Tracking the flora and fauna at our Puttakere

We are happy to have created a project space for Puttenahalli Lake on the iNaturalist platform 
- for all of us to track the flora and fauna found in our lake. 

Please explore  https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/puttenahalli-lake  and add your observations - from the little spider in a corner of the gazebo at the lake to the statue-like heron waiting to snatch a fish from the water. 

To do this, you need to join the group. Please follow the directions given below: 

On Web browser:

- Go to https://www.inaturalist.org. Log in with your Gmail/Facebook ID or sign up with your email ID.

- On the top menu, go to Community >Project. In the input box, enter Puttenahalli Lake and click Go.

- You will see Puttenahalli Lake Project. Click on it. 

- On the top right side you will see Join this Project. Click and  become a member
of Puttenahalli Lake Project.

On Mobile
- Install iNaturalist from Playstore or Appstore.

- Log in as mentioned for Web browser above.

- Select Projects on the hamburger.
- Search for Puttenahalli Lake Project in the search box.
- Puttenahalli Lake Project will show up. Click on it. 

- Click on Join button to become a member.

Upload the photographs of birds, trees, plants, insects that you take at our Puttenahalli Lake
for everyone to see and admire.

 

- Do not worry if you don't know the name of the bird, tree, plant or insect.
This is a global community of naturalists. Someone from somewhere will identify it for you!

- Do not worry if the species is already uploaded. The more the better!

- Please upload good photos. The greater the clarity, the easier to identify the species!

- And please add only photographs taken at our Puttakere to this page!  

A quick update on the lake - While the sewage inflow has stopped and the rain is
diluting the sediment, it is still providing rich nutrition for the weeds to grow and
cover the water. 

                                  Removing weeds

BBMP is getting the weeds removed. This time, there are several new ones and we are
constantly sending photos to Dr. Subbu to identify! His comment on the two species
in the photograph is particularly heartwarming. 

"Chara sp. and Ottelia alismoides... These two mostly grow in clean waters:
like the lakes of Bangalore in the 1980s."

In spite of the impurities, the exposed water does look delightfully clean.

We hope it improves further in the days to come!

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!