Target - Tiny birds

02 April 2023

Nowadays, Sunday morning routine is changed to refreshing in Jakkur lake. It has become usual to visit the lake early Sunday morning and dabble in avian world. Only confusion is whether to visit front or rear gate. This time I chose front-gate due to blooming flora of spring. Plenty of tiny birds devour nectar from the fresh flowers early morning which is treat for bird photographers. Their nectar devouring alongside the colorful backdrop of fresh flowers creates memorable frames. Jakkur lake has plenty of avid birders who patiently wait for their favorite frame to be snapped.

Lets start with the spring blooms. Here is a three in one bloom along the promenade.

The pink trumpet blossom in Bengaluru which is news all over India for its spring beauty. Entire city seems to engrossed in capturing and flaunting their beauty in social media. Let me flaunt a simpler one

I started my stroll with hope of spotting cinereous tit or white-eye. The purple sunbirds are used to human movements are easy to photograph. The grand flower blooms accentuate the beauty of frames. Here are few of those frames with bird engrossed in pulling juicy nectar. The bird amidst the colorful bouquet makes it captivating to capture for bird photographers. 

As I strolled further, heard voice of cinereous tit. I patiently stayed for a while and it succeeded. I managed to get some good glimpses of bird. The bird was close enough to photograph cleanly but I committed a mistake. I should have used lesser focal length. Since I used 600mm full focal length, some of them turned out blur due to violation minimum focusing distance. Hope I learn such lessons cleanly.

I heard white eyes in thicket but those areas were inaccessible :-(. I was happy to capture cinereous tits considerably clean.

Later I moved to wetland area. Farmers were busy cutting grass for their cattle and hence many avian creatures had moved farther unfortunately. One of those rare frames with zero concrete structures. Hard to photograph nature in Bengaluru without man-made element.

The reflection of apartment over the still water is pleasant to photograph but not worthy of praise.

I missed to capture coppersmith barbet on the way back. It was peacefully perched for longer time but flew away far off as I grabbed camera. Better luck next time :-(

Check out my Bird Series blogs here : NKBirdSeries

Tantalizing Rains

We almost stroll along the periphery of Amruthahalli lake everyday with few exceptions. Ancient texts suggests that most of the disease can be avoided or fought by exposing body to sunlight in controlled manner. The evening sun is mild and ideal for body to absorb. Hence we choose evening for our mandatory walk.

From past few days, the evening sky in Bengaluru is shrouded with thick cumulonimbus clouds and thus increasing night temperature and humidity. The fan inside our house is accelerating day by day. The number which stood at 1 is now at 3. With heat increasing everyday, the number may soon reach maximum. However, we are averse to air-conditioning and sustain the heat than fitting AC.

Even though the cloud mass is denser, the rains remained aloof. Although some parts of downtown received heavy rains, there wasn't drop in our area. Such surreal are these thunderstorms. We see flashing troposphere all around but no rains right over our head. The clouds are teasing everyday and rains are tantalizing. The other day it rained south and north of our area but hole in middle :-(. I could clearly see the rain shaft passing over northern part. Hope the rain gods show mercy in our area as well and bless us with divine showers.

The pictures presented in the post are accumulated over two weeks timeframe which portrays varying angles of thunderstorm skies. The beauty of evening sky is evident during the thunderstorm days. The peeking Sun creates majestic crepuscular rays behind clouds. It feels like bird displaying fantail to partner. The skies turn even prettier if it rains! Hope the tantalizing rains soon become a reality :-).

Even though most of the colors are concentrated in western side due to sundown, the eastern horizon also glows with soft light. This provides unique perception and light to photograph! The backdrop of urban structures are the major blemishers of the frame which are dwarfed by nature elements!

