Ranganathittu and Kokkare Bellur

24th February 2008
Myself, Girish and Krishna had been to Ranganathittu and Kokkare Bellur for birding on last sunday. Both the places were teeming up with different varieties of birds and were a treat for our eyes and cameras.

These small little birds allowed us to take snaps from a very close distance. Credit goes to the boatman Nartayanappa for taking us very near to the birds without disturbing them. These River terns nests in huge number in Bhadra backwaters near Lakkavalli Dam. Incidentally, Jungle lodges in Lakkavalli are named as “River tern resort” due to these birds.

These are the local birds usually found near water. A very few of them were in Ranganathittu.

This is a local bird that derives its name due to wagging of its tail frequently.

It is known mainly due to its distinctive sound “Kwaark”.

This is also a common bird found near water holes.

This bird has a blue mark on the beak. Hey, he has an yellow mark!!

Commonly seen at water bodies.

The kids of Kokkare Bellur kept on telling it that eats 2kgs of fish and 1 kg of water. I am not very sure!!

A very common migratory bird.

It is quite huge and it is a treat to watch it flying majestically. The way it flies makes one feel of an aero plane.

Finally landed. Wow!!

Named so due to an open cavity between its bills.

We found this while returning back from Kokkare Bellur. First we thought it as an Owl and then as some small eagle. Finally, after referring to Salim Ali’s “The book of Indian birds”, we came to know that it was a sparrow hawk. While Girish was trying to take its snap from the car, I foolishly came out of the car and moved towards the bird to take a closer shot. The bird panicked flew away, thereby ruining the chances of Girish from shooting a nice snap. More photos of the trip can be seen here.