More frames from Ganeshgudi

Well, you have witnessed plenty of posts on Ganeshgudi (The Old Magazine House camp of Jungle Lodges and Resorts near Dandeli) here and continuing them adding more frames from my last visit in November 2012. I and Krishna drove down while Amit, his wife and friend reached there from Karwar.

Rain played spoilsport, but still we had a pretty good time at the camp and witness to some amazing moments giving an insight into the world of avians.

Earlier posts on Ganeshgudi here...

Enjoy the frames and will be waiting to hear from you :)

(the flagship species of Dandeli)

(A shot in the near darkness, no flash used and I don't advocate using them on birds too...)

(One of the smallest woodpeckers in India, a prized catch...)

(Supersonic flyers... very pretty Doves)

Birding places around Bangalore

There are many birding spots in and around Bangalore (Bengaluru) which is worth a visit for the birdie lovers.

1. Lalbagh botanical gardens: Right in the heart of the city is the Lalbagh, which provides garden and wetland habitats. Experience: Avoid weekends and holidays and choose secluded areas away from the crowd. Plenty of bird life if you have a keen eye and lots of butterflies too and also look out for the majestic trees.

2. Madivala lake: Located near BTM layout on the peripherals (this lake has now reduced drastically in size owing to urbanization all over) is another option. Experience: A promising place with diversity of bird life but the lake gets suffocated fast!

3. Hebbal lake: Just beside the Hebbal flyover is the Hebbal lake, a nice birding place. Experience: A hotspot for Pelicans, Painted storks and other waterfowl.

4. Valley School Road: Lots of places on the Kanakapura road. One of the hot spots is the valley School road. On the Bangalore-kanakapura road, Valley School road is around 15kms from Bangalore, you need to turn right after the NICE flyover coming from Bangalore. Experience: Has become our favorite jaunt for bird watching, already have been here countless number of times, lovely place, wonderful ambiance. Do not venture alone deeper else you would get lost.

5. Manchinbele: Around 30 kms from Bangalore, just before the Tippagondanahall reservoir, on the Bangalore-Magadi main road, take the left turn at the signpost towards Manchinbele dam and subsequently Mysore road. There’s lots of greenery surrounding the hills in every direction serving as a good birding spot. Experience: Lovely place and good for a morning birding session. Access is restricted, beware.

6. Tippagondanahalli (T.G.halli): 35 Kms east of Bangalore, on the Bangalore-Magadi road, you will find T.G.Halli. Experience: Wonderful, lovely, saw many bird species out here but missed the many raptors. If monsoon fails, water levels do down drastically revealing secluded places.

7. Savandurga State Forest: Savandurga is around 60 kms from Bangalore towards the town of Magadi. Manchinbele, T.G.Halli and Savandurga are all in the same locality and can be covered in a day. Experience: Yet to go birding here...

8. Nandi hills: 50kms away from Bangalore on the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway. Experience: Visit here regularly and you wont miss being in the Western Ghats. The sightings every year outdoes the previous years, multiple visits and patience will yield and enviable list from here.

9. Devarayana Durga State Forest (DDSF): Located around 60Kms from Bangalore on the Tumkur highway, this place is quite famous for the Yellow-throated Bulbul. Another must visit place for Birders and nature lovers. Experience: Have made religious trips here, none of birding till now.

10. Bannerghatta National Park: Scrub and forest habitat especially if staying in the Jungle Lodges inside the forest area. Experience: The alley of flycatchers never disappoints. Any time, any weather you still come back with a decent list.

11. Kokkarebellur: Popular for the pelicans (strictly during the "seasons" only, otherwise its a normal village. Its 80kms southwest of Bangalore near Maddur on the way to Mysore. Experience: Had been here twice, once off season and once just the start; 2nd time around saw mostly pelicans in huge numbers and black ibis for the first time.

12. Shivanahalli: A must visit place located on the periphery of the Bannerghatta National Park. The resident swamiji at the Ramakrishna Mission encourages people to visit and offers guides and food. Experience: Seen a lot of bird life on the couple of walks done here, must go regularly.

