Being at the Puttenahalli Lake Bird Count

Going to the lake at least once every day, we are apt to overlook or take for granted, the birds at the lake. Those in the water may still get a glance but we often miss the ones flying overhead, hiding in the foliage or even sitting still on a branch. Participating in the Bangalore Bird Count on Sunday, 16th February changed all this - at least for a couple of hours! 

Our team consisted of Gopinath Subbarao, Harish Mahendrakar (the two experts), Indrajit Chatterjee (photographer), Vishnu and Siddharth, 9th std. students and me. We began the exercise at 7.15 a.m. by sighting the birds and counting their number which Gopinath and Siddharth noted separately. We were in agreement most of the time except for the number of Garganey Ducks and the identity of one particular bird. 

There were two flocks of Garganeys at different spots but a loud bang by a passing truck sent the flocks flying! They settled down soon enough but became one large crowd which we had to count again. The "stranger" birds flew constantly and were tantalizing. They were quite plump, seemed to wag their tails while on the ground and showed off a bright white rump in flight. Out came the bird guide book and we pored over the sandpipers and stints (it had to be one of them!). We were clueless and decided to shelve its identity for the present and finish counting the others.

Birds sang and chirped among the bushes but refused to show themselves and be counted. We guessed their identities but did not include them in our list. Some of the morning walkers stopped to ask what we were doing and why. Most of them left us alone convinced perhaps that we were a bunch of silly coots!

One round of the lake took more than an hour and a half. We returned to the Gazebo where Gopinath and Siddharth sat down to compare their notes and to tally the count. 

I had hoped that we'd spot at least 12 species but we had seen 26!! The number of individual birds were 140! All these in our lake? Incredible but true!

Returning home and a couple of hours later, Gopinath called to say that he'd identified the mysterious bird as a Green Sandpiper. Well, they are welcome of course but we'd hoped it would be a Temminck's Stint, a winter visitor and not seen at our lake so far. Perhaps next year we'll be able to see this fellow too at our lake!

Gopinath's list of birds can be seen here. Some of Indrajit's photos are below. 

Any day is bird counting day. See how many you spot! 

Usha

Green Sandpiper

Indian Pond Heron

Purple Heron

Red-wattled Lapwings

Spot-billed ducks, Eurasian (Common) Coot

White-browed Wagtail 

The Bangalore Bird Count and Bird Logs

Bird Count at Puttenahalli Lake

Mr Gopinath Subbarao is coordinating the Bangalore Bird Count for Puttenahalli Lake.  

 

Event details

16th Feb 2014 (Sunday)
7:00 a.m. onwards 

Assemble at the Gazebo at Puttenahalli Lake

Bring the following if possible, but not compulsory

- A small notebook and pencil or pen

- A cap 

- Camera or Binoculars or any other additional gadgets that you have and wish to carry with you during the spotting of birds.

 

Spot as many birds as possible and have a good time together for a good cause.

For more details and clarifications, please contact Gopinath 

(9845030726 / subbaraogopinath@gmail.com)
 

About the Bird Counts

16th February is the day of the Bangalore Bird Count (BBC) 2014. 

This is a synchronous bird-watch that covers all important birding sites in Bangalore, in an attempt to come up with an informally vetted list of birds seen around Bangalore on a single day. 

According to the organisers of BBC Praveen and Prashanth (email ids below), the locations that will be monitored on Feb 16 by confirmed teams include:  

Cubbon Park, Hoskote, Kaikondrahalli, Hebbal, Rampura-Kalkare, Nandi Hills, GKVK Campus, Madhure, Hesseraghatta, Hulimangala, Ramnagara, Shivanahalli, Jaipurdodi, Kanakapura, Savandurga, Yellamallappa Chetty, Bellandur, Muthanallur, Jakkur, IISc Campus, Anekal Area, Byramangala, Nelligudda, Valley School Area, Puttenahalli Lake.

BBC overlaps with two other pan-India events, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) (Feb 14-17) and the Big Bird Day (BBD) (Feb 16). (Check the links for more info)

All these events will use eBird (ebird.org) as the platform for data entry and collation, and hence data sharing will be quite easy. So you can participate in one (the local event) and ensure you participate in all.

All the GBBC lists done from Bangalore on Feb 16 shall automatically be collected for BBC. All eBird lists from India made during those four days will be considered for GBBC  - hence, it will also include the BBC submissions.

If you would like participate in BBD from Bangalore, just inform the organisers of BBC by email after the birding session - they will consider your BBC list in eBird as a submission towards BBD under your name. Hence, when you participate in BBC, this means you can participate in BBD also by a simple confirmation email sent offline.

Praveen J:             paintedstork@gmail.com 

Prashanth MB:     prashanth.mb@gmail.com

Bird Logs

Abhijith Rao has created a log entry for Puttakere at the ebird website, where all birders can enter the data of the birds that they've spotted at the lake. 

To access the map: http://ebird.org/ebird/submit/map

"Puttenahalli Lake, Nataraja Layout, Arakere, Bangalore, Karnataka, India"

You'll see the BIRDING HOTSPOT icon floating over the lake, click on it

"Puttenhalli Lake (Puttakere)".

 

Once you've selected that and submitted the page, you'll be taken to the submissions page at this location - http://ebird.org/ebird/submit/effort?locID=L2583597.

 

Fill in the details of the birds you see and over time, this will form a great repository of data.

 

Go to these links to see how the data can be used - 

http://ebird.org/ebird/eBirdReports?cmd=Start

 

eBird itself is created by © Audubon and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. So all this data will be saved for some time to come.

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