Sunday, June 21, 2009

Ranganathittu - Birders Paradise

Ranganathittu is just around 125 KM from Bangalore. The sanctuary is near Mysore, more specifically it's just after the historic town Srirangapatna. The sanctuary is small in size but a true paradise of Bird Lovers. The 0.67 KM² area comprises 6 islets on the banks of River Kaveri.

Whenever I find some time in week end from our busy schedule I take my car out in early morning and drive to this amazing place. Some times with friends, some time alone. From my house it’s a two and half hours drive through BangaloreMysore high way.

Recently I had a trip there with my friend Subha to get some oxygen far from busty city traffic, noise and fumes. In one week end woke up very early morning, got ready quickly, checked my camera backpack and left home. On the way I had to pick up my friend, Subha. We were trying to reach there by 7 in the morning to get the best light for photography. The drive was pleasant and we reached there by 7 am. There was no tourist and the resident of the sanctuary has just started their day activity. Barbets have started their morning conference; folks of parakeet were flying from one tree to another. It was a relief to ear, eye and other five senses. I spotted a group if Grey Hornbill for the first time in Ranganathittu. But I lost chance to get a decent snap as they immediately hide inside thick canopy of the trees.

Inside the sanctuary there are plenty Baya Weaver nesting around a small water-body. The little, cute cheerful birds were in full mood of nesting and the colourful males were busy to attract their opposite sex.

After spending some with these small beauties we went ahead towards the river and was amazed to see the number of colourful Painted Storks, Ibis, Eurassian Spoonbill, Great Thick Knee, River Tern, Egrets, Pond Heron, Night Heron. There was only sound of these different birds. We took a boat and started boating in the river. The Egrets were in breeding plumage and were looking very colourful, Painted Storks were busy with their chicks. Few spoonbills were searching food in the river water. But unfortunately this time we couldn’t spot a single kingfisher. The boatman pointed towards the River Tern and he mentioned about the nest. There was a River Tern couple and they were very aggressive as we were approaching towards nest. After spending little time we decided to move ahead and let the couple leave in peace. While coming back we could see one chick of the River Tern.

While exploring in the river we took many images of Painted Stork, Eurassian Spoonbil, Pelican, Egrets and many others. Suddenly I noticed one Juvenile Marsh Crocodile very near to our boat. It gave me a single opportunity to click an image and went off under the water.

The boating was half an hour ride. We spent around 2 hours inside the sanctuary, had another boat ride. We started for Bangalore around 12 noon and by that time we could spot around 20 species of bird:

  1. Grey Hornbill.
  2. Coppersmith Barbet.
  3. Baya Weaver.
  4. Scally Breasted Munia.
  5. Rose Ringed Parakeet.
  6. Painted Storks.
  7. Open Bill Stork.
  8. White Ibis.
  9. Eurassian Spoonbill.
  10. Great Thick Knee.
  11. River Tern.
  12. Egret.
  13. Pond Heron.
  14. Night Heron.
  15. Great White Pelican.
  16. Junglee Myna
  17. Common Myna
  18. Pied Wagtail.
  19. Cormorant.
  20. Darter.

Images From Ranganathittu


1.

















2.















3.












4.












5.

















6.














7.
















8.













9.











10.











11.















12.



















1. Painted Stork
2. Painted Stork - Closeup
3. Eurassian Spoonbill
4. Cattle Egret (Breeding Plumage) - Closeup
5. Cattle Egret - Courtship
6. River Tern - Alert Pose
7. Pond Heron (Breeding Plumage)
8. River Tern
9. Great Thick Knee (Stone Plover) - Closeup
10. Great Thick Knee (Stone Plover)
11. Open Billed Stork
12. Night Heron

2 comments:

Junaiths said...

nice snaps..i had been in Ranganathittu once,but that days Camera was a dream..thanx for the ride offered :0)

Cherokee Tomahawk said...

Neloyda this is Shivaji! excellent always loved ur work and now I like ur texting as well.

Canadian Rockies in Winter

Canadian Rockies in Winter Since migrating to Canada I didn’t get any chance to pack my bags, take my cameras and start getting...