Sarjapura – 4th Sunday outing of the Bird Watchers Field Club of Bangalore (BWFB)

The Sunday walk this week was at Sarjapura, a small extended part of Bangalore,  better known for its International Schools. the walk started early, 0630 hrs at Sarjapura which being about 40 + kilometers from home, necessitated leaving the house at an unearthly hour of 0515 hours.

Reaching Sarjapura, we (my elder cousin Sister and me) met up with a few of the birders and started walking the inner trails of this village that no longer was one…

 

 

 

 

Almost after starting we encountered a tree with a pair of  spotted owlets (Athene brama). These cute birds looked at us curiously, as to who was disturbing their snooze, after what was probably a night filled with gorging on lizards and rats.

One flew away almost immediately and one boldly gazed down, challenging me to photograph him…

 

Moving ahead, we came upon a banyan tree which was host to several birds including a sleeping spotted owlet & a paradise fly-catcher.

 

 

 

A beautiful Lineblue (Nacaduba sp.) butterfly was sunbathing in a corn field….

 

 

 

A pair of green bee-eaters kept us entertained with their antics…

 

 

 

 

A shy kingfisher decided it was camera shy and fled from the scene…

 

   

 

A leopard butterfly was not camera shy and gave several poses like a professional model….

 

 

The Brown Shrike, a visitor, who breeds in Central Asia comes down south when the weather gets too cold for frolicking ….

 

 

 

 

A pretty spotted dove sunbathed  on the top of the tree …

 

 

A lovely lemon pansy basking in all its glory …

 

 

 

 

 

 

  A Plains Cupid (Chilades pandava) relaxing on a dew filled leaf…

 

 

 

 

A male Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus) taking a break from the initial nest building. The male builds half a nest and then invites the female to inspect it. If she likes it, then they both complete the nest together….

 

 

 

 

Our first spotted owlet woke up and glared at us for disturbing his sleep :-)

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Captured another Bay-backed Shrike (Lanius vittatus) on the return walk, and this time managed to get some really clear photos….

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, just before we left, we saw a piece of land teeming with these Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore) butterflies….

 

All in all, it was a great day of birding and butterfly watching and great fun…

Flickr Tags: Athene,brama,spotted,owlet,Sarjapura,Bangalore,Bird-watching,birdwatching