Let me begin with this lovely

INDIAN LABURNUM

cascading in a shower of gold (its common name), everywhere:

Kannan started the ball rolling and with people both joining in and dropping out, 6 of us finally made it for the outing this morning…in alphabetical order, along with Yours Truly:

Anand Balajee Kannan Krupakar Rohit.

We decided that we would go to Ragihalli, and after the regulation Bannerghatta Circle chai stop, we entered the Reserve Forest area, and proceeded to have a very enjoyable time.

The heavy shower of yesterday evening seemed to have resulted in quite a mild summer mornng, so the heat didn't bother us at all. My account of our activities, and some pics (mostly non-birding!) are here (It's a FaceBook page) However if you want a "How to Spot Birds 101", here it is. Can you spot the bird in this photograph? It's in the centre of the photograph...and here it is, cropped and zoomed for you: and here's the bird list: Babbler, Jungle Babbler, White-eyed Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, White-cheeked Bee-Eater, Small Green Bushchat, Pied Crow, House Crow, Jungle Dove, Laughing Dove, Spotted Drongo, Black Drongo, White-bellied Egret, Cattle Egret, Little Flowerpecker, Pale-billed Goose, Wild Heron, Pond Kestrel, Common Kingfisher, Small Blu Kingfisher, White-breasted Kite, Black Kite, Brahminy Lapwing, Red-wattled Lark, Ashy-crowned Sparrow Lark, Indian bush Lark, Jerdon's Leafbird, Golden-fronted Malkoha, Blue-faced Mynah, Common Mynah, Jungle Oriole, Eurasian Golden Owlet, Spotted Pipit, Paddyfield Robin, Indian Shikra Shrike, Long-tailed Sunbird, Purple Sunbird, Purple-rumped Swallow, Red-rumped Tailorbird Treepie, Rufous Wagtail, Pied White-eye, Oriental Friends Spotted Gopal (and his friend Stephen) Prashanth Birdynath Valli The Wild Goose was chased for a while when we went looking for the farmhouse that Gopal told us he and his friend Stephen were making for....obviously (if we'd been successful, it wouldn't have been a Wild Goose chase) we never found it, and since we kept on sighting other interesting stuff, we came home quite content! The highlights included a Kestrel's typical hovering over the valley at the Sheet Rock area, one Shikra floating past our windscreen and sitting on a tree nearby; a pair of Shikras (probably a couple) soaring overhead, far above, on the thermals, looking for prey; a White-breasted Kingfisher popping out of its nest; two White-bellied Drongos sitting companionably on a wire, and an Ashy-crowned Sparrow Lark also high on the wire, a perch that I've not seen it on, before! There were hardly any butterflies...perhaps the season is yet to get under way. But Kannan's lovely cheese-and-cucumber sandwiches staved off hunger to the point where we actually waived the White-breasted Idli, the Speckled Chutney, the Fulvous Sambar and had only the Rufous Coffee and, at Puttamma's eatery in Ragihalli, some Pink Chai! Kannan's pics are here and Anand's images are here

A lovely outing indeed, and thank you to every one for making it so enjoyable.

Let me end with this beautiful Damselfly on the water: