I have been a part of a bird-watching group in Bangalore since around the year 1999-2000. The group, comprising of experts, amateurs, hobbyists and others interested in birds have been conducting bird-watching outings in and around the city of Bangalore for many years now.
Every second Sunday of the month, the group organised a bird-watching trip at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens in the heart of the city. This must be one of the oldest, continuously held bird-watching outings in India (couldn’t find any content on this online, so happy to stand corrected). The group is also quite active on email and social media, and a great resource to learn more about nature.
It was quite a large group that met this Sunday. It was great to see a group of school kids (in their uniforms) participating enthusiastically in the session. This session is specifically aimed for new comers to the field of bird-watching and the group leaders (typically Mr. J. N. Prasad) leave no stone unturned to ensure that people get a good idea of bird-watching, how to spot and identify birds, handy guides, etc.
Here’s a list of the birds that I observed (nomenclature as per The Book of Indian Birds by Salim Ali):
- Little Grebe
- Great Cormorant
- Little Cormorant
- Darter
- Little Egret
- Indian Pond-Heron
- Spot-Billed Duck
- Shikra
- Black Kite
- Brahminy Kite
- Blue Rock Pigeon
- Spotted Dove
- Rose-Ringed Parakeet
- Asian Koel
- Spotted Owlet
- Coppersmith Barbet
- White-Cheeked Barbet
- Ashy Drongo
- Common Myna
- Jungle Crow
- Red-Whiskered Bulbul
- Common Tailorbird
- Tickell’s Flowerpecker
- Purple-Rumped Sunbird
And some photos from a beautiful early winter morning at Lalbagh below:
