Since I was able to go birding to Bheemannakuppe kere on Saturday, and to the Ragihalli sheet rock/pond area on Sunday, I’d better combine the two for my field report…

My trip to Bheemannakuppe kerE (kerE means, lake or pond in Kannada) on Saturday was with Abhisheka Gopal, Anjali Anantharam, S R Gopalan, Girish Mayachari, Harsha Joshi, Sangeetha Kadur, and Suma…. and the group on Sunday, to Ragihalli, consisted of a member of the Madras Naturalists’ Society, Padmanabhan, and his friends Sandhya, visiting from New York, and Kavita and Rajesh from Bangalore. The last three were coming out birding for the very first time!

One raptor that we saw on both days was the

ORIENTAL HONEY BUZZARD :

At Bheemannakuppe kere (kerE means pond or lake in Kannada), we spotted the SHORT-TOED SNAKE EAGLE I ask you, when the raptor is flying at that height, which senseless person learned scientist thought to name it after the size of its toes, I wonder? Here's a view of the bird high above: I've already posted about the BLACK-WINGED KITE But even a juvenile BRAHMINY KITE looked so beautiful ....and adult and juvenile cavorted in the air together: but apart from the raptors, there were several birds that caught our attention, and were caught by my camera.... After the kite the next bird that we saw flocks of, was the ROSY PASTOR at the kere, this LITTLE CORMORANT was telling its friend the CATTLE EGRET about the size of the fish that got away! (Notice the disbelieving look on the Egret's face!) The Egrets seemed to like congregating: Even "common" birds like the WHITE-CHEEKED BARBET looked so beautiful with food in their beaks! Overhead, this OPEN-BILLED STORK I checked to see...but it wasn't carrying an open-billed baby! We saw, and heard, several LARKS singing, and then this PADDYFIELD PIPIT decided to imitate a lark..it kept singing and singing! You can see its the pinkish-red in its mouth...my friend AMS says that all Paddyfiled Pipits have them...so this is a further diagnostic for me to learn! A very unusual sighting, according to Karthik was this bird that flew past: He gently prodded me that my id of GLOSSY IBIS was wrong, and lo and behold, my "Grimmskipp" showed me that it was, actually, the BLACK STORK A very rare sighting for the outskirts of Bangalore, Karthik informs me. A group of SPOT-BILLED DUCKS that were on the water, took to their wings: that flash of green on their wings is wonderful. The CATTLE EGRETS like to congregate! and they made a lovely picture upon the face of the waters: On the way back, we enjoyed the sight of these two INDIAN SILVERBILLS having a great bath! The Ragihalli trip gave me a lifer (that is, a bird sighted for the first time.) On the Ragihalli sheet rock, we saw this RUFOUS-TAILED LARK running about unconcerned by us: On the net next to the temple by the pond, this PIED BUSHCHAT female sat upon the net in the most endearing manner. I had id'd these Munias as BLACK-HEADED MUNIAS while watching them; it was only when I got home and saw, on the photographs, the streaks on their bodies and their other characteristic, that I realized we'd been looking at WHITE-RUMPED MUNIAS ! List from Ragihalli: Babbler, White-headed Barbet, Coppersmith Bee-eater, Small Green Bulbul, Red-vented Bulbul,Red-whiskered Bushchat, Pied Bushlark,Indian Buzzard, Oriental Honey Crow, House Crow, Jungle Coucal, Greater Dove, Spotted Dove, Laughing Drongo, Black Egret,Cattle Egret, Little Francolin,Grey Kestrel, Common Kingfisher, Small Blue Kingfisher, White-breasted Kite, Black Lark,Rufous-Tailed Malkoha, Blue-Faced Munia,White-rumped Mynah, Common Mynah, Jungle Oriole, Golden (call...did yo see it Pappu?) Parakeet, Rose-Ringed Pigeon, Rock Robin, Indian Shrike, Long-Tailed Sparrow, House Sunbird,Purple-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Red-Rumped Tailor Bird Tern, River Wagtail, Pied Warbler, Blyth's Reed Baya weaver nests (no birds were seen) From Bheemannakuppe Kere: Bee-eater,Smallgreen Bulbul,Red-whiskered Bulbul,White-Browed Bushlark,Indian Bushchat,Pied Buzzard,Oriental Honey Cisticola,Zitting Cormorant,Lesser Drongo,Black Dove,Laughing Dove,Spotted Duck,Spot-billed Eagle,Short-toed Snake Egret,Cattle Egret,Intermediate Egret,Little Francolin, Grey Grebe,Little Greenshank Harrier,Marsh ( ? ) Heron,Grey Heron,Pond Heron,Purple Koel,Asian Munia,Scaly breasted Lapwing,Red-wattled Parakeet,Rose-ringed Pigeon,Rock Pipit,Olive backed(or tree pipit?) Pipit,Paddyfield Robin,Indian Kestrel,Common Kingfisher,White-breasted Kingfisher,Pied Kingfisher,Small Blue Kite,Black Shouldered Sandpiper,Common Sandpiper,Green Shrike, Long-tailed Silverbills, Indian Sparrow,House Sparrowlark,Ashy-Crowned Starling,Rosy Stork,Open-billed Stork,Black Stork,Painted Sunbird, Purple Sunbird,Purple-rumped Swallow,Barn Swallow, Red-Rumped Tailorbird, Common Wagtail,White-browed Warbler,Blyth's Reed Warbler, Greenish Leaf (call)

I leave you with this colourful scene of the

WHITE-BREASTED KINGFISHER

at Ragihalli kere, adding its dash of blue to the greenery, and the white and pink of the lantanas and waterlilies: