabbinakad junction in the heart of Kodagu(Coorg) district, about 250kms from Bangalore. Finally Guru also dropped out and out went the idea of biking to this place, finally we traveled by the ever dependable KSRTC services. Karnataka Sarige express buses ply directly from Bangalore to Kabbinakad junction and Virajpet is the nearest point if you prefer to travel the Airavata way and from there lot of private buses travel on these routes.

(Shot by Nag who says has no interest in shooting but lifts my camera stealthily and fires a couple of shots...)
Generally thatched huts are not let out to the general visitors as they are very basic, rustic and would not suit people looking for comfort, but we managed to convince Suresh that we would be fine and we enjoyed staying in the hut. You don't need an AC when the chill wind blows from all 4 sides right :)

As we traveled by bus, either we had to hire a jeep or walk up the distance till the homestay from Kabbinakad junction and no guesses for what we opted for! Landed prior to 6am at Kabbinakad junction and the weather still being gloom, cloudy and dark. Rested at the post office till traces of light appeared and then started the uphill early morning walk towards our destination.

Concrete roads are laid till the parking lot from where only 4*4 vehicles traverse for the rest couple of kms. As we ascended slowly taking our time, we were treated to some wonderful valley views and vistas with the sun trying to break cover from the clouds and in constant companion of the chirping birds.

As you proceed ahead, we first get to see the Chingaara property, a little more luxurious than the Honey valley estate property that is managed by Suresh Chengappa's son. Past this and uphill further, we finally reached the homestay, a little tired but worth the effort nevertheless. Stunning vistas awaited us and we loved the locale no end, absolutely wild, in midst of thick estates and hills surrounding you closer to the Tadiandamol peak (Kakkabbe, the place where we started for Tadiandamol was hardly couple of kms away from Kabbinakad junction).

We had plans to wander out to visit a couple of waterfalls nearby as we are so well known, our laziness played a domineering role and so it ended that for the time we were there, we went nowhere except for a small hike behind the property :)

Well, there are lot of trails in and around the property and they have documented it and made a small handbook of it, great! But, as it should be, whatever books you carry, you should follow your instincts to not get lost and if lost too, use back your instincts to get back and that's what most of the casual travelers won't do. The trails are smaller and bigger taking hours to a complete day and it sure is a wonderful experience in itself.

Food served at Honey valley is more of a general cuisine rather than a Coorgi delight, We discussed about this with Suresh and he had a valid point in saying people prefer it this way and the lot of foreigners to who visit this place. The home made jam and honey were a real treat as were the locally prepared chocolates.

Leeches were omnipresent everywhere and probably for the first time not one bit me and all thanks to the Ruggers socks that I wore. Just recovering from an bad foot infection, I didn't want to take any chances and so was well stocked and it worked. Poor Nag bore all the brunt of few bites he got all over and some in places you can't believe :)

Birding was sparse and limited with the cloudy weather not helping, but still a few walks and patient waiting yielded a few results, I would need to visit here only for bird watching sometime soon. The sunbirds were all over the place, so as the wagtail, wagging nonchalantly. The Parakeets were a real treat hovering all around with their tweet tweets and so did I got a glimpse of Asian Fairy bluebird couple in the open, but at a distance.

We thought we had just come in and it was already time to move, we left the place with an absolute no liking to go back... it happens to us always :) We took more than a couple of hours to reach the main road buttering all the way slowly downhill. What I meant is watching those lovely little butterflies and trying to capture them whenever I could. If you are behind butterflies, an hours journey will easily take more than a couple and we had planned ample time for that. Nag was patient enough accompanying me and that's the bonding in our group (however wrong our thoughts may be, they never let me down in the field, blessed to have such pals!).

We took the local bus to Virajpet and after the dinner at the local eatery (till now I have not been able to figure out a good veggie eating place in Virajpet :() boarded the Airavata Volvo towards Bangalore. Rode back home from the SMTC bus stand (KSRTC Mysore road bus terminal) on Nag's bike that we had parked there and thus ended our eventful Kodagu visit.

Butterflies are added to my new list of interests and they never cease to amaze me. Being the size of my thumb and how gorgeous they are created, those intricate patterns, looks like a designer crafted their wings. There are separate posts showcasing these butterflies and that portfolio is rapidly expanding. Few of them that I have succeeded in identifying are:-
Blue Tiger
Grey Pansy
Common Hedge Blue
Gladeye Bush Brown
Common Dart
Three Spot Grass Yellow
Chocolate Pansy
Fulvous Pied Flat
Blue Mormon
...and wish I had the patience to see more!

Bird check list:-
Cattle Egret
House Crow
Jungle Crow
Greated Coucal
Jungle Mynah
Hill Mynah
White Cheeked Barbet
Coppersmith Barbet
Purple Rumped Sunbird
Crimson Backed Sunbird
Grey Wagtail
Black Drongo
Ashy Drongo
Racquet Tailed Drongo
Rose Ringed Parakeet
Plum Headed Parakeet
Malabar Parakeet
Vernal Hanging Parrot
Malabar Grey Hornbill
Orange Minivet
Laughing Dove
Spotted Dove
Oriental White Eye
Red Whiskered Bulbul
Red Vented Bulbul
Yellow Browed Bulbul
Eurasian Blackbird
Asian Fairy Bluebird

Info:-
Honey Valley Estate - http://honeyvalleyindia.in/AboutUs.html
Chingaara - http://www.chingaara.com/aboutus.html
Contact - Suresh Chengappa
Phone - 08272 238339 / 200325

Waterfalls In Karnataka III

2011-12-05T21:10:00.001+05:30

Part 3 from the series...

V. Apsarakonda falls (Uttara Kannada district)

Apsarakonda falls is located in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka and about roughly 6kms from Honnavara town and about 28kms from the temple town of Murudeshwar on the Konkan coast. The water falling from a height of 10 meters has formed a small waterfall. A high hill, a fine view of the sea and the sunset from the hill and a huge natural cave are the attractions of the place. It’s a visual treat of the sun going down the Arabian sea on a clear day from the viewpoint on the hillock.

Reach: Roughly 6kms from Honnavara town, 28kms from Murudeshwar and 435kms from Bangalore. Murudeshwar, Gokarna, Idagunji are other tourist locales nearby.

Bangalore-Tumkur-Shimoga-Sagar-Jog-Honnavar-Apsarakonda

June to October is a good time when the water levels are high but be prepared for unrelenting and continuous rains.

VI. Unchalli falls ( Uttara Kannada district)

Unchalli falls (Lushington falls) is created by a 116 metres drop in the Aghanashini river located in the Siddapur taluk, Uttara Kannada distict in Karnataka. Its named after JD Lushington, a distict collector of the British empire after he discovered this in 1845. The nearest village is called Heggarne, 5kms away and the last 2kms to be covered on foot. The river here takes a deep plunge to create this spectacular, picturesque falls. This falls is also known as Keppa Joga because of the deafening sound it makes. There are view points constructed to view but the dense surrounding make it difficult to get a complete view of the falls. Rainbows and mist are a common occurrence because of the height from which the river takes a leap and lands with a deafening roar sending up water droplets that eventually shower back again.

Reach: 25kms from Sirsi, 35kms from Siddapur and 425 kms from Bangalore.

Bangalore-Tumkur-Sirsi-Heggarne-Unchalli falls

Best time would be end of monsoons and winter.

should continue further right... :)

Thindi Beedhi (Food Street) of Bangalore

2011-11-22T23:02:00.001+05:30

Heavily inspired to blog about this after viewing Sankara's post on the famous Tindi Beedhi of Bangalore, visited here after a long gap along with Nag to indulge in some savories and to capture some :) Hope I do a little justice to the topic and inspire few more people to visit the street...

Thindi Beedhi or Food Street is a street in VV Puram near Sajjan Rao circle, Bangalore and is one of the oldest localities. Here you find everything to everything typical vegetarian dishes on offer. Earlier this narrow stretch of road used to be filled with only push carts dishing out the varieties but now things have changed a little and its a mix of shops and carts that cater to the huge crowd that throngs here.

