For some years now, we’ve been celebrating

Turahalli Habba, or Festival, or Day

just to register the presence of those who love this patch of forest, and want to prevent any more encroachment

Here’s the

FB page

A group of us decided to do the bird walk, and here we are, at the MCS before heading out to Turahalli:

Light gathered in the sky:

I spotted this little gem on the side of the road: tells me it is a Dodge Truck from the 40's... "The grille is very distinctive. Don't know the exact model, but it sure seems similar to this " he says. Indeed it seems to be the same! We arrived a bit late, thanks to some befuddling GPS, but still got the rising sun: At Turahalli, a lot of activities were going on. There were rock climbers: There were people just enjoying the peace: Some were sharing their knowledge: Some were collecting trash, and laughing about their "spoils"! It was good to see far less trash than before, and even more heartening to see children collecting it, too: There was cycling: It was good to see adult and children's cycles! We opened our "birding account" on the way to Turahalli with this female KESTREL: MBK pointed out this PEACOCK but later the butterfly group told us that some people were trying to poach these birds by setting the dogs on to them. I have made a complaint to the Forest Dept, and am hoping for more active surveillance. A SOUTHERN COUCAL skulked through the trees, but we were able to see it. A delightful CLERODENDRUM greeted us: The butterfly group got 50 species! Here's a COMMON CROW: I found this dead FRUIT-PIERCING MOTH: I saw a YELLOW PANSY: It was not nice, though, to see the loooong line of cars which had come for the event...but I suppose it can't be helped! Naturally, there is a huge block of buildings coming up right opposite, with this as the selling point: Of course, some of us finished with a good breakfast at Adiga's: </lj-cut> On the way back home, I was wondering if I could hire this silver chariot! I've put up more photos on my FB album, here We hope the sun always shines on an undisturbed patch of Turahalli Forest: