Email to bngbirds:

Highlight of my morning!

A quick decision made Amith Gayatri and me, decide not to go to Nandi Hills as per our original plan but to visit Valley School; the three of us set off in the pre-dawn darkness, and though birding was a bit slow as we drove down the road to the Valley, things picked up once we started walking along the periphery of the School wall. It was delightful to walk along the familiar path after a long absence, and the bamboo groves certainly did not disappoint us! A new raptor added to the usual Honey Buzzards seems to be the Black-shouldered Kite, of which we saw two sitting on a tree. We therefore assume that the raptor that we saw in the distance, with hovering behaviour, was not a Kestrel but one of these birds. The Warblers, of course, delighted us, and we were often at a loss to identify various songs, or know if it was the Black Drongo that was fooling us! A Tawny-bellied Babbler was an unsual sighting, as was that of a Jerdon's (I think...please confirm the id) Nightjar...not on the ground, but quite high up on a tree! The White-rumped Shama and the Asian Paradise Flycatcher flaunted themselves briefly before us. After the Valley, we went further to Vaderahalli Lake, and enjoyed the sight of many waterfowl. Brahminy and Black Kites soared and swooped, and we came to breakfast at Adiga's refreshed in mind and spirit. The birds (those at Vaderahalli are marked with V): Babbler, Jungle Babbler, Tawny-bellied Babbler, Yellow-billed Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, White-cheeked Bee-eater, Green Bulbul, Red-vented Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul, White-browed Bushchat, Pied Bushlark, Indian Coot, Common (V) Cormorant, Little (V) Cormorant, Great (V) Coucal, Greater Crow, House Crow, Large-billed Cuckoo, Common Hawk Dove, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Spotted Drongo, Ashy Drongo, Black Ducks, Spot-billed (V) Egret, Little (V) Egret, Intermediate (V) Flameback, Black-rumped Flowerpecker, Pale-billed Flycatcher, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, White-browed Fantail Grebe, Little (V) Heron, Indian Pond (V) Honey-buzzard, Oriental Iora, Common Kingfisher, White-throated Kite, Black Kite, Black-shouldered Kite, Brahminy Koel, Asian Lapwing, Red-wattled (V) Minivet, Small Myna, Common Myna, Jungle Nightjar Oriole, Eurasian Golden Owlet, Spotted Parakeet, Rose-ringed Pelican, Spot-billed (V) Prinia, Ashy Robin, Indian Robin, Oriental Magpie Sandpiper, Green (V) Shama, White-rumped Sparrow, House Stonechat, Common (V) Sunbird, Purple-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swift, Asian Palm Tailorbird, Common Tern, River (V) Tern, Whiskered(V) Tit, Great Treepie, Rufous Wagtail, White-browed (V) Warbler, Booted Warbler, Greenish Butterflies: Blues, Various Coster, Tawny Crow, Common Emigrant, Common Lime, Common Mormon, Commn Gull. Common Pioneer Pansy, Chocolate Pansy, Lemon Psyche Rose, Common Rose, Crimson Wanderer, Common Yellow, Spotless Grass Yellow, Three-spot Grass I have put up my eBird checklist here My FB album is here

Off to Kelamangalam near Hosur, Tamil Nadu, for an overnight volunteering trip…with the children of Aarohi.