Saandip Nandagudi

JLR Naturalist Training Programme – March 2010

Apr 012010

This was great experience & a one step ahead to know the nature unfolding un noticed with complexities & yet so simple to eyes. Couple of months back came across a blog & the experience of a NTP, had not known till then there exists a training like this & left a email to Karthikeyan( Great guy.. everybody call him Karthik), luckily got a email few days back about the programme going to happen on 26th till 28th of March 2010..more luckily i got selected & we were in the campus of JLR bannerghatta.

Well this course was conducted by S.Karthikeyan, Chief Naturalist at JLR, who was earlier with WWF for more than 17years, Knows anything on plants, insects, reptiles, birds & mammals, In fact i came to know that FIG is a flower & not a fruit, how wonderfully he explained its full lifecycle & from then on my perspective towards plants changed.

Common tailor bird was the first photograph i took as soon i came to this place.

Indian-Pew-Fowl

Indian Pea Fowl

The program concentrates on birdwatching, plants kingdom to some extent of reptiles & Butterflies.

Tented-Cottage

My tent was just next to the training hall, as soon as i got into my tent & i saw this big spider in the toilet :O

Spider

This bird was making very sweet calls to take its photo & posed for a longtime 😉

Tickell's-Blue-Flycather

Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher

To say ..it was a good informative & a well drafted for the beginners on introduction to nature & its importance for existence. We had some trails in morning & evenings everyday briefing on the plants , insects & birds.

NTP-2

Bannerghatta had some mammals (herbivorous track) like nilgai, black buck ,India gaur, sambar , barking deer & spotted deer.

Black-Buck

Black buck in its full colours as its name says 😉

It was pretty hot during day times & i usually see the barking deer & birds come near campus the to drink water .

Barking-Deer

Barking Deer

Second day of training, we had the chance to meet Sandeep who was the alumni of First batch 2005 NTP & now currently running a NGO which is doing some good job like clearing plastics from forest areas & educating tribal & village children.

Sandeep-Briefing

Sandeep briefing to participants

APFlycatcher

Asian paradise flycatcher

Blue-Bearded-Bee-eater

Blue Bearded Bee-Eater

Golden-Fronted-Leafbird

Golden Fronted Leaf bird

Grass-Hopper

Grasshopper i suppose

Red-Rumped-Swallow-2

Flirting at top

Flower-Blossoms

Flower

White-Browed-Fantail

White Browed Fantail

Shelduck

Goose

Collared Scops Owl

Sky

Overall it was a nice & informative programme with a responsible approach towards learning nature & to protect them by knowing its importance of its very existence.

Masinagudi Birding & Trekking

Mar 102010

This is the first trip to Masinagudi & Madhumalai forest located in the border of Karnataka and TamilNadu.

As usual, I being the first person to initiate any wildlife place in our group, googled places and also asked reviews on net for stay & birding opportunity around Masinagudi. So, started to check for accommodation in & around of Masinagudi & this time it was with family and kids.

My cousin managed to finalise on stay and food @ Green Valley Resort, though we dint get any confirmation on guided birding tours.This place is located inside Madumalai forest, accommodation starting @ 1500/twin room. Mess bill has to be paid separately.

We hired bird guide from the resort,rather you can call him a forest route guide (local person with full knowledge of forest routes). He is not from any govt department, charged Rs.300/head. We shall have to let him know about the species which we are looking for, say either mammals or birds in prior and he takes the routes accordingly (that’s what he said).

I, my cousin and guide started trekking @ 5:45 a.m in the morning, sited many species of birds and finally came back to resort @ 11:00 a.m. It was totally a 10 km walk for us, we had not packed any breakfast so had to return inevitably.

It was really a wonderful trekking in the thick forest, saw Tiger,Leopard,Sloth bear scats & many were fresh too.. BEWARE!! you are not armed and all on your own in the thick jungle.

A person from neighbouring resort told that we should have hired Kuravi Kuttan.. a professional bird watcher and a guide who is available for Bandipur, Masinagudi and Gopalswamy Betta 😛 (But, our guide was also good).

Our intension was to shoot Malabar giant Hornbill which I missed for some reasons.. the guide has promised to take us next time to the place where we can find hornbills in particular.

Most and most IMPORTANT thing to keep in your mind is to carry insect repellent cream (may be Permithrin) without fail.. Forgetting your batteries for camera is excusable but not the repellent, you ll have to pay for your deed…I forgot to carry and was bit by tics. These can fix on your body for more than 3 days even if you take hot water bath daily.. It causes severe itching and red boils emerge which some people find years to come out of this problem… Its not only seen in this forest, it is very common in any deep forest or any trek. Now I am on medication..

Resort : Green Park Mudumalai

Bird Guide : Raju: 09787848683

Nandi Hills

Jan 252010

PTB

There are many stories about the orgin of the name Nandi Hills. During the Chola period, Nandi Hills was called Ananda Giri meaning The Hill of Happiness. Another story is that Yoga Nandeeshwara performed penance here, and so it was named after him. A temple of Yoga Nandeeshwara is situated on top of the hill. Nandi is also commonly called Nandidurga (Fort) because of the fort build here by the ruler Tippu Sultan. It is also perhaps called Nandi Hills because the hill resembles a sleeping bull (Nandi).

