Bird Watchers Field Club 2nd Sunday Outing to Lalbagh 080511

May 9, 2011

Sometimes one does not have to see many species of birds (or animals or insects) in order to feel very satisfied with a nature outing. And it is fun to meet up with so many like-minded people.

One of the unusual things about this outing was the fact that the people seemed to split up, spontaneously, into several groups, and I felt pulled in many directions. Should I go to the lake to see, and perhaps photograph, the Pheasant-tailed Jacanas? Should I go with Krishna and Subbu and listen to the always-new-to-me information that they impart about nature and Lalbagh? Should I go with the large group of people who have taken the NTP (Naturalists’ Training Program run by Karthik for JLR)? Should I spend time with people whom I was meeting for the first time, renew my acquaintanceship with others whom I’ve met just once or twice, or spend time with old friends? Yes, I did manage to do most of what I wanted to do, but if anyone felt I was not spending time with them…I do apologize, it was really not what I wanted to do! I wanted to take Chandan around my beloved Lalbagh but wound up getting separated from him, too, and he apparently had breakfast at a restaurant much better than the usual Kamat :)

Well anyway…let me start with the usual “Lovely sunrise” picture:

sunrise lb 080511

It was also a day when I had six separate sightings of Shikras….very highly satisfying! Here’s the female

SHIKRA

Photobucket

and the male:

shikra male 080511

Just a little distance away, this little ball of fur caught our eyes: sqrl bl 080511 lb It was a little squirrel...how small must one be, to be able to sleep on a ladder of thorns? sqrl slp 080511 lb As we watched, the little one woke up, and presumably, avoided being spotted by that Shikra, too! sq awake 080511 After we all gathered and started walking, we were treated to the spectacle of this GREAT TIT bringing nesting material and making a home in the pipe....this was the one on which the board saying "Japanese garden" was hung! grt tt 080511 Another excitement was, of course the sighting of not one but three MOTTLED WOOD OWLS: who have returned to their favourite haunt, near the enclosure with the statue of Kaveri: mtld wd owl twigs 080511 lb Here's the second one, caught through the clutter of leaves, in the heavy shade: mtld wd wl tree 080511 lb Here's the third one, whom we watched for a while in the Juniper tree: mwowl jnpr 080511 lb I remember, a few years ago, Karthik had identified the FLACOURTIA for me; here it is, in bloom again, with a "regular" bee and a Blue-banded bee on it: flacourtia blu-bld bee 080511lb Having heard of the sighting, how could I not go to the lake? Off we rushed, and were in time to see at least one PHEASANT-TAILED JACANA: jcna lnding 080511 lb After landing on the lotus leaves, the bird walked about in Jesus Christ-style: psnt tled jcna 080511 On the far shore, a GREY HERON stood, looking like a statue: grey hern 080511 We also had a tiger sighting in Lalbagh! cmn tgr 080511 lb And then, how can one leave Lalbagh without a sighting of SSO's (Sainath's Spotted Owlets), as I call them? Here's one; spt wlt 2 080511 lb And the other, which came out of its nest for us: spt owlt 1 080511 lb Krishna was rather late in arriving, but, as usual, brought along something very interesting. Here's the seed-growing-on-the-sides-of-the-pod, from the Firmiana colorata, commonly called the COLOURED STERCULIA: mbk with seed-pod lb 080511 I shot the seed in his fingers: Photobucket And he later put it down on the kerb for me to photograph: pod/seed lb A lot of NTP members (click there for my article about the program in Citizen Matters) had decided, also, to come and meet up at Lalbagh yesterday....we had: Aditya Aishwarya Alexis Anjali Deepa Gopal Lakshmi Mamta Radha Suma Tharangini Uma It was lovely to meet up with our Guru-G, Karthik ...but I could not get Aishwarya (who was in a hurry) and Tharangini (who, I think was photographing the Mottled Wood Owl) in this "guru-photo", which contains a few other people, as well: mostly ntp 080511 lb I'll post the proper bird list as soon as I get it!

More photographs and a short account, are on my Facebook page; to see them,

click here

We wound up with a leisurely breakfast at Kamat’s restaurant, and a viewing of Karthik’s Assam photographs….and met another NTP member, Santosh Martin, and his lovely daughter, Sunayana, too.

A very satisfying outing to one of my favourite public parks in Bangalore…here’s the second Spotted Owlet saying “bye” to you until the next time I visit them!

spt wlt 2 080511 lb