Birding & Photography: 2009

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Birds of Nanjangud

It was a great surprise to see so many birds in Nanjangud !! It turned out to be a memorable birding trip, especially since I got to see many birds for the first time.

After I spotted a White Throated Kingfisher, I decided to spend sometime birding - in the town. It was the first time that I saw the white throat and I didn't have my binoculars and camera!! :(

I woke up early next morning only to be be disappointed by a thick blanket of fog (fog blanket :). I thought I saw some storks on a coconut tree but could not identify them.

The fog lifted around 8 A.M. and I could start identifying the birds. I was really excited to see the Blue Tailed Bee Eater, Red Rumped Swallow and the Indian Grey Hornbill - all firsts for me. The Bee Eater in flight stuns you with its sudden turns and dives.

It was great to see the sparrow thriving here. Hope they come back to Bangalore (To the city and not just the airport)!

While on the train, we spotted a pea-fowl emerging from a sugarcane field and got a glimpse of the Black Ibis.

Bird Watching in Hebbal Lake
HSBC Bird Race 2009
Bird Photography in Kumara Park West

Nanjangud

Nanjangud is a small town located around 25 kms from the city of Mysore. It is famous for the temple of

Sreekanteshwara or Nanjundeshwara (Lord Shiva) that lies on the banks of the Kapila river. Earlier much of the economy revolved around this temple. Now, a number of industries (auto, pharma, textile) have moved into this town to set-up industries.

Like most Indian temples the stone temple is a fantastic monument that highlights the artistry and workmanship of its times. The temple quadrangle is lined with sculptures with amazing detail. Apart from the main deity Lord Shiva, the temple complex has other deities like Lord Ganesha. It was heartening to learn that the temple attracts devotees from other faiths. Tipu Sultan has installed a Shiva Linga at this temple after his prayers were answered – A battle elephant regained it’s eyesight after going blind!! I was surprised to see some Khajuraho style sculptures. (Photography is not permitted within the temple)

An exact replica of the Lord Ayappa Swamy temple that is located on the banks of the Kapila river is worth a visit. I’m told that the steps and the temple front are plated in gold!

The town does offer interesting sights of bangle shops, flour mills, wood cutters and vegetable vendors. If you are adventurous you can take a ride on one of the "teppas".

To my surprise the city is a great birding location!!

While road and rail connectivity to Nanjangud is good, lodging facilities needs to improve to make this tourist town a good tourist destination. There are a few inter

net cafes but the connection is flaky.

This post is dedicated to Elango who is very interested in all the crap I write! Elango thank you for your interest!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Aero India 2009

Passes and very little time to mull on the consequences of a “go” decision helped us take a trip to Aero India 2009. Thankfully the painful consequences were manageable. We encountered slow moving traffic towards the last 500 meters and the “second” security check took us about 20 minutes. That left us with enough energy to enjoy the show. As the morning show was underway, we got a sneak peak of some of the manoeuvres that whetted our appetite and helped compensate for the slow moving traffic.

We had a quick look at the stalls that were displaying a wide variety of wares – aircrafts, components, simulators, avionics courses. We had the added pleasure of Uncle guiding us thro’ the stalls with useful information. It was really nice to see military grade on-board computers and communication equipment that are designed for a maximum reliability and flawless performance under extreme conditions. Their clunky and rugged looks almost inspire to you to get back to the do-it-yourself days!! The static displays offer you an opportunity to get “close” to some of the best military aircrafts of the day.

Lunch in the relative cool of the make shift restaurant helped us kill some time before the air show. The air show was kicked-off by our very own Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and was followed by the F-16 which set the tone for the show and caused considerable excitement. The 5km vertical climb of the F-16 while spinning like a top and disappearing into the sky was an awesome sight!! At least for me there was very little to choose between the capabilities of the F-16, the Typhoon (first time in India) and the Sukhoi-30. Capabilities in terms of manoeuvrability, vertical climbs, speed reduction were comparable. The Indian pilot of the Sukhoi-30 performed a unique manoeuvre when he seemed to balance the plane on its tail – in a stationary position. The F-16 did put up the best show in terms of entertainment (shock and awe?) with attention to detail – useful information on the public address system to accompany the stunts, good and complete usage of the “aerial boundaries” and attempts to connect with the audience. The Sukhoi-30 did come a close second. Putting up an entertaining display and having the best capabilities for a combat situation are two entirely different things.

The birds of the feathered kind did make their presence felt at the air show. The nonchalance of the black kites at attempts to scare them with gun shots did surprise me. They glided gracefully even when you had the flying machines fly a mach speeds around them with ear shattering din. One particularly hilarious moment was when the crowds were eagerly awaiting the entry of the Surya Kirans. The public address system announced that the Surya Kirans will approach us from behind and as everyone swung their heads around -- to see a blue rock pigeon flew past us ;)

The Surya Kiran’s did arrive in style in formation and close to the ground. The formation flying with a “tricolour exhaust” was indeed spectacular!! Their display does inspire you fly!! The synchronized dive and peeling away from each other as they got close to the ground was a breathtaking. It was a good idea to have some of the Captains commands aired on the public address system. It was sad that some of the best manoeuvres weren’t performed as they lost their star pilot recently.

