Similar to Ashy Drongo, these birds are stealers. They do by mimicking the voice of Shikra or by aggression. I have seen live when surrounding birds flew on hearing the mimicked voice of Shikra. It seems they constantly cheat myna to steal their food :-). Everyone has their own style of survival. Its not only robbery, they are aggressive too! They feed on insects generally to fill their tummy. Apart from this, I am not sure what they feed upon. Here in Bangalore at Amruthahalli Lake, these birds seen perched throughout the boundary over electric lines and light poles. Their quiet silent but aggressively staring at surroundings. They are not timid either to humans. Unless you approach them too close say 10-20mts, they won't move a tad. The pictures though are hard capture unless backed by sunlight. Despite being nearer, most of pictures turned out silhouetted due to their dark plumage and confused camera metering. Looks like the exposure value of sensor needs to be tuned beyond 0EV to snap them clearly. Lack of contrast between their black plumage and dark red eye is another factor for poor images. You need to get too close to photograph them in detail which can include dark red eye. Here are the pictures which relatively turned out good with noticeable eye of bird. Their fork tail, larger body and black plumage are key identifiers to distinguish from Ashy Drongo.
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Pond herons are plenty at Amruthahalli lake. When we approach the boundary of lake, these birds generally fly away to mid of lake. Today it was different story. I was curiously shooting the distant purple heron which I saw for first time in Bangalore. I thought purple herons prefer wooded regions & darker regions than urban areas. However, the current thought has changed. The purple heron was standing openly at mid of lake. It seems like every bird trying to adapt to urban lifestyle for survival but with social distancing :-). The web articles are yet to adapt their posts accordingly.
Digression apart, this pond heron seems to have got jealous of me fanatically snapping the purple heron. Not sure what happened, this guy flew close to the boundary where I was shooting from mid of lake to divert my attention. Its change of position seemed as if the bird was craving for publicity. For its satisfaction, I took single shot which after minor edits turned out brilliant :-). Jokes apart, here is portrait of heron while its neck down. Looks like it wanted to absorb additional sunlight since the cirrus clouds dimmed the morning Sun. The picture is well detailed obviously due to close perch :-)
Meanwhile, here are some shots of distantly staring purple heron
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We wanted to have a boat road over Gangolli Estuary to reach the Kodi beach at the other side. We got info saying the tourist boats are only available at Kodi beach which is hardly 500m away from gangolli endpoint. The Kodi beach end point is also visible clearly from Gangolli beach end point. The other option given by fishermen was to take the passenger boat towards the Kodi which costs less as well gives similar feel as tourist boats. Unfortunately, we could not get hold of the passenger boats since we were out of time or lacking succinct information. The other disadvantage of passenger boat is that until the boat completely fills up, we would not be able to travel back and forth. Unlike the tourist boat which completes full circle without waiting for incoming passengers at the other end. Also, tourist boats are filled with actual capacity and not overcrowding. Here are pictures of docked boats snapped while we were waiting for lucky passenger boats that would ferry us to the other end of estuary. Unfortunately, we could not get hold of one. We plan to take the ride from Kodi beach whenever situation permits!
The fishing boats are equipped with simple yet necessary facilities including cooking platform and dormitory. After the hectic fishing activity, these boats too take rest alongside fishermen with minor overhaul.
Efforts are underway to construct a bridge across the estuary which would drastically cut down distance between Kundapura town and Gangolli. The current distance via existing road is around 12kms while the waterway distance is hardly couple of kilometres. Unfortunately, nothing has started officially till date. Some state the political reasons behind it where in the local bus vendors will loose plenty of business. To cloud this mafia, unofficial fallacious statements are hovering around to deem the project as impractical or nature unfriendly. In current technological advancements, not sure how this project is unachievable?
Arguments apart, here is picture from estuary taking during first visit. Hope you see the unseasonal clouds hovering over the bay! How beautiful would it look while standing at the middle of hypothetical bridge staring both West and Eastern horizons flourishing with nature! Same time, how ferocious it would look during monsoon season. The unofficial doubts of constructing bridge arose owing to the mighty waves of monsoon season. But there are plenty of mangroves which are bulwarks of these giant waves.
Couple of beautiful sunset to cherish at end of day!
Its not only fishing boats taking rest after day full of hard work.
Situated amidst the plantations and forest, a true nature getaway which we visited recently. Till date, we were not knowing about this tiny majestic waterfall. One of the post in twitter which I accidentally came across introduced me to this natural beauty. Since my visit to native was due, I had earmarked this place to have a go during my year end vacation.
