Balaji, Carmel, Gayatri, Shalini. FD Guards Eswaran, Mahavishnu. RFO Murugesan. (We met Sri Govindaswamy at Dargah Lake). We were allocated Vanammal Lake (Jawalagiri) and Dargah Lake (Denkanikotta)
Pied Cuckoo, an unusual sighting for this time of year
Green Bee-eater “tossing” its catch
Temple under the tree
Crested Serpent Eagle
Purple Sunbird on the mirror of a two-wheeler
Blue Pimpernel (Lysimachia foemina), Denkanikotta …in front of the toilet at a petrol pump where we stopped.
We have a saying in Tamizh, குடியானவன் சேத்துல கால வெச்சா தான் நம்ப சோத்துல கைய வெக்க முடியும். (Only if the farmer puts his foot in the mud can we put our hand in our food…the rice that the farmer grows in the paddyfield). Here is one such farmer:
Two fun signs I noticed
With Sri Murugesan and Sri Mahavishnu at Dargah Lake (Sri Govindaswamy on the extreme right)
Little Egret in breeding plumage
The Dargah which gives Dargah Lake its name
Interacting with Sri Murugesan, Range Forest Officer, Denkanikotta:
My morning walk from my daughter’s home, to mine, in sounds:
The Lalita Sahasranaam playing loudly from someone’s balcony.
A gate creaking as the inmate of the house sets off for the morning walk.
The shrill whistle of the garbage collector and the beat of the collection van’s diesel engine.
The metallic thunk, thunk, thunk of some construction workers straightening steel rods.
The rattling moped crossing me, followed by the quieter hiss of an electric scooter.
The shout of an ayah in a school bus, asking the parents to send the child downstairs as the bus is already late.
The harsh cawing of crows, the troo-troo of barbets, and the liquid, burbling call of the bulbul.
The cheerful “Hello, Akka!” from my maid Lakshmi, as she rushes to drop her children at school.(Her husband usually does this, but he’s out of town. I mentally note that she’s going to be late for work.)
The haunting singsong call of a knife- sharpener. The words are quite unintelligible with years of calling.
A neighbour calling out instructions to her spouse as she rushes to work.
My own footsteps on the stairs. (Part of my routine is to use the stairs unless I have too much to carry or am very tired.)
Four of us…Debankur Biswas, Ravindra and Supriya Kulkarni…went to Jayamangali Blackbuck Sanctuary, staying overnight at Madhugiri. I was thrilled to realize that the others were visiting this grassland for the very first time, and indeed, each time they sighted a bird, or even enjoyed the landscape, it took me back to my own first visit, and gave me the joy once again. Our visit was very productive (in terms of birds, this can be seen from the eBird trip report at https://ebird.org/tripreport/103012 (111 sp). We saw many Blackbuck stags, does and fauns too, and the occasional Mongoose ran across our path; we could not see any foxes or jackals, and I was rather surprised by the low number of Harriers that we saw. Of course, one flew just a few feet overhead when all of us were eating a few snacks at the watchtower, and not even I had a camera in my hands! However, all this must be quite familiar to those of you who have visited the Blackbuck Sanctuary…so I’d like to share a sighting which was certainly unexpected, and which, Ashwin says, has not been reported from Jayamangali before.
We were driving very slowly along the path when Deb suddenly halted and pointed to a Sandgrouse which was so well camouflaged in the undergrowth that it took me a few minutes to spot it. “How did you spot it, that, too, while driving?” I asked him. His reply was, “It moved from the path of my tyre, so I saw it. It just froze right next to the path.”
After looking at it carefully from inside the car, we slowly emerged and were able to photograph the perfectly still bird….I call it the “almost-tyred bird” since it had almost come under the tyre of our car, and seemed too tired to move.
When we moved to get back into the car, with the usual noisy flapping of wings, the bird took off…accompanied by another, which, in spite of being so near it, we had completely failed to spot, so well hidden was it, in the grass! As usual, we were startled, and then thrilled to see the two disappearing forms. Talk about effective camouflage! We had seen eight Chestnut-tailed Sandgrouse in flight the previous day, and since only that bird has been seen in the sanctuary area, we assumed these two were the same bird.
