Travelogue: 2009

This time we were 7, so a Tavera looked appropriate for the travel. As planned we started at 06 30 and reached the school around 07 00. An entry was to be made with the security at the gate. There was a small banyan tree with lot of ripend fruit. We spotted an adult and an immature Eurasian Golden Oriole. Not far from their perch a coppersmith Barbet was devouring it's breakfast. We knew about the presence of a lake from the map we were carrying and decided to visit that first. There was a walk way along the side of the foot ball ground. A lot of Red-whiskered Bulbuls flew from one tree to another. As soon as we entered a trail just after the ground, four Indian Grey Hornbills landed on a distant fig tree. If we were careful enough to merge with the bushes, we could have got good pictures of these beautiful birds. Many of us were never been in to a bird watching trip and the lack of experience made it easier for the birds to spot us. I managed to click one of those birds tossing the fruit before swallowing. But later this turned out to be just another mediocre picture.

After watching them disappear in to another tree, we proceeded to find the lake. An open air theatre was a good place to take a short break and an all inclusive photo using a tripod. With my slow healing sprained knee, I found it difficult to reach them before the 10 second counter stop ticking.

We walked the trail and took a right turn as suggested in the map and found a patch of grass land. The track abruptly ended there with nowhere to go. We came back and retraced our trail to the open air theatre. A nearby small tree suddenly became alive with numerous Oriental White eye-s diplaying their acrobatic skills. By the time we took few pictures, two foreigneres came across apparaently knowing that place well. We asked for the directions. A small trek along with them lead us to the bank of a small lake. It was delightfully beautiful in the morning mist. A cormorant was spreading it's wings on an overhanging branch on the other side. We saw a flowering tree feeding a large number of birds, common crow, Indian rose ringed parakeet and a Purple sunbird. A White-breasted Kingfisher flew from it's favourite perch on the far end of the lake, Koel, a Green Bee eater and a White browed Bulbul. We spent some walking around the lake before decided to go for the breakfast.
A longer trek is planned for the post-breakfast session. The route would be the same till the open air theatre. Then further down along the track we took a right turn through the bamboo thicket. There was a narrow stream flowing down, probably originating from the lake we saw in the morning. Following the stream while listening to the music of wind rattling the giant bamboos was an amazing experience. After reaching a clearing further down, I decided to rest for sometime. Balan and Nishanth went for further exploration in the forest, while Adhya, Rakhi, and Sivan joined me. Anitha was in double mind before settling down with us.

Even after an hour the "explorers" did not show up. The discussion of they losing their way started coming up in our conversation. Then I received a call on my mobile from Balan. they have in fact lost their way. Balan asked me to yell out to get the direction. Anitha took that job and sent out a reverberating high pitch yell. Easily the loudest one I have ever heard in my life. Once they reached us, we crossed the stream and started walking along the forest track through the bamboo forest. We spotted clear elephant foot prints complete with the nail marks along the track. The track was very hard to get such impressions even by an elephant. So we assumed the elephants were there when it was raining and the soil was soft. After a while we again crossed the same stream. we were in a mood to relax. We settled down on the round rocks in the stream. Then a fantail and a grey wagtail appeared down stream. Me and Balan took some pictures. We carried bread and cheese along with us. It calmed down our appetite till we reached the hotel for lunch. After the lunch we started straight back to Bangalore.

List of birds.

1. Long Tailed Shrike

2. Un identified 1