The day had arrived but we were pessimistic. It was core winter season which is largely dry period. The monsoon had withdrawn almost 3 months ago and we were not sure if the river had reasonable water flow to term it as waterfall. The web reports suggest that beauty of waterfall is restricted till December only with maximum flow during monsoon season. Generally waterfalls of Western Ghats sustain the beauty till February. This waterfall although lies amidst the dense forest is not Western Ghats originated river which implies doubtful water levels at this point of time. The Shambhavi river which is the source of the waterfall, originates nearby Karkala which lies at foothills of Western Ghats and not from peak. Apprehensions apart, read outcome at end of post.
Being just 25kms from our house, the route to this place 95% known except the final village path. Even the village deviation was perfect. The village path is partially concreted and rest of the construction is under progress. Initially, we lost the route but able to track back with help of locals. We had missed the mud road leading to falls which maps clearly showed. Once the car slid along mud road, the direction was perfect. The signboard instilled confidence in us and strengthened our route to waterfalls. The last 1km approach road is muddy and collapsed intermittently. On reaching dead-end, we parked at the waterfall location still with confused mind. The roar of the waterfall from the undesignated parking area, the signboards cleared all our doubts. Marginal walk of 200mts, we are at the waterfall spot and ready to rejoice. You know, till we reach, the location is still an enigma.
Majestic coconut trees surround lush green paddy fields
The nature was fabulous and plunge was energetic. That was the first impression while beholding the waterfall. Our scepticism cleared after viewing the energetic December plunge. The waterfall is sourced by flow of Shambhavi River which originates at Bajagoli near Karkala. The name is derived due to village it is located in. The waterfall has layout similar to Chunchanakatte falls near Hassan which is also a short plunge waterfall. There are tiny but lengthy cascades at Parapaadi but ignorable. Plenty of check-dams are constructed to store water for drier days. The water let out from check-dam serves as means of waterfall continuity during drier days. The plunge is natural during monsoon season and mind-blowing. Check if you can visit during August-September month. It is possible to reach the base of waterfall through a short & easy trail provided the volume of water is manageable. The view from base is simply stupendous.
Conclusion and Request:
Overall worth the visit. The waterfall does not have signboard from main road. Please do not litter the place. We saw plenty of alcohol bottles crushed and scattered near the waterfall location. The plastic trash too is blemish. Please note that any malice activity would instigate the locals to permanently block the way to waterfalls with help of authorized officials. Just keep quiet and enjoy nature :-).
Reaching waterfalls:
Follow google maps, they are bang on target. If you are lost in village road, seek help of locals. The roads are dilapidated and may be difficult to drive 4-wheeler during peak monsoon season. Need to walk 200mts from parking location. There is no designated parking place and hence no parking fees. If the flow is normal, it is possible to play in waterfall. The cascade from nearby check-dam till the plunge provides plenty of space to play. The area after plunge even though does not look scary (the gorge depth is not known), is not worth risk due to narrow terrain. The rocks are hard which implies slippage may be disastrous.
The signboard to waterfalls few meters past mud road
Food:
Carry your own food but do not litter. Note that this place is not been marked as tourist destination officially. Hence do not expect any security or food services nearby.
Best time to visit:
Best time to visit is during break monsoon season which generally falls during August-September month. The energetic plunge or glory of waterfall is not guaranteed after 3rd week of December till outset of monsoon. It may be difficult to visit during peak monsoon season due to unsolicited natural disasters.
Finally the much awaited "Outcome"
Never heed to the online feedbacks completely. Have your own discernment to visit the place. If it looks good, then great. If it does not look good, then you have the route for next visit. In case even if the waterfall did not have sufficient plunge, it easily enabled me to visit during monsoon season since the route is familiarized. Just go for it especially if its nearby. The locals mentioned that the water flow never dries up and there is something to enjoy during every part of year! On ending note, I say sometimes luck shines. There was unseasonal heavy rain 2 weeks later which brimmed the Shambhavi river. Probably, during that time, the waterfall would have unexpectedly reached maximum glory!
As I mentioned in previous posts, the city birds boldly face the human movements. This green bee eater today evening was no different either at Amruthahalli lake at Bangalore. The bee-eater was just few meters away from me perched over electric line. It was as usual busy hunting for evening snacks. I never thought it would be this much easy to shoot this little bird. The catchlight turned out to be excellent due to proximity as well evening sunlight. The plumage was exposed clean. What else you need other than this to have crisp looking image. Most importantly, bird stood at the same position even when I approached it. At our village, the behaviour was entirely different. They don't even allow the sound of human movements. A tiny sound over the field would escape them to distant horizon. I am glad to have these colourful bird in my frame clean. Here are the pictures! I like the catchlight especially how the red cover is noticeable!
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