13. Gulakamale lake: Not only the lake, a little walk around and you will be amazed with the diversity that you will see. A wonderful place a little away from the city. Experience: Mixed bag, seen a lot of raptors and land birds too. Overall, excellent.


Pack your cameras and Happy Birding!


Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!

Hesaraghatta Grassland - Some PostcardsI

Hesaraghatta grasslands in Bangalore are always a treat during the winter months specifically as its famous for the visiting raptors from all across the world and from the north too. Kestrels, Harriers, Falcons, Chats, Pipits, Larks and it also supports a whole variety of resident species too.

Presenting some of my takes from the wonderful place.

Unfortunately, the lone surviving grassland in the near vicinity of bangalore is in threat of losing its identity and birds as the government has other ideas for its beautification and promoting it as a tourist spot.

I would request you to lend your support against this by signing this petition here -

http://www.change.org/petitions/principal-secretary-ms-building-ambedkar-vidhi-bangalore-stop-the-development-of-a-theme-park-on-the-grassland-near-hesaraghatta#

Thattekad birds II

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

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... :)

Ganeshgudi JLR camp - Team outing

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 :)

Birding @ Kokkarebellur, Ranganthittu and Kukkarahalli kere

After the fortnight of festivals and absoutely no plans for Nov 1 (Karnataka Rajyotsava day), we finally decided to go birding again. Initial plan was for 2 days, but later had to limit it to a day because of some emergencies. Guru was unwell and as it was a last minute plan, myself and Raja decided to go ahead with the plan planned at 11 pm the previous night. We intended to cover Valley School - Kokkare bellur - Ranganthittu - Kukkarahalli kere and Karanji lake and return back to bangalore by evening. 


Nov 1 2008: Chilly Saturday morning, left our homes by 5.30 am, reached Valley school area quite early. Valley School area: This has become our favorite jaunt mainly because its just in the neighborhood and nobody to disturb. This time we proceeded straight into the campus to the lake for some good birding. Rue our lethargy, the entire series of photos taken here have vanished without a trace and I hardly remember all the species which I saw.. Some which I can recollect are:

• Little Cormorant (the most common water bird we have seen)
• Small blue King
• Pond Heron
• Indian Silverbills
• Pied Wagtail couple
• Red Whiskered Bulbul
• Jungle Prinia
• Tiger butterfly & many others
• A giant spidey with its huge web...

and many more... We spent a good 2 hours here birding, the best part is you never realize how the time moves so quickly when birding. After satisfying our urge for birding here, we had to move quickly to cover the remaining places for the day; we took the route via Kanakapura to our next place - Kokkare bellur. Well the idea was not so bad as feared because 60% of the roads were good but we had to drive around 20 kms more to reach Kokkare bellur. Enroute to Kokkare bellur we saw a small pond where again we had quite a few sightings which included:

Black kite relaxing under the shade

• Black Ibis pair
• Grey Herons
• Spot Billed Ducks

@ Kokkare bellur:

Pelican flight @ Kokkarebellur

• Spot billed Pelicans
• Black Kite
• Black Ibis

and few more, again these series of photos have vanished. On the way to Kokkare bellur, we spotted a black kite peacefully resting under the shades of a tree. We stopped below him and he gave us some nice shots and inquisite looks. We managed to reach Kokkare bellur by 11 am. Here you can just park your vehicle anywhere and go birding, you will find lots of birdies atop many trees and if lucky on the roads too. We could spot mainly the Pelicans and a few Black Ibis only (the remaining visitors were yet to arrive) here. A tree full of Pelicans with their crooning and fluttering give you good oppurtunity to watch them and capture them in your lenses, but kindly avoid standing under those trees else you would be garnished with white paint all over your body. The black Ibis show was distant as they were perched against the sun which made it all the more difficult to view them directly or capture a clear image. The locals here are very helpful and protective of the winged visitors and any wrong move from your end will result in broken bones! But the sight of children asking for money from the visitors is not a good sight to see! After more than an hour here with the sun steadily rising and burning our heads, we decided to move on to Ranganathittu near Srirangapattinam.


