Tuesday, July 9, 2013

TG Halli and Savandurga

Since there was good number of rains in last couple of months we thought we would visit TG Halli and see if there are any good number of water birds. We decided to start very early on Sunday and reach there by 6:30AM. Since most of our group members were busy and at the end it was just me, Raghu and his wife who made the trip.

For the first time I woke up late, infact if it was not for Raghus phone call I would have slept through the morning:-). I started at around 5:45 from my house and reached Raghu's house in 15 min. We started from Raghu's house after a nice cup of coffee.

It was a beautiful drive to TG Halli, weather was good with not much traffic. We spotted a Flameback woodpecker but before we took out our cameras he was gone. But still amazing sighting for the morning.

After reaching the backwater of TG Halli the first thing that hit me was the change that has happened from the last time that I was there. The water was more but the very bad thing to see was there was increase in the soil mining that has happened near the shore. I think all the Brick factories on the road get their mud from this place. It was really sad to see what was happening here. I hope someone takes action for whats happening there.

In terms of bird life we did not see lot of birds but enough of them to keep us interested:-) There were spot billed ducks, common coots in huge numbers, Grey herons were in good numbers too. Couple of Purple herons were seen too. But the biggest spotting of the day was "Citrine Wagtail". And seeing this fellow in summer was very surprising and it looked to be in breeding plumage too. Amazing amazing sighting. Another winter visitor seen in summer for a consecutive week. Last week we saw a Green Sandpiper in Muthanallur lake and this week a "Citrine Wagtail". And this is my first sighting of this species too:-) We could not believe our luck.

Then we saw couple of Indian Hoopoes which were very co-operating with us. Gave us some good photographs and left. Then came the time to see the bird which signals the onset of monsoons, the Pied Cuckoo:-) I was waiting to see this bird this summer. Last week Raghu had seen one when he visited chunchi falls. Again a good spotting for the day.

Lot of larks were seen along with Babblers and bulbuls. Saw a common kingfisher hovering to catch its morning breakfast. Few pied kingfishers were seen too. Had our breakfast which Raghu's wife had prepared and left from there towards Savandurga forest.

On the way in one of the lakes we saw a white-breasted waterhen and Bronze winged Jacanas. We did not see much activity while driving through Savandurga but still the drive was amazing. One sighting was of a Blue Faced Malkoha in the forest.

List of birds seen for the day.

1 Myna, Common
2 Myna, Jungle
3 Babbler, Yellow Billed
4 Babbler, Yellow Eyed
5 Babbler, Large Grey
6 Wagtail, White Browed
7 Wagtail, Citrine
8 Bulbul, Red Vented
9 Bulbul, Red Whiskered
10 Bulbul, White Browed
11 Egret, Little
12 Ibis, Black Headed
13 Heron, Pond(Breeding plumage)
14 Heron, Purple
15 Heron, Grey
16 Kingfisher, Common
17 Kingfisher, Pied
18 Kingfisher, White Throated
19 Roller, Indian
20 Hoopoe, Indian
21 Barbet, Coppersmith
22 Cuckoo, Pied
23 Koel, Asian
24 Plover, Little Ringed
25 Stork, Wooly Necked
26 Stork, Open Billed
27 Moorehen, Common
28 Moorehen, Purple
29 Jacana, Bronze Winged
30 Waterhen, White-breasted
31 Shikra
32 Buzzard, un-ided
33 Kite, Brahminy
34 Kite, Black
35 Eagle, Tawny
36 Lapwing, Red Wattled
37 Prinia, Ashy
38 Prinia, Grey Breasted
39 Lark, Un-ided
40 Lark, Ashy Crowned Sparrow
41 Pipit, Un-ided
42 Tailor Bird, common
43 Swallow, Red Rumped
44 Swallow, Barn
45 Woodpecker, Flameback
46 Dove, Laughing
47 Dove, Spotted
48 Pigeon, Rock
49 Duck, Spot Billed
50 Duck, Un-ided
51 Coot, Common
52 Sunbird, Purple Rumped
53 Sunbird, Purple
54 Silverbill, Indian
55 Weaver, Baya
56 Bushchat, Pied
57 Robin, Indian
58 Robin, Magpie
59 Shrike, Long Tailed
60 Malkoha, Blue Faced


Multiple places where the mud has been removed

Indian Roller

Pied Bushchat

Brahminy Kite

Grey Heron

Purple Heron

Citrine Wagtail

Ashy Crowned Sparrow Lark

Sykes's Lark?

Plain Tiger

Sykes's Lark?

Indian Hoopoe



Pied Cuckoo



Pippit ID?


Red Wattled Lapwing

Common Kingfisher

Little Ringed Plover





6 comments:

  1. Enjoyed the e-trip very much! Thank you!

    Deepa.

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    1. Thank you for your comments Deepa. Really appreciate.

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  2. Very nice report, enjoyed reading it :)

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  3. Lovely pics! We also went there last saturday, but missed the wagtail and the plover..you guys were so fortunate!

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    1. Thanks Sangeeta. We were indeed very lucky to see the Wagtail. Also the plover was a single bird around the lake.

      I did see your blog and we did miss sighting the river tern. I always see couple of terns when I visit this place. But this time it evaded us.

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