One should visit here only for "food" and not facilities or trendy restaurants. If you like standing out in long queues waiting for that special "dosa" or that bisi bisi "bele obbattu" or the spicy "capsicum bonda", then don't waste time in not visiting here. If you are the other kind, then please excuse me! Hygeine is not high but you don't fall sick either :)

We started off with the VB bakery, an old timer with a very huge fan following (I still remember the "Khara Bread" that I used to have from here during my school days). Famous for honey cakes, buns and variety of biscuits, we settled for "Palya Buns" to start off with...

Then started our activity to gobble as many varieties as our stomachs could hold on too, lest its bursts out boom boom :D "Mango Corn masala" was our first victim and it vanished in as quickly as it came, next that caught our attention was the piping hot "Bele Obbattu" that soon vanished again into our tummies in no time. After this off went inside were the Bonda's that are mandatory on our every outing...

With our stomachs feeling strangled with sudden thrust of delicious food items, it was time for some "Jaljeera" to ease the stress and boy, it surely was mouth watering :D
Back to action, next were the Dosa's on our hit list and after discussions we just settled for a dosa each (the rest of the varieties would be tried another time :)). It just tickles your tummy to see so many varieties of dosa on offer, just have a look at the list:
Paper Dosa
Khali Dosa
Onion Dosa
Masala Dosa
Butter Dosa
Pudi Dosa
Set Dosa
Bath Dosa
Avarebele Dosa
Roast Dosa
and many others...!

I missed having the Idli's and Paddu's that are on the hit list of my next visit and the hot Jamuns as well as also a couple of sweets and kulfis as well :)

Can you resist seeing the hot "Jalebis" on offer, well we couldn't and a couple of them vanished soon into our bellies followed by some mouth watering "Kulfi's" on offer... Wanted something spicy and so "Boti masala" was the next target to balance the sugar and the spices in our stomachs!

Finally, we decided to call it a day after much speculation and finished the job with some hot and cold "Badam milk" that acted as a sealing agent for all the stuff gone in :)

I would personally suggest the following do's and dont's so that you have an enjoyable experience out there...

Don't:
Go with a full tummy
Go with a mindset of high hygienic conditions
Go with and idea of sitting and eating
Throw the plates and papers wherever you want, be sensible and use the dustbins

Do:
Go with a mindset to eat, eat and only eat :)
Carry a bottle of drinking water
Try varieties on offer and avoid sticking to one item
Carry some digestives (hajmola's) if you need some!
Help keep the place clean and avoid littering

A typical outing for a couple should cost not more than Rs 200/- per person.

And many thanks to Nagaraj Gaitonde for being the perfect support cast :)
Happy Eating and do share your experiences :)

Butterfiles from Kodagu (Coorg) I

2011-11-14T20:30:00.001+05:30

Butterflies were all around the place we visited (I still do remember seeing lot of them on our last trek to Tadiandamol here, couple of years back). Then it was just a fascination seeing so many of them around and with glorious colors and patterns and I was just into photography then.

Now and after the NTP, I love butterflies for many reasons, they are super active with loads of energy, always busy moving around, leave a mark in a short span of time, colorful and are pleasing on the eyes and you are kept active once you start chasing them because of all the running you have to do :D

Check out a few of them listed below, will add more details about each of them as I find time and more than a couple of posts to be composed are waiting due to lack of time :)

Gray Pansy Butterfly
The Gray Pansy (Junonia atlites) is a species of nymphalid butterfly found in South Asia. The least common pansy in India, found at low elevations in regions of heavy rainfall. It’s frequently seen in paddy fields, seldom in jungles and never in dry areas. Visits flowers of various plants.

Blue Tiger Butterfly
The Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace) is a butterfly found in

India

that belongs to the Crows and Tigers, that is, the Danaid group of the Brush-footed butterflies’ family. The butterfly larva generally feed on plants of Family Asclepiadaceae (milkweeds, rattle pods, etc..). This species migrates extensively during the Monsoons in southern India.

Gladeye Bushbrown Butterfly
The Gladeye Bushbrown (Mycalesis patnia) is a satyrid butterfly found in southern India and Sri Lanka. A common butterfly in the tropical and subtropical evergreen forests and the bamboo forests. Files close to the gourd and the weakest flier of the genus. Visits fallen berries, fruits and sugary sap.

Common Hedge Blue Butterfly
The Common Hedge Blue (Acytolepis puspa) is a small butterfly that belongs to the Lycaenids or Blues family. The Common Hedge Blue is usually found flying along brightly sunlit footpaths along forest tracks. It flies in an erratic manner and males are usually observed feeding on damp patches on the forest floor. Males are a shining blue above and this can be noticed when the butterfly is in flight.

Waterfalls in Karnataka II

2011-11-01T23:52:00.000+05:30

Part 2 of the series...

III. Magajalli falls (Hassan district)

Magajalli falls is a roadside waterfall nestled in the Western ghats near the town of Sakleshpur in Karnataka. It’s calm, serene, undisturbed and easy to miss unless you have a local person with you and a visit is often added to the package to the numerous homestays present here.

Reach: 250kms from Bangalore, 130kms from Mangalore, 150kms from Mysore

Bangalore-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Hanbal-Magajhalli

Monsoon and Winter seasons are a good time to visit.

IV. Shivanasamudra falls (Mandya district)

Shivanasamudra falls is situated on the banks of the river Kaveri and is the location of the first Hydro-electric Power station in Asia, which was set up in the year 1902 and is a segmented waterfall. Segmented waterfalls occur where the water flow is broken into two or more channels before dropping over a cliff, resulting in multiple side by side waterfalls (Gaganachukki and Bharachukki). It has an average width of 849 m and a height of 90 m.

Reach: 70kms from Mysore and 139kms from Bangalore. Somnathpura, Talakkad, and Srirangapattinam are other tourist locales nearby.

Bangalore-Maddur-Malavalli-Sattegala-Bluff

Bangalore-Kanakapura-Malavalli-Sattegala-Bluff

June to October is an excellent time but the weather is moderate throughout the year.

will be continued... :)

Weekend birding around Bannerghatta

2011-10-25T23:56:00.000+05:30

Well, a small excursion around the forests of Bannerghatta area avoiding the national park and some birding where we were. I joined Amit and Karthik on this excursion as my team members were preoccupied with other work.

Elephant infested areas and we were lucky not to bump in them but got to see their presence all around. The butterflies were numerous, but I had no patience running behind them :)

A long bike ride after quite some time and the cameras were finally out after nearly a month or so...

Bird checklist:

Tawny Eagle

Brahminy Kite

Black KIte

Oriental Honey Buzzard

Baya Weaver

Little Cormorant

White breasted Kingfisher

Spotted Munia

Racquet tailed Drongo

White bellied Drongo

Spotted Dove

Collared Dove

Greater Coucal

Common Coot

Indian Robin

Magpie Robin

Pied Bushchat

Ashy crowned Sparrow Lark

Barn Swallow

and many more...

Waterfalls in Karnataka I

2011-10-20T00:40:00.000+05:30

Every state in India has its own charms and Karnataka is no exception. This post is all about some of the wonderful presentations of nature that I have come across in these regions! Hope to cover more of them as my travels continue...

I. Irupu falls (Iruppu falls) (Kodagu district)

Irupu falls is located in the Brahmagiri range in the Kodagu district of Karnataka. The falls is also known as Lakshmana Thirtha falls (name derived from the Lakshmana thirtha river that flows here). There is also a trekking trail from here to the Brahmagiri peak in Southern Kodagu.

Reach: 48kms from Virajpet, 50kms from Madikeri, 120kms from Mysore and 260kms from Bangalore. Nagarahole national park, Tholpetty wildlife sanctuary, Madikeri are few of the interesting places nearby.

Bangalore-Hunsur-Nagarahole-Kutta-Irupu

June to December is a good time to visit Irupu falls.

II. Magod falls (Uttara Kannada district)

Magod falls is located in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. River Bedti makes a gigantic leap of 650ft to form the pretty Magod falls. The place has got good view points and a PWD rest house for tourists. Weekdays are empty and weekends are crowded.

Reach: 17kms from Yellapur, 80kms from Karwar, 500+kms from Bangalore. On the highway connecting Yellapur to Ankola, a deviation to the left, 5kms after Yellapur leads to this falls. Sathodi falls, Kavadikere, Jenukalgudda are other places of interest nearby.