Both Supriya and I felt that there was “something different” about the bird, and I did feel that this was a different bird. I was too ill by the time I returned to do more than caption my photos and post it to my album in Flickr. Supriya persisted in saying that the “eye was different” but I lacked the energy to follow up on my suspicion too.
But, just to prove that our experts are experts for a reason, Ashwin followed it up! He saw my photograph and immediately messaged me that the bird was a Painted Sandgrouse, (the markings on the head and around the eye are indeed different) which has not been reported from Jayamangali before this. Certainly this upped our HQ…Happiness Quotient. I am appending a photo of the Painted Sandgrouse (female) from the Jayamangali Blackbuck Reserve, taken on 22 Jan ’23. So friends..when you visit the Blackbuck Reserve….you have one more bird to look out for!
We are not all expert enough to find new species of birds like the dedicated band which went to the remote wilds of Arunachal and sighted one:
But for us, getting a new bird in a known location is thrill enough, adding to the happiness of seeing so many birds over two visits to the Blackbuck Sanctuary. A very rewarding visit indeed! I suppose this is not the scientific, erudite “write-up” of a new bird-sighting, but I prefer to make a nice anecdote of it.
Count has been going on for 10 years with Voluntary Nature Conservancy (VNC). Pradyumna (short chap) , Anirudh Vasawa/ wife Niyata, Mehul, Nikhil Parikh, and others.
Trains:
Took 16508 (KSR-Jodhpur Exp), to Anand, dep 2230 from SBC on 040123, arr. Anand 0355 on 060123
Took 16209 (Ajmer-Mysuru Exp) from Anand, dep, 0304 hrs on 080123, arr. Blr City at 2315 on 090123
On 6th morning stayed at Motel Happy Home (location: ) Rs. 1000 on twin sharing. Very neat and comfy, tiny geyser. Tiny lift, WC.
Ate breakfast and lunch at Collegian Point, very good Gujju stuff. Really college students’ joint.
All other meals at the CHARUSAT canteen. Good Gujju food.
Swami Narayan hostel at Vadtal, Anand, had very spacious rooms with a dressing area with clotheslines), large bath with Western WC. Not sure how to book for rooms there.
eBird
Fri 060123 at Shastri Maidan, walking distance from Happy Home:
Count has been going on for 10 years with Voluntary Nature Conservancy (VNC). Pradyumna (short chap) , Anirudh Vasawa/ wife Niyata, Mehul, Nikhil Parikh, and others.
Trains:
Took 16508 (KSR-Jodhpur Exp), to Anand, dep 2230 from SBC on 040123, arr. Anand 0355 on 060123
Took 16209 (Ajmer-Mysuru Exp) from Anand, dep, 0304 hrs on 080123, arr. Blr City at 2315 on 090123
On 6th morning stayed at Motel Happy Home (location: ) Rs. 1000 on twin sharing. Very neat and comfy, tiny geyser. Tiny lift, WC.
Ate breakfast and lunch at Collegian Point, very good Gujju stuff. Really college students’ joint.
All other meals at the CHARUSAT canteen. Good Gujju food.
Swami Narayan hostel at Vadtal, Anand, had very spacious rooms with a dressing area with clotheslines), large bath with Western WC. Not sure how to book for rooms there.
eBird
Fri 060123 at Shastri Maidan, walking distance from Happy Home:
While conducting a biodiversity walk at IIM Bangalore, for several officers from the Defence Forces I made it a point to stress how many creatures use military tactics!
I showed them how the Crab Spider lay in wait under the leaves and flowers and ambushed unwary prey. In fact, I was able to show the delegates quite variety of spiders, including this Spiny Orb Weaver. Belonging to the genus Gasteracantha, (The name is derived from the Greek gaster (γαστήρ), meaning “belly, abdomen”, and akantha (άκανθα), meaning “thorn, spine”), the females of most species in this genus are brightly coloured (the males are several times smaller and don’t have these bright colours.) Bangalore, 13 Jan ’23.
https://goo.gl/maps/JJM8s6JrGoQUt4MZ7 (food was good, but this is going towards Kanakapura, so better option would be Udupi Palace on Kanakapura Road.)
Deponti to the world 