All are welcome at Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary

Location: Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary near Srirangapatna
Date: Feb 6th 2011
To get there: [Click here for Google Map].
From Bangalore take the Mysore Road. After you cross Srirangapatna fort (main junction with Fort Entrance on right), watch out for the Sanctuary board on the right after about a km. It comes right after you cross 2 bridges. Take the right and drive along a country road for another km or so and you are there. From Mysore side, it is even closer. Just reverse the directions above.
Distance: About 125 kms from Bangalore and 15 kms from Mysore.
Trail type: There are no trekking trails that I am aware of here. I have noticed a dirt track going to the left of the boating point. We have only gone about 200 mtrs (due to lack of time) on it so not sure how much further one can walk. However, it has ample space, including a maze with hedge walls, for kids to enjoy.

Facilities: Fairly decent KSTDC run eating place and toilet facilities. Srirangapatna and Mysore are close by.

Misc Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranganthittu_Bird_Sanctuary

In case you wondered, the "All are welcome" in the title was meant for the birds since we 2 legged, non-flying, large brained but prefer to travel in machines species, have to pay dearly to enter this place! Well, I think it is not

too high considering the natural wealth this place possesses, but then I may be in the minority with this view. We paid Rs. 50/person to enter. Boating is again Rs. 50/person in the general boat or (a very steep) Rs. 1000 for your own boat which can seat 8 persons.

We ended up there Sunday morning in keeping with a promise along with another family to go "someplace nice" post New year. 1 month too late, but we made it. Left Bangalore around 6.30am, lunch near Maddur about 9am and we were at the Sanctuary before 11am. A bit late but early enough to enjoy the place.

The place itself is a bunch of islets in the river Cauvery providing

natural protection to nesting migratory birds. There are only rowboats

to keep the disturbance to the birds minimal. Guides are quite knowledgeable about the birds which inhabit the sanctuary including their migration patterns and characteristics. Do not hesitate to ask them questions.

There is really no season as such because you will find some activity all-round the year even if it is just resident birds. During the migratory season which varies according to each species and is from Oct to about June, you will find each species in different stages like arrival, nest building, chick rearing and finally lessons on flying before heading

back to their home. During our visit, we got to see Painted Storks, Asian Open-billed storks (nesting), Eurasian Spoonbill (nest building), Spot-billed Pelicans prominently in the trees. Others were Great Thick-knee (or Great stone plover), Marsh Harrier (migrant), River Tern, Night Heron, etc. You will also surely spot few crocodiles which is a thrill for all the youngsters.

The facility has some space around it to picnic or just hang around. There is also a maze made of hedges which our youngsters enjoyed. After a quick stop-over to see Daria Daulat Bagh, Tipu's summer palace, we headed out to make it for a late lunch at McDonalds(kids choice), which is few kms after Maddur on the way back. Reached Bangalore by 7pm.

Overall, a must visit if you are a nature enthusiast and live around Mysore or Bangalore. Perfect for a day trip or even a 1/2 day trip. I would recommend reaching there before 10am, ideally 9am to be able to experience and photograph better in the morning light.

Click here for more images from the trip.

Elagiri Hills: A break from the plains!

Location: Elagiri or Yelagiri Hills Date: Dec 24th to 27th 2010 To get there: [Click here for Google Map]. You can take the train to Jolarpet and hire a taxi from there or Drive on the Hosur Road until Krishnagiri. Take NH 46 from there towards Chennai. Then take SH 18 turnoff towards Elagiri. Distance: About 150+ kms from Bangalore Trail type: We did mostly birding from car, stopping at good locations. So, not much trekking as such. I do believe there are a couple of good trails. Facilities: Several resorts/hotels in all ranges. Food places were plenty but just average, I thought. Lake with boating, nature park with musical fountain show, various temples are the spots to visit.

Misc Links:

http://www.yelagirihills.com/ (has more detailed directions)

It was our annual vacation with relatives during Christmas. We had always noticed these enticing hills from the train and decided to check it out this time. The drive from Bangalore was quite easy. The climb up the hills is similar to Nandi hills maybe a little steeper with 14 hairpin bends. The views were tempting in many places but any idea of stopping was thwarted by the line of monkeys sitting on the parapet looking expectantly at each vehicle passing by!

The place was quite chilly during the nights and morning. Rest of the day was pleasant. The main road through Athanavoor has many resorts and eating places. Most of them were average or just road side dhaba types. The 2 main attractions of the hills, Lake with boating and Nature Park are on this road.

We mostly did bird watching in the morning, starting at 6am until nearly afternoon, taking advantage of free grand-parent baby sitting. :). There were Brahminy starlings, Rufous Treepies and Grey-bellied Drongo's all over the place in addition to the more common Pied Bushchats, Sunbirds, Indian Robin, Tailorbird and Mynas. We had the best outing when we drove on the road towards Neelavur and took breaks near the Murugan Temple where we saw the Verditer Flycatcher, Leafbird and Common Iora. Migrants Grenish Leaf Warbler and Blyths Reed Warbler could be beard all over the place.

Boating was OK, nothing great. The Lake is man-made, so more like a soup bowl. Still Red-rumped Swallows gave us a show drinking water by flying low over the surface. The nature park looked good but we did not check it out properly nor watch the musical fountain show. Lets just say, most of our free time was spent eating, lazing around or playing cards and other games.

Photo albums:

Birds

People and sights.

Check list:

1. Yellow-billed Babbler(E)
2. Barbet(E) (call only. Not sure if it is Brown-headed or White-cheeked)
3. Coppersmith Barbet(E)
4. Small Green Bee-eater(E)
5. Blue-tailed Bee-eater(T)
6. Red-vented Bulbul(E)
7. Red-whiskered Bulbul(E)
8. Pied Bushchat(E)
9. Greater Coucal(E)
10. House Crow
11. Asian Koel
12. Spotted Dove
13. Little Brown Dove
14. Black Drongo
15. White-bellied Drongo(E,plenty)
16. Short-toed Eagle(E)
17. Common Kestrel(J)
18. Black Kite
19. Tickell's Flowerpecker(E,J)
20. Verditer Flycatcher(most likely)(E)
21. Common Iora(E)
22. White-throated Kingfisher
23. Tree Pipit(E)
24. Golden-fronted Leafbird(E)
25. Small Minivet(E)
26. Black-headed Munia(J)
27. Scaly-breasted Munia(E,J)
28. White-throated(Silverbill) Munia(E)
29. Common Myna
30. Jungle Myna
31. Eurasian Golden Oriole(J)
32. Spotted Owlet(E)
33. Rose-ringed Parakeet
34. Paddy-field Pipit(E)
35. Ashy Prinia
36. Plain Prinia
37. Indian Robin
38. Oriental Magpie Robin
39. Indian Roller(T)
40. Long-tailed Shrike(E)
41. Brown Shrike(E)
42. House Sparrow
43. Brahminy Starling(E, plenty)
44. Red-rumped Swallow(E)
45. Common Tailorbird
46. Rufous Treepie(E)
47. Grey Wagtail(E)
48. White-browed Wagtail(E)
49. Blyths Reed Warbler(E)
50. Greenish Warbler(E,J)
51. White-breasted Waterhen(E)
52. Oriental White-eye(E)
53. Purple Sunbird
54. Purple-rumped Sunbird
55. Shikra(E)
56. Common Woodshrike(E)

Savandurga : Adventurous Rock Climbing

Location: Savandurga
Date: Nov 1st 2010
To get there: [Click here for Google Map].
There are 2 routes to reach the place from Bangalore.
1) Take the Mysore Road. Turn right after Kengeri, right after Rajarajeshwari Dental College. There is break in the divider here and the road leads to Big Banyan Tree and Country Club. Go along this road passing Big Banyan on the way until you reach an intersection in the middle of a village. Turn left here towards Manchinbele (ask somebody just to make sure). Go past Manchinbele Reservoir (on the right) until you come to an Village where there is a sign to turn right for Savandurga. Now the road goes through some wonderful greenery. After about 10km, you will see a right turn with a big signboard for Savandurga, facing the other way though. Some shops with lot of Autos will be there. Ask to confirm you are the right track. About 4km after this you will reach Savandurga.
2)(We returned by this route) Go on Magadi Road past Tavarekere and Thippagondanahalli. You need to take a left towards Savandurga before you reach Magadi. Best to ask when you are about 6-8 kms from Magadi. Then its a left from this road where the big signboard is.
Distance: About 70kms from Bangalore
Trail type: Solid rock! Savandurga's 2 hills Billigudda and Karigudda are Monoliths. So, you are walking on rock surface at a fairly decent incline. Route is marked with white arrows. A local person latched on to us as a guide and he was able to show us a route which even my 5 yr old managed without being carried. However we only went 1/2 way so not sure after that. Beware that climbing in wet conditions is probably very dangerous.
Facilities: Several shops sell snacks and water near the temple at the base. Some basic dhabha type hotels were also present. We did not try them as we had carried our food. Magadi, I am sure will have decent hotels. Toilets... hmm...you are on your own. Our guide let us use the marriage hall.















It had been some time since we had done a family trek close to Bangalore. Nov 1st being Kannada Rajyotsava which made Monday a holiday, it seemed like a crime to let it go waste. So, us and Bipin, my college friends family, started searching for a nice place to go. It had to be kid friendly as between us we had a 12(kruthi), 9 (Nithila), 7(Samitha), 5 (Swarup) yr olds. Finally, it was the Kruthi who suggested Savandurga. We settled on it after a quick Internet research and it turned out to be a great choice!

We started out around 7.30 choosing route 1) as it was closer to us. By 9am we were at the Big Banyan tree. After stopping to take in the sight of this large tree, we continued until we crested a hill and came upon the magnificent view of Manchinbele reservoir. Using our experience during our last visit here, we decided to take the road along the reservoir for a short distance and have our picnic breakfast by the side of the reservoir. Kids were of course happy with that decision!




All along, this trail we birded where ever we could. Highlight was about 25 Baya weaver nests in a roadside Palmyra tree, half of which seemed active with birds building, fixing and just living in them. Doves, bulbuls, sunbirds, cormorants could be seen all along the way. Manchinbele hosted lots of Red-rumped Swallows, some Grey Herons and a pair of Spot-billed Ducks among others.

We proceeded along some beautiful roads and quite thick forest to Savandurga. The hills looked magnificent as we approached it. Soon we were parked opposite to the temple and asking for directions to the start of the trail. Everybody knew it! An old local man, Mr Rajanna, approached us asking if we needed a guide. We were not sure. He hired himself as our guide and tagged along. After seeing the menacing the rock surface, we decided to let him take charge. That was a good decision as he chose good routes and helped the kids over tough parts. This I think is the easier Billigudda, though we never did ask anybody there. The other Karigudda is supposedly much more difficult to climb.

The climb itself is awesome for anybody who does not do much rock climbing. The slope is not too daunting once you get used to it and feels quite adventurous to trek over. Since we had only couple of hours and with small kids we asked our guide to lead us only half way up where one can find remnants of Kempe Gowda's fort. The kids had a whale of a time scrambling over the hills to reach this spot which is about one km from the starting point and with 100 mtrs or so elevation gain.

The views from here were fantastic. We savoured it over cookies, drinks, chips and what not for more than 30 mins. Reluctantly as thunder clouds started moving in, we descended fairly quickly to the trail head near the temple. After a well deserved tender coconut, sandwiches and snacks, we headed back to Bangalore around 2pm.

This time we took the Magadi route, then hopped on to NICE road after Tavarekere to exit at Banashankari via the Link Road or PES College Exit. At 62Rs it was close to a rip-off but both the Magadi and NICE Roads made the drive easier and maybe it was worth it.

So, what do I think of this place? I recommend it as a great spot for an adventurous family outing. The drive along Machinbele and the forest before Savandurga adds to the experience. The trek or climb itself is quite exhilarating and kids are sure to enjoy it provided due precautions are taken. Wear good shoes and don't do anything stupid like running up or down, especially when the shoes get wet in the various small streams of water. Rajanna or Thathappa as we called him warned us about many mishaps ending in broken bones.

As always, if you do choose to trek here, take all the photos you wish and leave only footprints, that is, if you can on the rock! Yes, I mean do not litter and keep the area clean which it surprisingly was compared to other such spots in Bangalore.

