Birding at GKVK/UAS campus and Jakkur lake

I joined Shreeram, Vineet, and Gopal from NTP for a quick trip to GKVK campus for bird watching today morning. Prem also accompanied us. It turned out to be a great outing with some excellent sightings.

I reached the GKVK/UAS campus by 6:30am, parked my car near Ganesha temple and started looking for birds. All i could hear was the squirrels. I looked around for about half an hour without any good luck, and i was disappointed. Called Vineet and joined them near the Eucalyptus tree patch, and there we saw a Shikra family. Soon, Gopal joined us.

We walked to the uncultivated/forest land hoping for better sightings. We sighted lots of Barbets along the way. A Copper-Smith Barbett was feeding its chick and i could manage to get this shot:

There was a patch next to the road, and a faint trail. I walked into that and sat down to check the undergrowth wishing for a Pitta to hop by. I was scanning the undergrowth, with squirrels about 2-3ft from me and few Ashy Prinias hopping around, and suddenly a heard a galloping burst and saw some dark thing run past in front of me. Then i hear Shreeram shouting ‘Wild Boar!‘ Some 10mtr to the right, i would have been run over by a Wild boar.

Saw a nest of Oriental Magpie Robin. Heard close calls of Partridges, which at one point got really loud, and then got faint. They must have walked towards us, and then ran away. On to a more open area further, we sighted two pairs of Yellow-Wattled Lapwings, first time for me. There were chicks i suppose since the birds were calling and flying frequently to threaten us away. We didn’t get sight of the chicks.

As we walked back to the parking lot, we sighted a Common Grey Mongoose go past us across the road. As we walked further down, we heard something in the bush and we turned back to see another Mongoose run across. It was a great to watch them, but couldn’t get a shot.

After breakfast, sponsored by Gopal, Vineet, Shreeram, Prem and I went to Jakkur Lake. The lake was a treat to bird watchers. We weren’t expecting to see so many different species. Spot-Billed Pelicans, three types of Cormorants (including the white headed sub-species of Great Cormorant), Coots, Grebs, Purple Moorhens, and Common Moorhens. We were hearing calls of White-throated Kingfiher for some time and finally spotted it. A Pied Kingfisher came hovering into frame as i was focussing on a Brahminy Kite. I got a hovering shot of Pied Kingfisher here after many failed attempts elsewhere.

List of Birds:

1. Barbet, Coppersmith
2. Barbet, White cheeked
3. Bulbul, Red Whiskered
4. Bulbul, White browed
5. Coot, Common
6. Cormorant, Greater
7. Cormorant, Indian
8. Cormorant, Little
9. Coucal, Greater
10. Crow, House
11. Crow, Jungle
12. Dove, Laughing
13. Dove, Spotted
14. Drongo, Black
15. Egret, Little
16. Egret, Median
17. Flowerpecker, Pale billed
18. Flowerpecker, Tickell’s
19. Grebe, Little
20. Heron, Grey
21. Heron, Pond
22. Heron, Purple
23. Hoppoe
24. Iora, Common (heard)
25. Kingfisher, Pied
26. Kingfisher, White breasted
27. Kite, Black
28. Kite, Brahminy
29. Koel, Asian
30. Lapwing, Yellow wattled
31. Moorhen, Common
32. Moorhen, Purple
33. Myna, Brahminy
34. Myna, Common
35. Myna, Jungle
36. Parakeet, Plumheaded
37. Parakeet, Rose-ringed
38. Partridge, Grey (heard) (?)
39. Pelican, Spotbilled
40. Pigeon, Blue rock
41. Prinia. Ashy
42. Robin, Magpie
43. Shikra
44. Sunbird, Purple rumped
45. Tailorbird, Common (heard)
46. Tit, Grey
47. White-eye, Oriental

Route to GKVK/UAS campus (courtesy Gopal):

a.. On Bellary road, NH-7, go past Mekhir circle to Hebbal flyover
b.. Go on the flyover without taking any deviations.
c.. 3kms from the flyover you will find L&T Komatsu office on your left, take the service road.
d.. GKVK/UAS campus is next to L&T Komatsu, and has a Mahatma Gandhi statue at the entrance.

Get inside the campus, going past two big playgrounds and a basket ball court to your left. Ample parking space is available. Walk some distance on the right side, going past student hostels, to reach uncultivated land for good bird sightings.

Route to Jakkur Lake:

– Take a right turn on Bellary Road, NH-7, just before Jakkur flying school.

