Anjali

Wild Adventure

2007-10-18T15:09:43Z

My Experience

Thanks to Adarsh and Avinash (JLRNTP) for last weekend proved to be the most memorable, in more than one way. Adarsh had this plan going on for a week till it got finalised.Though I had not met Avinash before, this trip proved to be wonderful for all of us.

Day 1

We started off from Bangalore at 5:00 AM in the morning and reached BR Hills. On the way we had some very good bird sightings the most prominent of them being the Rufous backed Shrike which got us all very excited. Though we could not do any safari there as we reached late we were happy to have sighted many birds and of course this being the first trip for both me and Adarsh to BR hills I must say we just fell in love with the sights in BR hills, and I am sure Adarsh would not disagree. We were lucky to see many birds, butterflies, dragon flies, Kavita (The elephant) and the ever so beautiful Blue Mormon. We left BR hills in the afternoon and went to Bandipur and were utterly disappointed to see the crowds there so decided to skip the safari both in Bandipur and Madhumalai, a decision which we regretted much later. Adding on to the disappointment the whole trip from Bandipur to Madhumalai seemed rather dull and dry as we did not spot even a single spotted deer or bird, but as we moved towards Masinagudi we came across many birds and for me having sighted the Indian Roller for the first time definitely made my day.

Day 2

With having a rather dull day 1 we planned to start off day 2 with an early morning trek which again had many surprises in store for us. The first being having spotted a green snake which I am yet to get an ID for and this again being the first for both me and Adarsh to have spotted a snake in the wild. As we moved on we were happy to see many birds and butterflies and last but not the least a wild tusker. We did go for the Madhumalai safari in the evening which proved a little disappointing as not only did we not spot anything, but we later got to know that there had been a leopard and tiger sightings both in Bandipur and Madhumalai the previous day and morning in the normal safari route which we had skipped seeing the crowd. Though the day proved to be good in a way it was when the evening was coming to a close giving way to the night sky we realized our hopes and Avinash’s gut feeling which was there from day 1 to spot a wild cat was not dyeing afterall, we literally jumped from our seats when we heard the distinct leopard calls in a distance. This kept our hopes alive and we were there out the whole night patrolling the forest trying to trace those calls just keeping our fingers crossed and not to forget the Black Naped Hare and Spotted Deer’s who always kept us guessing in that flash light. The only thing we knew was the calls were coming from a close distance where there was a water hole. The night ended with out much happening.

Day 3

It was early in the morning after a cold night with no sleep we were still hearing the leopard calls except that it seemed much closer and closer and then the magic had to happen when Avinash out of no where rushed outside with me keeping close behind him towards the water hole. All we had with us was a flash light although we were sure the calls were coming from near the water hole which was just a few feet away. All we could see through the flash light was the fire flies and then there it was the unmistakable look, the fearsome eyes, the call, and yes it was the leopard indeed. We had it literally staring at us directly from that distance and the experience just cannot be put in words, the very sight seemed frighteningly beautiful and makes one realize how powerful and beautiful this animal is. Though we could not manage to take any pictures we just have no regrets what so ever. The only sad thing being Adarsh was not as lucky this time around.

With having had such an exciting morning of having spotted a leopard in the wild to start with we never knew when day 2 ended and day 3 started for us. We decided to take the Bandipur safari way back on our last day and as lady luck would have it we were lucky again. what were we to spot there oh yes Wild Dogs again first time for all the three of us just as one might think what else could one ask for we came across many birds, gaur, barking deer, sambar, spotted deer and yes how can I miss wild elephant with a baby.

Now this is not all we ended our trip with a visit to Ranganthittu and yes we had a river tern posing for us for a long time with the croc's close behind and other birds too.

As we headed towards the city we were just left speechless with the amazing experience we had in the last three days and this will remain as a wonderful memory for all of us.

And here is the list of all the birds and mammals we saw on the trip.

