February 11, 2023
Bangalore outskirts encompasses beautiful rural joints with peaceful atmosphere and nature. One of my favorite is gundamagere lake situated 2hrs from my location. The plan was distributed to suite both my birding interest and family interest. The plan panned out perfectly except for lesser bird spotting.
We started at 12:45PM and consumed lunch at nearby restaurant before resuming journey. In middle of journey, I spotted a great cormorant seated on the short stone island in middle of large doddaballapura lake. That was quite far from the highway where we stood, even difficult for 600mm lens to get good picture. This is my first sighting of Great cormorant till date. Here is one picture which made the cut.
Around 2:30PM, we reached the spot and kids began playing in water. The merry continued for 30mins till they were satisfied. Then we reached the promenade of lake to explore the place. I along with kids began strolling throughout the visible trails around lake in search of birds. Even though kids were bored, their unabated talks kept me busy :-). In fact, the walked with me for around 2kms in total which is above normal for kids who are just 5yrs old.
Initially, we walked along the periphery of lake. Looked like the birds were in their nests to cover from beating Sun. The spring is almost here and temperatures are raising. Unfortunately, the annoying cirrus covered the sky out of blue hindering my birding activity. Even though I heard plenty of birds, spotting them was arduous. Many of them flew away instantly. I saw an unknown hawk which was my maiden spotting. I could name it due to my limited knowledge and also could not capture it.
While birding, the activities near lake attracted few shots. The lake itself is gorgeous to behold. Many swallows were continuously flying around lake for prey. Due to limited time, I did not focus to grab their picture. Some people were seen fishing at lake shore.
Not much greenery at this time of year when trees shed their leaves. Perhaps a visit after a month will see canvas of green over the hill when leaves resurrect.
This trunk of dead tree looks like a bird in flight. It was dying and sinking but still dead.
Hopefully he had some output.
The friendly bird was hoopoe which was my maiden spotting again. That bird was friendly while photographing and perched on ground. It was the most friendliest of all by not escaping on spotting a human. Hence lets celebrate its portrait!
We strolled through nook and cranny of lake surroundings but disappointed to the core. Hardly any birds stayed steady for iota of time. While departing, I spotted white-eyes and cinerous tits, but it was too late to chase the tiny beauties. I was tired and in no mood to focus on the agile birds. The fields were magnificent though. This corn field is blooming and will yield soon!
On the way back, I think saw gray francolin. Not sure, I quickly stopped but bird escaped to the bushes.
Check out my Bird Series blogs here : NKBirdSeries
