On the birds spotted at the lake

Visitors to the lake sometimes ask whether we have introduced the birds to the lake. When we deny this, they want to know how the winged visitors make their way to the lake. 

How do birds make their way anywhere? How do they know where they can get food? How is it that migratory birds don't lose their way flying as they do thousands of miles across the sky? These are questions beyond our scope. Our endeavour is to make the lake as attractive as possible to them, local or migrants. 

While we can spot most of the resident birds, the smaller ones hidden in the foliage give us the slip. This is why we rely heavily on sharp eyed bird watchers who are patient, prepared to spend time, listen to bird calls and so on. A few of them like Madhurima Das send us updates on the birds she sees at the lake every weekend (and also logs them on eBird). We occasionally share these in this forum. Many of the birders don't mail us, but post their sightings in the eBird check list. I visited this site today and am pleasantly surprised to find that they have collectively spotted 96 species at the lake!!

Black Drongo, 22-Oct-2016 (PIc: Madhurima Das)

Some of them like the Common Hawk-Cuckoo (spotted on 3rd Sept 2016 by Tarun Menon); Common Iora (1st July 2016, Manidip Mandal) or Asian Palm-Swift (3rd May 2016, Vidhya Sundar) are first sightings at the lake! If we manage to contact these experts, we'll get the photographs of these birds and share them with you. In the meantime, do please visit the "Puttakere" hotspot on eBird: http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L2583597.

Do go to the lake yourselves to see the birds, take photos and send them to us. Recording your sightings on eBird will help in tracking. 

Best
Usha

Tracking bird species at the lake with eBird

For the last few years birdwatchers and PNLIT Shutterbugs have been sharing their observations and pictures with us. Some have been uploading their sightings to the eBird website http://ebird.org/content/ebird/.

Some of the early pictures we have...

A lone Cormorant, Jul 2010

A pair of Coots, Nov 2010  

Some time ago, Abhijit, who lives near the lake made the lake a "Birding Hotspot" on eBird. All birders can enter data of the birds they've spotted at the lake using this hotspot. While birdwatching, do keep a notebook and record the following, to the extent possible (this is what you can enter on eBird) - the time, bird species, and each species - gender, age (adult, juvenile, etc.), any other observations.  

The method of recording on eBird is simple, and once you get a feel of the website, you will not have to spend more than a few minutes each time. Submissions can be made for even one bird.

1. This link below will directly take you to the hotspot "Puttenhalli Lake (Puttakere)"
Please note that there is a small spelling error, which we have been unable to rectify. So let us use it as is. There are already many listings linked to this hotspot which we do not want to lose track of.
http://ebird.org/ebird/hotspot/L2583597 - Please save this in your bookmarks for easy access.

2. You can view the link above without an eBird account. To submit your sightings you will need to login (or create a login if you are new to eBird).

3. Once you are logged in, fill in the details. Over time, this will be a great repository of data, that can be used in several ways, as mentioned on this link http://ebird.org/ebird/eBirdReports?cmd=Start. eBird itself is created by © Audubon and Cornell Lab of Ornithology, so it is hoped that all this data won't disappear overnight.    

If you haven't the time to access eBird, we will be happy to receive your observations at Puttenahalli Lake in the format as below. Currently we have Madhurima Das doing this on a regular basis.

1. Date and Time of visit
2. Team size (no. of people watching) and other info about the birdwatchers
3. In columns - Bird species, No. seen, Any other info    
e.g. Pied Bushchat, 2 (1male,1female), Female sat on a tree stump for several minutes before flying into the bush, Male made a brief appearance and sat on a wire.  
e.g. Common Myna/Jungle Myna, several (maybe more than 30), Flying all over the place
Mail to pnlitonline@gmail.com. PNLIT will upload such observations received.

Any questions? Please mail.  Happy birding and birdwatch logging!

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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