Feathered Bipeds & Me.
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Wasted weekend trip to DDSF(devarayana-durga state forest)
It all happened in haste. We wanted to go somewhere during the weekend, with bangalore not having good, quality birding sites other than the likes of madiwala lake, hebbal lake & a handful of other spots, which had nothing new to offer, until the winter migrants arrived.
We chose DDSF, a haven for YTBs(yellow-throated bulbuls) & a good candidate for good raptor sightings. After having a sumptuous breakfast of dosa & coffee, we (Myself, Praveen & Jemson), set off from Tippasandra at sharp 8 am. Thanks to the traffic, we were out of core bangalore in an hr(sigh!). It took us time to recollect the directions required to reach the road leading to the hill-temples of the narasimha swamy brothers (yoga & bhoga, who i assume are brothers, from their rhyming names!). About 100m past the left turn just after Udiegere, we stopped, after hearing the pleasant notes of the YTBs. None of them provided good photo-ops and remained at the top of the trees & within the foliage.
Praveen & Jemson spent their time on butterflies, with a few interesting sightings (grass jewel & a common mime in a strange form), while i followed some YTBs in vain. As the cloud cover started to make way, we thought we'd push off to better YTB & raptor habitat.
At the Y junction where a right leads to the temples & the straight road leads to tumkur, we stopped for some more butterflies. Here we saw lime blue & a properly attired common mime. At about 11:30, the rain started & didnt seem to stop. By about 12:15, ours & our stomachs' patience ran out, and we started our return journey. We stopped at a couple of spots on the way back when the rain stopped, only to be forced back in within 10-15 minutes.
With not even a single exposed frame by me, we reached bangalore by abt 3pm, and had the worst biryanis(from the erstwhile hotel EMPIRE) we've ever had till date.
After reaching tippasandra, we spent a couple of minutes at a nearby park, where we saw common hedge blue(a female). It was sad to see that a stretch of hedge that had an almost permanent resident bunch of zebra blues had been cut to knee height, with just 2-3 flowers left, & no zebra blues remaining. Hopefully the flowers should be back soon, once the plant recovers from it's "haircut".
In all, it was a pretty disastrous day, having to have driven 160kms in total, only to be welcomed by rain.
So, with hopes that the next trip doesnt meet such a sour ending, adios!
Job
We chose DDSF, a haven for YTBs(yellow-throated bulbuls) & a good candidate for good raptor sightings. After having a sumptuous breakfast of dosa & coffee, we (Myself, Praveen & Jemson), set off from Tippasandra at sharp 8 am. Thanks to the traffic, we were out of core bangalore in an hr(sigh!). It took us time to recollect the directions required to reach the road leading to the hill-temples of the narasimha swamy brothers (yoga & bhoga, who i assume are brothers, from their rhyming names!). About 100m past the left turn just after Udiegere, we stopped, after hearing the pleasant notes of the YTBs. None of them provided good photo-ops and remained at the top of the trees & within the foliage.
Praveen & Jemson spent their time on butterflies, with a few interesting sightings (grass jewel & a common mime in a strange form), while i followed some YTBs in vain. As the cloud cover started to make way, we thought we'd push off to better YTB & raptor habitat.
At the Y junction where a right leads to the temples & the straight road leads to tumkur, we stopped for some more butterflies. Here we saw lime blue & a properly attired common mime. At about 11:30, the rain started & didnt seem to stop. By about 12:15, ours & our stomachs' patience ran out, and we started our return journey. We stopped at a couple of spots on the way back when the rain stopped, only to be forced back in within 10-15 minutes.
With not even a single exposed frame by me, we reached bangalore by abt 3pm, and had the worst biryanis(from the erstwhile hotel EMPIRE) we've ever had till date.
After reaching tippasandra, we spent a couple of minutes at a nearby park, where we saw common hedge blue(a female). It was sad to see that a stretch of hedge that had an almost permanent resident bunch of zebra blues had been cut to knee height, with just 2-3 flowers left, & no zebra blues remaining. Hopefully the flowers should be back soon, once the plant recovers from it's "haircut".
In all, it was a pretty disastrous day, having to have driven 160kms in total, only to be welcomed by rain.
So, with hopes that the next trip doesnt meet such a sour ending, adios!
Job
Thursday, October 14, 2004
My first post
Hi all,
This my first post to my new Blog. I hope to jot down my birding experiences so that i can share it with you all.
Job
This my first post to my new Blog. I hope to jot down my birding experiences so that i can share it with you all.
Job