Photography by Neville

Since my recent foray into the world of Bird photography I’ve been meeting a lot of birders on-line and also out in the field. One of the best places to meet like minded people is by joining the BNG Birds group on Yahoo Groups.  It’s a relatively simple matter of just signing in and joining the group. Once thats done you can see what birders in your area (Bangalore) are up to.

The group also has various trips on almost every weekend to places which are known for the variety in birds. I’ve been with this group to Nandi Hills, Shivanahalli and Anekal. In these trips I’ve basically learnt a lot more about birding than I would have going out by myself. I’ve seen and spotted many more species of birds and become better at identifying calls of certain birds.

There are a lot of great people who you can meet during these trips and its definetiely worth checking out. Catch you at the next BNG Birds trip!

This week was an incredible learning experience for me. Nandi Hills on Thursday with a bunch of 11 other birders from BNG Birds and with another group on Sunday morning at Shivanahalli.

I learnt a lot about birds, their habits, common traits and sounds. The weather was also superb and we had no problems with clouds getting in the way of our search for the birds.

The highlight for me was the Black Shouldered Kite -

Black Shouldered Kite

This beautiful bird was just about 10 feet away from me and was almost posing for me. I must have shot 50 odd images of this bird while he sat around patiently. Thanks to Mahesh for stopping his car so I could get down and take these shots!

In Deep Thought

Longing for the Sky

Are you done yet?

Comments are always welcome!

View from the Hill

Very close to Bangalore and still one of Bangalore’s fave weekend getaways is Nandi Hills. There are various ways to get there but I prefer taking the government buses that go all the way to the top.

One step from the drop

Looking down

Pathway in the fort

You can catch a bus to the top of Nandi Hills from the KSRTC bus stand which is right opposite the BMTC bus stand. Go o platform number 10 and ask there.

Tickets are about 40 - 50 Rupees depending on which route the bus takes. Tickets to the fort cost 5 Rupees and you can stock up on food here or go all the way to the top and get your snacks and lunch there.