Bird Watch Update

Here's the latest update from birder Madhurima, a South City resident who has been maintaining a weekly record of birds sighted at the lake. Lots of "purple" birds!

On Saturday, 23rd July, there was a flock of at least 8 little cormorants. 2 very brownish little cormorants were present, which are probably juveniles. Other than that, all usual suspects were present. One waterhen couple seems to have made a nest. they were seen hanging out together, near the L&T gate, on both days

On Sunday, the little cormorants had left. Other birds were all present. I witnessed a case of probable child abuse by a purple swamphen which tried to crush its chick under its weight for 10 minutes. However, the chick seemed uninjured after the ordeal.

The lapwing couple was present on both days, but there was no chick with them. Maybe they couldn't protect the chick this time.

Regards,

Madhurima

Bronze-winged Jacana

Little Cormorants

The lake

Little Cormorants

Purple-rumped Sunbird Female

Purple-rumped Sunbird Male

Purple Heron

Scaly-breasted Munia

Terapin

White-browed Wagtail

White-breasted Waterhen

Purple Swamphen

Purple Swamphens

Birds captured after the rains

Thanks to the rain and the treated water, the level has gone up at the lake. Unfortunately though, the notoriously difficult to control alligator weed is also growing lushly. We hope when the level increases even more, the weeds will be submerged and rot. Well, we may be unhappy about the weed spreading but the birds are very happy about it. The number of birds frequently the lake has increased. 

For the past few months, Madhurima Das, a "resident birder" from the neighbourhood has been regularly doing a weekend census of the birds at the lake, and taking pictures as well. Today she was happy to have captured a few candid moments. Pictures below.

Pheasant-tailed Jacana in breeding plumage

Little Cormorant 

Great Cormorants that flew past for a recce perhaps!

White-throated Kingfisher with catch

Spot the two Purple Herons? 

Pheasant-tailed Jacanas in a mating dance perhaps .... 

Little Grebes - they had laid three eggs but lost two to predators. Way of the wild!

A first time visitor to our lake - Jacobin Cuckoo, considered to be a harbinger of the monsoon!  

Pics: Madhurima Das
Captions: Usha Rajagopalan

Bird watch update - Storks and Herons

We are delighted to see avian visitors returning to the lake after a year! Yesterday, heedless of the hot afternoon sun, we spotted a Painted Stork, Asian Openbill Stork and a Grey Heron together with a resident Egret, foraging for food. They were so close to each other that all four can be seen in one frame. 

Grey Heron, Asian Openbill, Egret, Painted Stork

Asian Openbill

Asian Openbill and Grey Heron

Painted Stork

Our other resident heron, the Purple Heron, kept close to the bulrushes near the wetland. We realized later that it was keeping an eye on its young one lurking in the bulrushes. We will photograph the juvenile when it decides that the outside world is not such a bad place!

Usha

Lake Update

The monsoon this year has receded and the top of the stakes we'd planted in the water are showing already. This means the level is falling  but hopefully come summer, there will still be enough water for the fish to survive unlike the summer of 2013. It is indeed gratifying to see more birds at the lake. The Spot-billed Ducks are five now. You can see their exquisite close up photo featured for the month of March in our calendar. 

Spot-billed Ducks

We managed to "rescue" a drift wood plant display stand from being burnt and bought it off a maid for Rs. 100. It is now placed on the lake bed awaiting the birds to perch on it. Several egrets feed around but we haven't seen one of them sit on the drift wood yet. The birds in the photograph are not too clear to be identified but we hope they are Lesser Whistling Ducks (featured for May in the PNLIT calendar). 

Drift-wood perch

Purple Heron in the centre

Our trees, shrubs and other plants have grown well in the past few months. See a pic of the garden near the Gazebo. 

Garden 

The water lilies we'd planted at various places are blooming and one such patch has become a nesting place for a Common Coot! It chases away other birds that come near the water with angry splashing of the water. As for the lily blooms themselves, strangely enough, the common comment we hear from regular visitors to the lake is that the sight is "calming"!!  

Water lilies

With greetings for Christmas from all of us at PNLIT. 