Bangalore-Chitradurga-Haveri-Sirsi-Yellapur-Magod falls

Best time would be end of monsoons and early winter.

...to be continued

Agumbe (Seetanadi nature camp)

2011-10-16T12:38:00.002+05:30

We have been to Agumbe a couple of times but never got a chance to enjoy its beauty during the monsoons and we had no intention of missing it this time. The participants swelled from 4 to 10 and finally only 3 of us made it to Agumbe. We didn’t stay at Agumbe but @ the Seetanadi nature camp, Someshwara Wildlife division at Hebri, very close to Agumbe and we had the complete dormitory all for ourselves.

What we realized the hard way was that the Hebri camp is located at the foothills of Agumbe ghats and the weather was hot and dry with no breeze what so ever in spite of the continuous rains. We boarded the KSRTC Rajahamsa bus from Bangalore to Hebri and the journey was super smooth till we stopped with a flat tyre near to Karkala, a good hour away from Hebri. A couple of hours lost till finally we reached Karkala by one of the private local buses that are so frequent over here. A delicious breakfast later, we had to board another local transport to Hebri which was a smooth, entertaining ride. From Hebri, we hired an auto to drop us till the entrance of the Seetanadi camp.

The camp looks very inviting and all that you see around is green in the campus. From the main road, you need to walk about a km to reach the cottages, tents and the dormitory. A little walk ahead and you are right in the Sita river that was flowing menacingly and had submerged some part of the camp area. The accommodations are all good and well maintained by the staff (Of Kulgi, Bhagavathi, Muthodi, Seetanadi camps that we have been to, Bhagavathi camp scores low on maintenance compared to others). Rains were omnipresent and persistent and drizzles led to downpours and the sun finding it difficult to shine through the dark clouds.

Lunch and some rest and all we did were some roaming around the campsite hoping to catch some herps around but to no avail. In fact, we were hard pressed to pass time and were waiting for every opportunity to wander when the rains stopped. Some colorful dragon and damsel flies and lots of tadpoles kept us occupied for long. Capturing them required effort, laying flat on the ground, low light, focusing amidst the foliage and asking them to pose J

Next day early in the morning, the sun was bright and we opted for a trek through one of the routes mapped in the campsite, particularly I had applied Odomos to keep away the leeches. Probably 10 minutes into the trek and the skies opened up with full force (It was as if we fell right into the trap) and we had no place for cover. Luckily we had a couple of umbrellas that saved some part of us from getting wet. The leeches were highly active now and we were the right prey for them in a hopeless situation, they bit me where Odomos was not applied and so far probably I had never donated so much blood!

The track was slushy with the rain pouring, fallen trees and shrubs blocking our path and the leeches climbing on to us from everywhere and this looked like a never ending trek. As we approached a drier place with the rains receding, I could find a pack of leeches sucking my blood me in one spot where I had missed applying Odomos cream. At last count there were around 25+ leeches on me and all that I could see was my blood stained foot when we finally made it back to the camp. Leeches are smart creatures, they find the nicotine infested blood of Guru tasteless and find it hard to penetrate the buffalo like thick skin of Nag and I’m the easiest prey of the lot being a warm blooded human with a mild skinJ.

After cleansing and breakfast, we set off towards Agumbe again hopping on to the local bus that plies very frequently in these regions. In fact, they are lifeline of Malnad region becoming an effective alternate to the government bus services. A lifer for me was the sighting of the Lion Tailed Macaque (an endemic species of the Western Ghats) from the bus as it was moving on the boundary walls of the ghats. Surprises when you least expect it! It’s such a beautiful creature completely draped in black with a silver white mane. The weather changed dramatically as we rode up the ghats to the lovely small town of Agumbe. Rains were in no mood to let go and it was a heavy downpour that seemed never ending. Mist had accumulated and it was a lovely sight perfect to soothe your eyes. From the bus stand, a few paces down the main road towards Sringeri, leads a mud road between two housed to Rumolous Whitaker’s Agumbe Rainforest Research station (www.agumberainforest.com).

The walk was a very long one but the weather was cloudy and a slight drizzle now and then and not a soul in sight, only thing we could hear were the bulbuls, sunbirds and the minivets calling. It’s a perfect walk in the woods and there is no missing the ARRS as the track ends right there. Discussions with the coordinator there enlightened us about the activities and projects undertaken and hope to be there sometime for volunteering. The walk back was more or less similar with the rains reduced and the weather perfect, finally a good walk of about 5kms after a long time. After a sumptuous lunch at the bus stand and a little rest later, we walked up to the sunset point only to be treated with a misty environment and zero visibility and this continued till we were there.

Every tourist place has it plethora of problems and Agumbe is no exception. The place near the sunset point is crowded by hawkers, sellers and mindless people who come in bikes and cars and park as they wish creating a chaos out there. The sunset point is in the ghat section and these acts of stupidity create a lot of traffic snarls and endless honking! Lovely weather, drizzling rain and how can you not resist having some hot tea with bajji’s…. well we couldn’t and finally we ended up having endless bajji’s and countless tea’s till our taste buds were pacified, all these at the bajji centre close to the old vista point. A momentary decision ensured we started walking down the Agumbe ghats instead of travelling by the local transport and we had no idea how far that would be. Call us crazy… yeah, we are kind of!&$*#!. We walked, walked downhill enjoying the serene vista and avoiding the traffic till we were tired and we realized that only after seeing that we had covered a good 9kms downhill on foot. No more adventures till we reached home from there!

For accommodation at Seetanadi nature camp call the forest department office at 08253 250005 at Karkala.
For staying at Doddamane (Kasturi akka's house) @ Agumbe, call 08181 233075
For staying at ARRS, call 08181 223081 / 233186 or email them at arrs.india@gmail.com

Ganesha comes together

2011-09-09T15:16:00.000+05:30

Well, this is not an travel nor any photographic post but all about Ganesha, the elephant god :)

Arti, a fellow blogger from Mumbai invited readers to contribute to her blog where the different ways of Ganesha festival celebrations would be featured as celebrated in their respective places. At first though a very nice gesture but practically difficult to implement and make the readers contribute to this...

After few days in despair and doubt, she finally managed to put this wonderful article feature 4 of us bloggers contributing their ways of celebrating Ganesha festival from Mumbai, Goa and namma Bengaluru.

Providing the link the the blog of Arti where the article is featured:
http://myyatradiary.blogspot.com/2011/09/ganesh-chaturthi-celebrations.html

Congratulate Arti on this mighty work and wonderful compilation from the many sources and hope to see more such posts coming on. Her blog http://myyatradiary.blogspot.com is all about her travel to spiritual destinations and in depth information about those places!

Adios! Happy blogging :)

Monsoons in W Ghats II @ Ganeshgudi

2011-09-01T13:44:00.000+05:30

Well, we knew it would be raining and that's the reason we chose to do a quick dash to Ganeshgudi JLR camp over the weekend in July. The other reason was that it was a long 5 months since we had been there and we had to go there again, yes again, and we would love to go there again and again :)

Every time we go to Ganeshgudi that is almost 500kms away, we try different routes and options, enjoying each and every transportation we choose. Booked our tickets on the Rani Chennamma express that goes up to Londa Jn from where Ganeshgudi is around 20 odd kms by bus. Cramped with work, I had to work in the train with the others snoring and I loved the fact that Reliance data connectivity was present all through the way albeit at a lower speed, my journey with Reliance continues into its 7th year now :)

Rains kept company all along and with sparse sleep, I was up very early in the train roaming between the coaches waiting for the sun to rise. Well, cloudy weather prevailed and it was a refreshing view out from the train with greens all along the route with monsoon in full splendor and life sprouting in all forms all along. Paddy fields, barren lands, villages, towns, everywhere and everything was green to the core and the fragrance of the wet soil that brings in a sense of 'Ah! Pleasant' was omnipresent all through the train journey.

How many of love to spend time near the train compartment doors pushing your head out and allowing the breeze to blow against your face early in day soaking in the fresh air and chill weather? Ah! We love to do it and we generally spend most of our travel time near the door rather than in the ac compartment!

The rain game started as soon as we landed at Londa as it was raining intermittently, sometimes heavy, sometimes light, a game we loved being part of! Breakfast was awaiting us as also Parshuram and staff at the JLR camp. I entered the camp with a preset mind that my 100-400 zoom lens would be sparsely used and I lived up to it.

The 2 days we spent at the camp was all about tea, breakfast, bread toast, lunch, pakodas, salads, soup, dinner and desserts; chatting, sleeping, whaling away time while it kept raining intermittently. Frogs, bugs, beetles, insects, butterflies and few birds when the rains gave us a break.

Birdlife was very sparse as we had expected and my wish of seeing the singing maestro was finally fulfilled - the elusive Malabar Whistling Thrush. Its not a fair looking bird and many mistake it for the crow. It is also black with metallic blue wings and you should listen to its song to believe it. Every time my phone rings, the Malabar Whistling thrush comes alive :)

Bird checklist:
Malabar Whistling Thrush
Yellow browed Bulbul
White bellied Blue flycatcher
Puff throated Babbler
Emerald Dove
Orange headed Thrush
Blue capped Rock thrush
Shikra
Rufous bellied Woodpecker
Racquet tailed Drongo
Orange Minivets
Golden backed Woodpecker
Indian Robin
Brown cheeked Fulvetta
Malabar Grey Hornbill
Jungle Mynah

Indian Bull Frog
Bicolored Frog
Red Cotton Bug
Grasshoppers
Locust
White four ring Butterfly
and many unidentified ones!

While coming back we took a jeep ride till Dandeli where there was no signs of rain at all and we took the government bus till Dharwad where we had to pick up the mandatory 'Baburao Singhs Thakur Peda' :) The Volvo service to Bangalore starts from the new bus stand at Dharwad. To the dismay of us the bus stand is out of the city limits and looks very isolated place and with no hotels around, sad but true and we had to face this unkind situation! Well, another learning never to skip food when it's available hoping you will find something :)

Naturalists Information II - In Praise of Crows

2011-08-24T15:51:00.001+05:30

Do you know what do the House Crow that we complain as nuisance contributes to the environment upkeep?

Just read this fantastic post by Sumeet after which you may in fact start appreciating the crow for the job it does!

Birds of India: In Praise of Crows: Note: This is not a researched scholarly article based on accepted statistical measurement or scientific data. It examines possibilities and...

"It is an understatement to say that they are not much loved. The House Crow, or Corvus splendens is a bird almost everyone loves to hate. 'Splendens' is Latin translates to brilliant - a difficult adjective to use when talking about crows. That it is dark, big, and black is not enough – it is singularly noisy and also a source of urban defilement. It is, therefore, not a surprise that Corvus splendens is regarded as a public nuisance in many countries!"

"House Crows are omnivorous scavengers with a wide-ranging and opportunistic diet. They eat absolutely everything that is edible, and some that may not even be so. The crow feeds largely on refuse around human habitations, carrion, small reptiles, insects, small invertebrates, eggs, nestlings, plants, grain and fruits etc... If the studies on corvids are used as a guide, then the House Crow needs about 300g of food daily. Much of what the average House Crow eats is garbage or human waste – but not all."

"total of 34 million crows in the country"

"So total garbage cleared by crows is:

Urban crows [1,91,00,000 x 165g] = 3,150 tons/day = 11,50,000tons/year

Rural crows [1,50,00,000 x 110g] = 1,650 tons/day = 6,00,000tons/year"

"and the final contribution by House Crows can easily cross Rs 400crores (about US$ 90mn) annually – and this is citizen tax savings!"

Learn to appreciate the lesser beings around you! You never know what and how they contribute!

(Note: Images from the web)

Simha farms - Monsoons, Macros, Western Ghats

2011-08-08T00:30:00.002+05:30

So far, it has been a quite year for us with fewer adventures and more work and this seems to be continuing into the 2nd half of the year too... After the NTP, I should confess with pride I no longer venture into the field looking out for either birds or mammals only, its every life form that now enthuses me and everything looks interesting :)

With new work and new responsibilities, my Saturdays are a little jeopardized with a couple of hours work to be done and that reflects wherever I travel. Instantly we decided on visiting my friend Adithya's Simha farms for the weekend that is located at Madodi village at the foothills of Kodachadri very close to Hosanagara and Kollur. We needed a break and we were well aware, it would be raining and we were happy about it! (What else do lazy bums need...) Rains in the western ghats is different - it rains, it rains and it only rains. Just when you think the rains have stopped, it starts again, its not a heavy downpour but a slow steady drizzle for hours together and this is the story every day for couple of months when the monsoon is at its peak. Seeing the sun is uncommon and he may not be visible for a couple of days together and all that you get to see is dark clouds hovering above threatening to open up anytime... and with it comes lots of mosquitoes and mosquito bites!

The whole place turns green and you get to see a lot of shades of green all around, the amphibians, reptiles, bugs, beetles, insects are all out and its a macro world out there for the people interested. The little drops of water on the flowers, on the rich green leaves, the moths and caterpillars, centipedes and millipedes, bugs and beetles, frogs and toads, lizards and snakes, you just cant stop smiling. Shooting macros is not an easy job, you need to get wet, dirty and slushy and suffer zillions of insect bites to get close to the subject. Of the lot, frogs are the friendliest who do pose for you diligently, the bugs and beetles are the ones that make you run around, but are good posers once they are tired and realize you are still behind them! I'm still in the infancy of macro photography and now I have started venturing into manual focusing and different exposure combinations with my Tamron multipurpose lens.

(not sure whether it is the Common Green Forest Lizard?)

With the KSRTC Rajahamsa service running full, we had to choose the Durgamba travels to Madodi and we were bed bugged the whole night :( As we landed early in the day, the rains had just stopped and the fantastic weather was so rejuvenating for our tired limbs. Probably for the first time ever, my Canon camera was in the bag for more than a couple of hours since I landed there. My eyes were scanning all around for something interesting and a couple of hours passed by waiting for the rains to recede and in finishing my work. Stuffing ourselves with breakfast, lunch and snacks and with continuous rains and our continuous bouts of sleep, it was evening time before we even realized. Briefly for about an hour or so, the sun was out and all of a sudden the place was brimming with bird activity in a hurried manner. In a span of less time I sighted the Racquet tailed drongo, Malabar Grey hornbill, Velvet fronted Nuthatch, Small Minivets, Asian fairy Bluebird, Verdited flycatcher, Purple rumped Sunbird, Golden Oriole, Vernal hanging Parrot, Golden flameback Woodpecker and many more that I could only hear but not see that finally brought out my Canon zoom lens into action. The evenings were colder and the day ended with a bachelors party for Raja and with rains, rains and more rains! (Well Nag aka Nagaraj Gaitonde had a very long night and a night to remember for sure :)).

Day 2 started of with less rains and sun was more prominent than the day before and it sure was an interesting day for all of us. Snails, Centipedes, Caterpillars were all around the place and there were varied life forms all around. When it rains the Cicadas and the Crickets are the most noisiest around but hardly visible, got a single view shot of a Cicada luckily. The massive bull sized Indian Bull Frog was very co-operative and didn't move an inch letting us close by and a couple of other frogs too. The Cicada, mating Grasshoppers, the tiny yet beautiful Blue banded bee kept me occupied till the time we departed from the place. The session of badminton that we played made us realize where it hurts the most if you are playing after a long gap. The most interesting happening was the Cicada kill by the Praying Mantis and the after events.

(@ about 2:30PM)

After lunch, as were were gearing up for a team photo shoot, we were attracted by the shrills of a cicada close by but a little unusual and off sound. Closely inspecting the surroundings, finally we found the cicada firmly in the grasp of the spiked forelegs of the mantis on the bark of the nearby tree. The shrill from the cicada continued as the grasp of the mantis became stronger.

(@ about 2:45PM)

What amazed us all was the manner the mantis was holding on to its prey firmly standing upside down on the bark of a tree and the prey being heavier than itself. As the cicada was still moaning, the mantis was on its job chewing of its prey from the top and it was a sore sight for us observing all the action. The life in cicada was not out completely as it still tried to wriggle away even as the mantis kept on munching on its prey.

We could not get too close as the position of the mantis on the bark was not conducive but all of us sat observing the game of life and death through the binox and our naked eyes and somewhere in our hearts we felt sorrow for the cicada. Half an hour later, the boys went for a nap and I went around chasing the bees and the grasshoppers around.

