Tryst with Mysore

Deponti this one's for you!!!!!

An invitation to attend a friend's marriage @ Mysore opened up a plethora of oppurtunities to do birding in and around Mysore for the weekend. Mysore is a dream place with beautiful parks, lakes, Sanctuaries and hillocks. Me, Prashanth and couple of friends used thisoppurtunity and visited Ranganthittu, nagarahole, Irupu falls and Kukralli lake. The boatman @ Ranganthittu took us near the rock islands and tree nests around Cauvery for an hour. From here on we went to Nagarahole via Hunsur and to Irpu falls. Since this was in the afternoon there was a dearth of bird activity or wildlife movement. Did not even spot a Langur. On return from Irpu got to see Chittal, boar and some birds. Sunday went to kukkaralli lake @ around 10 and saw some waders and water birds but since it was late not much sightings here. But a wonderful place though. From here went to Mahadevpura and back to Home sweet home.

Pics here >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Birds Spotted :

Painted Stork
Spot billed Pelican
Open Billed Stork
Eurasian Spoon bill
Night heron
Pond heron
Small blue kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
White breasted kingfisher
Mud Swallow
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
River Tern
Plover
Cormorant
Brahminy Kite
Pariah Kite
Ashy Prinia
Oriole
Purple Heron
Grey Heron
Dabchick
Spot billed Duck
Purple moor hen
White ibis
Black ibis
Grey Hornbill
Sparrow
Red Wattled lapwing
Red vented bulbul
Red Whiskered bulbul
Peafowl
Grey Shrike
Green bee eater
Paradise Flycatcher (Female)

Mammals

Wild boar
Chital
Mongoose

Saw this lil cute cat on a Rainy Night

Me and my photographer friend Ramnath from chennai decided to make a quick trip to masingudi to shoot a few Endemic Birds of the region. Leaving bangalore by about 2pm, I had to push real hard to reach bandipur before dark,hoping to get some sightings. Though i managed to reach the park by 6, couldn do much with the camera... as the light was bad and the sightings were also pretty dull. We kept a close watch on either sides of the road as we moved. I had seen a Tiger Photograph on the same road, a week back.

We cleared Bandipur ( karnataka ) and mudhumalai ( TN border ) National parks without much luck with the wildlife as it was raining. I was informed by the Forest department officials on the chekpost to watch out for a herd of WIld Elephants on masingudi road.

I was driving real slow on the road.. Got to see a couple of WIld Gaurs and chitals. I saw something on the road, something lil bigger than a stray dog running towards the left. Im sure the headlamp of the Jeep must've disturbed him.. I slowed down to check what exactly was it..All I could think of was about a wild dog . He crossed the road and hid behind a tree. I pulled over and focused the headlamp on the tree. I could see something with stripes on its head..

Loud whispers "A Tiger ???? No No could be a TIger Cub ! Naah Stripes on its head , its spotted .. Could it be a leopard cat ?? "

Within no time, our equipments were in position .. waiting for this guy to show up again.. Just once! we waited for about 20 in the same place and he peeped out from behind the tree to check whats happening.. our cameras clicked a couple of frames.. The picture showed us that it was a leopard cub.. I was happpy that i saw a leopard in the wild for the first time.. But normally cubs wont be alone in the wild.. They'll be accompanied with their mother, almost all the times.

Just when I was about to share this thought with my friends , the Mother called from a distance.. It was coming soewhere from the trees.. It was dark and i couldnt spot her anywhere around. The cub was responding to the call of his mother.. There were actually two calls responding to the mother's call.. so , there was another cub in a distance. It was a different kind of an atmosphere. The mother calling from left , a Cub straight ahead looking at me and another cub responding from right.. we just sat in the jeep absolutely silent and eyes wide open

I literally Jumped when I heard loud calls of two sambar deers right next to me.. It came as a surprise... Now i understood the game plan.. The two deers were rounded up from all four sides.. I was expecting the mother to strike anytime... But total scenario changed when the forests guards came to the spot and started questioning us.. We missed a great action.. But at the same time felt proud about the guards' duty consciousness even on a rainy night..

I returned back to the same spot at 5 in the morning to see if there was a kill the previous night, but there was nothing like it. The deers managed to escape..

With a leopard and few birds being the main attraction, it was a fruitful trip for me :)

Birding around Kali

Independence day and an option of getting 5 days leave by taking 2 days off. Travelled to Kulgi nature camp Dandeli, Kavala Caves, Ulvi, Anshi nature camp, Sadhashivgad Fort, Magod falls, Jenukall view point, Unchalli falls and Jog falls. Did some birding too, some we identified some we missed.

