Nandi hills..a re-visit

Nandi Hills, closer to Bengaluru is crowded like hell, I repeat crowded like hell, especially on weekends and holidays but the fact remains that it is one of the better birding hotspots in and around Bengaluru amidst the same maddening crowd... sounds dizzy but true!

Every time, I've been there, I keep on adding one or the other new species to my list seen there and the list is increasing every time, such is the bounty of varied birds that you can find atop Nandi hills.

Also, I should point out, other than birds and a leisure spot, there is plenty to see and watch, be it the flowers or the horizon scape or the landscapes that bowl you over or the rich forest feel that you get nowhere else closer to home, truly a paradise in itself.

The place was filled with trash, dizzying amount of vehicles and people, numerous stalls selling food items and unlawful activities happening but over a period of time things have been controlled and the now the place looks better and organized (no where I'm mentioning it is the best... but it is far better than what it was earlier).

Below are a couple of images from there other than the obvious bird images I would have gotten from there, a change for once.

Also, listing out all the birds that I have seen at Nandi Hills for reference.

Sit back and enjoy :)

Cumulative of all my visits, here is the list...
Indian Scimitair Babbler
Puff-throated Babbler
Tawny-bellied Babbler
White-cheeked Barbet
Tailor Bird
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Oriental Honey Buzzard
Grey-bellied Cuckoo
Ashy Drongo
Black Drongo
Black Eagle
Indian Spotted Eagle
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Asian Paradise Flycatcher
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
Ultramarine Flycatcher
Verditer Flycatcher
Common Iora
Common Kestrel
Nilgiri Wood Pigeon
Olive-backed Pipit
Indian Pitta
Indian Blue Robin
Crested Seprent Eagle
Shikra
Red Spurfowl
Blue-capped Rock Thrush
Malabar Whistling Thrush
Orange Headed Thrush
Pied Thrush
Grey Wagtail
Greenish Leaf Warbler
Oriental White-Eye

Bird watching at Nandi hills

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

Nandi Hills

Some offbeat birding activity @ Nandi betta...

Nandi Hills or Nandidurg is a hill fortress of southern India, in the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka state. It is located just 16 km (till base) 24 km (top of the hill) from Chickballapur town and approximately 70 km(top of the hill) from the city of Bengaluru.

Nandidurg hill, known commonly as Nandi Hills, gets its name from an ancient Nandi temple situated on this hill. This temple has a thousand year old sculpture of Nandi. An ancient lord Shiva and Parvati temple also adorns this hill. It is 4851 ft. (1478 meters) above sea level. It is located in close proximity to the newly constructed Bangalore International Airport, the second largest in India. In addition, the hills are located about 20 km from the National Highway (NH-7) just after Devanahalli Town. Due to its location, Nandi Hills is rapidly developing and numerous commercial and residential ventures are underway in the region.

The vegetation of the hills is typical of high hills. Inside the fort at the summit, many of the large trees are planted exotics such as Eucalyptus and the undergrowth consists of Coffea arabica along with some native species. The forest acts as a substrate for cloud condensation and every morning the trees are covered in water. This allows for many moist forest species of plants and animals.

The hills are very rich in birdlife making it a very popular location for birdwatchers and bird photographers. The evergreen forest patch on top of the hill being a favoured wintering location for many migrant species of warblers, flycatchers and thrushes.

The forest patch is also home for a relict population of the Nilgiri Woodpigeon. A breeding pair of Shaheen Falcon, the resident race of the Peregrine Falcon is also often seen at the Nandi Hills. The Malabar Whistling Thrush, Uropeltid snakes and Pill millipedes which are otherwise known only from the Western Ghats ranges are also found here. The hill slopes are the home of the Yellow-throated Bulbul, a species endemic to the hills of peninsular India.

An april weekend and nothing to do!

Raja and Guru were unavailable.... only Nag and me... so we decided to do a quick dash to Nandi hills. The last time I was here was in a adventerous way coming by bus and walking down the stairs and landing in some village and finally after a good gentlemen dropped us to Chikballapur, then reached home!!!

Our planning was bad as we went there long after the sun was up... and being a weekend, maddening crowd and vehicles all around.

Still we managed to go around places where there were fewer people and managed to spot a few birds till post lunch session. The highlight was sighting the pair of Indian Spotted Eagle and the Paradise Flycatcher.

Next time i need to have a small notepad to note down all the species I see as now I'm finding it difficult to recollect all of them...

1. Indian Spotted Eagle 2. Asian Paradise Flycatcher male 3. Blue Capped Rock thrush 4. Brahminy Kite 5.Indian Roller 6.Black kite

Hope to be here soon early in the day before the crowd seeps in.

But few disturbing things that I noted here...

1. Alcohol is sold across the counter @ the hotel at exorbitant prices...

2. Plastic.. plastic.. plastic all around...

3. The "Tippu Drop" viewpoint as well as the dormitories are in a state of despair and looks ruined...

4. If you manage to walk around the place having either a juice can or snacks in your hand w/o the bonnet macaques jumping on you.... you are blessed...

5. Food dependency is on the only good hotel here and at high prices...

6. Hotel Mayura Pine Top - 08156-250906

Care for the nature and the nature cares for you!