Hosakote kere, birding and nature trail, 281213

December 29, 2013

My email to the bngbirds egroup:

In so many years of birding, I had never been to Hosakote to watch birds, so I was very happy when Amith, Gowri Shankar, Kiran Baagade (who has recently shifted here from Mysore), Ramachandra Gopalakrishna, and I headed out to the kere (lake).

Sunrise at the kere:

Mist on the ground:

While there, we were joined briefly by Bhanu Prakash, Sanjeev Managoli (on his way to work at Hosakote, he was doing a short birding stint!), and then Rajani Chand, who spent the rest of the morning with us, and guided us to the Raghavendra Talkies part of the kere.

Rajani and Sanjeev:

Amith, Gowri, Kiran, and Ram at the MCS

Little did we know just how rewarding the birding was going to be….but we opened the innings with a mixed bag of water birds and scrub birds.

On the tank bund:

Photography:

Plain Prinia:

Booted Warbler:

Bronze-winged Jacana juvenile:

Brahminy Kite:

Painted Stork:

Purple Swamphen:

Barn Swallows:

Wood Sandpiper:

Garganeys:

A Garganey foraging:

A Marsh Harrier male (sub-adult)

A Pied Cuckoo, several Garganeys, a lone Northern Shoveller started off our migrant sightings. We were spoilt for choice as sometimes we didn’t know whether to look towards the kere on our right, or the shore on our left!

Little Grebe:

White-breasted Kingfisher:

Pied Kingfisher:

Marsh Harrier with Garganeys:

Jerdon’s Bushlark:

Lesser Whistling Ducks:

Common Coot juveniles:

Common Coot adult:

Silverbills:

Black Drongo:

Bay-backed Shrike:

Indian Spotted Eagle:

Purple-rumped Sunbird:

Black-winged Kite:

Green Sandpiper:

Possibly Marsh Sandpiper:

White-browed Wagtail:

Paddyfield Pipit:

Indian Roller:

We were near a cremation ground!

There were mosquitoes:

Watching water birds fishing is always a riveting experience, and we also watched the raptors instilling fear into the birds on the water.

Marsh Harrier flying over the ducks:

There were more Great Cormorants than Little Cormorants, and we sighted one Indian Cormorant, too, which the experienced birders pointed out to me.

Water level indicator:

Two Black-winged Kites landed close enough on a tree that we could look up into their ruby eyes….a Booted Eagle and an Indian Spotted Eagle filled up the “E” part of our birding alphabet. Well…yesterday the alphabet did not start with Avadavats, but from Babbler to Warbler, the list seemed very well represented! Thank you to those who are more experienced,for id’ing the different kinds of Sandpipers for me.

I have to strike one sad note. At one place, plastic netting was hung into the water (which was in channels and ponds there) , presumably, to keep birds from taking the fish. We saw two Pond Herons, dead, strangled in the netting. It was quite a dreadful sight. I would have minded less if the birds had been caught for eating…then they would have been part of the food chain…but to see the dead birds just lying in the netting that had been so callously set out, was heart-rending.

Dead bird in netting:

We broke for brunch only when the call of the Empty Tummy-birds could not be denied

…and we went back to the kere for round two! I am afraid I didn’t see too many butterflies, though Kiran pointed some out to me. We dispersed, feeling thoroughly satisfied with our morning of birding.

Birds:

Babbler, Jungle Barbet, White-cheeked Bee-eater, Green Bulbul, Red-vented Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-browed Bushchat, Pied Bushlark, Jerdon’s Coot, Common Cormorant, Greater Cormorant, Indian Cormorant, Little Coucal, Greater Crow, House Crow, Jungle Cuckoo, Indian Cuckoo, Pied Darter, Oriental Dove, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Spotted Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Black Duck, Lesser Whistling Duck, Spot-billed Eagle, Booted Eagle, Indian Spotted Egret, Cattle Egret, Intermediate Egret, Little Flowerpecker, Pale-billed Francolin, Grey (call) Garganey Grebe, Little Greenshank, Common Harrier, Eurasian Marsh Heron, Grey Heron, Pond Heron, Purple Hoopoe Ibis, Black Ibis, Black-headed Jacana, Bronze-winged Jacana, Pheasant-tailed Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, White-breasted Kite, Black-winged Kite, Brahminy Kite, Common Koel, Asian Lapwing, Red-wattled Myna, Common Myna, Jungle Parakeet, Rose-ringed Pelican, Spot-billed Pigeon, Blue Rock Pipit, Paddyfield Prinia, Ashy Prinia, Plain Robin, Indian Roller, Indian Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Wood Shoveller, Northern Shrike, Bay-backed Shrike, Brown Silverbill, Indian Sparrow, House Stork, Painted Stork, Woolly-necked Sunbird, Purple Sunbird, Purple-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Streak-throated Swamphen, Purple Tit, Great Wagtai, Yellow Wagtail, White-browed Warbler, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Booted Warbler, Greenish Waterhen, White-breasted Babbler, Yellow-billed

Butterflies

Blue, Lesser Grass Blue, Pea Blue, Zebra Bluebottle, Common Castor, Common Cerulean, Common Crow, Common Emigrant, Mottled Mormon, Common Skipper, Indian Tiger, Plain Wanderer, Common Yellow, Three-spot Grass Yellow, Mottled Grass

Insects

Assorted ants, bees, beetles,bugs, damselflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, spiders. wasps

Reptiles

Rat Snake (thanks to Amith’s excellent spotting of this in the Lantana bush.)