Muthanallur Lake

A place that is not far from where I live, rich in flora and fauna, has amazing surroundings and refreshing. Well, Muthanallur Lake ticks all this for me. I consider Muthanallur Lake as my local patch for birding in Bangalore. Reading thus far if you think it is “just an ordinary” birding location then nothing could be further from reality. It is a great location for birding where I have got some rare visitors for this part of India; like the Black Baza and the Oriental Turtle Dove. Changed your opinion ? 🙂

Muthanallur Lake holds a lot of fond memories for me. It is where I started birding  seriously outside my residential layout. My first visit there was along with Kumar, my first birding buddy, and my son Aakash. I remember how excited I was on seeing  an Indian Roller for the first time; the brilliant splash of blue especially when it flies. Kumar found it amusing to see my reaction on sighting the Indian Roller, a common bird for him 🙂 .

My son has an excellent eye for spotting birds. He is brilliant with seeing quick movements as well as things afar. What I many-a-times need a binocular to see he is able to see with his naked eyes. So he is my “spotter” whenever he accompanies me for outings. He had accompanied me in the first trip to Muthanallur lake and was on the job. I remember him telling me during the trip that he wished he would get to see a Peregrine Falcon; the fastest living creature on the planet. As you may have guessed by now his favourite birds are raptors. Well, when both Kumar and I were busy observing and photographing the below Indian Silverbill,

Aakash tugs my arm and says “Dad, I think I saw a sizeable bird fly into those trees”, pointing to the tall trees behind where we were standing. When your “spotter” tells you of a movement you don’t ignore it. I turned around and peered through my binoculars. Sure enough there was a bird perched. However I did not recognise it immediately as I was a toddler in birding. So I took the below photo of the bird:

And what do we get; a Peregrine Falcon! I have met so many birders who wished they could get to see a Peregrine Falcon but have not been able to do so for a number of years. And here we were seeing it in one of our initial outings itself. You can only imagine my son’s excitement!

The habitat has changed overs the 4 years that I have been visiting it; from a lake that had almost become bone dry to a one that is completely filled with water. During my last visit I saw that the water levels had risen so much that some parts of the bund around it were inundated. I am not complaining 🙂 . Below is a view of what it looked like in 2013 and what it is in 2017.

The transformation also brought in different birds that one can associate with the habitats; the dry grassy period saw frequent visits of raptors such as the Tawny Eagle or a Common Kestrel (winter visitor),

pipits and larks such as Paddyfield Pipit and Ashy-crowned Sparrowlark

 

 

munias such as Scaly-breasted Munia and Tri-coloured Munia (aka Black-headed Munia),

 

 

shrike such as Brown Shrike (winter visitor) and the Eurasian Hoopoe with its stylish hairdo,

 

 

to a lake filled to the brim and teaming with life where it is usual to see migratory birds like the sandpipers such as Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper

ducks such as Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveler and Indian Spot-billed Duck, cormorants such as the Great Cormorant, Indian Cormorant and Little Cormorant,

terns such as Whiskered Tern, River Tern and kingfishers such as the Common Kingfisher and White-throated Kingfisher

 

 

Of course you also have the ever present residents; the prinias such as Ashy Prinia and Plain Prinia

raptors such as the Brahminy Kite, Black Kite, Shikra and Oriental Honey Buzzard

 

 

the Indian Golden Oriole, Jerdon’s Leafbird, Black Drongo, Spotted Owlet, Common Iora and the White-browed Bulbul

 

 

Another set of winter migrants that I have seen over all the four years include the Booted Eagles (dark and pale morph)

 

 

warblers such as Greenish Warbler, Green Warbler, Booted Warbler, Blyth’s Reed Warbler

 

 

and the Black-headed Cuckooshrike

 

 

I remember another fabulous outing; a “kick-ass” one as my another birding buddy Vignesh would have called it. It was just Ajit (the third member in our birding buddies group) and I on this particular outing. Kumar and Vignesh could not join owing to other personal commitments (they would regret not coming later 🙂 ). The morning brought us clear blue sky with a touch of mist at the start. There was a slight nip in the air; yes winter was fast approaching. It was brilliant to watch the sun streaming through the mist as we slowly walked on the lake bund.

As we observed the Giant Wood Spiders on their large webs our attention was quickly drawn by a sudden flight of a large raptor from one of the nearby trees. Thankfully it landed and perched on a barren tall tree; an Oriental Honey Buzzard. We observed it keenly through our binoculars (bins) as the bird fiddled around with a sizeable twig. We wondered if it was planning to use it as a nesting material.

