Third Sunday Trail - 20th February 2011-Ramakrishna Mission Campus,Shivanahalli

Its time again to reconnect with nature, and enjoy the flora and fauna around Bannerghatta.

This month's Third Sunday Trail will be held on 20th February 2011.

Meeting point is Ramakrishna Mission School ,Shivanahalli at 6.30 am.

Wikimapia coordinates :  12°43'19"N   77°34'21"E

Trail route is Mission School to Plantation area and Bannerghatta Forest Patch behind the campus.

Comfortable clothing,Good walking shoes, a Cap, water bottle & snacks ,Binocular ( if you have), a camera ( if you like to shoot) ,is what you need.Free and open to all ages who can walk this trail of around three hours .

How to reach Shivanahalli ? Take the Bannerghatta Road from the Bangalore City. Cross the Bannerghatta National Park - the road curves to the left at that place near the Bannerghatta Police Station. Proceed further towards Jigani Industrial township. Halfway, on the right handside you will see the Ramakrishna Mission, Shivanahalli hoarding. (You will also notice a Swamy Ayyappa temple hoarding). Take a right turn there and drive for about 10 kms. Do not take any side roads (rare and few) that you will come along . Travelling through the Bannerghatta National Park reserved forest, you will have to cross the Ragihalli village to come over to Shivanahalli. The Ramakrishna Mission is located at the entrance of the Shivanahalli village.

We recommend car-pooling between participants. While confirming participation please also indicate your contact details and the route you will be taking to reach.If traveling in your own car, please do indicate if any spare capacity is available.

You can confirm your participation by calling me at 9845383882. or Mahesh at 9448384472.

See you all,

Geetanjali Dhar

Third Sunday Trail-16h January 2011 - Check List

HSBC Bird Race meant that almost all the birders will be taking part in the event...at least that is what I thought...I wasn't taking part due to an engagement nor was Mahesh, hence decided to explore the Haragadde area for the trail. I wasn't expecting more than five or six people including myself, but it was nice to see a small group of around fourteen turning up for the trail.

Haragadde is a small village close to Jigani Industrial Estate , on the way to Anekal.A quick search on google says that the name Haragadde came from "Haruvara Gadde" which means fields of Brahmins. The village was referred as "Khagapuri (town of cranes)" in puranas. It must have been so nice if those cranes were to be seen now....Haragadde of the Kalyug is becoming increasingly a dumping ground for the industrial units surrounding the village.Entire lake is being fenced now to check on the illegal fishing and encroachments.Right now, the lake is drying up except in patches where there is water,yet on the previous day on my recce I had seen many ducks, which were not to be seen on Sunday.

Our birding began on a foggy note..apart from the regular sightings it was good to see the Blue-tailed Bee-eaters and two spotted owlets on two different trees.A Marsh Harrier gave good photo ops. for people with Big Lens with several aerial actions. The trail was rounded off with the sighting of River Terns at Harapanahalli Lake and of course breakfast at good old Lotus restaurant.

Here is the check list of birds :

1) Red Avadavat
2)White-cheeked Barbet
3) Common Babbler
4) White-cheeked Barbet
5) Blue-tailed Bee-eater
6) Green Bee-eater
7) Red-whiskered Bulbul
8) Red-vented Bulbul
9) Pied Bushchat
10)Common Coot
11) Little Cormorant
12) Greater Coucal
13) Large Billed Crow
14) Spotted Dove
15) Black Drongo
16) Spot-billed Duck
17) Cattle Egret
18) Intermediate Egret
19) Francolin ( Call)
20) Eurasian Marsh Harrier
21) Indian Pond Heron
22) Purple Heron
23) Common Hoopoe
24) Bronze-winged Jacana
25) White-throated Kingfisher
26) Common Kingfisher
27) Black Kite
28) Black-shouldered Kite
29) Asian Koel
30) Red-wattled Lapwing
31) Black-headed Munia
32) Common Myna
33) Eurasian Golden Oriole
34) Spotted Owlet
35) Rose-ringed Parakeet
36) Paddyfield Pipit
37) Plain Prinia
38) Oriental Magpie Robin
39) Indian Roller
40) Common Sandpiper
41) Brown Shrike
42) Indian Silverbill
43) House Sparrow
44) Purple-rumped Sunbird
45) Red-rumped Swallow
46) Wire-tailed Swallow
47) Purple Swamphen
48) River Tern
49) White-browed Wagtail

And also an unidentified warbler, though it gave us several opportunities see it, but hardly sat still to id it properly...

