Once again, four of us NTP’s got together…this time it was Shreeram (who came back home at 11pm the previous night!), Hrishikesh, Tharangini and I….and Shreeram took us to Gulakmale, beyond Valley School, turning off from Kanakapura Road, and taking various lefts and rights that I didn’t keep track of.

I got the Gulakmale sign in Kannada through the rear window, only as we were leaving: One of our first sightings was this beautiful female KOEL: The overcast skies meant that photography was an uphill job, and the others, who have (of course) much higher standards than I do, were bemoaning the fact that one could not get good shots. But one need never worry about getting SMS! Here's one of a BRAHMINY KITE with nesting material: A beautiful YELLOW-BILLED BABBLER sat in the Eucalyptus, high above me: an ORIENTAL MAGPIE ROBIN sat on the wire and sang beautifully: Tharangini is very particular that the bird must be photographed only on a natural perch, but a "bird on the wire" photograph doesn't bother me. However, I got this LITTLE EGRET in the fields, with nice greens and browns throwing the white out in contrast: I found several PALE-BILLED FLOWERPECKERS in the eucalyptus trees, and shot straight into the sky: At a considerable distance, on a large tree, sat a PAINTED STORK whose colours were being admired by the crow! As there were not many reeds, I was not expecting to see these beautiful WHITE-RUMPED MUNIAS: Babbler, Yellow-billed Bee-eaters, Small Green Bulbul, Red-vented Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-browed Bushchat, Pied Cormorant, Little Crow, House Crow, Jungle Coucal, Greater Dove, Laughing Dove, Spotted Egret, Little Egret, Intermediate Flowerpecker, Pale-billed Heron, Pond Ibis, Black Iora, Common Kestrel, Common Kingfisher, White-breasted Kingfisher, Small Blue Kite, Black Kite, Brahminy Koel, Asian Lapwing, Red-wattled Minivet, Small Munia, White-rumped Mynah, Common Mynah, Jungle Parakeet, Rose-ringed Pigeon, Blue Rock Prinia, Ashy Sandpiper, Common Shikra Shrike,Long-tailed Stork, Painted Sunbird, Purple Sunbird, Purple-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Tailorbird, Common Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Yellow Waterhen, White-breasted Spectacled Cobra :))))))) Clubtail, Common Dartlet, Golden Four-ring, Common Ghost, Granite Leopard, Common Lycenids, un id Pansy, Chocolate Pansy, Lemon Swift, Rice Yellow, Grass Spotless Yellow, Three-spot Grass Un id Grasshoppers, and Spiders

ah, but the best bird sighting of the day was something that intrigued us very much before we got closer …and realized that we were looking at a fallen

PENGUIN!

I saw a small Spectacled Cobra, which had, obviously, come up to escape the damp ground…but it slithered off within seconds, before I could get over my surprise at seeing it.

Will post the other creatures, and plants…got a lovely blue-striped bee to show…!