It finally dropped the twig and flew off.  We could hear a loud call of bird from somewhere closely. “What was it?”, we asked each other. It was not a call that we had heard at this lake before. As we keenly listened to pin-point the direction of the call the bird decided to take flight. It flew right in front of us and then further away into the tree cover. We looked at each other in astonishment and exclaimed “Stork-billed Kingfisher!”. Surely it cannot be here! Both of us had seen them only in the coastal area like in our hometown of Kochi, Kerala. But we both had just seen it! We played its call via a phone app  in order to compare it with the call we had been hearing. Bingo! It was indeed a Stork-billed Kingfisher. Satisfied and astounded we moved ahead and got some wonderful views to several Jacobin’s Cuckoos, warblers and a Black-headed Cuckooshrike. We even got to see the Stork-billed Kingfisher perched briefly up on a tree beside the pathway. It continued to call for quite some time.

After around an hour of walking on the usual trail and observing several other usual suspects we decided to return and commenced our walk back to the starting point. When we reached the area where we had seen the Stork-billed Kingfisher we stepped off the pathway and walked to a nearby water body to look for waders. As we scanned the edges for waders what do we get to see; a Jungle Cat!

It was standing right in front of us on the opposite bank. It stood there for a few minutes; looked at us and also scanned around (possibly looking for prey?). It then slowly walked off to its left.

We stood riveted to the spot, yet to recover from what we had just seen. Around 30 seconds later the Jungle Cat reappeared from the tall grass; this time much closer to us. The stance it took and the way it walked was as if sensed some prey closely.

It finally walked off slowly into the tall grass. We stood there with our hands still shaking and our brains just refusing to believe what we had just seen. Jungle Cats though not uncommon are extremely shy animals. Getting to see one in the wild is very difficult.

We climbed back onto the regular path and started to walk back slowly. Around 10 minutes into the walk I see a blackish bird fly and perch on a tree up ahead. I looked through my bins and exclaimed aloud “Black Baza!”. I dropped my bins, grabbed my camera and took a few shots; my hands refusing to stay sturdy given what I may have actually seen. A couple of shots and I see the bird fly off. I look at Ajit and again exclaim “Black Baza man!”. He does not believe me and says “Must have been a crow”. I didn’t blame him. What are the chances of seeing a Black Baza here in Muthanallur Lake? I know that I had been wanted to see one for quite some time. My trip to Thattekad in Kerala the previous year had not yielded any sightings of them. Was I imagining them? I looked at the two pics that I had managed to take with my shaky hands and showed them to Ajit:

 

 

They sure looked like that of a Black Baza. We still could not believe it. We decided to wait them for a bit in the hope that it would re-appear. While we waited we got to see a beautiful Common Kingfisher perched on some bare branches and a good specimen of a Tawny Eagle in the sky.

 

 

Our decision to wait there paid out; the Black Baza made a re-appearance on the same tree where I had seen it perch briefly earlier. This time it gave us both fantastic views.

It then flew off from the tree on to other one a bit away but onto an open branch. It sat there for a few minutes allowing to observe it very well. Finally it flew further off. What a day it turned out to be! We called Vignesh and Kumar to tell them what we had just seen. As expected they also did not believe us when we proclaimed to have seen a Jungle Cat and a Black Baza. Seeing the above pictures that we sent over WhatsApp changed their minds. There cursed for not having been able to come with us for the outing. We reached our car and began our drive back home. Enroute we noticed a Kestrel perched on an electrical wire near the Muthanallur village. The way the day was going, this bird could turn out to be a Lesser Kestrel! We did not want to take any chances 🙂 . It however turned out to be a Common Kestrel. We finally called it a day and headed home ecstatic about how the outing had turned out.

Another very uncommon bird that we have chanced to see at the lake has been the Oriental Turtle Dove, a passage migrant during winter.  We have seen them during two years.

More than Birds

Muthanallur Lake is not just about birds. The place offers picturesque views especially on a clear winter morning. A sample of the views that I got in my last trip are below:

It is a great place to observe spiders and dragonflies as well. Here are some of them I have seen there:

 

 

 

 

Virtual Tour

Here is a short video that I have made to give you a virtual tour of the place:

What are you waiting for? Go pay a visit. Just remember to leave it just as you had found it 🙂 .

Bird Checklist

Below is the list of the birds that people have reported seeing at the lake over the years:

Bird Species List

If you liked the post then do consider following my blog. I would also love to hear  your thoughts. Maybe you have been to Muthanallur or have visited similar places that you consider your local patch. Do leave comments below to let me know.