In spite of some minor traffic hassles on the way back it was a day well spent. On asking a four-year old if she enjoyed the show – she didn’t hesitate in saying NO!!! Something for the organizers to think about. Better seating facilities, faster/more security checks, priority for kids at security checks, special shows for kids???

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Hebbal Lake, First Sunday

I went out on my second birding trip today - as part of the "bngbirds" birding event every first sunday of the month at Hebbal lake. This time around I didn't lose much of my sleep as the birding session began at a comfortable time of 7-7.30 A.M. :)

To my surprise I was one of the early birds and spotted the common birds - egrets, pond herons, red wattled lap wings, sandpiper, northern shoveler and the spotted pelicans. By then, the number of birders had swelled to around 20-25 and Subbu placed his "spotting scope" for a closer look at the birds. One of the first birds that we spotted thro' the scope was the spotted billed duck.

We started walking long the lake and spent quite a bit of time listening to the "racket" caused by the red wattled lapwings that were chased by a couple of crows. Bully's everywhere :)

We got a clear view of the cuckoo hawk (brain-fever bird), marsh harrier, eurasian oriole, a juvenile shikra, purple heron and the long tailed shrike.

For me it was a much better birding trip - no rush of spotting the next species, experts to quickly help with the identification and a very friendly birding community. I also that the satisfaction of getting one decent snap - so what if it was only an egret :)

The only disappointment was that I was not able to identify a few "ever busy" warblers.

A word of caution for birders - Don't park your car on the service road near the entrance to the park. Police are on the prowl :) There is a car park area beyond the main entrance that charges Rs. 15 per car.

Related Trip Report: HSBC Bird Race 2009 Birding in Nanjangud Bird Photography in Kumara Park

Thanks to Ranjini for correction on the cuckoo hawk

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Kites Preying on Pigeon

Over the weekend I spotted two black kites sitting together, I thought this to be "rare" occurrence and decided to take some snaps. On closer observation I noticed that the two black kites were having lunch - a blue rock pigeon - much to my excitement! Here are a couple of snaps:

Is this behavior normal? I don't know if the kites hunted down the pigeon or if the pigeon had died due to natural causes. However, a number of pigeons that used to perch on nearby ledges seem to have drastically come down after this event.

This behavior does seem to be normal - based on posts to this query on bngbirds. Similar behavior of kites preying on pigeons have been observed in near Bull Temple in Bangalore and in Jodhpur. Thanks to all who responded to this post on bngbirds.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

HSBC Bird Race 2009

I participated in an a bird race for the first time with Team Pittas comprising of Deepak Mallya, Rahul, Sandeep, Dr. Sriram and yours truly. For the uninitiated, a bird race is a contest wherein you identify as many species of birds as possible in a given time frame within a given area. Of course, the real goal is having fun spotting birds. (Yes, we didn't even win a consolation prize :))

I was real excited as it was the first time that I had set out of home with the explicit idea of spotting birds!! Deepak, Sandeep and I met on Saturday to discuss birding locations - University Campus, Byramangla, Valley School, and Bannerghatta National Park.

Yes, I did wake up at 4:30 A.M. in the morning to go birding. The first thing I spotted was the big dipper in the sky :) Sandeep picked all of us up and drove us to the university campus. We spotted around 15 species at the campus including the pea fowl (peacock).

On the way to Byramangla we spotted Drongos and Munias and stopped to take a few snaps. The farmers took serious offense that we were providing "more respect to the birds than to them"! I can understand where they are coming from - it doesn't pay to grow paddy any more!!

The highlight of birding at Byramangla was the elegant flight of the pelican. We also spotted the black ibis that is supposedly not so common in these areas. Sightings at Byramangala to the bird count to around 35.

We then headed to valley school - this place is awesome for birding. Spotting the paradise fly catcher made my day! By noon we had spotted close to 65 species.

Post 1 P.M. we were not successful in spotting too many birds as our strategy of visiting Bannerghatta didn't pay off as expected. Sandeep had a real bad time navigating the treacherous roads en route.

I must say that I was disappointed with my "bird pictures" - oh, they are avoid cameras like plague :) A slightly better picture was that of a dog and pup. Sandeep has much better pictures - you can visit:

http://howyoudoin.wordpress.com/2009/01/19/bangalore-bird-race-2009-report/

Apart from the bird race, it was really nice to meet folks with serious interest in birding and the amount of time and effort that they spend on it. Must appreciate HSBC for their thoughtfulness in honoring folks who have done a lot towards conservation and caring for birds.

One suggestion for the organizers would be to have penalties (lower scores) for teams who submit entries late - ensures fairness and discipline!!

Related Posts:
Bird Photography in Phoenix
Bird Photograhpy in Kumara Park Wes t
Bird Watching in Nanjangud
Birding in Hebbal Lake

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