Canopy 2009 Photo Contest

Well, a side trip on my part where I submitted a few on my photographs to the Photo Contest conducted by ATREE along with the organizers of 5th Canopy International Conference held at IISc Bangalore. It was judged by eminent persons in the field of wildlife photography and nature conservation:- Ganesh H Shankar, Mark Moffet, Shekar Dattatri, Sandesh Kadur. So, it was a pleasant surprise when my image taken during our Muthodi trip was given the 1st prize. I sincerely feel 90% of the credit should go to the Langur which posed for me so well with the forest canopy in the background, tailormade for this contest! 10% to me for taking and entering this image into the contest. :) 2nd place was given to Kalyan Varma for a technically difficult and beautiful image of fireflies in the night, 3rd place to Ashwini Kumar Bhat who entered a mesmerizing image of a shadow creeping across lush canopy.


My 2 shortlisted images were:

The image was taken in Timber Yard, Dandeli during a Bird-watching trip. We had finished going around the place and were returning to our vehicle. I lagged behind taking shots of the sunset seen from between the foliage. The cut and neatly piled logs gave a contrast to the nature that we were trying to find and enjoy. I composed the shot to highlight it and got this exposure after a few tries.






Early morning views of Muthodi forest range are magical from the Sheeghekhan Estates which is located on top of a small hill. We were in the balcony before dawn and enjoying the blankets of mist over the canopy before the rising sun slowly started melting them away. A langur was also sitting on a branch some distance away basking in the morning sun. Its peaceful posture with the backdrop of the Canopy was a wonderful sight and it captured the moment very well.

Sangam and Meke Dhatu: A walk alongside a river...

Location: Sangam and Meke Dhatu, 30km from Kanakpura town
Date: Jul 12th 2009
To get there: [Click here for Google Map]. Go on Kanakpura Road from Bangalore. Take a left turn at the 2nd circle when going through Kanakpura town. Ask the locals for way to Sangam to make sure you don't take the wrong turn. This road leads directly to Sangam. Road condition was good all through except for short patches. You will also enjoy a bit of Ghat section with 3 hairpin bends couple of kilometers before Sangam. From Sangam, you have to cross the river and then have the option of a trek or bus to reach Meke Dhatu which is about 5km away.
Distance: Kanakpura is about 60kms from Bangalore. Sangam is another 30 kms from there.
Trail type: From Sangam to Meke Dhatu. Dirt track, wide enough for a Bus. There were parallel walking tracks which may have taken us closer to the river but we didn't get a chance to explore them.
Facilities: Couple of Darshini like places in Kanakpura. Lots of Roadside shops in Sangam selling chips/juices etc. A decent looking restaurant called "Tender Coconut" was also there but we didn't try it. Juice and snacks also available at Meke Dhatu. We spotted a brand new toilet facility at Sangam...which again we didn't really check! :)

After a really long time since our Muthurayana Betta trip we were set to go to what we hoped was another good "family" trekking spot. We settled on Sangam/Meke Dhatu or Mekedhatu as its on our side of Bangalore (south). Sangam is where the river Arkavathy meets Cauvery. Meke Dhatu is a nice spot where Cauvery flows through a narrow gorge of spectacular rock formations. The group comprised of 6 adults and 7 children from 4 to 11yrs. All could comfortably fit into an Innova and SX4 which spared me from taking my Indigo also!

