While going through lot of blogs to find good birding spots around Bangalore I came across thisschool name which is located on Kankapura Road. It was mentione in lot of blogs on the net. I decided to check this place myself.
It was decided to go on 22'nd June. One of my Ex-Infy friend Subbu joined me during this trip. I packed couple of water bottles and biscuit packets. My camera batteries were charged to full and memory card formatted. We started around 6.30AM from my home. Once we crossed the NICE road there is a diversion on the right towards mysore road, there is also a sign board for Valley school there. From Kanakpura main road its about 4-5km's inside. Even the drive towards Valley school was very good. We saw few lapwings, Babblers, Munia's on our way to the school.
On reaching the school we enquired near the gate secuirty if we are allowed to enter the school. As I already knew they said we are allowed to walk around the school but not allowed inside the school. Even for walking around the school we had to make an entry in their register. While entering the details I observed there were people who had already come for bird watching as early as 5:45AM. I logged my name parked my friends car at the school gate and started walking around the fence of the school.
On the way we saw some common birds like koels, mynas, bulbuls, Hoopoes on the way. On the way we stood for good 10 minutes under the large Banyan tree which had good number of birds. Closeby we did see lot of Oriental white eyes feeding on small berries. I also saw couple of Golden Orioles flyby.
We resumed our walk again. After 10 minutes we found ourselves in an Unhabited building. There was lot of bird acitivity there. On closer inspection we found lot of nests belonging to House swifts. We also few Bulbuls around the place which looked quite agitated with our presence. We decided to leave them alone and left the place. As we walked along we could hear lot of Peacock calls. The only time I have seen a Peacock in wild was in Bandipur. We started walking towards the call in hope of spotting bird.
On our way we spotted couple of Hares and spotted pigeons. The forest started becoming very thick. There were lot of Bamboo trees around. Because of the wind they were making all kind of noises. I was told that elephants used to come to this place to feed on these bamboo trees. And on one of the blogs there was a report of even a leopard sighting around this area. So people planning to visit this place have to be very careful.
We spotted couple of woodpeckers trying to dig hole in the trees. Tried to take pictures of it but failed because of poor lighting conditions. This was my first sighting of a woodpecker in the wild. Along the way found some Fantails munching around, there were around 8-10 fantails. Came across a spotted owl and a Grey Hornbill.
We decided it was time to leave since we had gone a little deeper into the jungle. On our way we rested under the banyan tree started munching on the biscuit packets which we had carried. While resting we could see few cattle egrets and Drongos irritating the cattles which were grazing.
On the way back from the school we took a detour and entered into a farm. There we spotted Jungle Prinias, Tawny bellied Babblers, Tickells flower pecker, Tailor Bird and few other birds.
It was about 11AM. Our stomach was calling for some attention which made us leave and find a good hotel for breakfast. All in all it was a very good outing. It was a first for my friend subbu who enjoyed the entire outing. It is really a very good place for Birding. The school is very green. One day I hope to get a permission to do birding within the school.
Google Maps Co-Ordinates for the Location : 12.854482,77.501593
List of Birds spotted :
1. Green Bea eater
2. Red Wattled Lapwing
3. Asian Koel
4. Yellow Billed Babbler
5. Jungle Prinia
6. Ashy Prinia
7. Common Tailorbird
8. Spotted owl
9. Mr and Mrs Robin
10. Magpie Robin
11. Oriental Whiteye
12. Golden Oriole
13. Hoopoe
14. White Naped Woodpecker(Both adult and Juvenile)
15. House Swifts
16. Bulbuls
17. White Browed Bulbuls
18. Drongos
19. Grey Hornbill
20. Tickell's Flowerpecker
21. Tawny bellied Babbler
22. White Throated Fantail
23. Peacock(Calls heard)
24. Black Kites
25. Scaly breasted Munia
26. Mynah
27. Egrets
28. White Throated Barbet
29. Coppersmith Barbet
30. Small Minivet
31. Blue Faced Malkoha
32. Greater Coucal
33. Mr and Mrs Common Iora
I will add few more to the list after finding the ID's:-)
It was decided to go on 22'nd June. One of my Ex-Infy friend Subbu joined me during this trip. I packed couple of water bottles and biscuit packets. My camera batteries were charged to full and memory card formatted. We started around 6.30AM from my home. Once we crossed the NICE road there is a diversion on the right towards mysore road, there is also a sign board for Valley school there. From Kanakpura main road its about 4-5km's inside. Even the drive towards Valley school was very good. We saw few lapwings, Babblers, Munia's on our way to the school.
On reaching the school we enquired near the gate secuirty if we are allowed to enter the school. As I already knew they said we are allowed to walk around the school but not allowed inside the school. Even for walking around the school we had to make an entry in their register. While entering the details I observed there were people who had already come for bird watching as early as 5:45AM. I logged my name parked my friends car at the school gate and started walking around the fence of the school.
On the way we saw some common birds like koels, mynas, bulbuls, Hoopoes on the way. On the way we stood for good 10 minutes under the large Banyan tree which had good number of birds. Closeby we did see lot of Oriental white eyes feeding on small berries. I also saw couple of Golden Orioles flyby.
We resumed our walk again. After 10 minutes we found ourselves in an Unhabited building. There was lot of bird acitivity there. On closer inspection we found lot of nests belonging to House swifts. We also few Bulbuls around the place which looked quite agitated with our presence. We decided to leave them alone and left the place. As we walked along we could hear lot of Peacock calls. The only time I have seen a Peacock in wild was in Bandipur. We started walking towards the call in hope of spotting bird.
On our way we spotted couple of Hares and spotted pigeons. The forest started becoming very thick. There were lot of Bamboo trees around. Because of the wind they were making all kind of noises. I was told that elephants used to come to this place to feed on these bamboo trees. And on one of the blogs there was a report of even a leopard sighting around this area. So people planning to visit this place have to be very careful.
We spotted couple of woodpeckers trying to dig hole in the trees. Tried to take pictures of it but failed because of poor lighting conditions. This was my first sighting of a woodpecker in the wild. Along the way found some Fantails munching around, there were around 8-10 fantails. Came across a spotted owl and a Grey Hornbill.
We decided it was time to leave since we had gone a little deeper into the jungle. On our way we rested under the banyan tree started munching on the biscuit packets which we had carried. While resting we could see few cattle egrets and Drongos irritating the cattles which were grazing.
On the way back from the school we took a detour and entered into a farm. There we spotted Jungle Prinias, Tawny bellied Babblers, Tickells flower pecker, Tailor Bird and few other birds.
It was about 11AM. Our stomach was calling for some attention which made us leave and find a good hotel for breakfast. All in all it was a very good outing. It was a first for my friend subbu who enjoyed the entire outing. It is really a very good place for Birding. The school is very green. One day I hope to get a permission to do birding within the school.
Google Maps Co-Ordinates for the Location : 12.854482,77.501593
List of Birds spotted :
1. Green Bea eater
2. Red Wattled Lapwing
3. Asian Koel
4. Yellow Billed Babbler
5. Jungle Prinia
6. Ashy Prinia
7. Common Tailorbird
8. Spotted owl
9. Mr and Mrs Robin
10. Magpie Robin
11. Oriental Whiteye
12. Golden Oriole
13. Hoopoe
14. White Naped Woodpecker(Both adult and Juvenile)
15. House Swifts
16. Bulbuls
17. White Browed Bulbuls
18. Drongos
19. Grey Hornbill
20. Tickell's Flowerpecker
21. Tawny bellied Babbler
22. White Throated Fantail
23. Peacock(Calls heard)
24. Black Kites
25. Scaly breasted Munia
26. Mynah
27. Egrets
28. White Throated Barbet
29. Coppersmith Barbet
30. Small Minivet
31. Blue Faced Malkoha
32. Greater Coucal
33. Mr and Mrs Common Iora
I will add few more to the list after finding the ID's:-)
Lot of schools in Mysore road Bangalore are said to have lush green environment and as mentioned in this post rare breed of birds are found within the school zones.
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