– Go along the fencing of the flying school. Down the road, take the road which takes a natural right. Furthur down, take a left turn. Take right on a small Circle. 1km from there you will see the lake on your left.

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Ranganathittu bird sanctuary trip

Located at a distance of 125km from Bangalore, Ranganathittu bird sanctuary is one of the most popular bird sanctuaries in India. Large number of migratory birds arrive here during winter from across the world.

My plan of visiting this place was to shoot a supermodel of Ranganathittu, the Pied Kingfisher. Almost everyone who has been to Ranganathittu in the recent past has come back with a good shot of the resident Pied Kingfisher, which is hard to shoot at other places. Since initial plan to go on 31st Jan didn’t work out, i planned to go on 7th Feb. Most of my friends, who had initially asked me to plan for 7th Feb so that they could join backed out on Friday evening. I somehow convinced Karthik and Chinmay to join me. Dantis confirmed at 11:30pm. Sam sent me a message at 2am expressing his interest to photograph the irresistible supermodel.

I left my home at 5:30am, and picked Sam, Dantis, Karthik and Chinmay from different parts of Bangalore. We were on Mysore road by about 7am. Total disarray of plan. I wanted to reach Ranganathittu by 7:30am, but we weren’t even close. Didn’t stop either for Sam to get cash at an ATM or for Chinmay to have breakfast. Dashed to reach Ranganathittu by 8:45am.

Route: Bangalore -> Ramnagaram -> Bidadi -> Maddur -> Mandya -> Srirangapatta -> Ranganathittu

Distance: 125km or 78 miles

Stork billed kingfisher first catch

First up, we got very co-operative Red-whiskered Bulbul. As we reached the boating area, we spotted a Stork-Billed Kingfisher. There were hardly any tourists at that time, and could manage to click a decent shot of the bird before it flew away. There were plenty of Cormorants, Painted Storks, Openbill Storks, Spoonbills, Egrets, Ibis, Night Heron, and Spot-billed Pelicans on the islets of the river Cauvery.

We took a boat for 5 of us at Rs.50/- per person. I asked the boatman to head straight to spot where we can find the Pied Kingfisher. It was already 9am and the sun was getting harsh. I didn’t want the sun to come overhead and spoil the good lighting for photography. We clicked few Painted and Openbill storks and also a pair of Stone Plovers before we reached the spot of supermodel.

Open billed stork, obvious why it is called so, isn't it?

Since i insisted on clicking the kingfisher, the boatman got little skeptical of finding it, and said Sir sometimes you’ll find them straightaway and at others you don’t get them even when you wait for an hour. Cautiously moved the boat around, but we couldn’t get a sight. I told him, i’ll not leave without clicking the king, with a good tip. Just then, we could spot a Pied Kingfisher under the canopy, near to the shore. Once we spotted, it’s not hard to click the supermodels. They are so used to people here! May be as a challenge, i should click a good shot of Pied Kingfisher elsewhere.

Next target species was River Tern for me and Mugger Crocodile for Sam. Moved around the rocks where Swallows nested. Could spot a croc in water, but that’s not how Sam wanted it. At a distance, we could spot a River Tern. As we got closer, a chic came towards it mom. It was a great sight. The boatman told that there are 3chics around, but we could see only one. It was close to 10am and the sun was getting harsh. Managed to click the River Tern with its chic, but not to my satisfaction. The shadow of its head was on its body and face, covering its eyes at times, and i couldn’t get a sharp eye of the bird.

We left the spot, and clicked few shots of Pelicans. My attempts of getting a good shot of Painted stork in flight went in vain. Tipped the demanding boatman again, and left for breakfast.

Pied Kingfisher

River Tern with a chic

Stone Plover couple

Myself and Sam walked along the edge of the river for some time. Sighted an Asian Paradise Flycatcher, and also pied wagtail. Couldn’t reach the place where we sighted the Pied Kingfisher as the fields on the edge of the river were slushy and we hadn’t equipped ourselves for it.

We left for Bangalore by 12:45pm. With an hour break for lunch at the hyped and over crowed Kamat restaurant near Ramnagaram, we reached Bangalore by 4pm.

Couldn’t resist one more image of Pied Kingfisher:

All shots are shot with Canon EOS 450D and Canon 55-250mm IS lens, post processing on Canon DPP and Adobe Photoshop 7.0 (I know i need to upgrade).

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