Dabchicks

Glossy Ibis

Purple Swamphen

After nearly 3 months of lock-down, I have been feeling a touch of cabin fever lately. So, this weekend, I decided to head off to nearby Kaikondrahalli Lake for a bit of bird-watching (with my mask on, of course).

Kaikondrahalli Lake is an example of a success story in public participation to conserve Bangalore’s natural heritage. A citizen’s initiative ensured that the lake was not destroyed by rampant construction. I am not sure if it’s still being maintained by the citizens, but it is a nice lake in the neighbourhood. It’s not very large, and the good part is that it’s not been completely ‘beautified’, but rather parts of the lake have been left ‘as is’, providing a variety of habitat not often seen in other, more ‘developed’ lakes.

I have come bird-watching a couple of times before to this lake. But right from the time I started my walk around the lake this time, I was struck by the sheer number of birds that I could see all over the lake and the trees on the small island at the centre of the lake. There were 2 groups of over 60 dabchicks (Little Grebes) each whereas I had never before seen more than a couple of these birds together. The small island at the centre held a flock of over 12 Painted Storks. The trees by the side of the lake had numerous cormorant nests and parents were busy constantly feeding their chicks. I also saw numerous Grey Herons where before I might only have seen a few of them on a single water body. I did not see too many non-water birds, but by the end of my relatively short walk of about an hour, I had spotted about 32 species. Not bad, I would say!

Here’s the full list of birds that I spotted:

1. Little Grebe
2. Great Cormorant
3. Indian Cormorant
4. Darter
5. Spot-billed Pelican
6. Purple Heron
7. Grey Heron
8. Black-crowned Night-Heron
9. Indian Pond-Heron
10. Cattle Egret
11. Little Egret
12. Painted Stork
13. Oriental White (Black-headed) Ibis
14. Glossy Ibis
15. Spot-billed Duck
16. Black Kite
17. Brahminy Kite
18. Common Moorhen
19. Purple Moorhen
20. Common Coot
21. Blue Rock (Feral) Pigeon
22. Rose-ringed Parakeet
23. Asian Koel
24. White-breasted (throated) Kingfisher
25. Black Drongo
26. Common Myna
27. Jungle Myna
28. House Crow
29. Jungle (Large-billed) Crow
30. Ashy Prinia
31. Oriental Magpie-Robin
32. Purple-rumped Sunbird