It was a baker’s dozen…Alexis,Chandu, Fauzia, Gopal,Hrishikesh, Neha,Priyanka, Neha, Sushil,Tharangini, Vaibhav, Yash, and I…who went to Hulimangala this morning (070511). The sun came up as we stopped near the magnificient stand of trees….

It was wonderful, once again, to walk through the titanic trees and see the peaceful tomb of Paapayya Reddy: No photograph can do justice to this wonderful area: I got the sun shining through the leaves of one huge mango tree: At the small lake, I got the usual mantapa on the other shore: On several Ficus trees, the figs were growing right on the trunk: A feather, stuck on a lantana twig, seemed to indicate how fleeting life is: Near the Hulimangala school, in an open field, I saw this little cairn of stones: The only butterfly we saw was this BUSH BROWN, beautifully camouflaged in the dry leaves: It's clearly visible here, but several of us had to look several times before we could spot it! This cow, belonging to a local farmer, was obviously pissed off at being led by the nose: The bsnk og yhr lskr had this lovely tiny flower: And on the surface of the water bloomed these tiny, delicate water flowers: I enjoyed seeing the others photographing, and the light touched them as well as their lenses: I realized that many of the people were NTP members, so I got an informal group photograph! The bird count was low even for summer (it was 26!) but I managed to get an ASHY PRINIA in the clutter: and then, a PLAIN PRINIA as well: A chocolate-and-vanilla BRAHMINY KITE soared past: So did a BLACK-WINGED KITE craning its neck to look down at us: the antics of a RUFOUS TREEPIE pecking at the trunk of the tree, woodpecker-fashion, had us observing it for a while: As we left, several CATTLE EGRETS posed for us in the morning light! Here's a video that does not justice at all to this magnificient stand of trees:

The bird list:

Babbler, Jungle Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, White-cheeked Bee-Eater, Small Green Bushchat, Pied Buzzard, Oriental Honey Crow, House Crow, Jungle Egret, Cattle Egret, Little Heron, Pond Iora, Common Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, White-breasted Kite, Black Kite, Black-winged Kite, Brahminy Mynah, Common Mynah, Jungle Pigeon, Blue Rock Prinia, Ashy Prinia, Plain Robin,Indian Roller, Indian Sparrow, House Swallow, Red-rumped Treepie, Rufous Warbler, un id Woodpecker, Greater Flameback

The Facebook page with lots of photographs are

here