Common Buzzard

The Uncommon guest
"Common Buzzard or Steppe Buzzard"
all the way from Himalayas to Bangalore outskirts !

The prescence of rare birds, predetors, long distance migrants and more number of birds shows the quality of habitat and in-turn indicator of the good environment around.......
We must protect them from pollution, land aquisition and hunting for our better tommorow...!

The Real Joy of Bird Photography in the Natural Habitat

Indian eagle owls continue to fascinate me to observe and photograph them each time in new habitats..... This time a search for it with a mere guess "it would be" since it was a perfect habitat and had evidence of its presence some few years before with owl pellets.... So started expedition with one of my good friends Vijay

We have started early morning from biduruguppe with my beast Mahindra thar 4X4 on a fine Sunday, 01.11.15, reached the fringe of the forest which makes a great home for several species of avian beauties and bosses... We were excited and challenged as it is not easy to find owls in its natural habitat inside canopy! The options were to trek trek and trek.... Started off with our bazooka at least having 6kg weight at 6:30AM. The hide and seek game was on between sun and clouds... Almost clouds won the fight making light at most challenging. A very low contrast seen making difficult to make a well coloured rose ringed parakeet to find and blacked it out against overcast sky.... Still the owl factor kept motivating us to further trek and see all possible steps to locate any pellets thrown out during last night's dinner by horned warrior eagle owls.... Our ears are then behaving extremely sensitive even for slightest call of birds absolutely In a serene beauty of forest.... 

We had made half way and we thought of backing off and try any other day as we had gone inside jungle to exceed safe limits, the area is gentle giants territory! But how can we give up without one more attempt... Yes took another path to further trek and see some luck saying Where are you friend please show up, this is unfair on owls part wink emoticon ... Our legs became heavy as we started to climb up with 6kg glass, metals, plastic and water... 

Almost at the end of 3hrs desperation did listen to a deep booming call bu booo... Yes Vijay he is here only as I was very confident on his call watch out for each and every steps and twigs... Swaroop stop stop do not step a single move did you find? Whispered Vijay and the owl was just 30ft in front of us looking with its deadly oil red eyes... That's it efforts and the agenda of the day, just thumbs up.... Spent another two fruitful hours observing the repeated mobbing attempt failure by so called 'police bird' black drongo supported by folks of yellow billed bablers.... 

Through the lens we could see the parasites flying allover owls feathers, preening, dozing, alert, ignorance, laziness and all sorts of behaviour of notorious and wise eagle owl..... We both returned home with full satisfaction.... 

Greater Flamingo

What a Magnificent birds are Flamingo's ? Spending time with those huge brightly coloured birds is just refreshing and the mood booster!

"Flamingo comes from the latin word for flame"

They are social birds usually lives in 100s of numbers in habitats like estuaries or saline lakes. Pulicat is one such beautiful habitat where I spotted them so closely, on my fourth attempt to see them in the month of September 2015. 

Greater flamingos live and feed in groups called flocks or colonies. They find safety in numbers, which helps to protect individual birds from predators while their heads are down in the mud.

Hired a boat from fisher man and started exploring second largest salt lake of India, the pulicat lake - stands after famous chilika lake of orissa. The beauty of this lagoon is its depth which is shallow mostly.

Coming back to hiring a boat, I went little deep inside the lake and spotted these greater pink birds far away along with other waders like herons and storks. Once we approached reasonable distance from the bird then the entire show began. Primary intentions is to just sit calmly and observe the behaviour without disturbing any of the birds around. 

Framing and photographing flamingos are different joy and experience. Made images till my 12 GB memory lasts + fully charged battery drained. 

It was early morning with soft lighting - moderate cloud cover till 10:30 AM. Spent quality time with birds and when sun started shining too much we had to vacate the place and come back to shore with long cherished memory and patience of frequently visiting different parts of the lake in search of Flamingos finally paid off.

Greater Flamingos feed upon insects, worms, vegetation and algae. 

Greater Flamingos are unmistakable in flight with their long, thin neck outstretched in front and their long legs outstretched behind them. Their brilliant pink colour is visible and great treat available to enjoy during its flight.

Grey Breasted Prinia

How life began and attracted birds in a lake which was totally dry for years

Muttanalluru Lake,

One of my favorite places around my residence in Attibele where I will be frequenting for birding since 4 years. The lake remained totally dry all these years (Though some small water pockets formed for a short term during rain).  Muttanalluru lake is an excellent habitat for many grass land birds and raptors. A small patch of forest around the lake supports several woodland birds like wood pecker. This lake also hosts good number of migratory bird species.

This lake is also abused with all anthropogenic pressures from near by towns, severely polluting the lake bed with garbage dumping and waste from butcheries. Pesticide pollution is another contributor.

Asian Paradise flycatcher

But recent visit to the lake on 20.09.2015 was totally different unlike any other visits. Yes, there was inflow of water to the lake forming large portion of the lake with water. This started to happen just a fortnight before when the area received heavy rain fall on 06.09.2015. 

What exited is this short time of 15 days attracted much of local waders and water birds and they are residents now! 

Lake 20.09.2015

Since there is abundance of food to feed on, especially fish and aquatic insects, it attracted water birds. The question that tickles is from where the fish and other aquatic insects come to a lake which is full dead dry for years? How did the life and nature's arrangements began there in as less as week's time?

purple heron 

The Nature is always mystery is it? It is very complex relationship among species with-in the ecology exists. Every species has a definite role to play in balancing act of nature. In this case, for example the waders (birds) make local migration in search of food from one water body to other. By doing so, they carry the eggs of various aquatic insects, fish which sticks to its legs, feathers etc., from already existing water. These waders when land on the fresh water body, they disperse the eggs and thus distribute the species giving life to new water body. The dispersed species multiplies and attract more birds and create abundance of food supporting other life forms. The flowing water will also contribute to support distribution.

Little ringed plover

Fruit and seed eating birds distribute seeds from one place to other place making vegetation to spread. Certain animals also helps for dispersal of seeds. The bees and nectar feeding birds/ insects helps pollination. Carnivorous, insectivorous species control over population of those at lower levels of food chain, creating a balance.  This is the Nature's own mechanism of inter-dependency among lives.

The new life begins!!!!

Sunset over Pulicat Lake

Sunset over Pulicat Lake... Birds can be seen as black spots across

Pulicat Lake is the second Largest backwater salt Shallow Lagoon of India making it an excellent habitat for many waders, Hosts Pulicat Bird Santury, and a famous "Satish Dhawan Space Centre" of Indian premier organization "ISRO - Indian space research organization". The place is well known for Indian rocket launches.

Area of the lake varies with the tide; 450 square kilometres (170 sq mi) in high tide and 250 square kilometres (97 sq mi) in low tide. Its length is about 60 kilometres (37 mi) with width varying from 0.2 kilometres (0.12 mi) to 17.5 kilometres (10.9 mi).

Fishing is the major occupation for the villages around Pulicat lake.

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Coming to Birds, this shallow water habitat makes ultimate destiny for many waders and other aquatic birds. The lake will be in its full glory in winters and an important stop-over for many migratory birds. Its also an Important Bird area (IBA) classified by bird life international.

Every year around 15000 greater flemingos visit here, the entire lake is very rich in fish population hence supporting huge number of birds.

Agricultural and industrial pollution is the biggest threat for this lake
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Munia

There are five Munia species that can be found in Bangalore, Munias are small cure and social birds, usually breeds and stay with other species of Munias. They are found in folks of hundreds. The breeding season is early Monsoon.

Because of their cuteness and attractive colours often they are kept captive in cages which is offense in India as per wildlife protection act.

They mainly feed on seeds, reeds of grass normally found in open lands. They are resident breeding species around Bangalore. 

Plays significant role in seed dispersion!

Species of Munias found generally in Bangalore are

1. Indian silverbill or white throated Munia

2. Scaly breasted Munia

3. Tri coloured or black headed munia

4. Red Munia or red avadavat 

5. White rumped munia.

Scaly Breasted or spotted munia

Red munia or Red Avadavat