On the 10th only 3 of us went there, but we did find quite few other birders. We were able to meet and exchange notes.

Kiran, Guru, and Prem….we are ready to start!

The swallows made written music against the sky.

It was a misty, beautiful sunrise:

The lake was equally beautiful as the sun rose.

We found a fair number of birds, including this JERDON'S BUSHLARK on a Calatropis (milkweed) bush: A LITTLE RINGED PLOVER ran around, too. This WHITE-BROWED BULBUL posed for me. One bird that I don't often click is the JUNGLE CROW This palm tree bears many ASIAN OPENBILLS. Here's their typical foraging behaviour, picking up snails from the shallows: Here's one in flight. Everywhere, on the dried-up areas of the lake bed, the Calatropis (milkweed, this one's called the haldi-kumkum plant because of the yellow and red flowers) plants were flowering and dispersing their seeds by the wind: SANDPIPERS waded along the water's edge. SCALY-BREASTED MUNIAS foraged, too. Here's the beauty of the shallow part of the lake: And the beauty of the arid mounds with grass: It was fun to see birders and birds looking in opposite directions! I liked this Cat On A Cool Tin Roof! It was funny to see the cat and the White-browed Wagtail completely ignoring each other! Peepal leaves made emeralds and a ruby. This is what our revered and worshipped gods come to, after immersion: On the 11th, we were a larger group at the MCS (Mandatory Chai Stop): Some of the sights were not as delightful as others. A bird in the hand may be worth two in the bush, but these two TAWNY-BELLIED BABBLERS were priceless! RED AVADAVATS (Lal Munias), were in the reeds. they had the photographers waiting. BARN SWALLOWS sat upon sticks and pondered the meaning of life. A SIBERIAN STONECHAT did so, too! GREAT CORMORANTS formed a diving and fishing line. Butterflies like this TAWNY COSTER were around, too. The grasses looked gorgeous against the light. We returned via the Champakadhama temple.

I must end with a pic of this ruby-eyed ruby of a Lal Munia male:

More snaps on my Flickr album,

here

and all the photos on my FB album,

here, for the 10th

and

here, for the 11th