HSBC Bird Race – 2014

Covering route – Hebbal Lake, Nandi Hills, Hoskote and then Valley School.

Why is BMTC continuing with Marcopolo? Stop Marcopolo

I have never seen such a third class bus – Tata Marcopolo. Even local buses in my village are much better than these (in terms of emission / pollution).

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is a government agency that operates the public transport bus service in Bangalore. According to a news dated 30th Jan 2013 in Times of India, BMTC has got 96 Tata Marcopolo buses in operation.

I have never been on these Marcopolo buses, but I have ridden behind these pathetic Marcopolo buses many a times. The amount of black smoke it releases can make your face black and can choke you to death. Even the loading trucks which more often than not runs on kerosine do not emit such smoke.

Its disgusting to even think how BMTC officials agreed to buy such buses. I feel like putting their face against the exhaust of Tata Marcopolo bus.

These buses not only cause nuisance from outside but they are no good inside as well. Do a quick serch and you will find people complaining about:

• The engine making a lot of noise and making the travel a “DEAFENING” experience
• The AC not working efficiently
• The back part of the bus getting heated up in spite of insulators.
• The doors not working properly
• The bus struggling to move up the slope
• Dust coming inside because of gaps in the door

I guess BMTC launched these buses in 2010 and while I am aware that Tata Marcopolo are half the price of Volvo, something which is not acceptable is the amount of pollution these buses do. BMTC would be better off running normal buses instead of plying Tata Marcopolo in non Volvo routes.

Hoskote Lake – marvelous grassland

Hoskote Lake was a bit in discussion. So, we decide to have a 4-5 hours of Sunday birding. This is one of the marvelous grassland, i have seen around Bangalore. For those who want to do birding, please go in group. I heard a lot of community problem. This place is THE land of stork, ibis, sandpiper, snipe, raptors and worth to watch their habitats. I tried to put all the pictures here, so that we can see the habitat as well for the birds.

white stork – Family

Oriental Honey Buzzard

northern shoveler – Flocks at flight

northern shoveler

northern shoveler

northern shoveler – float show

I guess combination of some more ducks

Blyth Reed Warbler

Blyth Reed Warbler

Green Sandpiper – Pair

Flock of Garganey at fight

Glossy ibis

Flock of Sandpiper and Little Stint

Flock of Sandpiper and Little Stint

Glossy ibis with Purple Heron

Common Kestrel

Common Hawk Cuckoo

Marsh Harrier get attacked by Eagle

Marsh Harrier

Marsh Harrier

Short toed Snake Eagle

Indian Spotted Eagle – I believe

Indian Spotted Eagle – I believe

Kannan – Down for shot

ID required

Barn Swallow Family

Yellow Wagtail

Black eared Kite

Oriental White IBIS – Family

Brahminy Kite

Flock of Baya Weaver

Flock of Baya Weaver

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Clamorous Reed Warbler

ID required

Sykes Lark

Spot Billed Duck

White eye buzzard

Short toed Snake Eagle

Skyes Lark

Poornima with camouflage to the grassland

Common Snipe – Sorry for the quality

Wooly Necked Stork

Marsh Harrier attack to the flock of garganery

One Day trip to Lepakshi

If your feeling lazy on a Saturday or a Sunday, and suddenly get the urge to go on a Drive, Lepakshi fits the bill perfectly. Before I give the route details and all, a brief read up on Lepakshi would help boost your enthusiasm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepakshi Even if you start at 10:00 AM in the morning, you can visit lepakshi, and be back home by 6:00 in the evening. It is not stressful and is a ideal getaway for a 1 day trip. The route to Lepakshi is one of the easiest, once you hit Mekhri Circle, drive towards Devanahalli Airport, and continue until you reach Bagepalli, from there on continue, until clearly marked signs lead you to an exit on to country side roads. Drive another 15 KM’s until you reach Lepakshi. Roads are excellent, the stretch until the Doddabalpur exit is laden with traffic, beyond that you can comfortably cruise all the way till Lepakshi. There are 2 toll booths on the Route. In case you want to avoid Toll, you can drive through Dobbabalapur –> Gauribidanur –> Hindupur –> Lepakshi. Below are some pics from the drive and the Lepakshi temple. Note to hobbyist photographers, this place is absolutely beautiful, and you would love every minute of your visit. I took several photos, but in the interest of keeping things short, putting up only a few photos, also added a short video at the end. As usual feedback most welcome 🙂

Towards the Devanahalli Airport

Road to Lepakshi after you exit from the Highway.

Entrance to the Nandi Statue. This is the first place you visit, before going to the actual temple.

A Brief write up of the Nandi Statue

The stone statue of Nandi

Temple Entrance

Temple Entrance

Temple main hall ceiling

Around the temple

Around the temple

Around the temple.Love this photo. There’s lady enjoying herself clad in a Burqa. Love our Country 🙂

I took some videos as well, sharing them, wish I could have captured more.

Sarjapur – One more grassland of Bangalore

For Location, please see the place section. It was again one of the fun day.  Birding in Bangalore is still enjoyable.

