Feathered Bipeds & Me.
Monday, January 31, 2005
01/30/2005 : TG Halli & Montagu's harriers
TG halli was the choice. By 5:40am, i was ready to leave home. I reached Vijay's house at 6am sharp. Shortly Yathin, Praveen, & his two friends Sujith & Sreeprakash joined us. We set off to TG Halli.
The 30-odd km drive was over in no time, inspite of bad roads & errant bus drivers enroute. We parked the cars somewhere along the pukka road & walked to the lake bed. As usual i went ahead of the group.
I got splendid views of a sirkeer malkoha perched on an open branch, with its tail half-fanned, showing the white terminal feather-tips. A boy & his goatherd, which happened to walk by, (unfortunate for me), scared it off before i could manage a shot.
As i passed the small garbage dumps which had been burnt, i came across a small flock of white-browed bulbuls, a single hoopoe & a couple of bush chats. A pair of rollers were seen flying overhead.
As i reached the reservoir bed, i was shocked!
Illegal sandminers had started mining here as well. Earlier we had seen them mine at another spot on the banks. but not easily spottable from the area frequented by birdwatchers like us. This grassy patch on the left as one enters the lakebed was earlier a haven for syke's larks. Now there were not a single one here. But luckily as i went along the banks, i found them, flocking together & giving a weak musical note when flushed. I had not seen this flocking habit during earlier visits. In fact, i believe that most larks are solitary.
There were atleast 100+ barheaded geese near the banks, but very wary fellows! Near the far banks, a 5000+ flock of ducks were seen..mostly shovellers & pintails.
My target of the day was to see small pratincoles with a much better view than what i got at bheemeshwari. There were abt 10-15 of them, sitting on an island in the reservoir. With the spotting scope, we could get decent views. Oh man!, "camouflage tho ho aisa". Until they twitched, they were invisible among the rocks.
As usual the pair of montagu's harriers, which we had seen while birding with Nick Lethaby, were also seen, and i had a tough time trying to photograph them. In spite of them being the slowest flyers among raptors, i found it hard to focus & shoot!
But i aint giving up like that. I will keep trying....
The 30-odd km drive was over in no time, inspite of bad roads & errant bus drivers enroute. We parked the cars somewhere along the pukka road & walked to the lake bed. As usual i went ahead of the group.
I got splendid views of a sirkeer malkoha perched on an open branch, with its tail half-fanned, showing the white terminal feather-tips. A boy & his goatherd, which happened to walk by, (unfortunate for me), scared it off before i could manage a shot.
As i passed the small garbage dumps which had been burnt, i came across a small flock of white-browed bulbuls, a single hoopoe & a couple of bush chats. A pair of rollers were seen flying overhead.
As i reached the reservoir bed, i was shocked!
Illegal sandminers had started mining here as well. Earlier we had seen them mine at another spot on the banks. but not easily spottable from the area frequented by birdwatchers like us. This grassy patch on the left as one enters the lakebed was earlier a haven for syke's larks. Now there were not a single one here. But luckily as i went along the banks, i found them, flocking together & giving a weak musical note when flushed. I had not seen this flocking habit during earlier visits. In fact, i believe that most larks are solitary.
There were atleast 100+ barheaded geese near the banks, but very wary fellows! Near the far banks, a 5000+ flock of ducks were seen..mostly shovellers & pintails.
My target of the day was to see small pratincoles with a much better view than what i got at bheemeshwari. There were abt 10-15 of them, sitting on an island in the reservoir. With the spotting scope, we could get decent views. Oh man!, "camouflage tho ho aisa". Until they twitched, they were invisible among the rocks.
As usual the pair of montagu's harriers, which we had seen while birding with Nick Lethaby, were also seen, and i had a tough time trying to photograph them. In spite of them being the slowest flyers among raptors, i found it hard to focus & shoot!
But i aint giving up like that. I will keep trying....
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
01/08/2005 : Lesser fish eagle @ Bheemeshwari
Waking up at 4:45am is a tough task, but the mission of the day, ie to go to bheemeshwari in search of the lesser fish eagle, was incentive enough to put sleep behind. Black-bellied tern & Small Pratincole were on my wish-list, though.
As planned, Praveen & Jemson arrived at 5:45am at BTM layout, and we set off on the 100km drive to bheemeshwari. In the 2nd week of december, our friends Nick Lethaby & Vijay Ramachandran , during their stay at the Jungle Lodges resort at bheemeshwari, had seen the eagle. Based upon directions from them, we chose the spots at bheemeshwari, to search for the bird.
After a few brief halts enroute, we reached our first eagle spot at 8:45 am. No sight of any eagles. We spent some time shooting wagtails & bee-eaters.
The next stop was some 4-5 kms beyong the fishing camp, opposite a wayside temple. Abt an hour there also resulted in no eagles, but we were gifted by the sighting of small pratincoles & black-bellied terns.
Then we headed back to the fishing camp, hoping to get the help of the CFC guide Pushparaju in finding the eagles. A road alongside the perimeter of the resort led towards the river. As per my suggestion, we headed that way, and spent another 2-3 hrs there.
Mistaking an eagle sitting far away, on a small tree in the middle of the lake, myself & praveen worked our way through the forest on the banks, getting closer, only to find that it was an osprey. I took a record shot. Returning to the bank near the camp, we resumed our sky-watch, for the eagle. Though having had to wait pretty long, finally we were able to see the eagle, high up in the air, soaring. The white belly was easily discernible. The secondaries seemed a bit paler through the binocs, inspite of the bright sky above. The upperwing coverts showed a palishness also, as it banked. Praveen managed to take some videos of it soaring. I had to be content with binoc views :-)
So, with all three specialty species having been seen, we decided to call it a day, and headed back for bangalore.
As planned, Praveen & Jemson arrived at 5:45am at BTM layout, and we set off on the 100km drive to bheemeshwari. In the 2nd week of december, our friends Nick Lethaby & Vijay Ramachandran , during their stay at the Jungle Lodges resort at bheemeshwari, had seen the eagle. Based upon directions from them, we chose the spots at bheemeshwari, to search for the bird.
After a few brief halts enroute, we reached our first eagle spot at 8:45 am. No sight of any eagles. We spent some time shooting wagtails & bee-eaters.
The next stop was some 4-5 kms beyong the fishing camp, opposite a wayside temple. Abt an hour there also resulted in no eagles, but we were gifted by the sighting of small pratincoles & black-bellied terns.
Then we headed back to the fishing camp, hoping to get the help of the CFC guide Pushparaju in finding the eagles. A road alongside the perimeter of the resort led towards the river. As per my suggestion, we headed that way, and spent another 2-3 hrs there.
Mistaking an eagle sitting far away, on a small tree in the middle of the lake, myself & praveen worked our way through the forest on the banks, getting closer, only to find that it was an osprey. I took a record shot. Returning to the bank near the camp, we resumed our sky-watch, for the eagle. Though having had to wait pretty long, finally we were able to see the eagle, high up in the air, soaring. The white belly was easily discernible. The secondaries seemed a bit paler through the binocs, inspite of the bright sky above. The upperwing coverts showed a palishness also, as it banked. Praveen managed to take some videos of it soaring. I had to be content with binoc views :-)
So, with all three specialty species having been seen, we decided to call it a day, and headed back for bangalore.