So, Sunday morning 8am saw us on the road to Kanakpura, packed with a picnic style breakfast and looking forward to a nice trek and good weather. The drive was great especially from Kanakpura to Sangam where we get to see panoramic views of the hill ranges. The final little bit of Ghat section adds to the excitement.
Soon we were at Sangam and after unloading the food bags stood staring at the river wondering how we could cross without getting totally wet. This section of the river is quite broad with patches of land and rock scattered around. We spotted a White-breasted Kingfisher dive and catch a fish from the water surface before flying away with it which is a fantastic sight to see. There were also lots of White-browed wagtails around. Strategically, we waited and watched others crossing before deciding on a path where the water seemed to come only up to the thighs for adults and nearly the waist for the kids. Bags distributed and toddlers carried by adults....we ventured out into the river and reached the other side safely. The same could not be said for the return trip....more on that later. Since it was already 10am....first order of business was breakfast. Once done we enquired about the shuttle bus for the return trip from Meke Dhatu as we knew 4-5km trek both ways would be quite strenuous. The bus itself is quite a sight and one wonders how it is still running... esp along the rough dirt road between Sangam and Meke Dhatu. Anyway, on the advice of the bus folks, we bought the 40rs round trip ticket even though we intended to trek at least one way. The round trip ticket would enable us to catch it anywhere on the route in case the kids were too tired to complete the trek... a kind of hop-on, hop-off! :)
We started out bravely with the goal of trekking all the way to Meke Dhatu. The older kids set a fast pace and were soon out of sight from the second group with the toddlers. We managed to make it to about 3 kms before the younger kids were tired and the shuttling bus was a welcome sight which we promptly boarded for the last kilometer or so. The trail is a dusty road with great views on both sides. River Cauvery flows about 50mtrs from this road all the way. Hills and a shrub jungle make up the other side. It may be possible to take some side trails for a bit of adventure but we didn't attempt that. I also noticed some kind of viewing point on top of a hill, so surely there must be some path to reach that. Next time maybe.



Meke Dhatu spot itself was wonderful. From the end point where the dust road ends, one has to descend about 50feet using roughly cut steps and footholds in the rock face. At the bottom there is a nice and fairly clean sandy spot for toddlers to play. Scramble over the boulders there and you get to see the awesome sight of the river hurtling along in the deep gorge. The name of the place meaning goat (meke) crossing (dhatu) in kannada is probably not relevant now as it is too wide for any normal goat to jump across. Maybe it was narrower some time back? When we went it was not wet or slippery. If it is wet, as is often the case, one has to be very careful as a fall is usually fatal! The area around here had the customary trash and stink in some places but the sights of the rocks and river more than made up for it. After spending about 30mins or so here we got back to Sangam taking the bus all the way.

The return river crossing was not trouble free. At 1pm, river was more crowded than at 10am filled with people who liked to splash and rag the river crossers. The path we took was direct and slightly different from the one we took before. This however was a little deeper and we all got wet up to the waist with the older kids up to the shoulders. Only when the group reached the other side did we realize that we had cellphones in our pockets! 2 of them came through the bath fine while 3 others went dead with quite a bit of water logging in them. Big lesson: Keep your cell phones safe and dry when crossing the river! Thankfully the cellphones got back their life after some repair else it would have ended up as the costliest trek ever for us! After some futile attempts to dry ourselves we heading back to Bangalore for lunch. The pizza hut guy did not comment on the bunch of wet people who walked in around 3 for a well deserved lunch! Maybe it is quite normal there given Bangalore's weather these days... :)

Overall the trip was good and better than we expected. Sangam s dirty and crowded and not worth staying too long. The trail from Sangam to Meke Dhatu is quite nice and can be done slowly to enjoy it better. Meke Dhatu itself is wonderful and has great sights to be savoured.
So, if you do make it... please do not litter the place especially in the wilderness areas. There are some bins at Sangam which can be used to dispose your trash.

You can find more images from the trip uploaded to picasa.
http://picasaweb.google.com/naturerambles/SangamMekeDhatuTrek

Bangalore Bird Race - Jan 2009 : Grey Junglefowls

Locations: Valley School, Lakes along Kanakpura Road (Kaggalipur, Gabbadi or Akka-thangi, Harohalli), Byramangala Tank
Date: 18th Jan 2009, 6am to 5pm

January in Bangalore means the HSBC birdrace which is held the 3rd Sunday of each year. I was fortunate to team up again as the Grey Junglefowls with Harish, Arun and Sridhar. However Balesh was replaced by Raghavendra this time around. Last year (report), we did fairly well bagging 85 but the focus was more on the fun side than really competing as we enjoyed camping the previous night, did late night astronomy and had good food all through. So, this year we made a pledge to reach atleast a respectable 100 which meant the need for some preparations. The first decision to make was north or south Bangalore. After much debate south was picked more for a change from last year than anything else. Plan was to spend most of our morning at Valley school and in the afternoon visit the lakes along Kanakpura road.