Usha

Reproductive success at its best!

Extracts from an email from Vishnupriya Hathwar, who frequents Puttenahalli Lake 

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Just wanted to share somethings that many of you may have already observed [ or maybe not].. here goes !!

Due to the wonderful rains, the lake has filled up quite a bit, leaving only smaller islands for the birds.

In this, the most common birds- the Common Coots have chicks that are almost grown to adult size [ only the plumage is still lacking].

Spotted a pair of Coucals - appears that they too have a young one!! Spotted a small Coucal with FRESH plumage flying across the lake.
I have personally never seen a young one of a Pond Heron up close... happened to see one meek little pond heron with its drab mottles and blotches of dirty brown hiding in the weeds between the gate [entrance to the lake] and the island.

Long shot of coot and chick (Pic: Usha)

The purple swamp hens and the dabchicks [ little grebes] are not far behind in reproductive success !! some of them have chicks as well!

I am kinda missing the kingfishers and purple herons actually !! oh yes - managed to see the Pheasant tailed Jacana as well !! beauty of a bird I would say.

One suggestion - is it possible to introduce lotus leaves into a part of the lake?? This would get the Jacanas to start breeding there as well !!
I know some of us would question about the maintenance part... but that's something we need to do all the time right??

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Over the last couple of years, more than 60 species of birds have been spotted at Puttenahalli Lake. We were pleasantly surprised to come across Golumolu's blog post in June, about birding in Puttenahalli Lake - that can be read here.

To know more about the birds of Puttenahalli Lake, check out the PNLIT Flora and Fauna webpage, that has this carefully documented.

All in one morning at the lake

Despite the problems and challenges we have in maintaining our neighbourhood lake, each visit is such a delight and so full of surprises.

Today morning even while walking briskly (for a meeting at the Gazebo), a Fig tree growing wild at the edge of the lake caught my eye. There was a white breasted kingfisher sitting on its branch. I went as close to the grill as possible but that little fellow was not bothered in the least. He calmly sat there and let me shoot him (with my camera).

Our gardener Sivalingayya came hurriedly holding a white plastic bag carefully with both hands. What was in it but a big tortoise! It was apparently found walking along the track, sauntering in the 11 o'clock heat if you please. Before any one could spot and pounce on it for its tender meat, Sivalingayya brought it to us. I caught a quick glance of claws and a bit of its nose but the old man kept firmly within his shell. The gardener released it into a small pool of water.

Just in case you would like to know, Tortoises live almost exclusively on land. They do not have flippers but normal feet without webbing and often with sharp claws for digging. They only enter water to drink or wash themselves off. They may be found in arid areas and unfortunately our lake qualifies for aridity in these hot days! It is quite likely that he will slowly inch his way and come up on the track once again (perhaps cursing us for setting him down on the lake bed!). After all, tortoises are not exactly known for their speed, are they?

As you know we have a pair or Purple Herons at our lake. We have spotted them at a distance, standing like statues amidst the bulrush, waiting for a fish or toad to show up. On my way back, I heard some bird sounds from the island. Mynahs flying to and from the island are common and so are the Purple Swamphens that seemed to relish the fruit of the Singapore Cherry growing wild on the island. The new sound was of neither bird. I stopped and took a good look around. Between the low branches of the Singapore Cherry was our neighbour, the Purple Heron! What was he doing there? Did he find the heat too much or did he decide to follow the Purple Swamp hen and come to take a bite of the Cherry? Are Purple Herons known to eat such fruit? Only an avian expert can tell.

More excitement was in store just a few steps ahead. On the slope within the inner grill, on the burned grass was a discarded snake skin, all of ten feet or more! Snakes do this quite regularly. They tend to rub the old skin off against some surface when their new skin is grown. Is it possible to identify the species from the skin? As far as I know, well, it was just the old suit of one long snake which was now slithering somewhere at the lake with a gleaming new skin. Just to allay your fear, it was most probably that of a rat snake and that should not stop you from visiting the lake.

Perhaps you will see such exciting scenes yourself and write about them?

Usha

Pics: Usha Rajagopalan