Daroji/Hampi trip, field trip report, 290912 to 021012

October 11, 2012

Several of us drove down to Daroji and Hampi, leaving on the 29th of September and returning on the 2nd of October, 2013. The group from Bangalore conisted of: Manjula Sridhar, Rama Warrier, Rohan Chakravarty, Santosh Bengaluru, Samrat, Tharangini Bala, and myself. We were very lucky to meet up with Dr Arun S K, Dr Nagraj C S, Pompayyaswamy Malemath, Samad Kottur, and Santosh Martin, all from Bellary. They made it a very memorable visit for us.

We attended the inaugural function of World Wildlife Week organized by the Daroji Karadi Dhama, where the children of two schools took part. We were able to gaze, quite awestruck, at the wonderful book, “Darojji- An Ecological Destination” (authored by Vijay Mohan Raj, Ganesh HS and Samad Kottur) that was about to be launched.

Naturalists from Bellary are even warmer than the weather there! And this time, some monsoon clouds (and the occasional shower) helped us be out of doors practically the entire day, during our visit. Mr Pompayyah’s incredible spotting skills, Santosh’s helpfulness, Samad’s speech to the children, that had the convincing quality of coming from the heart, Dr Arun’s great sense of humour…everything contributed to a great visit, to both the wildlife and the heritage sites. The food was excellent, and Manjula asked for some local cuisine like Shusla, Jhunka, Obbattu, and Shenga Pudi, thanks to which I am certainly fatter now.

A heartfelt thank you to all of them.

Here’s the list of creatures. Alas, I am not able to maintain an “as-seen” list as I can only tabulate the list when I get back in the evening, and have to do it with my eyes drooping with sleep! If I have left out anything, the fault is mine, and I request my friends to supply th missing names. Also, where my IQ (Ignorance Quotient) is high, I’ve just mentioned generic names. The list includes everything seen and observed on our drive to and from Daroji, as well.

I’ve put up photos on my FaceBook album for public viewing, for each day of the visit, and have uploaded a few videos, too, the links to which are in the photo albums.

Cheers, Deepa.

Birds Avadavat, Red Babbler, Jungle Babbler, Large Grey Babbler, Yellow-eyed Barbet, White-cheeked Bee-eater, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Small Green Bulbul, Red-vented Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Yellow-throated Bulbul, White-browed Bushchat, Pied Bushlark, Jerdon's Buzzard, Oriental Honey Cisticola, Zitting Cormorant, Little Coucal, Common Coucal, Greater Crow, House Crow, Jungle Cuckoo, Common Hawk Cuckoo, Pied Darter, Oriental Dove, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Spotted Drongo, Black Drongo, White-bellied Duck, Lesser Whistling Duck, Spot-billed Eagle, Short-toed Snake Egret Little Egret, Cattle Flameback, Black-rumped Flowerpecker, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Thick-billed Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, White-browed Fantail Francolin, Grey Grebe, Little Heron, Pond Heron, Purple Heron, Purple Heron,Grey Hoopoe, Common Hornbill, Indian Grey Ibis, Black-headed Iora, Common Jacana, Bronze-winged Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Small Blue Kingfisher, White-breasted Kite, Black Kite, Black-winged Kite,Brahminy Koel, Asian Lapwing, Red-wattled Lapwing, Yellow-wattled Lark, Ashy-crowned Sparrow Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark, Rufous-tailed Minivet, Small Moorhen, Common Moorhen, Purple Munia, Black-headed Munia, Scaly-Breasted Munia, White-rumped Myna, Common Myna, Jungle Oriole, Black-hooded Owl, Eurasian Eagle Owlet, Spotted Parakeet, Plum-headed Parakeet, Rose-ringed Peafowl, Indian Pigeon, Blue Rock Pipit, Paddyfield Plover, Little Ringed Prinia, Ashy Prinia, Jungle Prinia, Plain Robin, Indian Robin, Oriental Magpie Roller, Indian Sandpiper, Common Shikra Shrike, Bay-backed Shrike, Long-tailed Silverbill, Indian Spurfowl, Painted Starling, Brahminy Starling, Rosy Stilt, Black-winged Stork, Painted Sunbird, Purple-rumped Swift, House Tailorbird, Commom Tern, River Tern, Whiskered Thick-knee, Eurasian Thrush, Blue Rock Treepie, Rufous Vulture, Egyptian Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Yellow Waterhen, White-breasted Weaver, Baya Woodpecker, Streak-throated Butterflies: Blue, pale grass Castor, Common Cerulean, Common Coster, Tawny Crow, Common Emigrant, Common Emigrant, Common Emigrant, Mottled Jezebel, Common Lime,Common Orange-tip, White Pansy, Blue Pansy, Chocolate Pansy, Lemon Rose, Common Rose, Crimson Tiger, Dark Blue Tiger, Glassy Tiger, Plain Tiger, Striped Yellow, Common Grass Yellow, Spotless Grass Yellow, Three-spot Grass Dragonflies/Damselflies Dart, Coromandel Marsh Jewel, Ditch Picturewing, Common Skimmer, Pied Paddyfield Skimmer,Ground Insects and others: Bee, Carpenter Bee, Honey Bee,Blue-banded Beetles, Various Bugs, Various Centipede Cricket Grasshopper Grasshopper, Painted Katytdid Millipede Scorpion Spider, Jumping Spider, Lynx Spider, Orb Spider, Social Wasp Wasp, Solitary Hunter Mammals Bear, Sloth Hare, Black-naped Mongoose, Ruddy Jackal, Indian Reptiles/Amphibians Agama, Peninsular Rock Gecko, House Gecko, Termite Hill Frogs, Various Lizard, Garden Keelback, Checkered Lizard, Monitor Snake, Rat Toad, Indian