Deepu and Appu collecting the features and associating with birds. They make the day easy and cool

Coordinates: 12o51’40”N 77o46’15”E

 

Western Reef Erget

Wood Sandpiper

Grey Heron

Pied Kingfisher

Western Reef Erget

Don’t know what they all were watching. A combo of Grey Heron, Egrets and many more

Western Reef Erget

Common Sandpiper

Wooly-necked stroke

Honey Buzzard

Booted Eagle

Open-bill Stroke

Common Sandpiper

Brahminy Kite chasing Peregrine Falcon. Not a cool shot but loved to see Falcon

And the most lovely scene – All painted Stroke sitting together

Small Blue Kingfisher

Booted Eagle

Dead Fish

Chestnut Starling

Scaly Breasted Munia

Exhibition of Wildlife Photography

Here’s a photography exhibition that the nature/wildlife/photography enthusiasts would not want to miss – ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ is a photography exhibition of recent works by Aditya Singh, Ganesh Shankar, Jayanth Sharma and Kalyan Varma. This exhibition brings together four individuals whose passion for wildlife photography comes through in the visions they create with their cameras. Some of the photographs (all are limited edition) are intimate portraits, and others include breath-taking vistas.

The exhibition is on till the 26th of this month at the Five Forty Five, the art gallery in Indiranagar.
545, 6th Main, 4th Cross, Indira Nagar Stage II, Bangalore, India 560008

If you are a wildlife enthusiast, you would not need an introduction to the works of these 4 photographers. However, if you are not familiar, do go through their work online:

Aditya Singh – http://www.dickysingh.com/slide-show/
Ganesh Shankar – http://www.naturelyrics.com/pages/galleries_page.html
Jayanth Sharma – https://www.facebook.com/jayanth.sharma.photography/photos_stream
Kalyan Varma – http://kalyanvarma.net/viewtags?tag=portfolio
Thanks to Chitra Ayer for the text.

Breathtaking Adventure – Part 1

They say – short and sweet. We reached to God’s own country “Kerala” on Saturday morning. Plan was simple. Enjoy the best. Nature, birds, wild and whatsoever we can.

Epic view of Black Eagle when we were on the top of Chembra 3rd Peak, the highest peak of Wayanad, Kerala. The Kestrel hovering and diving at an amazing speed. Elephant family crossing the Bandipur road. Bison having his morning breakfast. Malabar barbet enjoying the fruits. 100’s of Scarlet minivet and many more.

Wayanad, Kerala is 250 km from Bangalore and one of the best enjoying weekend place.

Black Eagle at the top of Chembra Peak

Scarlet Minivet at Edekkal Caves

Brown-capped Woodpecker at Eddekal Caves

Black-lored Tit at Eddekal Caves

Female Scarlet Minivet with Prey at Chembra Peak

Loten’s Sunbird seeking the nectar – Shot in Wayanad

Golden-fronted Leafbird (Chloropsis) – Shot at Wayanad

Asian Drongo-Cuckoo at Eddekal Cave

White rumped Munia at Eddekal Caves

Just before starting, I had posted the question in Facebook where to do birding in Wayanad and then I was half able to explore. One more trip will explore the more beauty of nature and birding in Wayanad. More pictures are yet to come, stay tuned…

Birding with teaching

Birding with teaching. On my last trip to Muthur, where we take English classes for 8th-10th Standard, offers a variety of birding opportunity. Some of the recent sitings are.
Short toed Snake Eagle(STSE). Just outside the school, high up we were able to recognize STSE. Downside is lot of bad quality silk worm which school throws for birds as their prey.

Short toed Snake Eagle

A brahminy starling enjoying the prey.

brahminy starling with silk worm

 

The Collections

The Collections- A shopping mall to call it, but it has many things to attract you. The first thing is its architectural beauty.

Located in the heart of the city and in a well known street, Vittal Mallya Road. This can be called as one of the most expensive shopping place where the products are worldclass. Not many shops as seen in other regular malls.

There are many good hotels and restaurants especially to have your dinner. There you get to see many people from other countries spending their time and relaxing. The UB city office is very next to this mall.

In most of the seasons, the mall is decorated with many attractions. Weekend is comparatively crowded and a flavor of colorful nightlife is seen there which is missing in this city all the time.

If you do not live in Bangalore and planning to visit sometime, this is one of the place, you can mark in your list.

Anekal Lake – Visit after a year.

Not very far from the city, this lake provides the most number of water birds. Wikimapia Coordinates for the Meeting Place: 12°43’12″N 77°41’24″E. Enjoy the pictures, do drop your comments… thank you.

Brahminy Kite, fish under feet.

Pied Wagtail with broken beak

Grey Bellied Cuckoo - Back pose

Richard's Pipit with prey

Red Avadavat - Female

Wood Sandpiper

Spotted Owlet

Pied Cuckoo - A true pied beauty

Plain Prinia

Ashy Prinia

Pheasant Tailed Jacana