Once again, right after my exam I was travelling, this time to Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary. The planning was quick and fast. Manjunath, my birding friend was more keen and it was his brain child. So it was set that we start from Bangalore on June 8th at midnight. Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary in the Mandya District of Karnataka is a two and a half hour drive from Bangalore, about 125KM. Taking the State Highway-17 to Mysore, the bird sanctuary is 8KM ahead of the town of Srirangapatna, about 5KM from the town is a big circle where the SH takes a sharp left, this is where we need to take a Right turn, there is a small sign board on the right side which can be easily missed. The road leads to Ilavala by-passing Mysore. 3KM on this rather bumpy road we get to the main entrance to the avian heaven. There is a small entry fee of Rs 50/person.
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| Baya weaver collecting for nest building. |
We parked the car next to canal right after the main entrance and reclined the seats and tried to sleep, we were there at 2.20AM but I couldn't sleep, excitement had its toll. But I managed to remain in the car for some time and then I had to venture out, I took my flashlight and went around. I saw a few snakes move but not for long to put an ID on them( probably I was too noisy in my approach). I walked around for a bit and then came back to the car.
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| Small Blue Kingfisher |
At dawn we started towards the ticket counted and were in for a shock, the board said the park opens only at 9AM and a gate to prevent vehicles from entering. We were figuring out what to do and we saw someone inside brushing his teeth. We called out to him and he turned out to be a boatman. After speaking to him and paying him the entry fee for which he gave the tickets when the counter opened.
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| Tickell's Blue Flycatcher juvenile |
We went to the parking area and started birding right from the car, I was the spotter as I was the more experienced birder, we saw Pale-billed & Plain flowerpecker, white cheeked barbet along with a few sunbirds in the parking lot. Light was not with us, over cast condition lurked above.
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| Great Thick Knee |
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| Open Billed Stock |
We walked around for some time and the Sun rising, gave us a ray of hope for a good birding session. The small pond next the parking lot caught our attention and we were there and looked for bird activity and then there were Baya weavers busy building their nests on the other-side of the pond. I set my tripod and began shooting. And then I heard the call of a Common Kingfisher, I looked around but could not locate it. I returned to the viewfinder and heard the call again, and this time it I saw it just a few meters away from me. I was thrilled, I had never photographed one of them before. We had a good time shooting him at different places around the pond. When we were happy with our images, we moved on. We saw a lot of garden birds and one juvenile Tickell's Blue Flycatcher gave me a tough time IDing it, but was brave enough to sit only 5 feet away from us and give us different poses.
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| Darter |
The boatman came to us with the tickets and asked if we wanted to take the boat ride, Hell yes. We followed him towards the boats. We saw the rates for the boat ride, there were 2 options : 1. Rs 50/ person in a big boat , for 25 people and a small ride. 2. Rs 1000/ boat, a small boat for a max of 4 people + the boat man for half an hour. We wanted the small boat but it seemed too expensive so we bargained, and after about 5mins he agreed for a one and a half hour ride for the same amount, plus no official to check on him.
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| Cattle Egret |
So we took positions and started, we saw the open billed stocks, bats, and many more. And then we saw marsh crocodile only a feet away from the boat, I was thrilled. The boat man then asked if we want to go behind the islands where the water is shallow and sharp rocks underneath. Putting our faith in him, we told him to take us there if he was confident. And am glad we did so, That is when I saw the Stock billed Kingfisher a lifer for both Manjunath and I. We went closer and the paddle hit a rock underwater and the bird was gone.
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| Female Oriental Magpie Robin |
Later that day after the boat ride we spend some more time in the garden area spotting more birds.By 10.30 AM we reached back to the parking lot with a lot of photographs.
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| Pied Kingfisher |
Excitement was running high, our next destination KABINI...
( Bird List: Plain Billed Flower Pecker, Pale billed flower pecker, White cheeked Barbet, Baya weaver, Asian Koel, Small Blue Kingfisher, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher adult and juvenile, Red Vented Bulbul, Red Whiskered Bulbul, Spotted Munia, White Browed Wagtail, Brahminy Starling, Oriental Magpie Robin ( female),Tailorbird, Great Tit, Purple Rumped Sunbird, Indian Peafowl, Open Billed Stock( nesting with young ones) , Painted Stock, Pond Heron, Black Capped Night Heron, Stockbilled Kingfisher,Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Great Egret, Indian Cliff Swallow, White Throated Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Spot Bellied Pelican, Great Thick Knee, Indian Grey Hornbill.
Marsh Crocodile only 1 spotted, Rat snake,
Bonnet Macaque. )
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