Third Sunday Trail - 16th January 2011-Haragadde Village

Hi!

Its time again to reconnect with nature, and enjoy the flora and fauna around Bannerghatta.This month's Third Sunday Trail will be on 16th January 2011.

Place :Around Haragadde Lake and Village 
Meeting Time : 6.30 AM
Meeting place : Haragadde Bus Stop (Wikimapia coordinates 12°45'50"N   77°39'14"E)


Comfortable clothing,good walking shoes, a cap, water bottle,binocular ( if you have), a camera ( if you like to shoot)  and snacks is what you need to join the trail. This outing is free and open to all ages who can walk the trail of around four to five hours . 

Please note that there is no bus connectivity in the morning to Haragadde.( www.tellmyroute.com) Whoever is opting to travel by bus can reach Jigani and join the others who will be coming by their own vehicle.While confirming participation please also indicate your contact details and the route you will be taking to reach the meeting point. If traveling in your own car, please do indicate if any spare capacity is available. 

Call me at 9845383882 or Mahesh at 9448384472 to confirm .

Happy birding



Geetanjali

Third Sunday Trail- 19th Dec 2010

I think this is the first time I am posting about the last trail so late..... and can be easily excused as I was travelling and now back in Bangalore , catching with my pending works and of course "Face Booking".

I missed the outing terribly because Deepa,Vittal were there and of course with Subbu around, I am sure the group must have learnt so much from him.

Here are the links to the blogs and the pictures.

Deepa as usually was super fast in posting on her blog

http://deponti.livejournal.com/757265.html

Here is the one from Ramakrishna Shenoy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52168393@N02/sets/72157625630202480/

This is from Priyanka Varma

http://www.flickr.com/photos/priyankavarma/

Ramesha JS posted his photographs here

http://rameshjs.wordpress.com/2010/12/20/nature-walk-on-jigani-lake-bund_dec-iii-sunday-bird-watch/

Sushil's beautiful pictures are here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sushilkatre/sets/72157625520618571/

Vinayak Vardi has this one share

http://picasaweb.google.com/107045994115050230460/BirdingIndia#

Third Sunday Trail-19th December 2010

Hi!

Its time again to reconnect with nature, and enjoy the flora and fauna around Bannerghatta.This month's Third Sunday Trail will be on 19th December 2010.

Place : Jigani Lake
Meeting Time : 6.30 AM
Meeting place : Jigani Lake
Wikimapia Coordinates :12°47'12"N   77°38'15"E


There are many buses to Jigani Bus Stand from K.R.Market as well as Majestic. One can get down at Jigani Bus Stand, walk towards the Jigani market and you will see a Shiva Wines board on your left. Turn left there and ask for Jigani Kere. Its just few meters away from this turn.
Comfortable clothing,good walking shoes, a cap, water bottle,binocular ( if you have), a camera ( if you like to shoot) rain wear for unexpected showers and snacks is what you need to join the trail. This outing is free and open to all ages who can walk the trail of around four to five hours . 


Call Siubir at 9731395620  or Mahesh at 9448384472 to confirm .

Happy birding,

Geetanjali

Third Sunday Trail - 21st November-List

The road from Mahatlingapura to Harohalli has been a favourite one for long drives with lots of greenery with paddy fields and forest patches around it..hence, I knew it will be a good place for birding too....so instead of the earlier plan of going to Harohalli Lake, Mahesh and myself decided that we should opt for the open landscape around Urganadoddi for this month's trail...of course Mahesh missed this excellent spot of birding as he had to go for his honeymoon trip.

It was nice to see a mix of amateurs and experts in the group of around 28 of us. Vittal ,as usual has been so helpful with his knowledge and expertise specially about the spider and insect world.

