This morning, Shreeram and I went with John Callaghan, who’s visiting from Milton Keynes, UK, to Ragihalli. Unfortunately, we had a very late start and that meant that sightings were quite low….but we still managed quite an interesting time!

This

PIED BUSHCHAT

opened the proceedings, on the barbed wire:

We stopped at the sheet rock area, and John put up his scope. Alas, we did not have our usual luck with raptors here, and he just got a pair of Rufous-tailed Larks to spot! Meanwhile, Shreeram was photographing this ROBBER FLY: A migrant that we were able to show John was the BROWN SHRIKE: We then took him to the Ragihalli Pond, where once again, the resident Oriental Honey Buzzard, the Spotted Owlets, and the Small Blue Kingfishers all absented themselves...but this beautiful PADDYFIELD PIPIT posed quite comfortably! I tried to take a picture of the spider at the centre of this sparkling web, but there was too much breeze: I got this pic of mating DRAGONFLIES: My Ragihalli friend Puttamma's restaurant was open; on the way to the pond, I'd asked them to make hot idlis, and here are John, and our driver, Srinivasa, enjoying them: Puttamma was away, but her daughter-in-law, Saraswathi, holding little Deepika on her hip, served us hospitably! We were very lucky, on the way back home, to sight a BLUE-BEARDED BEE-EATER which is not common at all. Here's the only shot I was able to get: For some more photographs, click here The bird list: Babbler, Jungle Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, White-cheeked Bee-eater, Small Green Bee-eater, Blue-bearded Bulbul, Red-vente Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-browed Bushchat, Pied Bushlark, Jerdon's Cormorant, Little Crow, House Crow, Jungle Drongo, Black Egret, Cattle Egret, Little Flowerpecker, Pale-billed Kingfisher, White-breasted Heron, Pond Kite, Black Kite,Brahminy Lapwing, Red-wattled Lark, Rufous-tailed Mynah, Common Mynah, Jungle Oriole, Golden Parakeet, Rose-ringed Pipit, Paddyfield Prinia, Ashy Robin, Indian Robin, Oriental Magpie Shikra Shrike, Brown Shrike, Long-tailed Sparrow, House Sunbird, Purple Sunbird, Purple-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Treepie, Rufous

I showed John this home (the name was “English County”) and remarked that for everyone, not just an Englishman, his home is his castle!

It was very nice to be able to get John’s impressions of our city and country (he says Mumbai traffic is far worse than Bangalore’s!) and we wish him and his wife a safe journey home tomorrow.