(@ about 3:40 PM)

The action went on for more than an hour with the mantis enjoying the feast and the cicada now only half visible. I left the mantis to feed further on its pray without causing further disturbance to chase the insects and the bees. I could not find the mantis after an hour or so past 5PM nor could find the shell of the dead cicada. Amazing nature and amazed to see such instances live!

We bid goodbye to Adithya and proceeded towards Shimoga town from where our reservations on the KSRTC Mercedes Benz was confirmed to Bangalore. Somewhat, we were not happy with the Merc ride and felt the Volvo's are much better in comfort.

Personally for me, a good beginning into the macro world and I know for sure this will linger on for some time to come :)

You can contact Adithya Biloor @ www.simhafarms.com
and @
9449652173 / 9379535738 / 08185253738

Naturalists Information I

2011-08-01T00:34:00.001+05:30

Some Interesting information a keen Naturalist should be aware of...

We may have come across this, but never know how to differentiate them. Karthik, the all-rounder and highly knowledged person threw some light on this enlightening us people at the NTP camp held by him.

Let me see if I can add some pictorial representations to this so that it becomes all the more easier deciphering and dissolving these in to our minds.

Here, I'm highlighting differences between closely related species. Suggestions, Inputs and Knowledge sharing are welcome :)

1. Hares and Rabbits

Hares do not burrow, while Rabbits do
Newborn hares can immediately move around while newborn Rabbits cannot
Rabbits are not found in India.

2. Macaque and Langur

Macaque's stuff their food in cheek pouches while Langur's don't
Langur's are only leaf eating animals.

3. Centipedes and Millipedes

Centipedes are poisonous, non vegetarian and a little flat in appearance
Centipedes have 1 pair of legs per segment
Millipedes coil like a circle when threatened
Millipedes have 2 pairs of legs per segment.

4. Butterfly and Moth

Butterflies have antenna which is a little fat at the tip only
Moths have flat antenna or feathered antenna.

5. Deers and Antelopes

Deers have solid antlers and they are shed yearly.
Deers are found in forests.
Antelopes have horns that are connected to the skull and permanent.
Antelopes survive in open country / grasslands.

6. Toads and Frogs

Frogs are very slimy and wet to feel
Toads are dry creatures.

7. Bugs and Beetles

Bugs have piercing and sucking parts
Beetles have chewing and biting mouth parts. Beetles have 1 pair of wings modified as Elytra that forms a hard cove around it.

8. Pigeons and Doves

Pigeons have longer wings
Doves have short wings.

9. Parrots and Parakeets

Parrots do not have long tapering tails
Parakeets have long tapering tails.

10. Cheetahs and Leopards

Leopards have retracting claws
Leopards are bulkier, have no tear mark and have rosettes
Cheetahs do not have retracting claws
Cheetahs have a leaner body, spots and a tear mark.

11. Tortoises and Turtles

Tortoises are land living forms
Turtles are fresh water animals.

12. Dragonflies and Damselflies

Dragonflies can't retract their wings once open
Dragonflies are a little fat in appearance
Damselflies can move their wings back and forth
Damselflies are slim in appearance.

I hope to add more of these in the near future :)
The credits of this post goes to the NTP and Karthik, because since then, my eyes have opened to a new different world around me!

Mantralayam - A Piligrimage

2011-08-01T00:06:00.000+05:30

Pujyaya raghavendraya satyadharmarataya cha bhajatam kalpavrikshaya namatam kamadhenave

ಪುಜ್ಯಾಯ ರಾಘವೇಂದ್ರಾಯ ಸತ್ಯ ಧರ್ಮ ರತಾಯಚ ಭಜತಾಂ ಕಲ್ಪವ್ರಿಕ್ಷಾಯ ನಮತಾಂ ಕಾಮಧೇನವೇ

Well, a path breaking topic on this blog. Driving the 800+ kms in the Figo was an adventure in itself, my liking of the Figo has increased ten fold since. Parents, Chiks and Srinidhi accompanied me on this travel.

Being a staunch brahmin, Mantralayam is an important piligrimage centre for the Madhwa community (followers of saint Madhwacharya and Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy).

We did the Bangalore - Chippagiri - Mantralayam - Panchamukhi - Bichali - Chippagiri - Bangalore over 3 days. The ride on the NH 7 to say the least is just absolute fantasy drive till Guntakal, where the deviation needs to be taken. Being an orthodox family, parents do not consume outside food and are strict in their menu and I too avoid outside stuff on a piligrimage, so no much information on eateries on the way (and that's another reason for Chippagiri getting added to the itinerary both ways).

Route: Bangalore-Ananthpur-Guthi(278)-Guntakal(307)-Chippagiri(320)-Aalur(344)-Mantralayam(423).
Mantralayam-Madhavaram(432)-Gilisugur camp(437)-Panchamukhi(443).
Panchamukhi-Gilisugur camp(449)-Bichali cross(455.5)-Bichali(457)-Gilisugur camp(465)-Madhavaram(470)-Adoni(512)-Aalur(536)-Chippagiri(564)-Bangalore(866).

The route till Guthi is excellent and a real pleasure; from Guthi, its a sort of a bad and bruised, broken single lane highway and takes time to cover up till Aalur, from aalur till mantralayam, the roads are better.
Just heard a direct Volvo Airavat service is started from Bangalore to Mantralayam by KSRTC which is good news.

From Bangalore, our first stop was at Chippagiri, where Vijayadasara katte is located. This is not a brindavana of Vijaya dasaru, but this is the place where he performed pooja of lord Sri Gopala Krishna.

About Vijaya dasaru - Vijaya Dasa (Kannada: ವಿಜಯದಾಸ)(1682-1755) is one of the most renowed scholars and philosophers in Dwaita philosophy as well Dasa Sahitya. He is revered as the spiritual heir of Sri Purandara Dasa. Vijaya means win and he is regarded as the one who knows how to win the heart of Hari and Hari Bhaktas, through his compositions. He was born in Cheekalparvi, a small village in Manvi taluk in Raichur District, Karnataka.

Sri Gopala Dasaru, his chief disciple, constructed a temple for Anjaneya (Sri Mukhya Prana Devaru) in front of the 'Katte'. There is a pond close by called 'Vijaya Thirtha'. It is believed that during his third visit to Kashi, Sri Vijaya Dasaru brought Ganges and installed it in that pond, for the benefit of his disciples.

More links about Vijaya dasaru here -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijaya_Dasa
http://www.dvaita.org/haridasa/dasas/vijaya.html

You can contact Sri Jaganatha Dasa at 9701894189 at Chippagiri.

Mantralaya - Mantralayam is the abode of Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy (1595-1671), a 16th century hindu saint who advocated Vaishnavism and Sri Madhwacharya's Dwaita philosophy. He ascended Brindavanam at Mantralayam in present Andhra Pradesh in 1671.

I'm not getting into the details of the Guru Sarvabowma, as there is a whole lot of info on the net which links I have given below.
http://www.gururaghavendra.org/
http://www.dvaita.org/scholars/raghavendra/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raghavendra_Swami

Being a staunch believer in him, this visit of mine was long pending and I was more than happy being there :) It's a special feeling and peace of mind engulfs you that you just cant describe. The evenings are literally colorful with the 'Rathotsavam' or the procession of the Utsava moorthy taken out on the 3 chariots of the mutt - the wooden, silver and the golden chariots.

Every thursday the procession is carried on the temple elephant around the brindavanam. Its a splurge of people anytime of the year you visit here and participating in these rituals is itself something special.
After this, its the time of Pravachana (disclosures) and "Uyyalle seva" (credil/swing), where the Utsava moorthy is placed on an silver credil/swing and pushed to and froth with hymns and devotional songs being sung. Its a way of putting the lord to sleep by chanting hymns and devotional songs.

For 2 days, we had a dip in the Tunga river that was quiet (remembering the 2009 floods sends a shiver down the spine and few parts of the temple still bear testimony to that) and calm, multiple darshans of the Guru Sarvabowma and spending as much time in the temple premises offering our seva and prayers.

Also an visit to the "Sri Sushameendra Teertha" brindavanam is a must that is close to the main brindavanam. For people who are unaware, Sri Sushameendraru was the Peetadipathi (head Swamiji) of the mutt for more than 20 years and entered brindavanam just a couple of years back. The charm and prosperity in his face can't be forgotten for those who have been blessed by him. Also interesting fact is that Sri Sushameendraru took over Sanyasa from his predecessor at Bichali.

