birding

Birds know no borders; the ones that we go to see in Karnataka fly off and can be seen once we cross over into Kerala! So when the birders of Kasargod announced the second Kidoor Bird Fest, to celebrate both the first sighting of the Orange-breasted Green Pigeon Photo credit: Sarala Jeevanthi Gamage and the birthday of Dr Salim Ali, the noted ornithologist, it was clear that this would be a productive birding weekend. The participants and the organizers. The festival was a bigger event than it was in 2017, because this time, birders from all over Karnataka (see featured…

An initiative where everyone who is a birdwatcher, can contribute to the database of a worldwide organization that logs the birds seen during this time. The annual Great Backyard Bird Count is back and birdwatchers and enthusiasts can help in the enumeration by uploading their sightings on the eBird India website between February 16 and 19. The largest citizen-science project to enumerate bird species, organised by Bird Count India and eBird India, uses the information on birds for a better understanding of seasonal patterns of movement of birds and for monitoring changes in distribution and abundance of birds over long…

For some time now,    eBird     has emerged as an application that is easy and convenient for birdwatchers (commonly referred to as birders) to record their bird-lists and allied observations."We are working (through a partnership called Bird Count India) to promote birding and bird documentation in India," says Dr Suhel Quader. "We suggest that birdwatchers use eBird as a convenient tool; and we also advise local/regional groups who wish to implement more systematic projects."The idea is to develop a country-wide database of bird sightings and observations, on an open platform, which can be used for analysis or research. Each birder's use of the tool is…

Earlier this year, in February, a group of friends and I had conducted a bird survey in the campus of IIM-Bangalore. At that time, the Dean of Administration, Prof. G Shainesh, and his famkily, keenly followed us througout the morning of birding and documentation. This morning, I received a message from him asking about a bird that had fallen from a tree in his garden. He asked whether it could be a kingfisher or a barbet, as the appearance seemed different to him. I viewed his excellent photo-documentation of the bird...here it is:   Indian Pitta,IIM-Bangalore campus, 15 Oct 2016.…

The Great Backyard Bird Count came to a close yesterday and there were three things that stood out for me.  One: the birding wasn’t exactly great, but it was satisfying. Two: I stuck to the backyard of my immediate neighbourhood, not foraying too far from where I live. I did this for a reason. Often, it’s tempting to go to bird-rich habitats and notch up a big count. I was keen to survey and re-survey the same stretch of the backyard – old, familiar haunts – to see what kind of bird diversity I could dig up and compare it with…

This is the weekend of the Great Backyard Bird Count  (February 12th to 15th). I wanted to get away and do some serious birding away from the immediate backyard this weekend. I set out this morning to explore my usual neighbourhood haunts — Kaikondrahalli and Kasavanahalli lakes. This week turned up a lower species count than last week – the terns, in particular, were missing at both lakes. Backyard birding, it seems, turns up some pleasant surprises. Indian Spot-billed Ducks and a single Northern Pintail drake (centre) at Kaikondrahalli Lake. Pic: Bijoy Venugopal Kaikondrahalli lake I was at Kaikondrahalli by 6.15 am and it was a lot…

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…

Here’s a video I took, of some remarkable ‘fishers’ that we are able to see, even in urban lakes such as Madiwala or Lalbagh, in the winter. These are Spot-billed Pelicans which are local travellers. There are some long-distance travellers, too. These are Bar-headed Geese landing at Hadinaru Kere, near Nanjangud, Karnataka, in August 2015; they come all the way from Mongolia! Here’s one, which was tagged in Mongolia (yes, I received a reply from the scientists there when I emailed them, it was quite a thrill). This winter, we had another lone, and surprise visitor. The Demoiselle Crane was a lone bird that I spotted in a lake…

With young students like Anvitha Rao and Joiston Pereira taking the initiative, the annual Waterfowl Census, which had been suspended some time ago due to lack of support by the authorities, was revived again on some of the lakes of Bangalore. On Saturday, 26th Dec, 2015, the census was started at Agara Lake. Several concerned citizens,birders and environmentalists participated. On Saturday, lakes along Sarjapura Road were covered; on Sunday, the focus was on Hosur Road.  While doing the bird counts, participants were also asked to input data on the condition of the lakes. Here is an update from Joiston Pereira:…

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…