A year ends and a year begins...

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 :)

  

Birdwatching at Madiwala Lake, Bangalore

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!

Tippagondanahalli (T.G. Halli) - Manchanabele birding

Tippagondanahalli Reservoir - The source of drinking water for Bangalore city is a haven for birders and birds with this place crowded with numerous birders during the weekends. This lake is a man made reservoir created by building a dam by Sir M V. The visiting raptors are famous here with good sightings of the Common Kestrel, Marsh Harriers, Brahminy Kites, Black Kites and many others. It’s a true blue birders paradise but the sand mining activity around is a concern for both the birds and the birders. This place is around 35kms from Bangalore on the Magadi road. On the Magadi road, 4kms after Tavarekere, a diversion to the right downslide and then straight ahead keeping left will lead to the lake. The village nearby is called as Nagenahalli. 


Manchanabele Dam – On the Magadi road a few kms after the Big banyan tree is the Manchanabele dam. Permissions are required for both the places to access the dam area. But you can take deviations on to the mud roads before the dam area to reach the lakebeds that are ideal spots for birding. This dam can be reached from TG halli also, coming back to Nagenahalli and taking a deviation to the right and further 15kms ahead or the other route through the Big banyan tree. Birding is possible all along the route from TG halli to Manchanabele dam. As you near the dam area a kucha road leads to the right that ends up at the backend of the dam that is very isolated. Evenings are best avoided and reaching early in the day is ideal. Our sightings included:

• Brahminy Kites
• Little Egrets
• Cattle Egrets
• Black Drongo
• Little Cormorants
• Green Bee eaters
• Black Kites
• Red headed Munia pair
• Red Whiskered Bulbul and many others that I am yet to identify.

Tips: Road conditions are good but the kucha roads are bad and it takes time to reach the places. Water and food to be carried and it gets pretty hot during the afternoons.


Madiwala Lake - One of the biggest lakes in Bangalore and one of the most polluted. Earlier it was a huge lake and it has reduced in size drastically owing to urbanization and the surrounding area gets flooded during monsoons. Was here on an overcast day and birding here was not fruitful and added to it the stink from the weeds removed from the lake and dumped on the sidewalks.

• Brahminy Kites
• Common coots
• Purple Moorhens
• Asian Koel
• Egrets and few others.

Tips: Patience is a virtue. Weekend mornings are crowded with the morning joggers and walkers. Plastics, rotten weeds are all over the place Maintenance is an issue. The photos link is here.


Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!