From here, our next stop was at Panchamukhi temple. Here Panchamukhi Pranadevaru (Pancha=5, Mukhi=faces, Pranadevaru=Lord Hanuman), as the name suggests is in the form that has 5 heads. The five heads are amalgamations of Lord Varaha, Garuda, Anjaneya, Narasimha and Hayagreeva. It is said the Guru Sri Raghavendra swamy did penace here for 12 years in a cave and lord Hanuman gave him darshan in the form of 5 avatars. Also interesting are the natural rock formations around the temple in the form of an aerial vehicle and an bed and a pillow. A must visit place for those visiting Mantralayam.

From here, we proceeded to Bichali (or Bikshalaya or Bichale) village on the banks of Tunga river, which is the place of Sri Appannachari (the staunch devotee of Guru Sarvabowma) and also where is a brindavanam of Guru Sri Raghavendra Swamy. Its a place where Rayaru stayed at his disciple Sri Appannachari's house and gave his disciple a chance to serve him. Interesting history of Sri Appannachari can be read here.

The house of Sri Appannachari is still preserved even today and many of the things that were used during that time are still visible as its been preserved by the family of the Sri Appannachari who look after the place even today. This place is on the banks of Tunga river, where Tunga is in full flow and was completely submerged in floods a couple of years back. Reaching this place is difficult as you need to have your own transport or depend on the autorickshaw's that ply and the ride is very bumpy! Still worth a place of historical importance not to miss when visiting Mantralayam.

Brief history and importance of Bichale as narrated by the priest himself-
Bichale village has the house of Sri Appannachari, one among the immense devotee of Rayaru (composer of Raghavendra stotra). Inside the house there are idols of Krishna, Mukyaprana and Shesha devaru of that time. It is also a place where Rayaru lived with Sri Appannachari and took his service. Near the house there is a temple which has in it an Arali tree, and Narasimha devaru installed by Sri Sripadarajaru (the tree was washed away in a flood however). It also has two idols of Mukyaprana installed by Sri Vyasarajaru and Rayaru respectively. The main attraction of the place is the Ekashila brindavanam of Rayaru. The story says that as soon as Sri Appanachari learnt that Rayaru was entering brindavanam, overcome by bhakthi to his guru, he started feeling desperate, isolated and was unable to imagine a life without his respectable and beloved guru. He started chanting out a shloka spontaneously in the praise of his guru. The shloka was so powerful that the full flowing Tunga river gave him way through which he ran to Mantralayam to see his guruvarya. By the time he reached, the brindavana pravesha was over and the shloka he was spelling out was about to see its end. He stopped the shloka seeing the brindavanam of his guru and his eyes filled up and he was aghast with grief. A voice came out from inside the brindavanam – “sakshi hayastotra he” (it means that the proof for everything said in the shloka is lord hayagreeva himself). It was the voice of Rayaru completing the sloka composed by Sri Appannachari. Rayaru blessed his loving devotee and asked him to wait for him in his own village. Sri Appanachari thought he was blessed and accordingly is the brindavanam of Rayaru at Bichale.

Either to reach Panchamukhi or Bichale from Mantralayam, one has to cross the temporary bridge that is constructed over the river Tunga, after Madhavaram village. This bridge gets washed away every time river Tunga floods and the route is cut off completely. Such is the apathy of constructing makeshift bridges, this particular bridge has been washed away numerous times :(. At last, when we were passing by, we could see a new bridge being constructed at a good elevation, hopefully it remains good and bears the fury of river Tunga with calmness and survives.

After this, we proceeded straight to Chippagiri via Madhavaram, Adoni and Aalur and from there to Bangalore by 9pm.

"Nambi kettavarillavo Gurugala, nambade keduvudunto"
"ನಂಬಿ ಕೆಟ್ಟವರಿಲ್ಲವೋ ಗುರುಗಳ, ನಂಬದೆ ಕೆಡುವುದುನ್ತೋ"
(those who have believed in Rayaru has never been let down, and those who do not may go wrong)

Naturalists Training Program (NTP) - I

2011-07-10T23:43:00.004+05:30

Finally, I attended the much sought after Naturalist Training Program conducted by Karthik @ the Jungle Lodges & Resorts campsite at Bannerghatta National Park, Bangalore recently.

Any person interested in being a naturalist or rather anyone interested in nature and its secrets need to attend this workshop conducted by Karthik. It's conducted couple of times a year and the list of people wanting to do it is ever growing and the no of participants is limited to 16 odd per workshop.

Who is a Naturalist?
A person who studies natural history is a Naturalist. Someone who studies nature in totality, not limited to a specific species.

The Program
JLR has started this unique program way back in 2005 to involve people, to create awareness, basics of birdwatching, all about flora, fauna and the hidden secrets of nature. This workshop is conducted by S Karthikeyan, Chief Naturalist at JLR who knows in and out of the subject who worked with WWF for 17 years prior to this.

Venue
Bannerghatta Nature Camp, run by JLR inside the herbivore park. There is a dormitory, tents and cottages for day visits and overnight stay.

The 3 day program had sessions and topics on role of a Naturalist, Biodiversity in India, Introduction to birds and birdwatching, bird behaviour, nature trails, plant-animal interactions, Urban wildlife along with nature trails in the morning and evening for that 'field experience'.
In the evenings, the David Attenborough's 'The Life of Birds' was played over the 2 days. Also we met Sandeep, Sumanth and Krishna murthy - people who were part of the earlier workshops and who are into conservation and wildlife awareness activities.

Personal Experience
I first got into photography and then into birdwatching and learnt it absolutely the wrong way. I never used to observe them 'keenly' (i never knew what i missed till now), see, click, move. I used to refer my clicks for identifying birds using the Salim Ali's book as reference. In sense, I was more of a photographic birder till this workshop happened.
All of the participants were asked to choose a name of a bird / animal starting with the first letter of their names and we were called by the same names over the next 2 days. On the nature walks with Karthik, we would cover about 1/2 or a km in distance in probably 2-3 hours looking out for each and every interesting thing in the surroundings - that may be flies, butterflies, plants, shrubs, trees, flowers, fruits, birds, reptiles, mammals etc etc... When the group spotted a bird, everyone were asked to sketch it on their pads highlighting the important features like the beak colour, rumps, patterns, size, wing patterns etc. Then all were asked to identify the bird from the book based on these features.

Bird behavior was another important activity we did - that is observing them! I was tempted to shoot whenever i saw a bird on the first day, but subsequently I used my binoculars more and less of my camera which was another revelation for me, I learnt the joy in observing the nature around me (compared to always being worried about not getting a good shot and opportunity)! A simple question from Karthik made us realize this - Does a Myna hop or walk?

Overall it was a wonderful learning experience for me, learning to appreciate all forms of life and everything in our surroundings. I got to know some real good interesting people and there were these discussions, exchange of ideas and learning togetherness among us. Mr Karunakar was the oldest member in the group at a grand old age of 74 and Mr Bharadwaj was the youngest who has just completed his PU course.

List of birds that we sketched, discussed and identified-
1.Common Kingfisher
2.Pied Kingfisher
3.White breasted Kingfisher
4.Red Whiskered Bulbul
5.Red Vented Bulbul
6.White cheeked Barbet
7.Coppersmith Barbet
8.Jungle Myna
9.Jungle Crow
10.Indian Robin
11.Oriental White Eye
12.Small Minivet
13.Magpie Robin
14.Red rumped Swallow
15.Tickells blue flycatcher
16.Asian Paradise flycatcher
17.Common Hoopoe
18.Common Iora
19.White rumped Munia
20.White Bellied Drongo
21.Racquet tailed Drongo
22.Drongo
23.Golden fronted Leafbird
24.Bay backed Shrike
25.Little Cormorant
26.Grey Heron
27.Red wattled Lapwing
28.Black Shouldered Kite
29.Oriental Honey Buzzard
30.Black Kite
31.Brahminy Kite
32.Indian Silverbill
33.Golden Flameback Woodpecker
34.Green Bea eater

Indian Gaur
Rock Agama
Sambar Deer
Barking Deer
Spotted Deer
Blackbuck Antelope
Four horned Antelope
Marsh Crocodile

Well, I will not end this learning with this single post, I have plans for couple of posts for some interesting things that I picked up, it time and patience permits.

