During a short visit to Turahalli last weekend, we saw this lark hopping around in the scrubs. After a while, it came out and sat on a pole for quite a long time.

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I managed to wake up 10 mins before 6am. I dont even have a mobile phone. I quickly called up my friend that I would reach Banashankari bus stop in 15 minutes and I managed that by getting into a sumo taxi which was heading towards the bus stop. We started by 6.15am to Yellamma Lake, a lake which has been in the news for hosting thousands of Northern Shovelers, the winter migrants to this part of the world. It took us about 90mins to reach that place which even included a pit stop for refueling ourselves with some Idly and coffee at one of the darshinis near KR Puram.

Location: Yellamma Lake, NH4, KR Puram, Bangalore

The lake looked very huge on Google Maps. After getting detailed directions from Chandrashekar Bandi who had first reported about the Northern Shovelers on BNGbirds, we reached the lake. The lake is just by the National Highway 4 but the birds didn’t seem to be near the road. So as per his directions, we went through the other side of the lake by passing through a small village. This time it was a lake on one side and uncultivated village fields on the other side which had reeds. We walked along the bund to the end point and there we saw the thousands of shovelers. It gives you such a high to so see so many of them there. There is human habitation all around the lake. Villagers were happily washing clothes and neither the shovelers nor the villagers seemed to have been bothered by each other.

Northern Shoveler – male in the front

We were watching them for a while trying to get a good view of them and also trying to see if there are any other species of birds there. It always seemed to us that we were seeing a lot of kites. Suddenly a Black Kite like creature came flying towards them and all shovelers took off at once. It was an amazing sighting to see all of them taking off at once. The pictures made me realise that it was the female Marsh and not the Black Kite. There were a few Spot-billed Ducks too flying across.

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I have finished my quota of Eurasian Marsh Harriers Circus aeruginosus for this season. Every bird which looked like a raptor seemed to be the Eurasian Marsh Harrier at Yellamma Lake.

This one is a Female Marsh Harrier. Typically you’d see their wings in ‘V’ shape in flight. The white markings on their shoulders makes it easy to identify them. The open fields near the Yellamma lake had a lot of harrier activity. They are migrants to India.

It is supposed to be the brightest full moon day and I spent some time watching the moon. There was a report in the TOI newspaper which said,

Scientists said the Moon will be at its brightest and biggest because its orbit is an ellipse with one side being 50,000 km closer to the Earth than the other. Saturday’s full moon will be around 15% bigger and 30% brighter as compared to other full moons.

The Plain Prinias are resident breeders in India. What catches my attention here are its eyes. They are so beautiful.

We had a fantastic beginning at Turahalli today with the sighting of the female White-naped Woodpecker. It was far away but we did have a good sighting. Some interesting sightings were of the Mottled Wood-Owl which seems to have made a comeback to this place, Blue Rock-thrush and lots of butterflies.

White-naped Woodpecker Chrysocolaptes festivus

Golden Oriole Oriolus oriolus

Purple-rumped Sunbird

Cerulean

  
L: A Garden lizard feeding on top of a tree R: bark of a tree

Baronet

Yellow Pansy

Common Sailor

Blue Rock-thrush (Female)

Blue Rock-thrush (Female)

Stripe-necked Mongoose

Crimson Rose

Tawny-bellied Babbler is a very common resident bird in India. It is mostly found in a bush hidden behind a foliage. I first saw them hopping around inside the bushes. After waiting for a while, it came out with a kill in its beak.

Location: enroute to Manchinbele

Apartment complex of the Tawny-bellied Babbler

On the look out for food

Finally, time for breakfast

Yellow Wagtails Motacilla flava are migrants to this part of the world. We saw this bird in TG Halli. First it was seen perched on a small plant, then it moved to a group and was just walking around and then it sit on a rock and started preening itself.

Indian Silverbill – Euodice malabarica
Location: Enroute to Manchinbele, Bangalore