Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, Mysore - July 2011

Spot-billed Pelicans at Ranganathittu

It was 5:30 AM and i was all set to leave for Sameer's place. We'd decided to leave for Kokarebellur at 6AM. It took some convincing to get him to take out the car instead of the bike(after recovering from fever, the last thing i wanted was to get drenched in rain in the middle of nowhere!!), and so began our journey. On the way we spotted a couple of eagles(couldn't ID) and a Greater Coucal perched on a stone slab a few feet away from us.

Marsh Crocodile basking

Kokarebellur is 12km off the Bangalore-Mysore highway. We were quite delighted to see the human-bird bond in this village. The villagers have more or less adopted the birds(painted storks & spot-billed pelicans). While the were in good numbers and not camera-shy, we decided not to photograph here because of all the man made structures around and instead head to Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary.

Juvenile Painted Storks

We reached Ranganathittu around 9:30AM. The weather thankfully was favorable(no rain & no harsh sunlight). On reaching the sanctuary came our first disappointment. The fees for a boat ride(if your want it exclusively for yourself) had been increased to Rs. 1000/-, which i think is quite steep considering the fact that its ONLY a 30min ride!

A juvenile Painted Storks looks on as a Marsh Crocodile basks next to it.

We took the normal boat rides, with the other tourists. Thankfully they weren't the usual loudmouths who end up at this place. The water levels were quite high owing to the recent rains. The first boat ride had the usual birds i.e. Painted Storks, Asian Open-bills, Herons, etc. While we did get a few decent images, we weren't quite happy with the results and decided to take another ride.

Juvenile Painted Storks

After a short drive to the ATM in a nearby village and a decent lunch we went for our second boat ride. This ride yielded a nice little surprise in the form of a Smooth-coated Otter. My first otter sighting. We ended up seeing the otter thrice over a period of time. Sadly no images as the otter was quite skittish. The number of muggers we spotted was good too. Quite a few of them were basking. Sameer spotted an Indian Roller, which was a first for me at Ranganathittu.

A Juv. Painted Stork & Black-headed Ibis decide to leave their spot as a Marsh Crocodile comes up to bask. A typical tourist-filled boat can be seen in the background.

At one point i saw a pair of Cattle Egret chicks trying to push the third chick out of their nest, something id only seen on TV before.

An adult Marsh Crocodile basking in the sun.

I did however notice this one lady who continued dipping her hand in the water even after the boatman's repeated warnings.

A tourist dips her hand in the crocodile infested waters.

The two species we would like to photograph here are the Stork-billed Kingfisher and the Grey-headed Fish Eagle.

Some more images from this trip:

Two Marsh Crocodiles basking

Juvenile Painted Storks

Asian-openbill Stork taking-off

Purple Heron

Juvenile Painted Stork in flight

All images taken hand-held from a rocking boat in Manual/AV mode using a Canon EOS 20D & Sigma 135-400mm.

Do let me know which image was your favorite & why in the comments section.
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