Alstroemeria

Route:On Bangalore Bellary road, reach Devanahalli cross, which is on the 36 th milestone. Take the deviation on the left and travel 11 kilometers to reach Nandi cross. The foot of the hill is 3 kilometers from here. On the Doddaballapur road, turn right to reach the road that leads to the top of the hill. From the foot is 8 kilometers of the top.

bluefly-nandihills
Timings: Nandi hills is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Yellow-flower-nandi

Climate : The temperature is 25 to 28 centigrade during summer and 8 to 10 centigrade in winter. Nandi receives a rainfall of 100 to 150 cms every year.

Eurasian Black Bird

Birds of attraction: Coucals, Sunbirds, Common Chiffchaffs, Bulbuls, Sunbirds, Mynas, Crows, Sparraows, Wagtails, Robins, Orioles, not many kinds were fond to us as we had less time to head back anticipating rush traffic in city.

More Photos of Nandi Hills on this link

Valley School

Jan 252010

ABFC

The Valley School, established in 1978, A Krishnamurti Foundation India. The school is based on the teachings of the eminent philosopher and a great thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti. The school is located near Thatguni which is about 17 km to the south west of Bangalore, in a picturesque valley with undulating hills and farms with a reserve forest on the fringe. It has about 104 acres of dense vegetation, a semi wilderness haven with a lake on one side and a running stream. You can find species of Birds like- Barbets, Bush chats, Warblers, Bulbuls, Kites, Insect Eaters, Sun birds, Cormorants, Kingfishers, Wagtails, Crows, Sparrows, Mynas, Parrots, Bee eaters, Woodpeckers,Drongos, Shikras, Owlets, Swifts, Swallows, Tit & Robins, Bee Eaters & many more.

Blue-Faced-Malkoha
Approach: Driving from Bangalore towards kanakapura, reach Thalghattapura & from there about a Km you will find overhead Nice-road flyover, underpass the flyover & keep looking on the right side of the road for a sigh board of valley school, turn right & head about 2km to reach valley school security entrance. Also keep looking on the sides of the road to find many kinds of birds on that 2Km stretch.

guard-dog
Usually you will be greeted by this dog near the gate & follows your entire birding in valley school.

Common-Kingfisher

Tips:park vehicle on the right side of parking bay & enter your details in security & head down the tar road & followed by mud road cross the banyan tree, go till the end of the near old study centre fencing, take left again & join to mud road which branches out many pathways where you’ll find water stream, Lucky i found the Kingfisher near the stream. Many bird species are found here.

White Throated Kingfisher

Reach Valley school within 7:00am & you do birdwatching till noon, Also this place is best for Butterflies, many kinds of Insects & Spiders.

Common Silverline (Spindasis vulcanus)

Robberfly

Gloriosa superba - Shot at Valley School

Common Gull- Top

You can check more pictures from Valley school on this link

Lalbagh Bengaluru

Jan 112010

Lalbagh Botanical Garden is located in the heart of Bangalore city, about 4 km from the State Legislature – the Vidhana Soudha.Lalbagh remains open daily from 6.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. throughout the year, Biannual flower shows are organized every year in January and August on the occasion of the Republic Day and Independence Day celebrations.

Little-Egret-2

C_LB

squeeqy-love2

The garden is an institution of botanical and environmental importance, a treasure house of our state and nation, also an important lung space of Bangalore.

C_LB2

Recently it has been improved & well maintained but the lotus pond needs more maintenance.

LC2

Lots of flora & fauna around this place.

Blue-Rock-Pigeon-(2)

The Pariah kites usually settle down near the lake around 9:30am when there are less morning walkers around & its fascinating to see them bathing & preening.

Ashy-Prinia-2

My Favourites were White Throated Kingfisher, Oriental Oriole, Koels & Coppersmith Barbet.

Asian Koel Male

I can say a good place for birding beginners. Lalbagh is one among bird census locations of Bangalore, many migratory birds & butterflies can be seen during December to February.

Check out some photos of Lalbagh on this Link

Bandipur & Chammanahalla Vacation

Jan 042010

Anticipating the continious holidays during christmas, some of us planned to visit bandipur as we had no other interesting place to relax on holidays. Last minute we got confirmation of stay in bandipur..many thanks to our friend pranesh who works for conservator of wildlife office in mysore & also bro-in-law of my good friend Suresh. Pranesh is down to earth kind of man with lotzz of patience.

When once the plan was set, we thought to take a cook along to maximise the effortless stay. We hired a cook & we all (Me, shashi, guru, vatsa & one more guru ) started fully loaded with luggage & utensils, handygas & ofcourse my photography gears in my safari dicor & headed mysore to pick pranesh from his home & reached bandipur . We had booked a dormetry, spent one day in bandipur & later moved on to chammanahalla guest house in moolehole range of bandipur near karnataka & kerala border. Its a heaven on earth kind of a place.. there isn’t proper facilities for drinking water & only solar lights are available, but these adds to preserving natural beauty of wilderness.

Partial Lunar Eclipse 2009-10

Jan 042010

There was a partial lunar eclipse on December 31st 2009 – January 1st 2010. Though it was a cloudy on the eve of New Year, some parts of India observed partial lunar eclipse. The sky cleared a bit during prime time of the eclipse and I was able to take some pics from 11:30PM to 2.40 AM(As i am not a TV Freeko)from the terrace of my home.
These pictures were taken on Nikon D60 with 70-300mm Tamron lens, with Velbon CF tripod. Some of the pictures were taken on shutter mode to avoid clouds. The photographs were later cropped and stitched using Adobe photo element to fit in single picture.

Newer Entries