It was,ultimately a dozen of us who went to Galibore on Sunday….turned out to be a very enjoyable day, though the heat factor made us tired and we returned home earlier than planned.

We, of course, had taken two cars, but this picture of traditional transportation was what caught my eye at our first stop!

Notice the woman balancing the vessel on her head and walking unconcernedly… We could take deportment lessons from her.

The sun slanted from just above the horizon, on our group... and shone on the cars, too: The scenery was so beautiful that I didn't really mind whether I spotted a lot of birds or not! Here are the gentle hills of Galibore: Another lovely scene: The rock pools near the Kaveri had each its own shape and beauty: and on the banks of the river, it was so peaceful! The water in the river reflected so many colours: Here are the BULBs, on the banks: Many of us sat for a while, enjoying the peace and the breeze, under this magnificient tree: But one of us also wanted to try and conquer it! We saw a few BLACK IBIS in the fields: And on the other side, the GREY FRANCOLINS were making their calls: Chandu snapped many of the pictures in this post; here's his shot of this lovely PLAIN PRINIA: I got this little PURPLE-RUMPED SUNBIRD on a Mango tree: Chandu id'd this bird for me as the YELLOW-EYED BABBLER: The delightful little INDIAN SILVERBILLS were frequent sights: High up, I caught a DARTER in flight: Though common, the BLACK DRONGO is a beautiful bird! I loved the fan of this Date Palm, which contained many BAYA WEAVERS' nests: On the way back, I got a quick shot from inside the car, of this Accipiter....I'm id'ing provisionally as a Sparrowhawk, though I am told it is unlikely because it is a migrant: I'd also like to know the name of this very common small tree (as a child, I knew how to make whistles from its seeds!) I saw the lacy PASSION FRUIT creeper on the rocks: One of the best sightings was of what I initially thought was an Agama...we later realized it could be a juvenile MONITOR LIZARD! the ones I've seen before have all been VERY large, and in the forest, so I never expected to see such a small one, especially in the middle of human habitation. Here are a few more views of this walking handbag: This un id DRAGONFLY was so lovely, as was this SCARLET MARSH SKIMMER: but I could not id this little beauty: when we stopped for a kind of brunch, with lots of great food, I spotted this (already dead, alas!) DAY-FLYING HANDMAIDEN MOTH: Chandu took these shots...a WHITE ORANGE-TIP on a flower: and this female GREAT EGGFLY on the Lantana flowers: right on the bank of the river, as I sat in a very comfortable nook in the tree (it was truly like an armchair, as I sat there, fanned by the river breeze!), I noticed the SIGNATURE SPIDERS developing their websites:

A wonderful day, coming back home singing old Hindi movie songs with great gusto, and carrying the memory of the beauty of Nature, in the lap of that gracious lady, the Kaveri….