Also thankful to Arun Ramu and others who could pool others in their vehicles so that all of us reached the place without much effort...and we wound up the session by having our breakfast at good old Lotus ( Sorry Vittal, you missed this ....)

Here is the list of birds :

1) Scaly-breasted Munia

2) Indian Silverbill

3) Red Avadavat ( A pair)

4) House Sparrow

5) Paddyfield Pipit

6) White Browed Wgatail

7) Purple Rumped Sunbird

8) Jungle Babbler

9) Common Tailorbird

10) Unid. warbler

11) Ashy Prinia

12) Plain Prinia

13) White Browed Bulbul

14) Red vented Bulbul

15) Red Rumped Swallow

16) Great Tit

17) Common Myna

18) Indian Robin

19) Pied Bushchat

20) Blue Rock Thrush

21) Black Drongo

22) House Crow

23) Large Billed Crow

24) Eurasian Golden Oriole

25) Oriental Honey Buzzard

26) Pallid Harrier

27) Black Shouldered Kite

27) Red-wattled Lapwing

28) Rock Pigeon

29) Laughing Dove

30) Spotted Dove

31) Rose-ringed Parakeet

32) Coucal

33) Pied Cuckoo

34) Green Bee-eater

35) White-throated Kingfisher

36) Indian Roller

Here are the pictures taken by Arun Ramu

Here is the link to photos taken by Ramakrishna

http://www.flickr.com/photos/52168393@N02/sets/

Here is the link to pics taken by Saandip

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saandipng/sets/72157625333479547/

Durairaj's link of the pictures taken during the trail

http://www.flickr.com/photos/durairaj/sets/72157625357230051/

Third Sunday Trail-21st November 2010

Its time again to reconnect with nature, and enjoy the flora and fauna around Bannerghatta.

This month's Third Sunday Trail will be on 21st November 2010.

Place : Road connecting Urganadoddi to Harohalli ( Wikimapia Coordinates :12°44'17"N   77°36'16"E

Meeting Time : 6.30 AM

Meeting place : Bannerghatta Circle ( Nr.Police Station)

Comfortable clothing,good walking shoes, a cap, water bottle,binocular ( if you have), a camera ( if you like to shoot) rain wear for unexpected showers and snacks is what you need to join the trail. This outing is free and open to all ages who can walk the trail of around four to five hours . 

Please note that there is no bus connectivity in the morning to Urganadoddi. Whoever is opting to travel by bus can reach Bannerghatta Circle and join the others who will be coming by their own vehicle.While confirming participation please also indicate your contact details and the route you will be taking to reach Bannerghatta Circle. If traveling in your own car, please do indicate if any spare capacity is available. 

Call me at 9845383882 or Mahesh at 9448384472 to confirm .

Third Sunday Trail-17th October 2010

I was not really sure if I could make it to the Third Sunday outing as I had returned back from my Spiti Tour just the previous day and wanted to catch up with my sleep.But Shivanahalli has been a favorite ground for birding and did not wish to miss it ,hence hopped on with Mahesh who took the effort in co-ordinating this trail.


Swamiji had kept the tea ready for the participants and around 35 of us had as usual great time spotting many birds. This time around the trail was to Doddabetta and many in the group were lucky to spot a male elephant from here. And another interesting sighting was of Drosera..the insect eating plant.As always Swamiji made sure that we had  hot Upma with Chutney and coffee to soothe our tired but happy soul and stomach after the trail.


Here are the list of birds which we spotted :


Flameback ( in flight )
White Breasted Kingfisher
Green Bee-eater
Coucal
Rose Ringed Parakeet
House Swift
Rock Pigeon
Laughing Dove
Black Kite
Short Toed Snake Eagle (?)in flight
Sparrow Hawk (?) in flight
Oriental Honey Buzzard
Long Tailed Shrike
Rufous Treepie
Oriole ( waiting for the pic to confirm it)
Small Minivet
White Bellied Drongo
Black Drongo
Asian Paradise Flycatcher
Common Iora
Indian Robin
Common Myna
Red Whiskered Bulbul
Oriental White Eye
Ashy Prinia
Purple Sunbird
House Sparrow
Red Avadavat
Scaly Breasted Munia
Indian Silverbill