Few interesting things that I learnt:
1. What makes a bird a bird? - Flight (wings, feathers, modified bones), Beak and Warm blood.

2. Fig trees are the Keystone species

3. Interesting features of Touch me Not plant

4. The small worms you find in books are Silverfish ( they feed on cellulose - books)

5. The delicate, intricate 'Web of Life'*

6. Biodiversity of India and Species distribution

7. The case of missing Sparrows (still remains unresolved)

8. The rise of the Rock Pigeons and Black Kites

9. 'Gubbi Goodu'

10. Body care behaviors, Feeding strategies, Social displays of birds

11. Types of Forests

12. Differences between few similar species (Ex:difference b/w a Pigeons-Doves, Hares-Rabbits etc..)

13. E.H. Aitken, David Attenborough, Salim Ali and others

14. Truth About Tigers

15. Sketching a bird in your book is very simple (but I'm very bad at it :))

16. Butterflies

Thanks to Karthik, JLR and the other members, I'm looking forward for the Level 2 program :)

Bekal fort - Kasargod

2011-06-21T02:37:00.000+05:30

Well, it was a quick fire visit to the ancient Bekal fort in Kasargod, Kerala merely 50kms away from the port town of Mangalore. Bekal fort is the largest and best preserved fort in Kerala currently in the hands of the ASI.
Bekal fort was constructed during the period of Shivappa Nayaka and it later fell into the hands of the Mysore Maharajas and subsequently the British Raj. History says, Bekal was a fort used for the military and defense purposes and it became an important trade route during the Mysore and then the British empire.

How to reach: Nearest towns are Kanhagad (8kms) and Kasargod (18kms). Kasargod is connected to all major ciities by road and through the Konkan railway. Volvo's and Rajahamsa services are operated by KSRTC from Bangalore daily.

As this was planned last minute, we got the last 2 seats in a Volvo bus to Kasargod from Bangalore. It was a roller coaster ride and with every bump you get a feeling of floating in air (just as you feel if you are sitting in the giant wheel). Hopefully we don't end up in the last seats of an Volvo again. It was quite surprising for me to digest the fact that Volvo covered 260 kms to Sakleshpur in flat 4 hours and we never realized it!

Next, I was back in my senses only when we were in the Kasargod town at around 6am. Looking for an accommodation, we roamed around the streets near to the bus stand only to realize the town was sleepy and would be awake after 8am. Found a decent accommodation at State Lodge located in the MG road that has a history of 60 years. It was raining all through and a small nap for a couple of hours and later we were ready to go.

Finishing our work near Bekal, we moved further towards Bekal fort with the weather being cloudy and sunny. The massive fort is now under the watchful care of the ASI and they are doing a good job in maintaining the premises in spite of the huge crowds that converge here during the weekends.

We spent close to 3 hours here roaming around the huge complex, photographing, watching the waves hit the shore and we got drenched too in the salt waters of the Arabian sea. A lone White bellied Sea Eagle kept us occupied for close to half an hour with its antics hovering around the shore and the sea.

We had lunch at the Kia-Ora restaurant at the Nirvana resort located just outside the fort, the food was great but a tad expensive on the pockets, nevertheless it's expected at a tourist location. From here back to Kasargod town and a little rest later, we were on the streets of the town roaming around each and every street.

Every street here is filled with shops of electronics, dresses, automobile parts, gadgets and imported stuff. The roads are all lit up with bright lights and designer lamps. Past 8pm, half the town was shut down for the day as we had some light dinner stuff and headed towards the bus stop where the Airavat was waiting for us.

A short trip but nevertheless very exciting and entertaining for me and Raja.

Bekal fort videos

2011-06-16T23:24:00.000+05:30

Few videos taken at the Bekal fort. The Bekal fort overlooks the Arabian sea and is spread around 40 acres. The setting sun, long beaches, splashing waves are the highlights here. On a clear day, the sun setting against the Arabian sea is a sight worth to be enjoyed...

the video tour begins...

the Arabian sea from the Bekal fort...

Waves at Bekal

Bekal fort wave shower

Something from Bandipura

2011-05-22T23:34:00.001+05:30

Some images from Bandipur National Park

Meet the monitor...

Sambar stag deer - nice that we saw more numbers than any of our previous visits

Jungle fowl - Yet to get a decent capture of this, well i've missed 'n' number of chances!

Well, the story of the tiger we saw but still didn't see!

As our hired jeep approached a narrow road in the jungles of the Bandipur National Park, with the surroundings in absolute silence, and no soul nor sound on the track, we had to stop to allow the approaching jeep to pass by. The drivers exchanged pleasantries and with the passage of information posing the question "Aakade enu illa, eekade? (no sighting in that part, what about this side?). A minute passed by and the other jeep passed over to scan the other areas of the jungle. As we had to ascend an elevation, the jeep started moving slowly and in a moment of shattering silence, the driver excitedly screamed - sir, tiger nodi tiger! (thoughts of our good luck and a hope for a nice pose enveloped my mind as my eyes struggled to locate the huge stripes ahead of us, but just could not figure out where it was!) After moments of disdain, finally my eyes landed on that majestic beast hurriedly darting away into the bushes ahead of us with me getting to see the tiger from the stomach to the hind legs as it entered the bushes to the right of us (still no sounds and complete eerie silence in the jungle, i'm still surprised). But the tiger (not sure of the gender) was an hulk and majestic and it was all that we were entitled too in the safari ride. The next 90 minutes of ours went from excitement to disappointment as we tried to track where the tiger could have gone, rounded up the entire area couple of times, but as it turned out to be, we had nothing to cheer for!

Its been an year since our last sighting and this one was more like a trailer show for us, hope we are due for a full movie soon and I personally hope its 'very soon' :)

Maidenahalli pictures

2011-05-22T19:53:00.000+05:30

Some pictures from the Maidenahalli visit.

It was an unplanned visit and I managed to sneak out early in the morning to Maidenahalli while my brother was getting married at D'durga. Great escape!

Roughly 60 odd kilometres from Devarayanadurga and the road conditions are getting worse. The good roads have got lot of scars on their face (potholes) and with the rains looming large, it ain't getting better :( unless like the silver lining, the PWD wakes up and fixes the road, expecting too much, am I ?

Nothing much to write here, just a few moments to share, well we saw a good number of the blackbucks and lot of sub-adults which is a positive sign, hares here and there and a couple of raptors buzzing around.

I'm still waiting for the opportunity to spend a day here and hoping an encounter with the foxes, jackals and the wolf!

The males are beautiful in appearance either in light brown or dark tan appearance and with those lovely knotted horns.

Kudremukha peak trek

2011-04-27T15:40:00.001+05:30

One of the most arduous treks that we have undertaken so far, the reasons being ill health, fatigue and the hot sun.

Well, thanks to Anil S (http://anilsuhas.fotopic.net) who gave me the contact of Sateesh of Mullodi village located near Kalasa at the base of the Kuduremukha peak (1892m). The name Kuduremukha (as it is known by the natives) literally means 'horse-face' (in the local language Kannada) and refers to a particular picturesque view of a side of the mountain that resembles the same. It was also referred to as 'Samseparvata', historically since it was approached from Samse village.

This time the Figo was rested and my Alto was at the helm and me being in my favorite position handling the steering. Not gauging the travelling distance properly was one of my many blunders in the trip undermining the distance by a good 100 kms! which in turn increased our travel time considerably. Probably after a long time, all four of us - Me, Raja, Guru and Nag were together in a trek (the last full fledged trek was more than a year ago... claustrophobic!). I was suffering from a throat infection and severe cough and that worsened all the more and the boys had landed straight from office (anyone said fatigue...yes!).

We traveled through Bangalore-Tumkur-Arsikere-Kadur-Chikmagalur-Aldur-Balehonnur-Kalasa-Baalegal-Mullodi that is the starting point of the trek. From Mullodi you need to park your vehicle and hire a jeep (or walk a distance of 7-8kms uphill) to reach Sateesh's house. All trekkers to Kuduremukh peak stay here and Sateesh arranges for the permission from the forest department and arranges for the guide as well. You can opt to stay for a night at his house. Being there, you are completely cut off from the rest of the world and all that you listen is to the sounds of nature in its pure form.