More photos can be found at:

Photos of the trek

Birding at a resort - Georgia Sunshine Village

Last month, (April 2010), we spent a couple of days at Georgia Sunshine Village celebrating the start of the summer vacation along with another family. This cannot really be grouped under family trekking spots near Bangalore as per this blogs charter, but I thought I will share a short account anyway as we enjoyed the nature during our stay there.


First some information about the place. You can reach it via Mysore Rd or Kanakpura Road, both of which will need about 3hrs. Directions, cost of stay etc can be found on their website. http://www.georgiasunshine.com/. If you need more information, you can ask them directly or add a comment/send an email to me.


We chose to take the Kanakpura route just for a change and left early (6am) to do some birding along the way. There is a nice large water body right after Harohalli which has good possibilities.
Plenty of Pheasant-tailed Jacanas, Purple/Pond/Grey Herons, Little Grebe and Egrets. Nothing exotic as we were past the migration season. Lot of Sunbirds and Prinias along the bushes also.


It was stop and go all along that route for us with highlights being, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Long-tailed Shrike, Green-billed Malkoha. A culvert about 3-5 kms after Kanakpura gave us an excellent spot for picnic and birding in the fallow fields opposite as the family leisurely go through their buns/biscuits and fruits!


The resort itself has a active bird life. You can find Sunbirds (both purple & purple-rumped), all 3 Bulbuls (Red-vented, Red-whiskered, White-browed), Tickells flower pecker and Yellow-billed Babblers all over their garden. There were also several resident Spotted Owlets near one of the cottages. I enjoyed them perching and staring at us for long minutes and even got luck to see 2 of them try to hunt a lizard on the ground. Other not so common birds we saw were Indian Grey Hornbill, Small Minivet and Golden Oriole.


They take you on a trek around the place in the morning and fishing (catch and leave) in the evening. The trek provided us with some nice birding, especially in a large Ficus tree close by. We went back here next day morning also for some quiet birding and were rewarded with Tickels Blue Flycatcher, Coppersmith Barbet, Asian Paradise Flycatcher and a Fantail (not sure of the ID). During the trek itself, we got to see the Greater Flameback , Ashy Woodswallows, Shikra and Common Iora. Highlight was spotting all 3 Munias (scaly-breasted, Black-headed, White-rumped) along with a Baya Weaver all foraging in the same spot!


Overall, enjoyed the "nature" during our stay here!

Bannerghatta Butterfly Park

Location: Bannerghatta National Park
Date: Mar 21st 2010
To get there: [Click here for Google Map].
Distance: About 25kms from Bangalore
Trail type: Gravelly road, asphalted in some places. There are cross country paths to reach temples or ponds.
Facilities: Near the national park (about 2kms from the starting pt of the trek) has plenty of road side eating places and a KSTDC restaurant. Constant development is taking place here. Bannerghatta town is bustling, though I have never explored it.


Mar 21st being the 3rd Sunday we decided to tag along for the bird watching outing co-ordinated by Geethanjali. I was giving this the miss since getting the family to the starting point by 6.30am is a task by itself. However, we decided to give it a try and managed to make it just 10minutes late. That was enough to catch the group before they set off.

The trail, she had picked for this month started from the turn-off to the right at the circle in the center of the town. The road was muddy/gravelly and asphalted in spots which is what we walked on. The group was large and so the pace was slow. Suited us fine as my son is 5 and daughter is 9.

We walked for about 2kms along this road. Initially we crossed a village, then a hillock and dry shrub vegetation. In this stretch we were able to enjoy a foraging Hoopoe, a flyby of an Oriental Honey Buzzard, melodious Ashy prinias, Pied Bushchat, Red-Wattled Lapwings, Bulbuls among others.

The road then curved around a stagnant water body where buses were being washed. On the right after that, there were a nice clearing and an inviting stone bench. Kids immediately wanted to open our backpack and have a go at the buns, cakes and biscuits which was our breakfast. It was indeed a fantastic spot as while eating we enjoyed the antics of a Green Bee-eater close by.

Few metres after that, the group was looking to climb a hill to reach a pond and temple. It being already 9am, we decided to head back home instead. Our car-pool group, 3 engineers (Gautham, Gautham and Krupa) and our family decided to check out the Bannerghatta Butterfly park. So, we deviated to take a look. Good decision.

