Chandu, having been looking at the lovely village of Makalidurg (mAkaLidurgA) from the train on his way to and from Hyderabad, decided that it would be a likely spot for Nature/birding trip, and Anil, Prashant, Vittal and I (all from the NTP group) enthusiastically joined him, and off we went, early on a very misty, chilly morning!

One of the loveliest sights, which Chandu told me to capture, was of the Lantana flowers,everywhere, drenched in the morning mist:

The fog was so dense that Anil had difficulty seeing the road ahead. Here's an almost-impressionistic view of Jain monks walking (on pilgrimage), taken through the windshield Here are the others, returning to the car after an excellent breakfast at "Ayyappa Tiffen Centre" (more about people in places in the next post!) Here's what the scenery looked like in the dense mist: Incredibly, though, as we took the road up, at one point...within a minute, we were out of the mist into bright blue skies and brilliant sunlight! We stopped to photograph, and admire, the spider webs sparkling with the dew: This web of the TENT SPIDER was also beautiful: we watched one Orb Spider busy at work: Update, Vittal says this is the Kidney Garden Spider, named because of the kidney-shaped marking on its back (not because it is found in kidney gardens...) Araneus mitificus a RED-VENTED BULBUL ate from the Acacia tree: We reached a large water body, and surprisingly, we did not see any ducks or waterbirds, apart from the usual Herons and Egrets; not even a glimpse of any kind of kingfisher! We were speculating about why this should be so...perhaps the experts can explain. However, for a long time, we watched the Barn Swallows swooping up and down in the air, and large group of SILVERBILLS : There were several butterflies around, and I got this WHITE ORANGE-TIP: From the car, we spotted a INDIAN BUSHLARK right next to us, and we watched with glee as the bird took a dust-bath! We then decided to go the Station area, but alas, a nail got in the way of the tyre of the Tata Safari. Of couse, I let the four men handle this dirty, dusty puncture-repairjob, and I swanned off to see the pretty, picture-postcard little station. Just behind the station, at a large well, a group of HOUSE SPARROWS were flying around perkily: We saw the standard-now-for-every-birding-trip ORIENTAL HONEY BUZZARD: and I got a shot of a distant KESTREL: then I watched a herd of BONNET MACAQUES rushing down the slope: After they were done with the puncture, out came the others' cameras, and we captured this DAY-FLYING HANDMAIDEN MOTH: We were also occupied for a long time with a large group of PURPLE and PURPLE-RUMPED SUNBIRDS in a bushy area, and then crossed the tracks and came upon a temple, where I spent quite half an hour watching a group of CARPENTER BEES flying in and out of the holes they'd made in a large wooden beam of the temple: Look at the beauty of it! This bee kept still, long enough for me to get a "bee portfolio": We then went to the Ghati Subramanya temple, and on the road, spotted my favourite beauty,the BLACK-WINGED KITE; Here's an INDIAN ROBIN pecking at food on a rock: To see more photographs, click here For Prashant's photographs, click here The highlights of the trip, sightings-wise, were: The large flock of Barn Swallows and Silverbills The bushes full of Sunbirds The Bushlark taking a mud-bath The Sirkeer Malkoha jumping around, strutting on the ground and despatching its prey The Shikra couple flying together. The Kestrel eating its prey in mid-air. The Carpenter Bees and their nests. The family of Quails suddenly crossing in front of our car, in such a busy-busy, comical hurry to get somewhere! Here's the bird and butterfly list: Bee-eater, Small Green Bulbul, Red-vented Bulbul, White-cheeked Bulbul, Coppersmith Buschat, Pied Bushlark, Indian Buzzard, Oriental honey Crow, Jungle Crow, Common Coucal,Greater Dove, Laughing Drongo, Black Egret, Cattle(G) Flowerpecker, Tickells Francolin,Grey Egret, Little Heron, Pond Kingfisher, White-breasted(G) Kite, Black Kite, Black-winged (G) Kestrel, Common Lapwing, Red-wattled Lark, Ashycrowned Sparrow Malkoha, Blue-faced Malkoha, Sirkeer Munia, Scaly breasted Myna, Common Myna, Jungle Quail (?) Parakeet, Rose-ringed Robin, Indian Roller, Indian Shikra Silverbill Sparrow, House Sunbird, Purple Sunbird, Purple-rumped Swallow, Barn Tailorbird.Common Wagtail, Whitebrowed Warbler, Blyth's Reed Butterflies: Blues, various kinds Cerulean, Common Coster,Tawny Crow, Common Emigrant, Commmon Four-ring, Common Jezebel,Common Leopard, Common Psyche Rose, Common Rose, Crimson Tiger, Blue Tiger, Common Tiger, Glassy Wanderer, Common Yellow, Grass, various kinds Various grasshoppers and crickets. Mammals: Macaques, Bonnet Mongoose, Stripe-necked Reptiles: Keelback, Checkered Snake, Rat

I’ll end this post with another image of that winged jewel: