Report on Bioblitz led by Deepa Mohan & Kaustubh Rau on Sep 23rd at Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar

Enjoy this descriptive report of the Bioblitz held at Puttenahalli Lake on Sep 23rd by Deepa Mohan, a wildlife volunteer, a bird educator and an avid naturalist who also led the session along with another naturalist and a biologist Kaustubh Rau.

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I had been conducting walks for both adults and children at Puttenahalli Kere (J P Nagar) for many years; it has been a favourite place for me to take children, especially. Dr Kaustubh Rau had been conducting similar walks recently; so when Usha Rajagopalan and Sapana of Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT) asked me to conduct a walk, I reached out to Kaustubh at once, so that we could conduct the nature walk together. 

We had a reasonable number of people at the start, and Usha and Sapana, along with Govindan Iyer and Vijayalakshmi (Viji) all volunteers for PNLIT, were there to welcome us. Usha spoke a few words about how she and her team have rescued the moribund lake and maintained it against many odds, and we started our ramble.

As we walked down the path, each of us (Kaustubh and I) pointed out several life-forms that caught our attention. The lake is a place where a variety of trees have been planted by the team, and some of them have grown into majesty. The Cassia grandis (also called the Pink Shower Tree), the Sampige, the Buddha Coconut, even the Sandalwood. It was lovely to walk through an avenue lined with these, with the bank of the lake edged with beautiful flowers such as Penta, Ixora, Canna and so on. 

The birds were both waterfowl and the woodland species; we watched the group feeding behaviour of the Little Cormorants, the diving of the Oriental Darter, the electric blue feathers of the White-throated Kingfisher, while several Little Grebes and Eurasian Coots bobbed about in the water. We looked at the Purple Swamp hens foraging in the reeds, with their huge feet allowing them to walk on floating vegetation. 

Several insects caught our attention too. I told people how the Mexican Beetle had been introduced to control the Parthenium plants and how we were now trying to see how to control these beetles, which have had, apparently, no effect on the plants!   

It was delightful that there was no sign at all of the invasive Lantana or the Chromolaena; obviously, the PNLIT team knows how to prevent these species from gaining a toehold at the lake. We looked at the beautiful berries of the Karanda, I asked some people to taste the Clover leaves (tart and tasty!) , walked under a guard of honour that is, a pergola of Thunbergia mysorensis flowers, hanging down like a group of lovely chandeliers!

We were able to see a few butterflies too; we got a Tiger sighting when a Plain Tiger flitted past. A Pale Grass Blue sat on a leaf, and I was able to talk about Batesian mimicry when we found a Common Mormon female, which imitates the Crimson Rose (a butterfly that is toxic to birds). 

We walked past the area where people are living, and from there we could sight a Purple and a Grey Heron on the island. I was also able to show the many vegetables and gourds which made up a lovely garden - Brinjals, Tomatoes, Chilies and papayas, one participant said this was the first time he had seen a papaya tree! 

We turned back towards the entrance pavilion, walking under the shade (and the lovely flowers) of the Portia trees. All too soon, the walk was over, and Govindan sir and Viji distributed brochures which gave information about the lake (with great photographs and an index of the many life forms seen at the lake), and there were Early Bird bird brochures for sale, too. 

My heartfelt thanks to Usha and the PNLIT team for this great opportunity to disprove a statement someone made to me once: "Puttenahalli Kere? It's such a small place. There is nothing interesting there!". Well, certainly the participants on the walk would say that there is quite a  lot to see, observe and enjoy at the lake!

My eBird checklist from the morning is at

 https://ebird.org/checklist/S150527948 (42 sp) 

and the photographs of various living beings that I posted on iNaturalist is at 

https://tinyurl.com/yk57eeke

My Flickr album of photographs taken during the walk are at 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/86494503@N00/albums/72177720311415119

I am attaching a photo of most of the group, at the start of the outing and the Grey Wagtail.

Cheers,

Deepa

Report on Bioblitz at Puttenahalli Lake, Feb 19th, 2023

The morning of 19th Feb was as warm as it has been for the past few days. Bangalore is warming up and everywhere trees are shedding their leaves. It was no different at the Puttenahalli lake where I was with some others, for a bioblitz event. The event coordinator, Sapana briefly talked about the journey of the transformation of the lake - from what it was to what it is today.

Naturalist and PNLIT volunteer Kaustubh Rau led the walk and began by asking us to take a close look at anything that seemed interesting. And indeed there were so many little details that caught the attention of each of one of us be it the colour or the variegations of leaves, the shapes of flowers, the busy and fierce weaver ants, spider web with egg and cocooned prey in it, a leaf with some insect eggs on it, the pattern in which the branches of a tree were arranged, the names of the different trees and how or why they were named so or the different water birds with their distinct calls. All these observations led to further questioning and learning not only pertaining to flora & fauna but connected to other areas of history, geography, and economy.

With PNLIT Trustee Nupur joining us, the commitment and sense of ownership were evident when she and Sapana spoke about certain trees. How many of us will have such stories to share? I wondered. We, the participants, were lucky too to get these few hours to stop thinking of our own lives and observe the world and lives of our co habitants at the lake. I hope to come back and see the changes that happen during the different seasons.

Thank you for this experience.

Archna, J.P Nagar

Pic Credits: SK Srinivas and Aishwarya S

Biolblitz at the lake - scheduled

The next bioblitz at Puttenahalli Lake will be conducted on Sunday, 11th December between 9:30 am-11.00 am.

What: A bioblitz is a short but intense session in which participants do a biological survey of a particular area and record all the living creatures in that space.

Why: A bioblitz serves two purposes. Over a time period it allows the surveying of the biodiversity in an area. This biodiversity can be documented on a citizen-science platform such as iNaturalist (inaturalist.org) making this information available to all. Second, a bioblitz is a fun way of getting people, particularly children interested in nature and conservation issues. They also learn important skills of observation, identification and documentation.

How: All you need is an interest in nature and a notebook and pencil to record your observations. A camera is also preferred for documentation but not a requirement. We do a slow walk in a particular area of the lake and record all the living creatures we find. These include mosses, herbs, shrubs, trees, flowers, lichen, insects, birds and animals.

All observations are uploaded on the Puttenahalli Lake project page on iNaturalist . All participants could sign-up for a free account on iNaturalist. (This procedure will be explained at the time of the event).

Who: Any person who is 12+ years and interested in the natural world can join us for this event. 10+ old kids could also join in provided they are accompanied by an adult. We are taking upto 20 participants only.

By Whom: The session will be led by Dr. Kaustubh Rau, a biologist, a naturalist and a PNLIT volunteer.

When and Where: December 11th, 9:30 am - 11.00 am at the Lake gazebo.

Register by filling the form - https://forms.gle/dHw3JS2uYGQf4SQH6

This event is free. Do register asap to avoid disappointment!

Thank you,

Sapana Rawat
PNLIT Events Coordinator

Bioblitz at Puttenahalli Lake conducted on July 17th, 2022

About ten of us spent a couple of hours on Sunday morning (the 17th of July) at our Puttakere covering as much as ten metres. And yet, even as we appeared to move hardly at all, Time flew!  There was just so much to keep us absorbed. The space was a compressed scroll, opening out into discoveries of sight and sound and scent - and eventually, even taste! Kaustubh Rau who led the Bioblitz began by having us look closely at the trunk of the mahogany on which fire ants (an invasive species, apparently) ran up and down sticking and stitching their leafy nests even as the lichen grew slowly, patiently. Those ants looked like ants but we also saw "spiders" which turned out to be ants, spiders who strung up their egg sacs (little green dots) in their nest-webs, spiders who left their "signatures" in their webs. What an intricate world theirs is!

It was a beautiful morning, shot through with that special silver-gold light of the monsoon (when it's not raining). A pair of dragonflies were locked in a long embrace, butterflies flitted about, coots and grebes chased each other  in a flurry of wings across the water. At one point mynahs started calling out loudly. We turned to see what the cackling was about and watched as the mynahs escorted a long rat snake (most probably) across the path, heckling it all the while. 

We saw cormorants, darters, purple moor hens, egrets, water hens, coots, spot billed ducks, a swooping brahminy kite, a slider turtle, all hanging out comfortably in what was evidently their home - sitting on the perches, drying their wings, staring out at the water, occasionally chatting with each other or diving into the water for a snack. A mother grebe left her nest with three little chicks following. The fourth eventually left, hitching a ride on daddy's back! 

In those two hours, we peered down, gazed up, crinkled our eyes to stare at movements across the water. There were strange beautiful fruit dangling from gorgeous broad-leafed exotic trees (the "Buddha Coconut" tree); the Kadam, the "badminton ball" (even though, as one participant pointed out, badminton is not actually played with a ball!) tree, a huge leafed "money plant", the cassia, the "pride of India", all held our attention. Eventually we ended up at a shortish tree (tall-ish shrub) studded with bright red "cherries". Delicious! 

Nearing the end of the walk, we spotted a darter trying to rid itself of what looked like a ball of string from its beak, desperately rubbing it against various surfaces. It was painful to watch. The bird was evidently in some distress. The trustees were informed and they called the ARRC, hoping they would be able to bring some relief to the bird- they had released a fishing net from the beak of another darter only a week ago. The next day, we got to know that the darter had not allowed the rescue team anywhere near. No matter; it turned out that the bird had managed to get rid of the string ball all by itself, no human intervention needed after all.

Bioblitz or no, humans reverently gazing at them or just hurrying past or no, creatures live out their compelling lives - and although in a sane world their ability to do so should not lie within the power of humans, at the moment it does.  Photographs when uploaded on to the inaturalist.org platform (under "Puttenahalli Lake") allows for all these to live out their natural lives on this planet as they were meant to do.

Sonali Sathaye

South City resident

Bioblitz event at Puttenahalli Lake

The continuous rains this week didn't deter us from planning our first Bioblitz event at Puttenahalli Lake. The overcast sky this morning did make us wonder if the participants would turn up. They did and the drizzle stopped just in time for 15 participants - a good mix of college students, high school students and a couple of nature enthusiasts - to start their walk around the lake to capture and document their observations. The next two hours opened our eyes to a whole new world.

The highlight was the first sighting of fruits on a Buddha coconut tree (http://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Buddha%20Coconut.html). We have four of these trees in our lake, all planted in 2010, over the years they have grown very tall indeed! For the last two spring seasons, we have been eagerly waiting to see them flowering. This year too we missed spotting the flowers and would not have noticed the fruit either if it hadn't been for today's event. It made us slow down, look around, and observe the flora and fauna. Bingo! We saw the fruits!

Buddha coconut fruit

Incidentally, this was the tree which a drunken miscreant had broken in Aug. 2011. Fortunately, we were able to get our gardener to match the broken piece to the trunk and 'bandage' it without any delay. The tree survived. 

Patching up the Buddha coconut tree, Aug 2011 (Pic: Usha Rajagopalan)

One of the younger participants was the first to spot a fungus kind of growth on the Singapore Cherry.  "Thanks to the rain," said Dr. Kaustubh Rao, who led the walk. "You can expect to see more fungi varieties."

Fungus on Singapore Cherry tree

The participants will be uploading their observations on iNaturalist platform, do check them out at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/puttenahalli-lake

If you want to spot the natural wonders at the lake, do come and join us in our next Bioblitz event (watch this space for the announcement of the next event).

Photos taken by: Govindan Iyer, Usha