The post event meet of Bangalore Bird Race 2009 personally, for me, was the best place, where i spotted some really rare species. I was overwhelmed to see and meet some great naturalists, and bird watchers like S Karthikeyan and Deepa Mohan, whom i had known only through net, and some of the best wildlife photographers from Bangalore like Sudhir Shivram and Kalyan Varma, also known only through net. I had been ogling at the photographs Sudhir Shivram and Kalyan Varma produce for long time before i started clicking photographs, and i continue to do so even now. These are the people who have inspired me to sustain and improve hobbies like bird watching and photography. It’s hard to describe the joy i had. It was good to associate face to people i have known through the Internet and admired their work for long. This post is dedicated to these wonderful people.
The day of bird race started pretty early. I managed to catch only 2-3 hours of sleep after a hectic Saturday (more about it later), but I still left my home by 4:55am, picked Pandith, Rahul, a young lad who joined our team since his earlier teammates were not willing to bird whole day, and Deepak.
Deepak, Pandith and I had planned, on Saturday evening, to cover South Bangalore starting from Bangalore University campus to Bannerghatta National Park covering Byramangala Lake and Valley School and few other water bodies on Kanakapura road.
We reached Bangalore university before the day break, and were waiting for a good 20-25min for the sun to come out, after walking around to see if we could catch any Owls, but no such luck. University Campus provided good sightings of common birds like Drongos, Flowerpeckers, Babblers, Doves, Parakeets, and Sunbirds. I also spotted 2-3 Peafowls which disappeared just as i alerted my teammates. By the time we moved on from there, it was 7:15am. We had spend half an hour more than we had planned.
Inquisitive dog and pup, Byramangala lake
On the way to Byramangala lake, we stopped at a field where we sighted lots of munias, spotted doves, drongos and Indian Silverbills.ext stop, Byramangala lake. Reached this place, after missing a turn and coming back, by about 8:15pm. Many sandpipers were sighted, and also few Red Wattled Lapwings. We also saw a Spot billed Pelican, Black headed Ibis, Grey Wagtail, Ashy Prinia and a Blue rock trush here.
Left Byramangala lake only by 9am. Our plan to reach Valley school by 8:30am was already slipping by a good 1hour, but on the way we sighted many raptors including a Shikra, and Oriental Honey Buzzard.
Couldn't help clicking this butterfly - Twany Coster
Valley school is an incredible place. A heaven for bird watcher in Bangalore. The number of species count was about 35 when we reached Valley school by 10:20am. We still had missed common birds like Laughing dove, Indian Roller and White Throated Kingfisher. Just at the entrance we spotted a bunch of Oriental White Eye. Parked the car and started walking inside the Valley school campus. We spotted many birds within an hour. Common bird like Coppersimth Barbetts, White cheeked barbett, Greater Coucal, Green Bee Eater, Oriental Magpie Robin, Bushchat, and Indian Robin were spotted readily. Also, we spotted Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Common Iora, Kestral, Puff-throated Babbler, White-throated Fantail and White-Browed Fantail.
Asian paradise flycatcher at Valley school
We still had not spotted any Kingfishers, and were at a pond/creek. The incredibly beautiful Asian Paradise Flycatcher made itself visible, and i could also manage to get a decent shot of this beauty. We then rested for sometime there, and a Kingfisher came for an early lunch. Was this a Blue-eared Kingfisher or Small Blue Kingfisher (AKA Common Kingfisher)? Rahul was excited and was saying (hoping as well) it was blue eared. I took a good shot, confirming it to be just the Common Kingfisher, and not its the uncommon counterpart. Deepak, meanwhile, had spotted some bird which he said had features similar to the rare White-Rumped Shama, but couldn’t confirm for sure. We spotted couple of more birds which we couldn’t confirm the identity, a Treepie and a Raptor.
Our other teammate, Sri Ram, had not joined till now and we had asked him to come to Valley School directly, but he ended up 15km further to some other place. By 12:30pm we left valley school and were waiting for Sri Ram to join us. We wasted 45 minutes in this. Left towards BNP by 1:30pm. We had signed about 65 species by then, and were hoping to add good number at BNP.
The road to Bannerghatta from Kanakapura road is pathetic. Pathetic is an understatement. In fact for a majority of the distance, there is no road, but a way where road is to be laid. I drove my Swift on ditches, and potholes infested jelly stones laid ‘road’ with 5 people and some luggage. Car took a really bad toll.
Bannerghatta national park area didn’t provide any sightings. We drove towards Ragihalli on Akekal road. The national park area is known to provide wonderful sightings like that of Valley school, but around 2pm there were hardly any activity. Parked the car in a place where we heard some chirps, and ventured out on a pathway which led to a pond. There were bird chrips but nothing to be seen except for few Bulbuls. There we saw Elephant dung at quite a few places and knew that this was not a safe place to stick for long.
The time was still 2:45pm. We didn’t know where to go for more sightings. Ragihalli road was a disappointment. We stood at 69 species. Nearest lake, Madiwala lake would an hour’s drive. Should we go to the lake or Bannerghatta zoo herbivorous enclosure was the dilemma.
Oriental white eye - Valley School
We went to Madiwala lake, and we weren’t disappointed. Readily we spotted a Large Pied Wagtail. We spotted a aquatic birds, Garganey, Lesser Whistling Duck, and Northern Shovler. We also spotted a Grey Heron, and a Marsh Harrier.
At 4pm we started driving to the city, to report at Royal Orchid at Manipal Center. We visited Cubbon Park for half an hour to see if we could spot any bird that was not on our list already, but no such luck on a crowed Sunday evening. Reached Royal Orchid at 5:30pm to report our sightings of the day, and it stood at mere 78 species.
The team sighting 145 species took the 1st place, followed by 137 species for 2nd place, and 133 species for 3rd place. The catch of the day was Blue-bearded Bee Eater.
The Bird Race was for sighting as many birds as we can, and hence the opportunity for photography was not much. Here is couple of more images that have come out decently, both shot at Valley school campus:
Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher
King of Good Times
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