Skies of Thunderstorm days

Thunderstorms are tricky part of weather prediction. You know they landfall onto a specific area but not exact area. The morning blue skies transform to cloudy skies by afternoon finally manifesting to thunderstorm by evening or night. The primary indicator of thunderstorms are the high humidity that sets in couple of days prior. Their intensity or precipitation also varies. For example, here in Bengaluru city it may not rain in our area but precipitation would have clocked 60mm in downtown which is 9kms from our home. The below sky even though seemed closer to our area, did not produce even a single drop but poured around 10mm in downtown. The steering is quite unpredictable!

The humdrum skies few days back. The sky seemed to loose enthusiasm for prolonged time.

The skies soon charmed with clouds streaming in. The humidity too shot up!

Finally the real thunderstorm skies started to show up!

Walk Block! These stout feral street dogs look scary but benign till date. They generally do not harm walkers. Today they blocked the path entirely perhaps unknowingly :-). We managed to cross the strange barricade along the small gap they left for walkers.

The pet dogs too are happy to be outside during evening experiencing some wind from lake. The dog would be cursing its bushy hair on this sweltering weather

The skies that thunderstorm season hosts are the most prettier especially if it rained overnight. The clouds are sparse giving way to Sun to produce some dramatic colors. Those resplendent skies are always exciting to capture. Such amazement are these thunderstorms! They are the true natural coolers of summer for us!

The thunderstorm first session is done. It lasted only for a day clocking around 12mm. That's considerable number in summer. The intensity of rain was moderate dripping slowly towards ground at night which is another positive part. The ground gets ample time to consume rains.

The atmosphere has turned cooler again in summer. Quite unusual weather. MET department is hinting at prolonged spring with mild temperatures extending till end of April. Not sure if it has impact on monsoons. The bad part is while entire country is enjoying thunderstorms, the west coast which includes my village has no hope of thunderstorms in near future. Hope nature shows mercy on our region as well and blesses with rains!

The second session of thunderstorm are on the way. The humidity is now unbearable over the city and the we are gulping water frequently. Hope to welcome yet another round of rains in city!

Steal the Opportunity - Rosy Starling

21st March 2023,

The mynas overwhelm the Amruthahalli lake's avian population. Generally they outnumber other creatures and omnipresent in city. I ignore them including their flock whenever walking around the lake. This applies to both Jungle and Common mynas. Their noisy flock is common to every person in the city!

Couple of days back, while I missed capturing the common sandpiper, in a trice my eyes went over the bland tree, perhaps due to disappointment. You feel low when you nearly miss a bird. On those occasions, these common birds cheer you up. That's what exactly happened to me on that day. While scanning through the flock of mynas cleaning/drying their body after bath in puddle, whoa! I was surprised to see Rosy Starling amongst the flock. Perhaps there were 10 overall including the ones over the lake bed. That's why you should never ignore even the common birds! Who knows what surprise is in store amidst them!

I have seen Rosy Starling few years back. They must be residing nearby lake which I would have ignored or never noticed. Once I again, I did not possess camera which I fulfilled by carrying and photographing today! These birds perch on bland tree during evening bath. The bird has pale rosy belly and white upper parts. I saw juveniles of Rosy Starling as well which means they reside and breed in lake.

I heard oriental magpie robin chirps while in middle of lake. Picture of couple here.

Meanwhile the Asian Brown Flycatcher is still hanging around same tree as I spotted on last occasion. Couple of pictures. Even though the bird is inviting, the poor light makes it difficult to capture it cleanly. The poor light is primarily due to the concrete pinnacles blocking the sunlight.

Grab the opportunity as it comes!

Birds are the best examples to steal the opportunity as it comes. The possibility of second chance is rare. The Asian brown flycacther, the common hawk cuckoo as well Rosy starling are no more seen recently. Not sure if they were just passerby or they felt the lake unfit for survival due to lack of water in summer? From my side, I captured them without being lazy or over-confident. Hope more avian creatures thrive in Amruthahalli lake once it rejuvenates. Perhaps this is my last sighting of Common Hawk Cuckoo couple of weeks back

Colourful sunset to conclude

Check out my Bird Series blogs here : NKBirdSeries