The foliage from the ticket counter to the enclosed building housing the butterflies was great. We got to see Asian Paradise Flycatcher, White-Browed Fantail (could be White-throated as we didn't ID properly) and a large flock of active Small Minivets. Fantastic birding.

The butterfly building was quite good. About 8-9 species could be enjoyed flitting around flowering bushes. At the back they have a museum with display that is quite large and informative. A continuously playing film on butterflies can also be seen.

After spending a couple of hours here, we headed back and were in Jayanagar by noon after a surprisingly easy drive.

Overall the bird trail may have been better enjoyed further down from where we started. The butterfly park is great for kids 4-12. Well worth a stop when visiting the zoo or trekking near this location.

Some more images:

http://picasaweb.google.com/naturerambles/3rdSundayBannerghattaButterflyPark#

Eastern Ghats - Bio-diversity Study

During 2nd week (10 to 13th) of December, AWIFO (Asian WIldlife FOundation) conducted a Bio-diversity study in the Eastern Ghats area, above Rajmundry. Schedule (meaning wifes work!) somehow worked out at home leaving me free to participate. 3 of us (Joy, David and me) took the Sheshadri Express from Bangalore reaching Rajahmundry early Thursday morning. There we joined about 25 others from Andhra, Chennai and even Singapore. There were Butterfly experts, Drangonfly/Damselfly (Damselfly sits with the wings upright) experts, Birding experts, Entomologists, Photographers and some just along for the ride. I went only as an amateur birder hoping to contribute and learn from the trip.

Some highlights:

Day 1: Cruise down Godavari River

From the railway station we went directly to Papi Hills, where we boarded a boat for a day long cruise along the Godavari River. It was an experience of a lifetime. The river is wide and it was quite smooth sailing. There was plenty of avian activity though it was more on the shore and we could not get too close due to shallow water. Brahminy Ducks (Ruddy Shelducks), flocks of Small Pratincoles, River Lapwings, Open Billed storks were among the many species we saw. We had lunch on the boat itself and also were treated to a Bison Dance on a sandy beach by the Tribals who had come along with us. Forest area was thick all through. We were treated to a Peafowl couple who had come out to enjoy the river as well.

Day 2: Maredumilli

After the cruise, we drove to Maredumilli for the night. Early morning saw us birding around the bungalow. It was misty but I still got my first sighting of a Vernal Hanging Parrot as well as Chestnut Bellied Nuthatch. We left after breakfast and birding in a Farm and River side picnic spot on way to Mothugudem. At the farm, Joy and Me went along together to see Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Black Hooded Oriole and Verditer Flycatcher. When we stopped for some shots of the Habitat along the way, we were treated to a group of Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters having their mid-day lunch. It was incredible to see this uncommon (for us) birds casually going on sorties for the flying insects. We also got sight of Yellow-crowned Woodpecker here which we saw only because it was sharing the same trunk as a Bee-eater. By evening we had reached Mothugudem.

Day 3: Mothugudem

Mothugudem, our quarters were in a bit of plains with the Eastern Ghat Range surrounding us. Morning by 6am saw us out and treated to Plum-headed Parakeets which were as common as Rose-ringed here in Bangalore. Asian Pied Starlings, Ashy Woodswallows, Minivets, Velvet Fronted and Chestnut Bellied Nuthatches, etc., were the highlights for the morning. Prabhu took us to a Dam close to Chattisgarh Border. Here we sighted a lone Blue-rock Thrush. On the way back we had lunch at a scenic waterfall and joined in on some serious Butterfly and Dragonfly hunting along a river. We were lucky to sight pair of Malabar Pied Hornbills and also a Heart-spotted Woodpecker.

Day 4: Mothugudem to Rajahmundry

Morning we managed to squeeze in some more birding and were treated to a lone Barred Jungle Owlet sitting openly on an electric wire. Soon after breakfast we left for Rajahmundry to catch our trains to Bangalore. Ride was quite uneventful though I missed the sighting of a Crested Serpent Eagle perched on a roadside tree.

Overall a great experience and it was fun spending the 4 days with other like minded nature lovers. Hopefully AWIFO is able to establish this area as a rich bio-diversity spot and protect it for the enjoyment of future generations.

Images from the trip:
Birds
Insects
People
Miscellaneous

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.