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Reedbed bounty at doddankekkundi lake

From the last month or so, workers have been trying to remove and cut away the dense reed beds in doddanekkundi lake. They had orders from BBMP officers. There seems to be a lack of awareness among BBMP of the rich biodiversity these plants harbour. Some species of birds like bitterns, streaked weavers, clamorous reed warbler are almost exclusively dependant on reeds. Birds like crakes, herons,...

We came across the beautiful white rumped shama pair exploring a bunch of holes in a few trees in one of our favourite forest patches on the edge of the Bannergahtta national park. Hope they had a successful nesting season.

It seemed like winter just did not come this year, no more typical chilly foggy Bangalore mornings. But thankfully a lot of winter birds did come to the last standing (but extremely vulnerable) green spaces of Bangalore. Here are birds I recorded at the end of "winter" at 3 of my favorite spots. In video: 1) Jungle nightjar: Who would have thought a nightar would show up at good old Saul kere? ...

Located at a high altitude, the densely vegetated patches of the Nandi hills host a lot of amazing bird life. In video: Orange headed thrush pair in courtship display (enjoyed witnessing this), indian blue robin female, olive backed pipit and a male Indian paradise flycatcher.

Hosakote lake is a huge lake with multiple habitat types. It is an IBA and rightly so. It's so huge, still many areas around it are unexplored. There is one concern, villagers invade and start cultivating on the muddy banks in the dry seasons, these lands will soon be regularized as agriculture lands by our goon governments. Hope they do something about. Birds in video: Sand martins, barn swall...

Ruddy shelducks are quite rare to spot in and around Bangalore. This year a pair settled down in varthur lake late in the winter.

These pipits are one of the rarest passage migrants that randomly pop in wet grasslands of Karnataka. The large varthur lake has a lot of wed mud and grass patches at this point, allowing many Bangalore birders to see these birds in good numbers. I had a good time observing them.

I had a tiring yet a very fruitful and joyous trip to the famous forests in and around the Thattekadu bird sanctuary. In video: 1) White bellied woodpecker: What a beautiful big bird this is. The guide showed this bird through the car itself. 2) Blue eared kingfisher: One of my dream birds, we had to walk through some dense areas of forest along a stream to spot this beauty. 3) Sri lanka frogmo...

Clean beaches, sunsets and a load of birds. What else does one need? I particularly enjoyed the foraging style of plovers and sandpipers, running away from incoming waves.

If there is one bird that notices your presence and stares at you while you're watching them, it's these. They are the most fun birds to observe. How can people do black magic on these birds or associate them to evil?

Pipits are one of the hardest birds to identify. One can hardly confirm the ID of a pipit without consulting a seasoned expert. Most of the birds turn out to be yet another paddyfield pipit. But with enough attempts, one can make good guesses. In video: 1) Long billed pipits are big pipits with a long bill and tail, they're also very picky around Bangalore, they can only be seen in certain high...

This bird is a show stopper, it demands to be seen, I mean look at it's long tail.

Got splendid views of the famous white storks. The black eye mark contrasting their white feathers, the nice red bill and height make them quite nice looking really, haha. The woolly necked storks around looked quite small in comparision. I enjoyed watching one walk around like a secretary bird :)

Cotton pygmy geese and a fishing cormorant at doddanekkundi lake

Winter weekend at hosakote and varthur

A red necked falcon and black tailed godwits at Varthur kere

Your Typical October morning at Doddanekkundi lake!!

Blackbucks in their grassland habitats of Karnataka

Wire tailed swallows at Ambalipura lake, Bangalore

Black capped kingfisher and a few other nice sightings in Varthur kere, Bangalore

A common coot family in Doddanekkundi lake

House sparrows at home Good old days!!

Wild elephants and a male peacock around Mysore!!

Birds preying on fish in Bangalore lakes

Winter is coming! Birders, keep your eyes, ears and cameras ready

A bittern, an egret and a stilt

Baya weavers and more at Kannamangala lake

Plovers in Bangalore lakes