Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Birding at Ranganathittu

Ranganthittu Landscape


This was visit number three to Ranganthitttu and possibly was the most successful in terms of sightings so far. We reached the sanctuary, later than expected, at 7:45 (courtesy a drunk and sleepy driver from Pleasant Travels).

R-WBKingFisher
White Breasted Kingfisher


Our first bird sighting was of the Tickel’s Blue Flycatcher. For some odd reason, the photos I take of it are always shaky. Next we saw the Paradise flycatcher - Adult male with the white tail streamers, Keshav managed to get one shaky photo of the fickle little thing. These were sighted near the bamboo thicket on the way to the rest rooms.

R-Croc Eye


We took a boat ride (we paid Rs. 250 to our boat man and guide) on the river. The crocodiles were sadly not in a basking mood, we saw a few in the water. Sadly we didnt see any otters this time.

R-RiverTern
River Tern


River Sightings:
White Breasted Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
River Tern
Great Thick Knee (Great Stone Plover) – Pair
Black headed Ibis
Darters (Snake Birds)

R-Thick Knee
Great Thick Knee


In the thickets along the walk way (particularly at the bridge), we saw several birds
Grey Headed Starling
Tickel’s Blue Fly catcher (again)
Drongos (Pair)
Paradise Fly catcher (juvenile male – rufus coloured, with little streamers)
Grey wagtail
Common Iora
Tailor Bird
Sunbirds


R-Black headed Ibis
Black Headed Ibis
R-BlackHeadedMunia
Black Headed Munia
R-Darter
Snake Bird


The lily pond near the restaurant yielded several sightings
Small Blue Kingfisher
Pied KingFisher (again)
Weaver Birds with nests
Spotted Munia
Black Headed Munia
White Rumped Munia ( several )

R-Pied Kingfisher
Pied KingFisher


R-WRMuniaPair1
White Rumped Munia Pair


Ranganthittu is sadly also visited by large groups of loud people who think it’s a great place for their unruly brats to work off their high spirits. It is most unfortunate that the park officials turn a blind eye to these pests.

Ranganathittu has a restaurant and clean rest rooms. It also has a large parking area. The park tends to get crowded once it opens ( offical opening hours are beyond 9 ). Park officials will admit visitors as early as 6:30 am for a fee - no ticket will be issued for this :) The boat men and guides are very well versed with local bird life.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Excellent pictures. Lovely post.

Santosh Bs said...

Hi,

Next visit do include Kukkarahalli lake & and Kempabudhi lakes in Mysore.
Wonderful birding spots!

regards,
santosh

Unknown said...

Thanks Santosh, will definately visit both lakes. I also want to go to Karanji Lake again. Last time we went late after birding at Ranganthittu and were already tired...

Do you have directions to Kempabudhi Lake? I had some trouble finding mention of it on the net.

Santosh Bs said...

Hi,
I think i got the naming wrong, i think its kempabudhi lake in mysuru.. sry for the error!!
Personally I also coult not accomodate this place during my last birding outing... I'm looking fwd to it this time.
The info I got as below:
Lingambudhi lake is in south Mysuru - @ Sriramapura and is about 8km from the center of the mysuru city.
Note: It opens in the evening only by 4.30pm.
Happy Birding!

Sridharan said...

Wonderful..!

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