Birding around Bangalore

   It was suppose to be one of the regular trips to Kushalnagar to meet my in laws. I was going through some of the very old photographs and found some photos i had taken in 2004 using a film camera i had during my visit to Kokkare Bellur. So started thinking about visiting Kokkare Bellur on our way to Kushalnagar from Bangalore.

About Kokkare Bellur:

"Kokkare Bellur (Village of Storks), a small village off the main highway between Bangalore and Mysore, is one of the few nesting sites in India of the spotbilled pelican. In addition, it is also home to hundreds of painted storks. The best time to see the pelicans is in December and January. The place is not a sanctuary, and the storks and pelicans live freely in the trees in the middle of village and are quite used to their human neighbors.  

The village is located off the Mysore highway, about 75 km from Bangalore. There is a road sign for Kokkare Bellur, but it is easy to miss. The village is 12 km from the main highway. If you are approaching from Bangalore side of the Mysore road, look out for a left after the first Cafe Coffee Day on the highway. Alternatively, ask for BPL factory which is around the corner of that turn."

 

map showing deviation from Bangalore - Mysore highway towards Kokkare Bellur

2nd Apr 2011 : 

   We left early by 5:30 AM from Bangalore, went through nice road and reached Mysore road in 20 mins,  since it was early morning we hardly had any vehicles and driving was easy. We reached "Kamath Upachar"  on Mysore road at 7:00 AM and had our breakfast. We left from there at 7:25 AM and reached Kokkare Bellur. It is advisable to have food on one of the hotels on the Bangalore - Mysore highway as option for food in this village is very basic. And it is also advisable to reach there early before the birds starts flying out in search of food to nearby fields and ponds.

Kokkare Bellur

  We parked our car under a tree and started walking around the village. Here birds build nest on all trees in the entire village. Entire village waits for these birds to arrive every year and they try to preserve all the trees in the village for the birds to build nest on them. During peak season every tree is fileld with these migratory birds.

  

Painted storks 

Spotbilled Pelicans

Painted storks

  There were other birds too. 

Black and White Robin

Brown Robin

  

 And we also found  some nests

Even with all the birds around, people in the village were busy with their daily routines.

 It was almost 9:00 AM now. And birds had started leaving their nest in search of food. As per the recommendation by the villagers we drove to a near by pond where birds usually go for fishing. We found few birds here.

Purple Moorhen

Whistling duck

  A man on the banks of this pond drew our attention. Closer look at him revealed that he is a "Shanka dasa". Shanka dasa is a person who blows a "Shanka" and rings a bell or "gante" when he sings some traditional songs. He goes from house to house singing these songs and begging. he was getting ready for his daily routine.

shanka dasa

caught one in the flight

 Found a white heron near the pond who was busy fishing. I waited for him to get used to my presence and realize that i am no threat to him. After about 10 minutes of patience he was comfortable me being around and was happy to pose.

White Heron

bird portrait

fishing

finally posing

  By this time it was close to 11:00 AM. Weather was hot and birds had left in search of food and shade. We too decided to leave from Kokkare Bullur. We drove towards Kushalnagar and reached home by 2:00 PM for lunch.

  After lunch when we were going through pictures clicked in the morning topic of bird sanctuary cropped up for discussion and the name Ranganathittu was mentioned. In the evening i spoke to my wife about we missing a chance to visit Ranganathittu today as it was on our way to Kushalnagar and the decision was made that we will visit Ranganathittu on our way back to Bangalore.2 more days passed by in in laws place lazing around. So it was time for us leave back to Bangalore.

About Ranganathittu:

  "Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary also known as Paksi Kashi of Karnataka is a Bird Sanctuary in the Mandya District of the state of Karnataka in India. It is the largest bird sanctuary in the state, only 0.67 km². in area, which is about 40 acres and comprises six islets on the banks of the Kaveri river. Ranganthittu is located three kilometers away from the historic town of Srirangapatna and 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north of Mysore."

  Map shows the deviation towards Ranganathittu from Bangalore - Mysore highway. This deviation is after you cross the Srirangapatna town towards Mysore.

5th Apr 2011 : 

   We left home by 8:00 AM after our breakfast. Road from coorg - Mysore is a wonderful stretch to drive and traffic is very less. We  reached Ranganthittu before 10:00 AM. it is close to 90 KMs of drive from Kushalnagar. If you are coming from Coorg, take a deviation to left at Elivala and reach the junction shown int eh map above from the opposite side on KRS road and take left towards Ranganthittu bird sanctury, it is about 15 KMs drive from Elivala junction.

  In Ranganthittu birds are concentrated in an island within the Kaveri river and best option to view them up close is by taking a boat ride. These rides usually lasts about 1 hour. And boat man gives an option of extending the ride by another 30 minutes to "least explored" places for a predefined tip.

Island where birds are concentrated at Ranganthittu

boat ride

painted stork

open billed stork

crocodile

drying its wings

The African Darter

Great White Heron

Little Cormorant

Purple Heron

Young Cattle Egret

 
  This is the nest made by very tiny birds called Mud Swallow using the clay picked from the bank of the river. They mix the mud with their sticky saliva and build these nests. They build their individual tiny nests and they never miss their house.

Spotbileld Pelican

Indian Black Robin

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

A family gathering

   After the boat ride for 90 minutes we explored the area by walk looking for more birds and left that place around 2:30 PM. We had our lunch on our way and reached Bangalore by 6:00 PM.

OOPs..... thats not a bird.. :)