As usual waiting for the photo links as there were two birds which none of us could id...
Meanwhile enjoy Deepa's post about the outing at
http://deponti.livejournal.com/727433.html

Here is the link to some of the beautiful photos shot by Girish (girish.mayachari@gmail.com)
http://picasaweb.google.com/mgrishi/3rdSundayOutingShivanahalli181010#

Here's the beautiful image of the Drosera by Vinay Narayana Swamy http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4090/5183790667_fd2962fbeb_b.jpg

Third Sunday Trail-19th September 2010 - Jaipuradoddi

Green Bee-Eater  Arun Ramu

My self and Subir spotted a Jackal , while on our recce the previous evening to Jaipurdoddi. It was a great moment for us to watch a wild animal close to our home apart from the elephants. I was tearing my hair apart for not carrying my camera as the Jackal neatly posed in front of our car for nearly a minute and then disappeared. The villagers, forest watchers whom we met that day, warned us again of the lone male elephant on the prowl . And we were hoping that we can spot him during the trail.

But no such luck for the 35+  of us. However, a walk on wild side is always exciting when you have Deepa and Vittal in the group. We are thankful to Karthikeyan who managed to be with us in spite of his hectic schedule and his presence meant, apart from looking up, we could look around and look below to learn about trees,flowers,butterflies and insects.

Tiger Beetle - Photo courtesy : Arun Ramu

With the help of the forest watcher who is a resident of the village ,we could enter a small patch of the forest.

It was nice to see the Amstutzes with their kids enjoying the outing.

And so was the youngest nature lover of the day!

Ashiwni spotted a Raqcuet Tailed Drongo, which may be a vagrant as being discussed on the bngbirds forum. 


Deepa's ( mohandeepa@gmail.com) as always excellent trail report is at 
http://deponti.livejournal.com/713330.html


And here is her photo link of the trail
http://picasaweb.google.com/mohandeepa/3rdSundayBngbirdsOutingJaipurdoddi190910#


Here is the link of pics taken by me
http://picasaweb.google.co.in/itnatureclub/ThirdSundayNatureTrail19thSep2010Jaipurdoddi#


Ramesha's photo links of the outing
http://picasaweb.google.com/rameshjs/Sept3rdSundayBirdingJaipuraDoddi#


Girish Mayachari's photo links
http://picasaweb.google.com/mgrishi/Jaipurdoddi



Here is this Sunday's list ( thanks to Deepa & Ashiwni -nashu82@yahoo.com) :

Babbler, Jungle
Babbler, Yellow-eyed
Barbet, Coppersmith
Barbet, White-cheeked
Bulbul, Red-vented
Bulbul, Red-whiskered
Bulbul, White-browed
Bushchat, Pied
Buzzard, Oriental Honey
Crow, House
Crow, Jungle
Cuckoo, Pied
Drongo, Black
Drongo,Raquet Tailed ( ? )
Drongo, White-bellied
Eagle, Black
Eagle, Crested Serpent
Egret, Little
Flowerpecker, Pale-billed
Heron, Pond
Kingfisher, White-breasted
Kite, Black
Kite, Black-winged
Kite, Brahminy
Lark, Indian Bush
Leafbird, Blue-winged
Malkoha, Blue-faced
Munia, Scaly-breasted
Mynah, Common
Mynah, Jungle
Owlet, Spotted
Parakeets, Plum-headed
Parakeets, Rose-ringed
Pigeon, Blue Rock
Prinia, Ashy
Prinia, Plain
Shikra
Shrike, Bay-backed
Shrike, Larger Cuckoo
Shrike, Long-tailed
Silverbill
Sparrow, House
Sunbird, Purple-rumped
Swallow, Barn
Swallow, Red-rumped
Swallow,Wire-tailed
Swift, House
Tailorbird
Weaver, Baya
White-eye,Oriental


Butterflies


Blue, Grass
Blue, Zebra
Castor, Common
Coaster, Tawny
Crow, Common
Emigrant, Common
Jezebel, Common
Jewel, Grass
Yellow, Common Grass
Yellow, Three-ring Grass
Tiger, Blue
Tiger, Plain


Beetle, Tiger
Centipedes
Dragonflies and Damselflies, Various
Millipedes
Moth, Owl-Eye 

Third Sunday Trail-19th September 2010

Its time again to reconnect with nature, and enjoy the flora and fauna around Bannerghatta.


