What could be a better medicine for severe jet-lag and symptoms of serious withdrawal from one’s grandchilden (who, as the miles slip away behind the aircraft, progressively become the best-behaved, most ideal children of all time)? A visit to my favourite haunt!

Rajesh had posted on the birding e-group, asking if anyone would go to the Bannerghatta area. Well, of course I would! I was joined by Amitabha, Kiran and Zainab, too..

the latter were coming for their first birding/natiure trail. The only bird in their lives now is the Stork, which will be arriving early next year.

It was a cloudy and dull morning,

and initially, all birds were Grey ‘Silhouette Birds, I had to keep showing Zainab and Kiran what the birds looked like, in the bird book. But we persisted, and not only did we see a respectable number of species,

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we also enjoyed the beauty of the Bannerghatta forest,

the weak sunshine,

a hot breakfast in the iddli shop in Ragihalli,and the sight of innumerable waterlilies,

and a few white lotuses, blooming in Ragihalli Kola (Pond).

Some living things grew fast after the rain…

The highlight, for me at least, was a big group of Lesser Whistling Duck babies, huddling along, trying to keep right behind their parents, in Ragihalli Kola.

There were several butterflies,

some interesting spiders

and other insects.

and we delighted in the various wildflowers, too.

It was a deeply satisfying morning, and I returned home with peace in my heart, on the festival of lights.

The villagers of Ragihalli told us that the elephant movement was not at a high, but we were warned by the Forest Department people at the Ragihalli watch tower. But the Forest Dept staff keep harassing photographers, even when we are on the main road, and this does not make sense to me. On the whole, they adopt a very confrontational, hectoring tone. When I talked to them, they were a little more polite. Perhaps they come across a lot of tourists who make nuisances of themselves.

The Ragihalli sheet rock area was surprisingly free of broken bottles and picnic litter, and this was a big improvement. However, litter surrounds Ragihalli village. Our plastic trash is poisoning our environment at an alarming pace.

I have put up some photos (I’ve also written in a narrative) on my Facebook album at

https://www.facebook.com/deemopahan/media_set?set=a.10151797656438878.1073742033.587058877&type=3

The bird list:

Babbler, Jungle Babbler, Yellow-billed Barbet,Coppersmith Barbet, White-cheeked Bee-eater, Small Green Bulbul Red-vented Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-browed Bushchat Pied Bushlark jerdon’s, Buzzard, Oriental Honey Coucal, Greater Crow, House Crow, Jungle Dove, Laughing Dove, Spotted Drongo Ashy Drongo, Black Duck, Lesser Whistling Duck, Spot-billed Egret, Cattle Egret, Little Flowerpecker, Pale-billed Francolin grey (heard) Grebe, Little Heron, Indian-pond Hoopoe, Common Kestrel, Common Kingfisher, White-breasted Kite, Black Koel, Asian Lapwing Red-wattled Martin, Asian House Munia, Scaly-breasted Myna, Common Myna, Jungle Parakeet, Rose-ringed Pigeon, Blue Rock Pipit, Paddyfield Prinia, Ashy Prinia Plain Robin, Indian Shikra Silverbill, Indian Starling, Rosy Sunbird, Purple-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Wire-tailed Swift, House Treepie, Rufous Wagtail, White-browed Warbler, Greenish-leaf

Butterflies:

Blues, Various Castor, Common Eggfly, Danaid Emigrant, Common Jezebel, Common Leopard, Common Lime, Common Psyche Rose, Common Tiger, Common Yellow, Three-spot Grass Yellow, Spotless Grass

Various Dragonflies, Damselflies, and Spiders, too.

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