1) Barn Owl

2) Black Drongo

3) Black Headed Bulbul

4) Brahmini Kite

5) Brahmini Starling

6) Cattle Egret

7) Common Myna

8) Darter

9) Greater Cormorant

10) Hoopoe

11) common Ibis

12) Indian Robin

13) Indian Roller

14) Lesser Flame Back WP

15) Little Egret

16) Oriental Magpie Robin

17) Marsh Harrier

18) Night Heron

19) Paraiah Kite

20) Pied KF

21) Indian Pond Heron

22) Purple Moorhen

23) Red Vented Bulbul

24) Red Wattled Lapwing

25) Red Whiskered Bulbul

26) River Tern

27) Rose Ringed Parakeet

28) Rufous backed Shrike

29) Spotted Dove

30) Spotted Owlet

31) Stone Plover

32) Tickel's Blue Flycatcher

33) White throated KF

34) Nilgiri Wood Pigeon

35)Jungle babler

36) Cormorant

37) House Sparrow

38) Shikra

39) Jungle Fowl

40) White Breasted water Hen

41) Jungle Myna

42) White Browed Wagtail

43) Coucal

44) Indian Hawk Cuckoo (call )

45) Common Hawk Cuckoo ( call )

46) Purple Heron

47) Blue Rock Pigeon

48) Indian Peafowl

49) Green Bee Eaters

50) Streak Throated WoodPecker

Others

· Panthera Pardus ( Leopard )

· Wild Dog ‘s

· Tusker

· Chital / Spotted Deer

· Sambar Deer

· Barking Deer

· Bonnet Macaque

· Langur Macaque

· A snake (Species Unknown)

· Marsh Crocodile

· Fruit Bats

· Blue Mormon

· Black Naped Hare

The Bangalore Rehabilitation Centre, Bannerghatta …………Salims World

2007-07-16T15:05:03Z

Got to know about this place from Deepa (http://deponti.livejournal.com/254533.html) and an email that was posted on JLRNTP.Decided to go to this place on Sun along with a friend Raghavendra who was more than eager to come along. After getting the directions from another friend Adarsh (JLRNTP), we reached this place in the afternoon. The first ones to greet us were the beautiful Bea Eaters, amazing birds they are after watching them for sometime we decided to go inside. Not able to find anyone around we were wondering what to do when suddenly out of no where we were greeted by Sonja and Tension (Resident Dogs) though they looked like they were going to tear us down to pieces they turned to be more than friendly and affectionate. Later we met up Adarsh and Nisarg who had come along to help Salim and others. As Salim was a little busy he asked to go around until he could assign us some work, as we were going around looking at the rescued Monkeys, Jackals, Pariah Kites, Brahminy Kites, Parakeets etc it made me wonder what would have been their fate if there was no one to take care of them and was glad that this place existed.

When I first saw Salim with his long white hair I thought he was very old and wondered how he was able to manage this place with very little or no help but I was so wrong and I am happy I was wrong to know that looks are so deceiving, this man is so full of energy, the passion and love he shares for his wonderful birds and animals that are under his care is really amazing.

It felt really nice to see all those birds especially the Pond Heron, Jungle Mina,Brahminy Kite,Shikra,Parakeets etc at such close quarter, but yes nothing can be more nice than the day when they would be released into the wild I am sure. We were so lucky to see two little juveniles of no one knows what as yet and Salim makes sure to take such delicate care of them by feeding them some homeopathic medicine I just hope that they both survive as one just refused to eat, there was this small baby spectacled cobra and 2 juvenile quails as well all cared by Salim and his two friends at the center.

We helped in shifting the birds to diff cages, cleaning the cages and helped with few other small things. I felt so gratified at the end of it all that we were able be of some help to them who untiringly work there 24*7 without even caring for themselves. This place definitely needs some help from the volunteers on a regular basis.

Last but definitely not the least I cannot forget to mention the friendly juvenile jungle crow Aawa, I guess he literally has forgotten that he is a crow, flies less and walks more, is hungry almost all the time ,gets on Salims nerves and keeps one entertained all through..... J

Melkote: The Temple Town…………..