So, there we were, up before dawn and parked along the road to Valley school around 6.15am. Just like last year, first light brought along with it a burst of calls and experts started calling out the bird names. I have to confess that I still could only make out the Red-wattled Lapwing and maybe the Red-whiskerd Bulbul. Have to work on this important skill. The thrill this time was we heard the call of our team bird ie Grey Junglefowl which we had missed last year. The sun brought up along with it lots of bird activity. We managed to tag Bulbuls, Babblers, Golden Oriole, Shrike, Greater Flameback woodpecker among others before we even reached the school gate.

After getting the required permission, we took a path which goes through the school, next to a man made pond and reached some paddy fields on the other side of the school. Using a roundabout route we got back on the road which leads back to the parking lot. If that sounded long, it was. I feel we trekked maybe 4-5km in about 6 hrs making it back to the car around 12+. Near the pond, Harish along with Raghavendra scaled a viewing platform quite adroitly and called out Common Kingfisher, Cormorant from up there. While trekking the paths we kept a constant look out in the dense shrub for Indian Pitta with no luck.


At the paddy fields we were rewarded with good views of a Grey - bellied Cuckoo (ID confirmed later). Near the valley school guesthouses a Tickels Blue Flycatcher was happily singing. Harish mentioned that it jerks its tail up in exact sync with the number of notes in its call, which I thought was pretty neat. It was confirmed to be true by our amateur observations at that time. He also noted that the Tickels Blue likes to nest in the cup shaped barks of the wild date palms (Phoenix sylvestris) of which there were several. Around that area we were able to observe a Copper-smith Barbet for a long time digging away actively at a tree. One of the most colorfull birds I feel. We also saw a Monarch Flycatcher (or The Black-naped Blue Flycatcher), Monarch azurea briefly. I say briefly because I had only a glimpse and spent the short amount of time it posed for us trying to photograph it, in which I failed also. A bit disappointing there as it is a very beautiful bird. On the road back, we were very lucky to spot a pair of Common Rosefinches which we later nominated as our bird of the day.

We now got back onto Kanakpura road and made stops at lakes along the way. Kaggalipura Tank gave us Sandpipers, Little Ringed Plovers, Egrets etc. We stopped for our lunch in a school yard beside a large lake. Here, we could add only a Black headed Ibis which flew by but our bodies got a much needed boost of energy at this stop! Next lake Gabbadi (or Akka-Thangi Kere) which in reality is a twin waterbody one hidden behind a bund was a little better with many Garganeys and Pintails. We continued until we reached Harohalli which has a large lake near its Bus Stand. Here there was quite a bit of water plants and therefore a lot of swamp birds. We checked off Purple Swamphen, Common Coot, Moorhen, Purple Heron, Spot-billed Pelican, etc., An Oriental Honey buzzard gave us several fly-bys at this spot.


The time then was around 3pm and we had about an hour of birding left. We drove on towards Byramangala hoping for more ducks. On the way we added Black shouldered kite and Tree pipit. The tank itself is very huge but was disappointing birds wise. My first visit here and I got to know where all our garbage ends up! Not a very pleasant sight. We saw Glossy Ibises, Wagtails, Sandpipers among others thriving prosperously here. The drive back was uneventful with quick stops again near the previously visited lakes yielding nothing more.

