It was a cool Sunday morning and we (me, my wife and my 6 year old son) started off on a cab that I had booked for 6 hours, at 8:30 AM. The car had moved a kilometer and I realized that I had not taken my cellphone and we had to go back home to fetch it. We had a heavy breakfast at Vasudev Adigas restaurant and started on our journey towards the Valley School. The breakfast was a costly affair though the food was not equally great.
Though I had done homework on the location, I had forgotten to take the printed map but then there was my Samsung smartphone on 3G loaded with Google Maps and it was easy to navigate the direction with it. When we reached Kanakapura Road we looked out for the Karnataka State Sericulture Research & Development Institute as identified by Google Map as a landmark to watch for. We had to take the right near the institute. It was again easy as there was a sign board declaring the Valley School Road.
The moment we entered the road, my wife who has a knack of spotting birds, immediately spotted a Greater Coucal on the ground. I told the driver the purpose of the visit and that we will stop every foot if needed and set the expectation. I got off the car and clicked a picture with my Nikon 5100 camera and Nikkor 55-300mm lens.
Greater Coucal
As we moved a little further I spotted a bird which looked like the Rufous Treepie but its head was not completely black and it's eyes rather had a black mask of line around them. I later found this to be the Bay-backed Shrike. Initially I was a little confused if this was the Brown Shrike but a careful observation of it's plumage revealed that it was indeed the Bay-backed Shrike. The Bay-backed Shrike has the thick black line on it's wings too but the Brown shrike does not.
Bay-backed Shrike
Yellow-vented Bulbul
Common Grass Yellow
On the nearby tree was the Yellow-vented Bulbul which I spotted for the first time. There were a lot of birds which I spotted for the first time in my life throughout this trip.
Of late I had also taken up butterfly watching.
My son was taking snaps too with a Panasonic DMC-TZ7 which I had given him to check his interests in photography and nature. He has a fear of the forest and wild animals and I was thinking how to get rid of it. He usually mimics me with his toy camera whenever I take photos and had long been asking me for a real camera. I know that it's a kid's infatuation but decided to give him the chance. I told this to my wife and said that I will quickly teach him how to use a point and shoot. I told my wife that we would try this technique as she had some doubts on whether my son will enjoy the trip and he might start pestering and bothering us. And so I had prepared my son the previous night teaching him on focus and shoot and had also set the camera's scene mode to sports to avoid shake in the photos. He seemed happy about it.
My wife too had her photography thirst quenched by taking a flock of Yellow-vented Bulbuls that she spotted on a tree.
Flock of Yellow-vented Bulbuls
We moved straight ahead and were confused whether to take left or right at a certain point but our intuition decided to take left. We saw a passer-by on bike who had stopped on the road side and was looking at some paper - a map or a bird list with a binocular hanging around his neck - a fellow bird watcher. We inquired him and he said that we were on the right path and asked us to keep moving straight ahead. A little further and I spotted another new bird in my life on the electric wire. I jumped out and started zooming in.
And then there was also the Munia and the Bush Lark on the wire.
Scaly-breasted Munia
The Jerdon's Bushlark is named after Thomas C. Jerdon an ornithologist who described numerous species of birds in India. A number of species of birds are named after him.
Jerdon's Bushlark
At this spot we stopped, on the left side of the road there was an opening to the nearby ground. The bushlark flew from the wire and landed on the ground and walked and I followed it.
Walking a little further I saw a grove of trees behind barbed wire beyond the plain grounds. And there, there were a lot new birds waiting to be spotted by me.
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
Crimson Rose
The first bird that we spotted was the Oriental White-eye on the electric wire.
Jerdon's Leafbird (Male & Female)
Blue Faced Malkoha
And also there were the usual Red-whiskered Bulbul, Ashy Prinia and Jungle Babbler.
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Ashy Prinia
Jungle Babbler (collecting things to build nest)
In between spotting these new birds I also followed a butterfly on it's way to find it's brunch and took some photos of it.
My wife lost her patience and commanded me to move ahead. We spent a lot of time on that place and walked some distance further away parking our car and watching Sunbird on the tree, Green Bee-eater with prey on the electric wire and Jungle Babblers on the road. After a while we decided to move and signaled our car to pick us up and went to the Valley School. We saw some cars parked near the entrance gate of Valley School, again some fellow bird watchers who were returning from their field trip. We were late. It was 11:00 AM.
I headed to the security at the gate. The security called me by name and asked if I was there for bird watching to which I was surprised. Then I remembered why. The previous day not knowing if we will be allowed into the Valley School I had called them up and inquired. The guy at the other end of the phone first asked me if the purpose of my visit was for admission to my son at the school. I had said no and had stated that the reason for the visit would be for bird watching. He had then asked me to send an email to the school address found on the website which I had promptly done with the visitor details and the purpose and got a reply that visitors are not allowed inside the school campus unless they know someone inside but are welcome to wander around the valley for bird watching. I signed the register and went ahead with my family with joy not knowing that my journey will see a premature end.
We walked along the side of the campus. We saw this plant with bunches of beautiful yellow colored flowers on it.
The first bird that we spotted was the Oriental White-eye on the electric wire.
Oriental White-eye
As we walked a little ahead we saw a couple returning form their journey with binoculars and cameras around their neck. They were the last pair returning and we realized that we were alone to venture. My wife held me by my shoulder and asked me to look right saying that she spotted movement among green leaves in a not so distant tree and the birds there looked green and were camouflaged as if they were a part of the tree like it's leaves. I went closer and took several photos of the birds. I had to research a lot later on the internet to find the name of the bird.
There was a herd of cows and some dogs wandering which scared my son and wife. My son took snaps of the surrounding environment.
And then as we marched ahead, we spotted a new bird hanging on a tree, a bee-eater on electric wire and a new butterfly sucking nectar from a flowered plant.
We headed to our cab and I went to the security at the Valley School gate to sign off for the day and he said it was not needed to register the out time. We left the place. It was lunch time and we went to the Star Biriyani hotel in BTM Layout for the authentic Ambur Biriyani. We finished our lunch and headed back home and reached at around 2:30 PM, paid the driver Rs.750 and sank into the bed for afternoon nap. The Valley School visit is a nice half day trip to have in Bangalore. Though I was a little upset that our venture was not complete, it was indeed a journey worth at-least for me as we spotted a lot of new birds.
Common Iora
Green Bee-Eater
Indian Pioneer / Pioneer White
At this time there was a slight drizzle and the environment before us unfolded into a jungle ... well at-least in the eyes of my wife and son and they were really scared. My son asked me if there were wild animals around. He didn't believe me when I said No. My wife was even more scared as we were all alone and she started imagining snakes on the tress which were just creepers. My wife and son started crying and wanted to leave immediately which greatly upset me as we had 3/4th of the journey still waiting ahead. I took some photos of the so called scary place and decided to leave.
While we returned we saw the Coppersmith Barbet for the first time and the usual bulbul.
Coppersmith Barbet
Red Whiskered Bulbul
We headed to our cab and I went to the security at the Valley School gate to sign off for the day and he said it was not needed to register the out time. We left the place. It was lunch time and we went to the Star Biriyani hotel in BTM Layout for the authentic Ambur Biriyani. We finished our lunch and headed back home and reached at around 2:30 PM, paid the driver Rs.750 and sank into the bed for afternoon nap. The Valley School visit is a nice half day trip to have in Bangalore. Though I was a little upset that our venture was not complete, it was indeed a journey worth at-least for me as we spotted a lot of new birds.
