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