2007-07-09T17:22:14Z

A town famous for its shrine of Cheluvanarayanswamy and many little water tanks (Kalyani's) spread across it is marked as one of the historic places in Karnataka, but to me it was more or less a serene town tucked away in a small corner of the world. Adding to its old world charm were these old houses and small alleys which takes one back memory lane like malgudi days for me .

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8431226@N07/sets/72157600684456297/

With the lovely breeze and rain playing hide and seek on this thursaday afternoon, there was the much wanted silence I was looking for, away from the busy city noise, people minded their own business around and fortunately there were very few tourists…I had wanted to go to this place for a long time now but had never found the time and thu was when I could actually make it. We started our journey at around 7:30 in the morning. It was nice long drive to this wonderful temple town near mandya, at first I was amazed by milestone giving diff readings to reach this place, if one read 15 kms to melkote there would be one more in just a stones throw away saying 10 kms or so, this especially when we take the right turn from mandya to reach the town. At last we managed to reach the place by around 11:00 AM what with all the stops we had in-between. There were two things on my mind with all the research that I had done. I knew this place was real famous so either I could expect to see lot of tourists like any other historic place or a sleepy little town with hardly any soul to be seen outside and as always I was completely wrong though it was not as crowded, it was not a sleepy town either, it very well was full of life with little shops and eateries across the street .As soon as we reached this place we headed towards the temple, this temple being so old has history written all across the small town, as photography was not allowed inside the temple I had to be content with taking photographs outside which itself was very rewarding .. Once we had seen the lord we went around the town which was equally interesting after which we made our journey back to Bangalore enroute which I got to see some real nice birds which again helped me polish my amateur skills in birding. And thus ended my wonderful journey.

The most photographed in the class...........

2007-05-30T14:58:10Z

Just could not resist not posting this......... She definitely took everyone's attention in the class even as Karthik was taking his class........We were so amused to know that it actually does not kill but only paralyzes its prey and then lays eggs on it. That very fact when told by Karthik made the observation all the more interesting.

JLR - Moments .......

2007-05-29T13:34:00Z

JLRNTP-Class of 2007 - May Batch

JLR Mascot

The Blue Tiger - I guess all of us in the class have a pic of this.......

There's Magic in the sky today ----Do you see a bird ??

Never had i observed life like i did in thoses 3 days

Kodak Moment - The Nilgai

Sunset

Line of Hope -------------

Birds

2007-05-28T18:09:13Z

The first day when we went to Bannerghatta I did not know what to expect out of JLR training program as it mainly included information about bird watching and everything related to it.... Bird watching I had definitely heard this before but never knew it would be so intresting.This training has just got me hooked on to it ......... I can't stop looking around hoping to find some bird and trying to identify it...Infact when I first met the all the other participants almost all of them were already into birding and were so enthusiastic that they immediately started to recognize bird calls etc I was so dumbstruck by this and wondered, was it really that interesting.It did not take me long to realize its more than that ....the very joy of being able to observe the bird, hear its call and trying to identify it is in itself not less than any accomplishment and needs a lot of experience which ...... I am hoping that I wld be able to do someday.....

My first Journal

2007-05-28T16:24:27Z

I have always wanted to write a journal but never had.I am glad that I am starting this off with an amazing experience that we had recently. I was part of the recently held JLRNTP and what an experience it has been ever since, all thanks to Karthik who has an amazing knowledge of everything around and his willingness to share it across with the like minded makes this programe all the more intresting. We also got to meet two wonderful people Sandeep and Deepa who shared their experience with us which only enriched our knowledge and left us asking for more. I made some nice friends, got to know learn a lot about the delicate life surrounding us which we take for granted in our daily life. I just hope I would be able to give back something in someway to mother nature who in turn has given us so much in abundance that's being destructed by us without a second thought.