Friday Photo: Indian Roller
Called ‘Neelakantha’ in Kannada, it is also the state bird of Karnataka.
Birds in Bangalore
Ask everyone, and they say Bangalore has changed a lot in the last few years. There are more buildings everywhere, more roads, more people, unbearable traffic and the like that come with unchecked growth. Lakes are shrinking and green cover around the city is making way to gleaming modern structures. But Bangalore still remains a favourable destination for many, and fortunately it has remained so with our feathered friends too. Between December and March last winter, pelicans had made their annual trip to the lakes in the city, and so did migrant Drongos and Swallows and the like.
An Ashy Prinia at Madiwala Lake.
The green patches and the lakes around the city have always housed many species of birds through the year and host a lot more during the winter months, when migratory birds flock in from the cold regions in the north. Like everywhere else, their habitat is shrinking in Bangalore too. But still there are many places in and around the city that can charm a birdwatcher with plenty of variety.
An Ashy Crown Sparrow Lark near Jigani
Keen eyed birders have always been finding places that are teeming with many species of birds. Many water bodies like Hebbal Lake, Madiwala Lake, Yelemallappa tank and Hoskote Lake attract large migratory birds in drones during winter. Nandi Hills occasionally throws up surprises with unlikely birds like Malabar Whistling Thrush or Blue Capped Rock Thrush.
A Blue Capped Rock Thrush in Nandi Betta
A Purple Rumped Sunbird at Hebbal Lake
It is a pleasure to watch those birds colouring up the periphery of the city. There is plenty of beauty, melody, action and even humour in tailing the birds. There are many things attractive, like the pleasant whistling call of the Dronogs, graceful flight of Gray Herons or of Barn Owls, and bright colors and the beauty of Blue Capped Rock Thrush or Parakeets. And then there is some interesting action to watch in the skies when a gang of crows manage to chase away much larger and powerful Kites – a frequently observed scene in the city’s skies. If the crows do this in the city, smaller birds like Black Drongos perform the same acts of bravery in the greener areas outside the city. Watching a paradise flycatcher fly past and its unusually long tail that looks very out-of-place and trying to keep up with the flight of the bird can be comical.
A Paradise Flycatcher in Nandi Betta
A River Tern in Ranganthittu
When the thirst to see more of these beauties overpowers the Bangalorean, there is always Ranganathittu bird sanctuary just two hours away from the city. Ranganathittu is an ocean of joy for any bird lover, with its swarming population of birds of both migratory and resident kind. The ever-present River Terns on the rocks along Kaveri never fail to amuse their visitors. The dense population of large birds like Asian Openbill, White Ibis and Spoonbill always manage to entertain people who have never seen those big birds in such numbers.
A gang of White Ibis in Ranganthittu
A Rose Ringed Parakeet at Hebbal Lake
Indeed all is not well with the city that is growing rapidly. Like in other cities of the world, Sparrows have long since gone away. Lakes are shrinking and Painted Storks that were once common in Hebbal Lake are not seen as often in the city. Rosy Starlings that came in large numbers to a tree near my house have not arrived in the last two years. It is only likely that their numbers keep coming down in the years to come. There have been many initiatives from the concerned people to save the city’s birding hotspots from destruction, and let’s join them and hope that all that work bears fruit, and these winged beauties continue to flock into the city as they have always done.
A Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher in Nandi Hills
A Purple Moorhen at Hebbal Lake
Information
Popular birding hotspots in and around Bangalore: Lalbag, TG Halli reservoir, Rampura Lake, Hoskote Lake, Indian Institute of Science, Valley school, Turahalli minor forest, Nandi hills and Banneraghatta National Park. Ranganathittu bird sanctuary, two hours drive from Bangalore is a great place to see huge flocks of migratory birds in winter.
For more information on birding Bangalore, join the Bangalore’s most popular birding group bngbirds. They regularly meet fortnightly for birdwatching sessions around the city.
The Days in Corbett National Park
Auli -> Rishikesh -> Corbett National Park -> Varanasi -> Agra
+Previous: landscapes of Corbett
+Next: An encounter with pachyderms
+Go to beginning of the series
After my tryst with the desperate tiger hunters during the day trip, I decided to go and stay inside the forest for a few days. Corbett Tiger Reserve has several guesthouses inside the forest for tourists. And staying in one of these is definitely the best way to see the park. Of the several guesthouses spread all around the forest, Dhikala tourist complex is the only place that has restaurants to serve tourists. In all other places, you need to take care of your own food.
Next morning, I went to Corbett Tiger Reserve office and booked for a stay for three days at Dhikala. I hired a jeep and a driver to accompany me for these three days. My driver, it turned out had a decent knowledge of birds and helped me spot and identify quite a few of them. With a jeep exclusively for my own use and a chance to explore the park as I wished, it was far better than the chaos I experienced during the day trip.
DHIKALA TOURIST COMPLEX
Dhikala is a small fenced tourist village, with a few buildings for tourist accommodation and to house the park staff. There are two restaurants to serve the tourists, a library that hardly gets used, a couple of machaans for viewing the riverbed and nothing much else. The whole complex is now protected with electric fence – something they had to install after a tiger made a failed attempt to maul a tourist! A few domestic elephants with their Mahouts are often seen wandering in and around the complex. A sambar deer with an injured leg, which would have never survived in the wild has cleverly moved into the complex and made the place its home. You could often find it walking right next to you hoping to find some food to eat.
A whistling thrush at Dhikala
The tourist complex, located next to magnificent grassland, is located right on the bank of river Ramaganga. Its landscape is beautiful and views of the river and the far off mountains on the other side in the early morning fog alone makes a trip to Dhikala worthwhile. Facing thick Sal forest on one side, Ramaganga flowing besides it and huge grassland on the other side, Dhikala is heaven for wildlife viewing. You can often see elephants wandering in the grassland, wild boars moving around, deer grazing and even occasional tigers walking by the river bed, all this without even leaving the tourist complex! A good pair of binoculars can even help spot crocs in the river.
WANDERING IN THE PARK
I was keen to use my time in the park judiciously. I roamed all around the grass land, along the river bed, into the forest – anywhere where we could go, looking for great vistas and some wildlife. Etched in my memories are the beautiful mornings when it would still be foggy, and the golden rays of the sun would fall into the earth on the banks of Ramaganga, making the whole world appear beautiful orange. The mild and soothing cold wind enhanced the experience of the late winter mornings.
A vulture, I am yet to figure out its name.
Wildlife viewing was also equally fruitful. Corbett is a heaven for raptors(birds of prey), and I did manage to see my share of them including changeable hawk eagles, Pallas fishing eagles, crested serpent eagle, few vultures and some more I could not identify. And then there were other birds on the riverbed like the river lapwing and white-capped redstart, which were shown to me by my driver. The grasslands were primarily inhabited by larks, partridges, bay backed shrikes and common stonechats. I also saw some larger birds like the egrets, cormorants and white-necked stork.
An elephant having dust bath
Mammals were in plenty too. Elephants often wandered in the grasslands and I took pleasure in watching them as much as I could. And then there were smaller herbivores like the wild boars, several type of deer such as the barking deer, chital, hog deer and sambar deer and then of course the tiger.
Northern Rhesus Monkeys at Dhikala
At the end of three days, I felt that the trip to Corbett was worth it. It was saddening that I had to leave, and could not afford to stay on any longer. I fell in love with the place so much that I wished to relocate here and work in or around the park for a few years. I even discussed working as a naturalist and happened to receive some positive feedback on it. I am not sure if I would ever manage to make such a jump, but I know I will definitely return to Corbett again and savour more of its beauty.
More on Corbett National Park at paintedstork.com
* Images from Corbett
* Arriving at Corbett
* First day at Corbett: safari day trip to Dhikala
* Corbett: In the nature – A struggle between fear and love
* The desperate tourist’s tiger hunt
* Photo Essay: Landscapes of Corbett
* My Days in Corbett
* Encounter with Pachyderms
* Information about Corbett National Park
* Moving on from Corbett