WanderLust: March 2010

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Bird spotting - Ranganathittu

Painted Storks, perhaps the most abundant species in Ranganathittu

Spoonbills among the storks

Bird spotting - Kodagu

A Chestnut headed Bee-eater

The Maroon Sunbird

And what is this bird?

Nilgiri Wood Pigeon - Seen in Dec in Kakkabe

Friday, March 26, 2010

Bird spotting - Hathinaru Kere

Hathinaru village lies on the road from Suttur to Nanjangud, about 10kms from Suttur. The kere ( lake) adjoining the village has a large variety of water birds. A villager guided us away from the metalled bund road, along a dirt road and down a small path to the end of the lake opposite from the bund from where we could get a close view of large flocks basking on the shores of the lake.

A Grey Pelican scurrying away on sensing our presence

A lone Little Cormorant

A Cormorant Panchayat in session

A Purple Moorhen near a reed bank

Bird spotting - Suttur

The large village of Suttur lies about 30 kms South East of Mysore on the southern banks of the river Kabini. The best approach is to take the road to T. Narsipur ( T stands for Tirumakudal) and take the branch road to Suttur at the point where the Kaveri waters are visible. Suttur is known chiefly for the Mutt of Jagatguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara (commonly known as the JSS Mutt, Suttur) and a Krishi Vigyan Kendra. The Kabini has a gentle flow here. The fields around Suttur are irrigated and paddy is being transplanted in the innundated fields as we visit in the later half of march. The following pictures were taken on the Kabini banks, the surrounding paddy fields and near the large Banyan tree on the road to Mysore.