Birds @ Home

What can be better for a birder than to have plenty of birds right where you live? Well this is true for me. I have been lucky to record over 50 species doing “arm-chair birding” from my balcony.

“Arm-chair birding“? verb; observation of birds while seated at one spot on an arm-chair 🙂

I stay in a residential area called Rainbow Drive Layout in Bangalore, India. The layout  has around 375 houses over an area of 35 acres. It is a vibrant community that believes in being Green; from the greenery that surrounds us to the way we live. It has taken several initiatives (many of them a first in the city) to reduce our impact on nature. These initiatives include strict waste segregation and local wet waste composting, rainwater harvesting through recharge wells (at individual house level and community level) and bio-technology based sewage treatment plant.

All roads in the layout are lined with good tree cover. Walking in the lanes during flowering is such an explosion of colours. Many of the streets will also have “flower carpets”. Most of the houses have gardens with various fruit trees as well as flowering plants. We are also lucky to have some areas surrounding the layout with good tree cover. All of these factors I think, have helped attract the numerous bird species that frequent the layout. All that one needs to spot them is to be a bit observant; just listen for their calls, look for a flutter or rustling of leaves or look up at the sky! You are sure to see several of them going about their busy lives. It is usual for my morning alarm ring to be the calls of a Red-whiskered Bulbul or a Rufous Treepie. A morning walk in the layout will on most days allow one to hear and see sunbirds, koels, barbets, crows and more. During the migratory season the silver-oak trees will have a whole flock of noisy Rosy Starlings that have been roosting overnight accompanied by the calls of the Green Warbler and the Ashy Drongos.

I owe my picking up the hobby of birding to the birds of the Rainbow Drive Layout. So below is a tribute to them.

Some of the photos that I have taken in the layout:

The latest star addition to the list is the Indian Scops-Owl. Here is a video of them:

Below are some taken in the surrounding area:

Here is the checklist of all the birds that I have seen so far in the layout:

Grey Heron

Cattle Egret

Indian Pond-Heron

Crested Honey Buzzard (Oriental Honey-buzzard)

Booted Eagle

Shikra

Black Kite

Brahminy Kite

Red-wattled Lapwing

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)

Spotted Dove

Greater Coucal

Asian Koel

Barn Owl

Indian Scops-Owl (Collared Scops-Owl)

Spotted Owlet

Little Swift (Indian House Swift)

White-throated Kingfisher

Green Bee-eater

Coppersmith Barbet

White-cheeked Barbet (Small Green Barbet)

Rose-ringed Parakeet

Ashy Woodswallow

Indian Golden Oriole

Black Drongo

Ashy Drongo

Indian Paradise-Flycatcher

Rufous Treepie

House Crow

Large-billed Crow

Barn Swallow

Cinereous Tit (Great Tit)

Red-vented Bulbul

Red-whiskered Bulbul

White-browed Bulbul

Green Warbler

Booted Warbler

Blyth’s Reed Warbler

Common Tailorbird

Ashy Prinia

Oriental White-eye

Yellow-billed Babbler

Oriental Magpie-Robin

Pied Bushchat

Rosy Starling

Chestnut-tailed Starling

Common Myna

Jungle Myna

Pale-billed Flowerpecker

Purple-rumped Sunbird

Purple Sunbird

Long-billed Sunbird (Loten’s Sunbird)

Grey Wagtail

White-browed Wagtail (Large Pied Wagtail)

Indian Silverbill (White-throated Munia)

Scaly-breasted Munia (Spotted Munia)

The community has recently also formed a Bird-watcher’s group; a group of residents who are interested in bird watching. This I hope will result in more and more people especially children connect back to nature and its wonders.