On Saturday the 18th April, 2015, my friend and I decided that the “bandh” had died down, and we went to the Bangalore Fort to attend a photo exhibition,

then a north Indian,

followed by a south Indian,

classical music concert.

The Fort was a beautiful setting for the music

I enjoyed the majestic trees around the Fort: ...but most unexpectedly, it proved to be an evening of birding, too! This, of course, started with Ghandabherunda, the mythical two-headed eagle: I was expecting the usual CKMP (Crow-Kite-Myna-Pigeon) a..but I was pleasantly surprised to find that several Jungle Mynas were trying to nest amongst the crevices inside the Fort walls. During the speeches about Bangalore heritage architecture and the ceremony where awards were given to many private and public buildings, I watched both the Mynas, as well as a couple of crows who were trying to see if there were any eggs or nestlings they could snatch! As dusk slowly darkened the sky ,and Dr N Rajam played Yaman, it was also stunning to see first the flocks of pigeons overhead...and then, large murmurations of Rosy Pastors, filling the sky overhead as they swooped past. After this, along with a composition in Desh, came the long-tailed streaks of Rose-ringed Parakeets as they all sailed in to settle in the neighbouring trees. As I listened to the final notes of Bhairavi and "Payo Re Meiney", and dusk brought the purple to inky blue, came a huge flotilla of Black Kites, interspersed with crows, as they dipped and soared and seemed to be feasting on some offal thrown just outside the walls of the Fort. As T M Krishna tuned his tambura and started to sing Varali raagam, a little Pipistrelle, followed by a much larger fruit bat (ok, ok, we've gone from birds to mammals here!) flitted around, delighting not only me but probably several other aviophiles (if that is not the correct word, tell me the right one!)..or lovers of winged creatures.... in the audience.

I also enjoyed some strange creatures on the wall of the Fort:

and

So you can laugh if you like, but it can be possible to enjoy heritage, architecture, music, and birding…all at once!

My photos of the evening are on my FB album,

click here

Today, I took ten other people to Galibore and had some amazing birding, with a total of 84 species…but that’s for later! (Hint, Black and White lifers for several people…Black-capped Kingfisher and White-eyed Buzzard!)