Though this time around we tried to focus on the "race" we still found time to just simply explore for natures sake and ended up with some more knowledge in the bargain. How a Shrike stands as a lookout, notes on Tickells Blue Flycatcher behaviour, palm swifts build nests using saliva, etc..etc. Nature with its never ending mysteries to be understood, learnt and unravalled can never be boring! And ya, this time we did manage to crack 100. Final count 105. Winning team, Pied-Harriers had a count of 145!

More bird pictures taken during the day can be seen on Picasa

Notable birds from our checklist:

1. White-browed Bulbul
2. Black-headed Cuckooshrike
3. Grey-bellied Cuckoo
4. Ashy Drongo
5. Garganey
6. Northern Pintail
7. Crested Serpent Eagle
8. Short-toed Snake Eagle
9. Asian Brown Flycatcher
10. Black-naped Monarch Flycatcher
11. White-browed Fantail
12. Pheasant-tailed Jacana
13. Small Minivet
14. Spotted Owlet
15. Tree Pipit
16. Common Rosefinch
17. Rosy Starling
18. Ashy Woodswallow
19. River Tern
20. Black-winged Stilt
21. Little-ringed Plover

Trek to Muthurayana Betta

• Location: MuthurayanaBetta, Kanakpura Road, Near Bangalore
  Date: Apr 12th 2008
  To get there: [Click here for Google Map]. Go on Kanakapura Road from Bangalore. After Kaglipura or Kaggalipura, you will get Somanahalli. Less than a kilometer later you will hit Ravgodlu junction. There is just a bus stop platform here and a large arch across the Road (29.6.2020: The arch is gone. Road widening. Junction comes right after NASA Hotel). Turn left onto a tar road. Drive for about 2km, passing the village Ravgodlu on the way, until you see a dirt road turning right towards the hills. The hill on the right is Muthurayana Betta. There is a huge tree and platform here where you can park the car and walk the rest of the way or you can drive your vehicle on the dirt track along the hedge, all the way to the foothill.
  Distance: Ravgodlu turn off on Kanakpura Road is about 30km from Basavanagudi. From there the hill is about 2km.
  Trail type: There is no real proper trail, just paths made by the local folks. It is about 1km to 1.5km to the top. Elevation gain should be about 1000ft is my guess.
  Facilities: Nothing much close to the "trail head" near the main road. There was a village about a kilometer before where there may be small shops. Other than that its shops along Kanakapura road before the Ravgodlu turnoff for last minute purchases. No rest room facilities either...
  
  We had decided on this trek based on very little information in the Internet. However, the kids had done this with Woody Adventures, so at least we knew there was a hill and it was climbable by 6 yr olds! Based on just this much information, we left Basavanagudi around 7.30am in 2 cars with 5 adults and 6 kids from 3 yrs to 11yrs and lots of food! Along the way there was a partially dried up lake, few kms after NICE interchange, with several Painted Storks. A good start to our trip!
  
  Reached the turn off to the hill around 8.30am and decided to park under the tree and walk the dirt track. Turned out to be a good decision as we saw Indian Robins, Bulbuls, Green Bee-eater, Pond heron, Night heron, Egrets and a White breasted Kingfisher! Everybody now got into bird watching mode and were able to enjoy the energetic morning activity of these birds. Kids enjoyed watching several frogs in a muddy pond, which chose to stare at us for a while and then disappear into the muddy depths. After maybe a kilometer of walking, we were at the foothill and decided to energize ourselves before tackling the climb. Soon, all were munching on biscuits, buns and sandwiches.
  
  
  
  Stomach filled, we enquired with a local person as to any paths to the top. He suggested a way and was confident that all of us will be able to do it quite easily. With the new found knowledge we started our climb and were soon scrambling up boulders etc. Soon we were half way up in a saddle like area with great views. But we had run out of time as it was now nearly half past 10. Goal was to get back to Bangalore by noon, so reluctantly decided to spend some time at this "base camp" and then head down.
  
  
  On the way down, we were able to enjoy the flight of an Egyptian Vulture which hovered for quite sometime over us. Once back to the foothill area, we helped ourselves to some refreshing Rose milk and grapes to counter the hot summer sun.
  
  
  
  Cars were fine where we had parked. Kids still had some energy left to play word games all the way back to Bangalore which we reached by 11.45 or so. Overall a great trip. During summer its probably advisable to get there earlier say around 6.30am to be able to climb all the way comfortably and get back before the heat gets too much.
  
  Remember if you do plan on doing this, enjoy the nature but ensure that you leave the place as it was before you graced it. Yes, I mean no littering or disturbing the wild life.
  
  More pictures from the trek can be found here.
• Pictures from another visit on Nov 2017

Turahalli Trek

Location: Turahalli, South Bangalore.
Date: Mar 29, 2008
To get there: On Kanakpura road, go past the Khoday's brewery and take the road on the right opposite the first petrol bunk sighted. Go past Gubbalala village towards Turahalli village. Look for the hill with boulders on it. The road will head towards the main gate of a complex. Turn right there to reach the foothill and the start of the Trail.
Distance: Turahalli gudda is around eight km. from the Banashankari temple and around two-and-a-half km. from the Kanakpura main road.
Trail type: It is about 0.75km to maybe 1km at most. I would say elevation gain would be around 500ft. It has some loose rocks which one has to be careful of. Overall a very nice easy family friendly trail if you have kids younger than 5.
Facilities: Did not find any eating place or shop close to this place. It is best to pack a picnic basket with enough water for the trip. There are shops on kanakpura road for last minute purchases. Only rest room is the wide open natural space. :)


For some time now, we had been trying to find a nice family trekking trail close enough to do it in half a day. Veena suggested Turahalli which had been recommended by her friend. We decided to check it out.

Plan was to leave at 7am, Saturday morning. We all managed to squeeze into Sridhars Innova and were out of the gate by 7.30am. All the kids, Rohit, Tejas, Nithila, Siddharth and Swarup were in good spirits and looking forward to the adventure. After a short ride and going around in circles asking for Turahalli, we finally managed to find the foothill of the hillock where the trail starts.

As soon as we got out of the car, we saw the energetic flight of a Bee Eater looking for its breakfast. Elected to leave the hot coffee to be had on the return and took the food bags along with us.

The trail is up a small hillock to the temple on top. There are lots of boulders, trees and bushes. Nithila, Tejas and Rohit was out front with sridhar quickly and before long disappeared around a bend. Veena with siddharth were next followed by Sangavi with Swarup and me with my camera. We could see Egrets, Herons and a Red wattled Lapwing in the fields below though we couldn't spot any water body. While crossing a rocky outcrop we disturbed couple of Raptors but did not see anything much other than a flutter of wings and something big flying by us into a copse of trees. There were several black kites hovering above us. One looked different and we soon realized that it was indeed a Oriental Honey-buzzard. Couple of the kites didn't seem to like him or her and they kept chasing it until all disappeared from our sight. Further up we noticed a little brown dove (laughing dove) on a boulder. It had what looked like a cut in its neck but later (after asking for some expert opinion) were told that's was just the feathers being ruffled.

We reached the top in about 30 minutes. Both our 3 yr olds made it without a single complaint! At the top there is a temple and a big tree surrounded by a concrete platform which one can use to picnic. By the time I got there, rest of the group were exploring the top as well as munching on the food. Kids were soon scrambling up the rock behind the tree and getting comfortable on the tree limbs. We explored the area for about an hour. Lots of boulders to try rock climbing skills and great views.


The climb down was quick and soon all were sipping a nice cup of hot coffee which Veena had kept in a flask. I lagged behind the group to get some images of a Green Bee eater. A serene looking goatherd was sportive enough to pose for me also albeit unknowingly. He did like his snap though when I showed it!

Soon we were heading back home and planning on when we will make it back there, maybe this time for lunch as well!

More pictures of the trip can be found on Picasa.

If you do visit, please remember: Take only pictures and leave only footprints!