Date: Mar 4th, 2021
To get there: [Click here for Google Map].
It is located in South Bangalore on Kanakapura Road in Judicial Layout, Thallagatapura.
Trail type: Paved walking path going around the Lake for 0.5 km
Facilities: None at the lake as of now.
Sometimes we travel a long distance to see birds but ignore good birding places in our neighborhood gardens and nearby lakes. For these, all you need is a couple of hours of free time. Binoculars and shoes are optional! Previously, I had written about other city lakes, Puttenahalli Kere and Doddakallasandra Lake. This time, we visited one such lake, smaller but close enough to just walk to it.
Jogi Kere is that water body to which we paid a visit, a mere 1km walk from our residence. Kere translates to lake in Kannada language and Jogi means a hermit in many Indian languages. Surely, this lake is where one can meditate in the midst of nature! Jogi Kere will barely make the cut as a lake, but it has been cleaned up recently by local folks, government agencies, and NGOs. Sewage inflow is cut for the most part and the foliage in the island and boundaries are beginning to show signs of recovery. The lake itself, unfortunately, follows the ill-advised design of a soup bowl with rocky embankment all around and a walking path on the bund thereby denying the much-needed shore and vegetation near the waterbody for birds to thrive. But somehow nature overcomes and thrives!After a leisurely stroll around the lake, we walked across the road to check in on an abandoned quarry opposite the lake which because it's isolated completely usually has some surprises. This time it was a flock of 10 Lesser Whistling-ducks and a solitary Purple Swamphen among other water birds. By this time the sun was up and it started getting hot. We headed back to our place and finished the neighborhood lake bird walk in around 2 hours.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience for all. Easy walk to experience a healthy urban bird diversity spot in our neighborhood itself. Good luck and kudos to all the workers and volunteers, who are making this experience possible and fighting to retain the water body without letting it get destroyed or encroached. Bangalore needs every one of these gems, big and small, to remain in a healthy natural state for the survival of our feathered friends.
Selected images taken during our visits here can be viewed at the link below.
Checklist of birds seen on Ebird
2 comments:
Thanks for article, i am sure it will encourage many children to visit and experience it.
Great to know that many number of birds are visiting Jogi Kere. Photographs are simply very good.
We know very little of our lakes Biodiversity, please continue visiting and writing.
Today morning i went for a walk in walking pavement in JOGI KERE. Lake seems to be cleaned. Many people come for morning walk. Pavement should be clean. Some gutters smell was coming. I feel need to be checked.
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