Birds of Hebbal Lake

Birding at Hebbal lake and park:

On a winter Sunday morning, it was too difficult to wake up at dawn to go for bird watching at Hebbal Lake. But managed to reach the lake not late rather. The park adjoining the lake hosts many species of birds and the water birds can be spotted in abundance at the lake and its surroundings. The walking track is short about 500 m and ends up at the no entry board. The whole park can be explored in less than an hour time. The birds over here are found in abundance compared to large parks in Bengaluru such as Lalbagh and Cubbon park considering its small area and also its dwellers are less shy in nature.
We were able to spot over 20 species of birds in our first visit and over 40 species out of my three visits. The resident birds include the small bird species like the sunbirds, warblers, prinias, tailorbirds, and flowerpeckers. Pond herons, egrets, cormorants, and swamphens were found in abundance along with a pair of Red-whiskered Bulbul. Along with the resident birds the lake is often visited by various species of winter migratory birds such as pelican, ashy drongo, cootbird, sandpipers.

Photographing the tiny birds always in a hurry needs lots of sighting capability and patience, some of them measuring only about 8 cm long. While the large birds are though easy to spot and photograph, but are often more shy in nature and also requires a camera lens with more zoom capability. To shoot some decent photographs it took few hours and it was definitely fun to spot different species of gods creations and freeze them forever on my camera.

The morning crowd who come for walking/jogging here were seen harmless for the birds. Would request all the fellow bird lovers and bird photography enthusiasts to enjoy the nature's beauty without having to bother their natural habitat. Approach towards the birds slowly, wear dull colored cloths, do not talk loudly, do not touch or approach near the nest, recommend hiding behind the bushes and trees while facing the birds so that they cannot recognize you properly.

I got to meet a group of bird watchers during my first visit, and felt it will be a good learning experience to go for birding trips with some experts. Otherwise I personally love to venture alone into the birds world.

Here are some of the birds I could capture on my camera:

Purple rumped Sunbird - male

Purple Sunbird

Blyth's Reed Warbler

The cutest of all was the Pale-billed Flowerpecker

Common tailorbird

Cuckoo, not sure of the exact species

White-cheeked Barbet having its food

Ashy drongo or Black drongo

Grey wagtail

Asian koel female

Asian koel male

Greater Coucal hiding behind the branches. They are usually seen shy in nature

Intermediate Egret in flight

Pond Heron

Indian Spot-billed Duck

Little Cormorant

Great Cormorant, preparing to take flight

Purple Swamphen

Eurasian coot or the Common coot bird, floating by the lotus

Common Sandpiper

Red wattled lapwing

Common Kingfisher

Oriental magpie-robin

Gray (left) and Purple (right) Heron

Spotted owlet

List of birds spotted along with the bird count at Hebbal lake & park during my two visits:
Purple rumped Sunbird
Purple sunbird
Common tailorbird
Blyth's Reed Warbler
Pale-billed Flowerpecker
Ashy Prinia
Cinereous tit
White-cheeked Barbet
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Red-whiskered Bulbul
Asian Koel Male & Female
Greater Coucal
Spotted Dove
Gray Wagtail
Oriental Magpie-robin
Cuckoo
Spotted Owlet
White-throated Kingfisher
Common Kingfisher
Ashy drongo
Indian Spot-billed Duck
Eurasian coot
Gray-headed Swamphen/Purple Swamphen
White-breasted waterhen
Great Cormorant
Little Cormorant
Spot-billed pelican
Intermediate Egret
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Indian Pond-Heron
Common Sandpiper
Red-wattled Lapwing
Swallows
Black Kite
Brahminy Kite
and the common birds Indian myna, Jungle Myna, Crow, and Pigeons

Apart from the birds, the park is also popular for various species of butterflies and insects. CLICK HERE for the photographs.

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