bird-watching

To most people, Whitefield is synonymous with ITPL, the Sai Baba Ashram, luxurious villas and of course traffic jams. But there’s another positive aspect of Whitefield which is the number of lakes in the area. These are some of the lakes which are located to the east/north-east of Marathahalli Bridge and west/south-west of Hope Farm.  Munnekolala and Chinnapanahalli lakes inside AECS Layout Hoodi lake behind Zuri (no direct access to the lake) Seetharampalya lake near Graphite signal Sheelvantharakere Lake behind Palm Meadows Nallurahalli lake on the Nallurahalli-Borewell road Thubarahalli lake, opposite Mainland China (no direct access to the lake) Kundalahalli lake…

A foggy start to the morning. Pic: Kere Habba* On January 9th 2016, Kaikondrahalli Lake played host to a bunch of events for the second time with more than 4,500 people from neighbourhood participating. Kere Habba 2016 aimed at raising awareness, increasing community participation and fostering an appreciation of lakes in Bangalore. Birders looking to spot as many species. Pic: Kere Habba* Dechamma Chetan, a visitor said, "The lake is a beautiful place for bird watching", and that she had a great time. Another visitor, Chirdeep Shetty, he said too loved the event. Mukesh, who lives near the lake, came…

At the last minute, on the morning of December 13th, I convinced 20 other birders that instead of going to Valley School, we should bird along the Kaggalipura-Bannerghatta stretch, and then go to check out Hulimangala. And there, at nearly the end of a long birding outing, we saw a migrant which has never before been sighted in the Bangalore area... the Demoiselle Crane. Can you spot the crane in its habitat?  Here it is: Demoiselle cranes undertake one of the toughest migrations in the world.... as tough as that of the Bar-headed Geese.  From late August through September, they gather in…

A panoramic view of Kaikondarahalli lake on Sarjapur road which hosted first Kere Habba. Pic: Akshatha M The serene surroundings of Kaikondanahalli lake on Sarjapur road witnessed an array of activities on Saturday, as a group of like-minded organisations and active citizens from the nearby areas came together to celebrate the rejuvenation and reclamation of the lake. Right from children to the elderly, people belonging to different age groups thronged the venue. For the enthusiastic participants, the day started with a bird walk as early as at 6 am. District-in-Charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy, Upa Lokayukta Subhash Adi and MP P…

Great (Global) Backyard Bird Count this weekend! Bangaloreans, put your plans for this weekend on hold and participate in the Great Global Backyard Bird Count (GBBC)! Or maybe, you could carry on with your plans, so long as you participate in the Great Global Backyard Bird Count! The Great Global Backyard Bird Count is an annual census of sorts, tracking species and number of birds across the world. Launched in 1998 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, it was the first online citizen-science project to collect data on wild birds. In the past 14 years, tens…

This year's Bird Race, organised by the India Bird Races, was held on 15th January. Sunjoy Monga headed this year's race. Registrations were opened up in early January and 44 teams had registered in all. The race was sponsored, as always, by Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Corporation (HSBC).This was a good number of participants, considering the fact that it was Sankranti day.The rules, as always, were that people could form teams, and check off the various species of birds that they found in a 60 km radius around Bangalore. In this radius Nandi Hills is included, as it continues to…

It was 7:30 AM on June 1st, when Anush Shetty spotted a Pied Cuckoo at the Valley School campus on Kanakapura road, just perched by the trail. The Pied Cuckoo is associated with monsoon in India, flying from Africa across the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean every year around June. Shetty has also spotted other migratory birds such as Ashy Drongo and Verditer Flycatcher at Lalbagh and Valley school campuses in the last few months. Shetty, an engineer working at a startup firm near South End circle (Jayanagar), is part of a volunteer team or citizen scientists, taking part…

The name itself summons up visions of many of us, dressed in goatee beards, flowing white robes with burnouses, lined up with those thick leather gloves and magnificient-looking, keen-glanced birds of prey, racing them. It also conjures up fancies of some of us, astride birds with tiny reins and tinier saddles, flying through the air competitively, driving our birds on with worms dangled before their beaks.  A Black-Shouldered Kite, handsome in the monsoon wind. Pic: Deepa Mohan. Source: INW gallery. Wake up, wake up. This is a bird-watching race, actually. People should form teams of four and they will be…