Marsh crocodile @ Ranganthittu.


Ranganthittu bird sanctuary: Its a small sanctuary in the Mandya district but the most famous in and around south karnataka. The restaurant here satisfied our appetities which the first thing we did when we landed here. Afternoon times and the sun blazing, birding was not so productive so we bought tickets for the boat ride on the Kaveri lake. Huge crowd had gathered as it was a saturday and we had wait in a long queue for the tickets. The only advantage going boating is you are taken closer to the birds resting on the trees in the middle and the birds are quite comfortable with the boats being paddled around. Not to miss are the huge crocodiles you see from close quarters, this time we were lucky enough to spot some 7-8 crocodiles around. The few winged visitors which I could recognize seeing here are:

• White Ibis
• Spoonbills
• Night Heron
• the King
• Pond Heron
• Colony of Bats
• Marsh Crocodiles

Well the sightings were not so good, wish to be back here at leisure during some weekday when few people are around. From here we had plans of covering Kukkarahalli kere and Karanji lakes in Mysuru but owing to time shortage we decided to cancel Karanji lake visit this time.



As we reached the periphery of Mysuru, at the first traffic signal we asked for directions from the constable there; he gave us the most easiest route to take, from the signal take right turn, left at the next signal, and right at only the next traffic signal. We landed right on the fringes of the lake with those directions without a glitch.











Kukkarahalli kere, Mysuru: For starters, its located in the heart of the Mysuru city adjoining the Manasagangotri campus. A neat walkway has been created which is used effectively by the walkers / joggers and also bird watchers! The entire walkway around of the park is approximately 4kms. What started for us as a small walk around ended up making us cover the entire 4kms watching different varied winged visitors spread across the lake. My favorite King (kingfisher bird) was very shy and reluctant and only gave poses from long distances; still waiting for a decent shot of this beautiful king. The sunset here was amazing with the winged visitors perched on the trees in the foreground and the golden sun providing the orange blanket all across the horizon. Few of the winged visitors which we could identify were:

• Spot Billed Pelicans
• Pond Heron
• Little Egret
• Purple Moorhen
• Spot Billed Ducks
• Common Coots
• Cattle Egret
• Pied Wagtail
• Grey Heron
• Asian Koel
• Parakeets
• White Ibis

and few others which I am yet to recollect. As it was dusk our plans of climbing the Chamundi hills on foot went for a toss and instead we drove up the hill to visit the temple. The temple remains closed between 6.30pm to 8pm and is open till 9.30pm. The Mysuru city view from the hill top is beautiful especially if the palace lights are on, it presents a spectacular sight. From here we drove straight back to our homes, infact we covered the bangalore mysore strectch in flat 120 minutes on the saturday evening.


Route: To Valley School: On the Kanakapura road, just 100mts after the NICE road junction a yellow board next to a tree on the right hand side leads to the valley school campus. Good roads upto Kanakapura.


To Kokkare Bellur: On the Mysore highway, just before Maddur town, a huge old board to the left indicates the route to Kokkare bellur which is 16kms from there. Roads are pathetic.


To Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary: On the Mysore highway, after Srirangapattinam, a deviation to the right leads to ranganthittu bird sanctuary which is around 6ms inside. The same route further leads to Hunsur, Madikeri, Virajpet, Nagarhole, Irpu falls, HD kote. Excellent roads.


To Kukkarahalli Kere: As you approach Mysuru city, in the first traffic signal on the outer ring road take a right turn and straight ahead and then left turn at the next signal, and again right turn at only the next traffic signal leads to the lake. Please ask for directions with the locals as you are bound to reach nowhere following my directions. Excellent roads.


Tips: Carry water. Food source Bangalore (for valley school); Maddur town and highway restaurants (for Kokkare bellur); hotel at Ranganthittu and Mysuru city hotels (for Kukkarahalli kere).
Overall a nice birding experience but felt more time was required at Ranganthittu and Kukkarahalli lakes.



Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!