As we were returning from Bannerghatta, my NTP friend Ramesh called me up and asked me if I would like to go to Ragihalli on Sunday morning…would I not! However, the Saturday gang could not make it, and so it was only Anush,Neelu and I who accompanied Ramesh to both Ragihalli sheet rock, and the Ragihalli village pond, not to mention piping-hot idlis at the Ragihalli centre-of-the-village eatery….!

Two of my favourite images from the trip are…this beautiful little PURPLE-RUMPED SUNBIRD landing to sip nectar from the SILK-COTTON flower:

and the RUFOUS TREEPIE in its habitat on the sheet rock of Ragihalli:

We started the morning with this flock of BRAHMINY STARLINGS (or BRAHMINY MYNAHS) in a tree: Then, several BLUE-FACED MALKOHAs kept jumping around in the clutter of the foliage, very tantalizingly... This one seemed to be having a very bad hair day! This ORIENTAL MAGPIE ROBIN sat and posed... As did several SMALL GREEN BEE-EATERs: And we had audio as well as video, with this PIED BUSHCHAT singing away on top of an electricity pole! Neelu spotted, better than any of us, this BLACK-WINGED KITE sitting far away on the opposite shore of the Ragihalli village pond... It was lovely to imagine how it would be to be able to walk so comfortably on water, across the lily pads, as this PIED WAGTAIL was doing! The BAYA WEAVERS' nests seemed abandoned...wonder if they will ever come back...? There were two SILK-COTTON trees in full bloom, and a tiny TAILOR BIRD sat near some of the flowers: The purple-rumped sunbird, after landing, proceeded to have a silk-cotton-flower-nectar drink! I was also able to show Neelu our State Bird, the INDIAN ROLLER: This yellow wildflower looked lovely in the middle of the dry plant... I was much taken with these tiny fruit that developed right on the edge of the ferny leaves, on the Ragihalli sheet rock: The fresh, red new foliage looked very attractive! And though there were no white lotuses this time, the WHITE LILY looked at itself in the mirror of the pond, and contemplated its own beauty.

A beautiful finale was provided by the sighting of a pair of WHITE-BREASTED KINGFISHERs in their nest in the bank of the roadside….the female flew away immediately, but the male remained there for a while. Then he too, went and sat in a tree nearby:

As we were watching the kingfishers, Ramesh and I suddenly spotted a huge raptor landing in the ground behind the bank, but we could not identify it before it dropped out of sight.

But we made our way home, very happy with the lovely birds that we had seen and enjoyed!