Nov 24, 2008

Valley School Birding, Bengaluru

The Birding bug has recently bitten me and its bitten me all over, which in turn has affected Raja too as I have passed on the bites to him too. Our limitation till recent was a good camera, my previous darling was my Canon A530 which was very insufficiently insufficient for birding and also the interest and patience levels were less.
Somehow coaxed Raja into buying the Panasonic DMC FZ28 prosumer camera which more or less lies with me only because of the leniance I have taken into Raja's statement " I took this camera for you only ". So armed with a new camera and an empty weekend!! - Impossible, so we decided to go on our first birding trip to Valley school. No directions were available anywhere except the fact that its on the Kanakapura road.
Sunday 12th morning was decided for the birding.We reached the turning around 8.30 am from where the school campus is about 1.5kms. All along the way you can do birding, advised from within the cars as approaching the birds from the roadside is undisturbing. Frankly me and raja hardly could identify any birds which we saw as this was the first time wer were out birding, but still it was very exciting watching the winged fairies floating around and keeping themselves so occupied. Once near the campus, you can even venture inside after entering at the security gate and walk until you feel to turn back. The campus is a pleasant surprise with greenery all around and lucky are the children here amidst such valuable, pristine natural surroundings - Hope they realize and preserve it! At the smaller lake inside, the most common bird visible was the Little Cormorant. Also we spent large amount of time chasing and shooting wonderful, lovely, colorful butterflies which are there everywhere. Some of the birds which I learnt to identify (thanks to many INW'ians) are:
  • Laughing Dove
  • Red Whiskered Bulbul
  • Juvenile Red Whiskered Bulbul
  • White Cheeked Barbet
  • Jungle Prinia
  • Red Wattled Lapwing
  • Blue bird (unidentified as the picture is blurred; should be Tickell's Blue)
  • Little Cormorant
  • Pied Bush Chat male
  • Dragonfly varieties
  • Tiger Butterfly and others
Directions: First reach the Kanakapura road either from Mysuru road / Hosur road / Magadi road using the NICE road, else drive straight through Banashankari temple and bus stand. After Talaghattapura and after the NICE junction, around 100 mtrs ahead, on the right hand side you can spot a yellow direction board indicating valley school 1.5 kms ahead. Birding starts right after turning here. Road condition not so good but in a sense good for birding! Other photos can be seen here!





A few more sessions out there birding has improved knowledge on identifying birds... Valley school so far has always been a treat....
Some of the images as below....

  • Blue faced Malkoha
  • Indian Pitta
  • Indian Hornbill
  • Tickell's Blue
and many more.... the Malkoha, Pitta and the Hornbill sightings were lifers for amateurs like me and Raja and we hope our luck continues...


Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!

2 comments:

  1. Pied Bush Chat male is cuTe...HeheHe...;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. did you manage to find this pitta inside the school campus or outside

    ReplyDelete

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