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

Bangalore Birding: Third Sunday Trail-15th August 2010

Friends,

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 15th August 2010.

Place : From Nandanavana Layout walk towards East Bannerghatta National Park

Meeting Time : 7.00 am

Meeting Point : Hanuman Temple gate at Nandanavana Layout

Wikimapia Coordinates: 12°46'21"N 77°36'45"E

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. 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 Nandanavana .If traveling in your own car, please do indicate 
if any spare capacity is available. 

For bus/route details to reach the nearest bus stop Koppa Gate ( around two kms 
from the meeting point ) you can log on www.tellmyroute.com

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

Happy Birding,

Geetanjali

Third Sunday Trail- 18th July 2010 - a late report

What a outing it was ....Subbu,MBK,Karthik,Ulhas,Deepa,Vittal...you name it and all the expert birders from Bangalore,were there....A BIG thanks to all who joined in..nearly 120 nature lovers came to Kalkere to have another enjoyable and educative trail.


Here is a very informative link by Deepa Mohan (mohandeepa@gmail.com)
http://deponti.livejournal.com/692295.html


and here is the link of photos by Rajani Chand  ( rajanichand@gmail.com)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lensandglare/sets/72157624405129575/detail/


Here is Durai's link for the pics taken during the trail ( p.durairaj@gmail.com)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/durairaj/sets/72157624569681516/



And finally Mahesh's pics of few of the birds that were spotted
http://www.flickr.com/photos/81mahesh/with/4822964000/

Third Sunday Trail- 18th July 2010

This month's Third Sunday Trail will be on 18th July 2010.

Place : Kalkere Reserve Forest 

Meeting Time : 6.30 am

Meeting Point : Office of Dy.Conservator of Forest,Bannerghatta National Park,Koli Farm gate.( Wikimapia coordinates : 12°50'28"N   77°35'18"E)

Comfortable clothing,good walking shoes, a cap,snacks,water bottle,binocular ( if you have),camera ( if you like to shoot) and rain wear/umbrella is what one needs to join the trail. This outing is free and open to all ages who can walk the trail of around four to five hours. ( This trail is not recommended for children below 12 yrs as the patch may be slushy due to rains)

We recommend car-pooling between participants. While confirming participation please also indicate the contact details and the route you will be taking to reach Koli Farm Bus Stop, where you will alight in case of travelling by bus. If traveling in own car, please do indicate if any spare capacity is available. 


Kindly note that Kalkere Forest comes under Banneghatta National Park,hence a forest guard will accompany the group for the trail. Request everyone to be on time and late comers will not be allowed to enter the forest.

For bus/route details to reach Koli Farm Bus Stop, log on www.tellmyroute.com

Call Mahesh  at 9448384472 or Geetanjali at 9845383882 for confirmation.

Third Sunday Trail-20th June 2010

I missed it again...And feeling terribly sad that I was not around to attend this trail, when Karthik along with Ulhas was there.Their company is a huge learning experience for any one. I was told that everyone was awestruck looking at some of the macros that Karthik showed them.I am very sure it must have been an enriching experience to all the 30+ participants that day.


I am thankful to Anand again ( anand.srinivasa@gmail.com) for compiling the list which is as follows :


Common Tailorbird
Purple Sunbird
Coppersmith Barbet
White Cheeked Barbet (Call Heard)
White breasted Kingfisher
Red Wattled Lapwing
White browed Wagtail
Small Minivet
Rose ringed Parakeet
Paddyfield Pipit
Great Tit 


People are welcome to add to the list if something is missing here. And also look forward to the photo links of the of the outing.


Here is the blog about the outing by Ramesha JS (blr_ramesh@yahoo.com)  
http://rameshjs.wordpress.com/2010/06/22/birding-kalkere_bannerghatta-forest/ 

Group photo by Narayana Sharma

Third Sunday Trail-20th June 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 20th June 2010.

Place : Kalkere Plantation Area

Meeting Time : 7.00  AM

Meeting place : Kalkere Bus Stop


Coordinates: 12°50'7"N   77°35'21"E

Comfortable clothing,good walking shoes, a cap, water bottle,snacks,binocular ( if you have), camera ( if you like to shoot) and rain wear/umbrella 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 . 

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

To know about bus/route details you can log in www.tellmyroute.com
Pl. call Mahesh at 9448384472  or Subir at 9731395620 to confirm

Third Sunday Trail-16th May 2010

Too much of unavoidable travel these days has resulted in my missing the Third Sunday Outings couple of times and this month I was away in Mumbai. It being Mahesh's wedding , it was obvious that he could not make it.And It was very nice and kind of Chandu to have agreed to lead the group and we are sincerely thankful to him.


Its nice to note that group spotted the Yellow Throated Bulbul which we had not listed so far around this area.


Of course we are also thankful to Swami Vishnumayanandaji for providing breakfast to the group and letting the group do the birding in their campus.


Here is the final list by Anand ( anand.srinivasa@gmail.com) and Chandu (cs.bandi@gmail.com)

Babbler, Scimitar

Babbler, (???)

Barbet, White-cheeked

Barbet, Coppersmith

Bee-eater, Little green

Bulbul, Red-vented

Bulbul, Red-whiskered

Bulbul, Yellow-throated

Buschat, Pied

Cormorant, Little

Coucal, Greater

Crow, Jungle

Cuckoo, Pied

Dove, Spotted
Drongo,Black

Egret, Cattle (breeding plumage)

Fly-catcher, Tickell's blue

Heron, Indian pond

Koel, Asian

Kite, Black

Lapwing, Red-wattled

Myna, Common

Prinia, Ashy

Pipit, ???

Robin, Indian

Robin, Oriental Magpie

Sparrow, House

Sunbird, Purple-rumped

Sunbird, Purple

Swallow, red-rumped

Waterhen, white-breasted (S)

White-eye Oriental

Hope we also get the photolinks to be uploaded here.

Third Sunday Nature Trail - 16th May 2010

Hi !

Every third Sunday of the month, few nature lovers  from Bangalore meet up at a spot close to Bannerghatta National Park and go for a nature trail of around three hours to enjoy and create awareness about the rich flora and fauna here.The Third Sunday nature trail for the month of
May will be held on 16th May 2010 at the plantation area of the Ramakrishna Mission School ,Shivanahalli. Meeting point is Ramakrishna Mission School ,Shivanahalli at 6.30 am.

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) ,rain gear for unexpected shower 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. 

You can confirm your participation by calling me at 9845383882.

See you all,

Geetanjali Dhar

Third Sunday Outing - Bird List- April 2010

The scorching heat of April, didnt deter around 22 nature lovers to meet up at Harapanahalli for the Third Sunday Trail around Jigani Lake. During the monsoon this lake literally overflows and  the bund covers Harapanni Halli. ,Koppa Village and Jigani. Now the water is drying up and stagnant mostly towards Jigani Village.Apart from the usual sightings , the new entrant to the list spotted during Third Sunday is the Ashy Crowned Sparrow Lark. I am thankful to Saandip Nandagudi who has compiled this list.Here it is :


1.       Paddyfield Pipit
2.       Indian Silverbill
3.       Little Cormorant
4.       Little Egret
5.       Grey Wagtail
6.       House Sparrow M+F
7.       Common Myna M+F
8.       House Crow M+F
9.       Pied Kingfisher
10.   Common Kingfisher
11.   White Throated Kingfisher
12.   Rufous Treepie
13.   Common Iora M+F
14.   Red Wattled Lapwing
15.   Yellow Wattled Lapwing
16.   Pheasant Tailed Jacana
17.   Red Rumped Swallow
18.   Barn Swallow
19.   Baya Weaver
20.   Purple Heron
21.   Pond Heron
22.   Darter
23.   Black Kite
24.   Scaly Breasted Munia
25.   Spotted Dove
26.   Ashy Crowned Sparrow Lark
27.   Plain Prinia
28.   Ashy Prinia
29.   Greater Coucal
30.   Rose Ringed Parakeet
31.   Cattle Egret
32.   Common Coot
33.   Purple Swamphen
34.   White Cheeked Barbet
35.   Coppersmith Barbet
36.   Asian Koel M+F
37.   Brahminy Kite
38.   White Browed Wagtail
39.   Spot Billed Ducks
40    Green Bee Eater
41    Black Drongo
And of course there was continuous call of the Francolin, which never showed up though.

Here is the link to view Saandip's photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/saandipng/sets/72157623764554213/

And here is the link to the photos taken by me
http://picasaweb.google.com/itnatureclub/ThirdSundayTrail18thApril2010#

Durai's photos can be see at
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2055429&id=1539872191&l=43c6cd1320

Third Sunday Outing -18th April 2010

This month's Third Sunday Trail will be on 18th April  2010.

Place : Harapanahalli to Jigani Lake

Meeting Time : 6.30 AM

Meeting place : Harapanahalli Bus Stop

Google Map Coordinates : 12.791939, 77.623370

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. Pl. also carry rain wear for the unexpected showers we may encounter.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 Harapanahalli. If traveling in your own car, please do indicate if any spare capacity is available. 

Folks who would like to come and stay overnight pl. confirm earliest so that we can make adequate arrangements.

Call Geetanjali at 9845383882 or Mahesh at 9448384472 to confirm .