We freshened up and were ready to leave by 10am for one of our most awaited treks, finally inspite of many hiccups. As it was hot, we were all in shorts and t-shirts with caps to protect from the heat. The initial couple of hours is more or less of a flat terrain, a little uphill, a little downhill, walk along the ridges with the valley view on one side and crossing multiple streams on our way passing the Onti mara (its a single tree present on the edge of a cliff and so the name). After passing through ridges, streams, open fields we reached the Lobo mane at a slow pace, the real trek starts here with the path becoming narrow and uphill till the end... We progressed slowly and steadily huffing puffing and taking multiple breaks to rest as we moved on.

In between the ascent and probably for the first time ever, I felt as though I would not be able to go further up with the cough, cold, heat reducing my speed and diminishing my energy to sub zero levels. I asked the boys to keep moving as I took a long break (Nag stopped with me) and I was feeling horribly out of sorts sitting there somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Despair set in as Kuduremukha peak was on my hit list and I was sitting feeling all cramped up unable to climb up and relenting to go back without conquering the peak. "Kasta bandaaga Venkataramana" is a famous saying in Kannada (that means you pray to God when in difficult times) and that's what I did. A silent prayer, a deep breath and I started to move on telling myself all the time (You have to do it, you have to do it for your boys, you can do it!)

The boys were of great help and support egging me to move on (as they have always been) and special mention to Nag (nagaraj gaitonde) who has got tremendous stamina and energy who earned the tiles of "Karavali kanteerava", "Aapatbandhava" and many others from us :). At this point I was feeling much better and finally finally with a slow and steady pace ascending and descending numerous smaller peaks, we reached the summit. Ahoy! finally the moment had arrived and we were thrilled to bits on this special achievement. The sun was boiling on our heads and we spent some time atop the peak and came down near to the water source where we had put up the bags and food. After the meals, energizers and a long break, we were ready to descend!

Another wrong thought of us was that the descent would be faster and easier than the ascent that we realized very soon! We covered the steep descent in good pace and after some rest moved on to complete the remaining. We walked, walked, walked and slowly it started to seem a never ending walk back home. Added to this I had a bad bout of cough that further drained my energy levels and delayed our descent further. The walk back was a very long one that we will remember for a very long time to come. Finally after the sun had set down and darkness set in, we reached Sateesh's house and after a cup of soup and hot dinner later, we hit the sacks and we were lost soaking in the success of conquering the peak and resting our tired limbs.

Next day, we came down hiring the same jeep and after a heavy breakfast we proceeded towards home. We took the route through Kalasa-Chikmagalur-Belur-Hassan-Bangalore. Back home after an eventful, tiring, adventure filled trek that also made us realize the toughness since it was almost a year after our previous trek.

Contact - Mr Sateesh - 9481074530 / 08263249595.

Maddur - Ramanagara birding

2011-03-17T12:44:00.001+05:30

Maddur – Ramanagara

With a family function scheduled at the Holekere Narasimhaswamy temple near Maddur, it was an opportunity for some birding around the region. The temple complex also houses a temple for Lord Srinivasa and it’s located next to the stream (that is a tributary of river Cauvery).

Off the busy chaotic Mysore Bangalore highway, this place is real secluded and a haven for birding as me and raja realized. Well, I was not in the best time of the day but still had some good birding opportunities around.

The stream hosted a flock of Open billed Storks, Purple Moorhen, Herons, Cormorants and the White breasted Kingfisher with abundance of food available to them and little human disturbance.

Back near the temple, there is a peepal tree that hosted plentiful of birds to watch for. Chestnut tailed Starling and the Coppersmith Barbets were the highlights of this place. All credit to Raja who was tracking the activities of the Coppersmith for long and made me aware of the same, else I would have never followed it :) Kudos mate!

Well after the event here, we drove towards Ramanagara where we got to a pair of juvenile Eurasian Eagle Owls and a distant sight of the highly endangered Long Billed Vulture with its juvenile.

A very short family function at a distant location spiced up with some mean personal intentions thrown in between :)

List of sightings:

Grey Hornbill

Chestnut tailed Starling

Open billed Stork

White breasted Kingfisher

Purple Moorhen

Little Cormorants

Oriental White eye

White cheeked Barbet

Coppersmith Barbet

Drongo

Purple rumped Sunbird

Small Sunbird

Red Whiskered Bulbul

Orange Minivets

Long Billed Vulture

Eurasian Eagle Owl

Jungle Mynah

Ganeshgudi birding trip II

2011-02-25T17:10:00.000+05:30

Ganeshgudi Birding II

How to reach – This time we tried out the rail network to reach Ganeshgudi.

From Bangalore to Londa junction (reaches around 6am), trains ply regularly. From Londa either wait for the direct bus service to Ganeshgudi or travel to Ramanagara (10rs on a shared auto) and from there to Ganeshgudi (more bus facilities available).

We did the return journey also in the same fashion reaching Londa and then hopping on a train to Bangalore.

Overall a good option but slightly uncomfortable if you have heavy backpacks and if you want to travel around Ganeshgudi. Well, all transport options do have their pros and cons right? J

The winter had set in, the rains had stopped and the weather was good but 1 thing that plagued us was light… as the sun would come out only past 6:30am and the Old magazine camp having a thick cover of green, it was all the more challenging for photography.

I’m still hunting for the elusive Malabar Whistling thrush that entertains me with its song everytime but never dares to come out in the open! The Great Indian Hornbills are still a distant dream and I’m waiting for my opportunity to sight those endangered birds. The Emerald dove and the Malabar Trogan finally gave up their resistance and presented themselves in front of me their glorious colors and literally put me on a wild hunt to spot them. (It so happened that the Emerald dove eluded me whenever I chased it, but surprised me when I was patiently and silently was waiting for it but preoccupied in other work…!)

Except for the dim light, I had gala of a time birding in and around the JLR Old magazine house campus for 2 days with the help of Joma uncle and Vinay. I should appreciate the staff of JLR camp who help us in all matters and are expert birders, Joma uncle has years of experience and Vinay has got sharp ears and wonderful eyesight. Kudos to the JLR staff and hope they remain the same.

At Ganeshgudi, 6am sharp, I’m up, pick up my camera, come out and seat myself in one of the chairs and the next 15 minutes, sit, acclimatize and listen, listen listen… At this time, the light is very poor and not suitable for photography and I don’t intend to shoot also at this early time. Just sit back and enjoy the early morning songs of the birds around especially the long tunes of the Malabar Whistling thrush. The next 1 hour passes by with the light conditions improving and with my buddies up by this time, we walk around observing the birds going about their daily chores. In this camp water pots are kept at strategic locations that attract a lot of bird that come to drink, bathe and play in the water. It’s a visual treat to watch multiples of them sharing the same tub and also waiting for their turns to the tub. I have had the opportunity to click many birds in and around these tubs be it summer, winter or rainy seasons.

We enjoyed the couple of days with a session of rafting and birding for the rest of the time. The Great Hornbills did not show up as expected and the Malabar Whistling thrush was as elusive and reluctant to come out for us.

We will be back here sometime and hope to catch them all soon :)

Our sightings:

Brown cheeked Fulvetta

Asian brown flycatcher

White bellied blue flycatcher

Blue napped monarch flycatcher

Asian paradise flycatcher

Verditter flycatcher

Red whishkered Bulbul

Ruby throated Bulbul

Yellow browed Bulbul

Jungle Babble

Dark fronted Babbler

Scimitair Babbler

Malabar Whistling thrush

Malabar Trogan

Malabar Pied Hornbill

Indian Grey Hornbill

Emerald Dove

Blue capped Rock thrush

Orange headed thrush

Oriental white eye

Jungle Mynah

Shikra

Purple rumped sunbird

Crimson backed sunbird

Orange Minivet

Eurasian Golden Oriole

Malabar Parakeet

Blue tailed Parakeet

Vernal hanging Parrot

White cheeked Barbet

Coppersmith Barbet

Rosy starling

Heart spotted Woodpecker

Lesser backed Golden Woodpecker

Scaly breaster Munia