Dear Birders,
While on a recent visit to Bangalore I took a two days all inclusive package at the Kabini River lodge (250 kms from Bangalore) mainly for seeing the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in the hope of spotting tigers and leopards. The River Lodge is located on the banks of a reservoir formed behind the dam on Kabini River, and it is about 5 KM from the Tiger Reserve. It is a very beautiful place. As part of the package, guests are taken on two Jeep safaris or one jeep and one boat safari every day starting at 6.15 am and 3.15 pm, each lasting about two and a half hours. I could see a lot of wild animals such as Elephants, Gaur, Wild Boar, Sambhar Deer, Spotted Deer, Langurs, Jackals, Malabar Giant Squirrel etc. as well as Crocodiles and turtles but no big cats!!
However what struck me was the number and variety of birds - both forest dwelling and aquatic, as one side of the Nagarhole Tiger Reserve lies on the banks of the reservoir. Although the entire thrust of the safaris was to see wild animals, especially big cats, I was able to photograph/ identify the following birds:
1. Crested serpent eagle
2. Changeable Hawk Eagle
3. Osprey
4. Greater Flameback woodpecker
5. White Bellied Woodpecker
6. White bellied Drongo
7. Greater racket tailed drongo (could not take photographs)
8. Malabar Pied Hornbill
9. Malabar Grey Hornbill (could not take photographs)
10. Grey Heron
11. Indian Pond Heron
12. Little Cormorant
13. Darter
14. Little Egret
15. Spot billed duck
16. White breasted water hen (ID to be confirmed)
17. Painted stork
18. Wooly necked stork
19. Black Headed Ibis
20. Common Kingfisher
21. Pied Kingfisher
22. White throated kingfisher
23. Crested Tree Swift (ID to be confirmed)
24. Red Wattled Lapwing
25. Large billed crow (could not take photographs)
26. Rufous treepie
27. Yellow Bellied Prinia (ID to be confirmed)
28. Rock Pigeon
29. Peacock
30. House Sparrow
31. House crow
32. Rose Ringed Parakeet
33. Plum headed parakeet
34. White browed wagtail
35. Common myna
36. Red whiskered bulbul
37. Red vented Bulbul
38. Common Hoopoe
39. Oriental Magpie Robin
40. Black Headed Golden oriole (could not take photographs)
41. Black Headed Cuckoo shrike, Female (ID to be confirmed)
42. Some other birds photographed but could not be identified by me
Besides there were many birds which could be seen fleetingly, or heard, such as babblers, barbets, coucals, francolins, nightjars, fowl, doves, fish eagles, kites etc. and wading/ aquatic birds which I could not photograph or identify positively as my main attention was on spotting big cats. I am sure the list of birds is very large, however being a tiger reserve, one cannot walk in the forest or get off from the jeeps. The forest rangers accompanying the safaris are very knowledgeable and helpful and will stop the jeeps for short periods for bird photography on request.
I will be sharing some of the photographs, and in case anyone is interested in visiting the place I can share further details.
The photos have been taken from a Jeep/ Boat during the Safaris, and the Camera used is a Canon Powershot SX30, non SLR camera with 30X optical zoom, and the picture quality is not generally very good.
I have used the "Oxford Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent" for identification; please correct me wherever the ID is wrong.
With regards
Ashok Mohindra
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