An email to the egroup of the Bird Watchers’ Field Club:

It was a cloudy, overcast morning as we all set out for the 3rd Sunday outing to Shivanahalli, organized by Geetanjali and Subir Dhar. But, as if to reward us for our diligence, the rainclouds slowly broke up, and we did have some superb weather for our trek across the slopes of the Bannerghatta forest area, behind the Ramakrishna Ashram.

By the time our group (it consisted of people coming from as far away as Hebbal!) reached the Ashram after the MCS (Mandatory Chai Stop) and another stop at the Ragihalli sheet rock to admire the superb view, the rest of the group had started the trail. But they had not gone too far, and we managed to catch up. There are occasions when it's not just the birds,but everything as a whole, makes the trail enjoyable, and this was one of them. The overcast conditions, perhaps, contributed to a lack of bird sightings, but this was more than made up by the several interesting things we saw on the way. Wild mint Resin on tree-bark Caeselpinia Sri Shankar, appointed by Swamji at the Ashram, was our guide. He showed us so many marvels...seeds that slowly sink into the ground so that even in a fire, their top part perishes but the seed remains underground to sprout another day; the "Minda" plant whose flowers attract birds; something that we might have passed by, thinking it was offal, but which, he told us, was the umblical cord shed by a Chital doe after giving birth to a fawn.. .and so on. We also saw a few unpleasant things like the granite quarrying which is resulting in ulcers on the slopes of the forest: Plum Judy We were a lively group, Katydids on Purabi's trousers being photographed though there were no children (indeed, the trail is not one for young children, and Geetanjali emphasizes that in her emails every month.) But several young people were there, and it was nice to see one father-son duo! Reflections in a water body Yellow-billed Babbler ' Oriental Honey Buzzard silhouette: Ashy Woodswallows (er, all the birds were looking ashy when the sky was overcast!) Photographing the Antlion: The Antlion: The beauty of the trail: Ladybird: Looking at the birds: A little snail, rushing past: Golden-fronted Leafbird silhouette: Common Tree Frog The mammals list starts out with a Black-naped Hare, but includes our group. Please let me know if I have left out any names.... Geetanjali and Subir Dhar Sri Shankar, our guide Anbazhagan Amit Arun Arvind Babu Kamal Kumuda Mani Meghna Naveen Nirmal Pallavi Purabi Raghavendra Rohan Suresh and Yours Truly. (at least, these were all the names that I'd written down.) The bird list was put up by Purabi, and it doesn't seem so meagre, after all: Babbler, Jungle Babbler, White-eyed Babbler, Yellow-eyed Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, White-cheeked Bulbul, Red-vented Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-browed Bushchat, Pied Crow, House Crow, Jungle Flowerpecker, Pale-billed Bee-eater, Small Green Flycatcher, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Asian Paradise Dove, Laughing Dove, Spotted Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Black Drongo, White-bellied Heron, Indian Pond Honey Buzzard, Oriental Kingfisher, White-throated Leafbird, Golden-fronted Martin, Dusky Crag Munia, Scaly-breasted Munia, White-rumped Parakeet, Rose-ringed Pigeon, Prinia, Ashy Robin, Indian Shrike, Bay-backed Sunbird, Purple Sunbird, Purple-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Wire-tailed Swift, Palm Thrush, Blue-capped Rock Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Pied Warbler, Booted Warbler, Blyth's Reed White-eye, Oriental Butterflies...the list is incomplete because my knowledge is so limited. Baronet Blue, Common Hedge Blue, Grass Blue, Pea Brown, Bush Coster, Tawny Crow, Common Emigrant, Common Emigrant, Mottled Gull, Common Jezebel, Common Judy, Plum Mormon, Common Leopard, Common Psyche Rose, Common Rose, Crimson Tiger, Plain Tiger, Striped Wanderer. Common Yellow, Common Grass Yellow, Three-spot Grass Yellow, Spotless Antlion, Bees,Beetles, Bugs, Damselflies, Dragonflies, Spiders, Stick Insects, and Wasps I have to tender an apology to the people above. I wrongly identified the Antlion as a Cranefly. I just don't know what I was thinking (or smoking). I came home and realized when looking at the photos, what I had done! I guess I was thinking of the Craneflies I've seen recently in the US. Here's the wiki about the interesting Antlion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlion I have put up some photos on my FB album,here: https://www.facebook.com/deemopahan/media_set?set=a.10151834477353878.1073742044.587058877&type=3 With thanks to Swamji of the Shivanahalli Ashram, Sri Shankar, the Dhars, and the company of the group that made it such an enjoyable trail for me, *******************

For my FB album about the trail, look

here