Birds Spotted:
Brahminy Kite
Red Vented Bulbul
Bay Backed Shirke
Malabar Pied Hornbill
Common King Fisher
Sparrow
Cattle Egret
White Bellied Drongo
Scarlet Minivet
White Cheeked barbet
Crested Hawk eagle
Grey Hornbill
Red Rumped swallow
Indian Treepie
Magpie Robin
Indian Robin
Bank Myna
White breasted Kingfisher
Racket tailed drongo
Wooly Necked Stork
Velvet Fronted Nuthatch
Pariah Kite
Orange Headed Thrush
White Rumped Munia
Spotted Dove
Hoopoe
Woodpecker (Think was a lesser flameback)
White Breasted Water Hen
Little Egret
Pond Heron
Night Heron

pics here >>>>>

Birding @ Bandipur

Posting on behalf of Deepa


Trip to Bandipur was extremely productive of sightings; we saw...
Crested Serpent Eagle
Crested Hawk Eagle
Common FlamebackFemale
Streak-Throated Woodpecker
Cattle Egrets
Intermediate Egrets
R R Parakeets
Common Ibis
Lesser Coucal
Peafowl
Oriental Honey Buzzard
Oriental White Eye
Great Tit
Common House Sparrow
Common Crow
Jungle Crow
Common Mynah
Jungle Mynah
Tailor Bird
Red-Whiskered Bulbul
Red-vented Bulbul
Coppersmith Barbet
White-cheeked Barbet
White-browed Wagtail
Magpie Robin
Indian Robin
Spotted Dove
White-Throated Kingfisher
Black Kite
Red-Wattled Lapwing
Some ducks spotted at a distance and not identified
Indian Roller
Indian Nightjar
Jungle Fowl
Indian Bushlark
Jungle Babbler
Black Drongo
Rufous Treepie
Brahminy Kite
Red-Rumped Swallows
Swifts (variety not sure)

Well that's really all the birds I can think of; more than spotting, we were able to watch the behaviour of the lapwings with chicks, and feeding behaviour on the part of several birds.We also saw:

Monitor Lizard
Indian Mongoose
Rat Snake
Various frogs
Millipede
Leeches
Indian Gaur
Sambhar
Spotted Deer
Pond Terrapin
Black-Naped Hare
Langurs
Bonnet Macaques
Elephants...and

one Penguin (used as a waste-paper basket in front of a shop in the Forest Dept reception area!)

Birding @ Kabini

Team - Lokesh(Colleague), Sunil (Previous NTP batch) and Niranjan

Date - May 17th, 18th and 19th.

After taking 3 days leave for the elephant census, it was time again to ask for two days leave so that I could go to Kabini JLR with Sunil and Lokesh. We thought, going there on weekday would save us from the weekend crowd. But this was not the case to be, Kabini JLR sells like hotcake and it was completely booked even on a Thursday and Friday with nearly 60-70 guests. Anyways let's leave all the JLR logistics and concentrate on birds.

Just after crossing Mysore, we spotted a hornbill with some berries in it's beak perched on a tree. Upon further observation we found out the nest and the young ones in it. Around here there's a small water body and we found plenty of water birds here. We moved into the JLR property and checked into our cottage and went for a short walk around the campus and found woodpeckers, sunbirds and plenty of other birds. The highlight of the trip was a crested hawk eagle eating a giant malabar squirrel which we saw on one of the safari's.

Pics >>

The checklist is as below. Thanks to Sunil for typing the list :-)

1.Indian Grey Hornbill
2.Purple Swamp hen
3.Cattle Egret
4.Little Egret
5.Ashy wren Warbler
6.Indian Pond Heron
7.Black Ibis
8.Red headed Ibis
9.Little Cormorant
10Greater Cormorant
11.Brahminy kite
12.Pariah / Black Kite
13.River Tern
14.Grey tit
15.Flame Backed Woodpecker (M & F)
16.Brown Capped Pygmy Woodpecker
17.Common Iora
18.Scarlet Minivet (M & F)
19.Red Vented Bulbul
20.Red Whiskered Bulbul
21.Blue Parakeet
22.Rose Ringed Parakeet
23.White Cheeked Barbet
24.Loten’s sunbird (F)
25.Purple rumped Sunbird
26.Purple sunbird.
27.Black Shouldered Kite
28.Jungle Babbler
29.Common Myna
30.Jungle Myna
31.Common House Crow
32.Jungle Crow
33.Crested hawk Eagle
34.Painted Stork
35.Eurasian Spoonbill
36.Brahminy Starling
37.Pied Kingfisher
38.Common Peafowl
39.Jungle Fowl
40.Grey Heron
41.Small Green bee eater
42.Crested Serpent Eagle
43.Indian Roller
44.Spotted Dove
45.Laughing Dove
46.Racket Tailed Drongo
47.Small Blue Kingfisher
48.White breasted Kingfisher
49.Little Ringed Plover
50.Indian Bush Lark
51.Red Wattled Lapwing
52.Spot Billed Ducks
53.White Bellied Water hen
54.Malabar Pied Hornbill
55.Common House Sparrow
56.Common Cuckoo
57.House swift
58.Hoopoe
59.Snake Bird / Darter
60.Red headed Vulture
61.Indian White backed vulture
62.Common Coot
63.Yellow legged Green Pigeon
64.Imperial Pigeon
65.Chestnut headed Bee eater
66.Blue Tailed Bee eater
67.Rufus Wood pecker
68.Black Drongo
69.Rosy Starling
70.Common Hill Myna
71.Common Treepie
72.Rufus Treepie
73.Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher
74.Thick Billed Flowerpecker
75.Common Tailor bird.
76.Pied Bushchat
77.Magpie Robin

78. Open billed stork.

Birding @ Lalbagh

Location - Lal bagh
Team - Deepak, Niranjan and Prashanth
Date - 13 May 07

Actually had planned to go to Manchinbele area, but changed the plans and did birding at Lalbagh. Started at 7:00 and finished at 8:30. Good to see so many birds. The check list goes....
1) Brahminy kite (Adult and juvenile)
2) Common Myna
3) White breasted water hen
4) White Cheeked Barbet
5) Common Coot
6) Purple moorhen
7) Common moorhen
8) Grey Tit
9) Spotted Dove
10) Common Teal
11) Eurasian Wigeon
12) Pond Heron
13) Little Egret
14) Black kite
15) Little Cormorant
16) Jungle Myna
17) Purple Rumped Sunbird
18) Shellduck (needs verification)
19) Rose ringed parakeet

Birding @ Akkikandi, Coorg

Location - Talakaveri reserve forest.
Team - Deepak, Niranjan and Sangeeta.
Date - May 7-9, 2007

Well it was not entirely a birding trip. We actually went there to attend the elephant census conducted by the forest department. Alas no elephants sighted but this never bothered us as the sheer beauty of the place took out breath away. We stayed in the Akkikandi anti poaching camp and participated in the census. Coming back to our feathered friends we did make a attempt to do some bird watching but were unable to spend much time as we had to concentrate on the census part.Early morning of day two we decided to do some birding and prepared ourselves to do the same. We walked along the road with hope of spotting some but the tree cover here is too thick and we could not sight any, we could hear many :). Later we decided to take the route into the forest instead of the road, for this we had to apply salt on our feet to keep the leeches at bay. They were omnipresent, you could just scoop out kilos of them from the ground if you wanted to. With salt workng it's magic we could concentrate on some bird watching. Again the tree cover proved too dense and we were able to hear the calls but could not trace the birds. The Malabar whistling thrush was on a song and kept on whistling. Then just by luck we saw some movement in a opening among the trees, we stood thee for quite some time to find out the bird. Behold a pair of Indian Treepie's flying around in the opening, what a sight!!!!! To add to the joy a Racket tailed Drongo comes flying in, it was a treat to watch these birds. We returned to the camp with just these sightings. On our way to the water hole to conduct census I got a chance to speak to the forest watcher, and asked him about the racket tailed Drongo(RTD). He told me how the bird got it's tail feather that way. Well the RTD is called Bhima Raja in Kannada for the fact that it chases away bigger birds, even some Birds of prey and it's an excellent mimic. The folklore goes this way, the RTD had complete tail feather similar to a treepie, and in it's quest to master all the animal's call it came to a water side. The final task was one that of mastering the Tiger roar. As it was practising this, termites began to eat away on the tail feather. The RTD saw this very late when only a small patch was left. It stopped mastering the call and flew away to save it's tail and hence the shape of the tail. May seem hard to believe but atleast we now we know where that tail came from ;-).

Some pics from the trip >>

The check list is as below.

1)Indian Treepie

2) Golden Oriole

3) Red Whiskered bulbul

4) Red vented bulbul

5) Parakeet

6) Racket Tailed Drongo

7) Spotted Dove

8) Common Myna

9) Pompadour Green pigeon

10) White cheeked barbet

Birds sighted on our way back @ Dubare....

11) Grey Hornbill

12) White breasted water hen.

13) White breasted kingfisher.

14) Pied Bushchat

15) White browed wagtail

Birding @ kondajji

Venue - Kondajji lake, 18 kms from Davangere towards Harihara, 260 Kms from Bangalore.

Team - Niranjan n Prashanth.

Date - 29-Apr-07

The idea of bird watching in Davangere started with a invitation to my friend Naveen's wedding. A mail to JLRNTP-1 yahoogroups got a surprised reply from Karthik who started his birding hobby in Davangere. Karthik suggested two places one was Bathi kere (lake) and the other Kondajji and we chose the later. Sunday morning started of from Davangere and drove along to kondajji, on the way we saw plenty of Pond Heron's, Bulbul's, White breasted Kingfisher and Black shouldered Kite. We reached Kondajji @ 7:00 and were pleasently surprised by the amount of bird life there. For a beginner like me it was like "Birds, birds everywhere but not a clue to identify". Feathered friends here are much more shy than our Bangalore counterparts. Hence it became tough to identify many of them as they flew away even when we were at wuite a distance. We could not even make a note of the details. This place is truly a birder's paradise and many thanks to Karthik for sharing this place.

The check list is as given below and the pics are here >>

White breasted king fisher
Jungle babbler
Cattle egret
Bank Myna
Spotted dove
Pond heron
Peacock (male & female)
Little cormorant
Plover
Red vented bulbul
Red rumped swallow
Parakeet
Sunbird
Koel
Black shouldered kite
Indian robin
White browed wagtail
Paradise flycatcher
Pied king fisher
Ducks (no idea which one)
Grey heron
Common IORA (male)
Coucal
Hoopoe
Long tailed cuckoo shirke
Racket tailed drongo - Needs Verification.
Bramhini kite
Oriental magpie

Black headed Myna

Indian Treepie

A day in KGudi Wilderness

Hello All,

A Heart Thumping Experience which happened yesterday at KGudi is worth Sharing. I prepared for a day's visit to BR Hills and left bangalore at 3.45 AM ( MidNight ) on Wednesday ( 25th APR ). With a One Pit Stop strategy, reached BR Hills at 7.30 AM. The Bird life was Amazing. Did some birding through car window all the way till JLR campus and hence missed the Morning safari. I got a sad news that Evening safari is also not possible because it'll go on till 7 and the gates close by 6. I had to return back on the same day ! I cursed myself for picking a Wrong day to visit BRHills. After Breakfast , I took a drive along main road uptil Biligiri Rangana Temple and spotted few more rare birds, A russels Viper, and a huge Cobra. After lunch, I decided to leave since the evening safari was also not possible. Just then my friend Vikranth, Asst Manager of JLR suggested me to trek inside the forest. It sounded great to me and I started off with Narayana ( naturalist, trekker ) , My cousin shashank, My cam and a Binoc.

Initial one hour of trek was really nice. Spotted some rare birds like Malabar Whisteling Thrush, Brain Fever Bird ( Hawk cuckoo ) etc. After a while something cought my eyes at a 20-25 mtr distance. Narayana told me " Guru, its a common sambar deer " . I took a clean look through the Binocs but it was staring at something on its left side. I watched it carefully but couldnt see anything towards my left as thick high grasses and bushes were blocking my way. We started to move and just then the sambar deer started Calling... loudly. We stopped , I took my binocs and watched it. The sambar kept on calling for sometime and never took its eyes off from the direction. After about 15 calls, came the REAL ONE ! THE CALL OF THE WILD ! A loud growl of a TIGER !! My heart thumped. Its growl was echoing all around the place.. narayana said " Dont move a step, We are very Close ".

It'd have been a joyful moment for me if I was in a safari jeep. But i was on ground with a cam and a binoc , Narayana with his Wireless set. We were tensed. My cousin started sweating !

Then some action. We could hear all that but I could never sight the Tiger. The drama went on for about 10 mins but the Tiger never got a clean shot ... Sambar Escaped.., The angry n hungry Growl got harder n louder. For a second I though " Is that it ? Im sure he can sense my presence here. Will I be his next target ? "

I probably would'nt have known what'd have happened if a call of a Barking deer had'nt cought his attention. Narayana gave me a signal " This is the time , lets push off " we cleared the place quickly. I was thrilled and Amazed eventhough I could'nt spot the tiger, I was close !

We waited in a safe hide next to a water hole nearby for about 30 mins, hoping to witness some movement after the Barking deer kill. But nothing more exciting happened. Tiger never came there as we expected. Everybody at JLR were thrilled to listen to the entire story me and naturalist Narayana narrated. I had my DAY ! I was DONE with what I had experienced. All that is still running in my mind. BRT is truely a WILD HEAVEN !

Should I say " I got lucky to see another Day ? " ..... I dont know ! But it was a Hellova Experience ! :-)

Sightings in KGudi

Red Wattled lapwing
Malabar Whisteling Thrush
Indian Hawk Cuckoo ( One More Bottle )
Common Hawk Cuckoo ( Brain Fever Bird )
Grey Jungle Fowl
Spotted Dove
Blue KingFisher
Forest Wagtail
Spotted Dove
White Breasted King Fisher
Indian Pond Heron ( while waiting for the Tiger to turn up near water hole ;-) )
White Cheaked Barbet
Jungle Myna
Common Myna
Green BeaEater
Rose Ringed parakeet
Pariah Kite
White throated Fantail Flycatcher
Brown FlyCatcher
Black Drongo
Tickels Blue FlyCatcher
Red Vented Bulbul
Red Whiskered Bulbul
Indian Robin
Oriental magpie Robin
Asian Koel
Spotted Owlet
Jungle Owlet
Brahminy Kite
Lesser Pied Kingfisher
Little Ringed Plover
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Grey Wagtail
Red Jungle Fowl
Nilgiri Wood Pegion
Red Breasted Parakeet
Brown Headed Barbet
Collored Dove
Green imperial Pegion
Wood Pecker

Mammals --> Spotted Deer, Sambar Deer, Russles Viper, Indian Cobra, Hanuman Langur, Bonnet Macaque, Elephant.

Feild Guide - The Book of Indian Birds, 13th Edition by Dr.Salim Ali

Could'nt do much with my camera, but the ones I've Photographed are worth Sharing. Please do have a look
http://picasaweb.google.com/kj.avinash/KGudi

P S : Never Go to BRT , you will fall in love with it !!! :-)

Regards,

Avi

Ranganthittu trip report

Hello People,

Apologies for posting the trip report a lil late. I had taken a day off from work and wanted to go out for some Bird Watching. The previous Day ( Second sunday of April ) , I met Karthik and he suggested me that I could try Ranganthittu which is about 130 kms from Bangalore, off Srirangapattana on well developed Bangalore-Mysore Highway.

I left Early in the morning and managed to reach Ranganthittu by 7.30 Am. We were at the right place on right time. I was amazed to see so much of Bird Life around. As it was a weekday, there were hardly any visitors. Me and my cousin were the Only guests there and the forest department people were really happy to welcome us !

Without wasting much of time, we hired a boat and a very experienced forest guard Venkatesh came along with us for a good 1.30 hr boat ride ! We got to know it was OBS ( Open Billed storks ) nesting season, and we could see a lot of OBS nests and chicks.. As per the policies, I dont want to share the photographs of the chicks though they were amazing to watch !

It was my first Bird watching trip after the Naturalist training camp and we could spot about 31 species in a lil over 2 1/2 hrs and the first one to be spotted was the Tickles Blue Fly Catcher. I remember me and Donkey Deepak had a good sighting of this bird in Gol Ghar ( Bannerghatta JLR Campus )

P S --> Please dont go there on public holidays and sunday's. Fair chance of spotting birds around the sanctuary but we wont get seperate boats to carefully observe water Birds.

The Photographs of this trip can be viewed here --> http://picasaweb.google.com/kj.avinash/Recent

List of Birds Spotted in Ranganthittu

Jungle Myna

Common Crow

Tickles Blue FlyCatcher

Pond Heron

Painted Stork

OBS ( Open Billed Storks )

River Terns ( there were only two of em )

Night Heron

Stone Plover

Small Egret

Cattle Egret

Large Egret

Purple Rumped Sunbird

Brahminy Kite

Little Cormorant

Fruit bat ( Not a Bird though :-) )

White Breasted KingFisher

Oriental magpie Robin

Forest Wagtail

Darter

Eurasian SpoonBill

Red Whiskered Bulbul

Asian Koel Small

Blue KingFisher

Grey Wagtail

Indian Peafowl

Common Kite

Purple SunBird

Field Guides

100 birds of Bannerghatta

Birds of Ranganthittu ( can be purchased there for 10/- )

Book of Indian Birds 13th Edition by Dr.Salim Ali ( Learning to use this )

Happy Birding ,

Avi