This month's Third Sunday Trail will be held on 19th September 2010.


Place : Around Jaipurdoddi Village


Meeting Time : 7.00 am


Meeting Point : Balaji Tea Shop in Jaipurdoddi Village


Wikimapia Coordinates: 12°42'30"N   77°34'10"E


Reaching Jaipurdoddi : Take the Bannerghatta Road from the Bangalore City. Cross the Bannerghatta National Park - the road curves to the left at the Bannerghatta Police Station. Proceed further towards Jigani. Halfway, on the right hand side you will see the Ramakrishna Mission, Shivanahalli hoarding. (You will also notice a Swamy Ayyappa temple hoarding). This is Ragihalli Gate Bus Stop.Take a right turn there and drive for about 11 kms. Do not take any side roads (rare and few) that you will come along . Travelling through the Bannerghatta National Park reserved forest, you will have to cross the Ragihalli village to come over to Shivanahalli.Once at Shivanahhalli Village, take the new road on the right which leads to Jaipurdoddi. 


Comfortable clothing,good walking shoes, cap,snacks,water bottle,binocular ( if you have),camera ( if you like to shoot),rain wear/umbrella and a note book & pen if you like to list the things that you see, is what you need to join 
the trail.Pl. also use mosquito repellenet creme while on this trail. This outing is free and open to all ages who can walk the trail of around four to five hours.


We recommend car-pooling between participants. While confirming participation please also indicate your contact details and the route you will be taking to reach.If traveling in your own car, please do indicate 
if any spare capacity is available. 


Pl. call me at 9845383882 or Mahesh at 9448384472 to confirm.

Third Sunday Trail-15th August 2010

It was a very exciting Third Sunday Nature Trail for many of the 33 nature lovers when they spotted the Red Necked Falcon at Nandanavana Layout. 

Photo by Arun Ramu

Photo by Arun Ramu

This was a lifer for many and I had to content with just looking at the image in some of the cameras as I joined the group a bit late.It was also exciting to see the Baya weaver birds gathering the nest material to impress the "lady".

 

                                                                                         
Two budding naturalists made their impact too. Venkat Holla's lovely kids enthusiastically spotted many a insects and other small creatures. Hope to see them again.

A scorpion like creature managed to attract everyone's attention when a young member of the group spotted it. Sudhir has id.d it as Whip Scorpion


Here are two of his photo links
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sudhirnaik/4898387602/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sudhirnaik/4897885262/

                                                                   Baya Weaver
Thanks to Mahesh ( mahesh81chand@yahoo.com) for locating this place, and hope to extend the trail a bit longer in future ,as I am sure, we will have many more gems out there.

 Indian Silver Bills

Here is the list of all that was seen..again thanks to Anand (anand.srinivasa@gmail.com) for promptly compiling the list.

• Chestnut Headed Bee-eater
• Green Bee-eater
• Red-necked Falcon
• Oriental Honey Buzzard
• Black Kite
• Rufous-tailed Lark
• Baya Weaver
• Scaly-breasted Munia
• Black-headed Munia
• Indian Silverbill
• White-browed Bulbul
• Red-whiskered Bulbul
• Red-vented Bulbul
• Red-rumped Swallow
• Grey Francolin
• Oriental White-eye
• Great Tit
• Purple Rumped Sunbird
• Little Cormorant
• Indian Robin
• Greater Coucal
• White-breasted Kingfisher
• White-browed Wagtail
• Plain Prinia
• Ashy Prinia
• Black Drongo
• Blue-faced Malkoha (Doubtful)
• Rose-ringed Parakeet
• Red-wattled Lapwing
• Laughing Dove
• Spotted Dove
• Hare
• Whip Scorpion

Sarthak Singhal's photo link can be found here.

http://bit.ly/NandavanaLayout