An unexpected trip to Ranganthittu again on Sunday. It was a total surprise to see myself traveling to the bird sanctuary again 2 weeks in a row. This time
we started early and reached there before 7 am.

The custom boat ride for 2 hours was the best I have had till date. It provided us with the opportunity to see more than 30 species of birds in the lake and surrounding region. It was a visual treat to so many birds in a small concentrated place.

The photos will take some time to be posted but for avid birders below is the list of species we witnessed. I hope the photos are good quality for some of them.

1. Purple Heron
2. River Tern

Remaining 28 species

A long weekend was the ideal time to spend some time with family and taking them around Mysore. My sister was visiting the historical city of Mysore for the first time and I organized a little hectic trip to cover many places in a single day.

First we headed straight to Srirangapatana for Tipu Sultan’s tomb. It is created in the typical mughal style of tomb with a circular structure on top.A short stop here with fresh coconut sip breather, we headed to the Mysore palace.

Then we went to Ranganthittu bird sanctuary reaching there by around 10 am.It was quite a busy time as many people had come over for picnic time and spending the entire day there.We tried to get an exclusive boat for 5 of us but finally had to settle for a shared one. It turned out to be decent as the sightings were very good this time.

Many different species of birds were witnessed which were missed last time.We took the boat ride for 30 minutes and then walked around the sanctuary for some time.

We decided to have lunch at Hotel Ramanashree which was a big mistake. The order took about 45 minutes to arrive. We had to shout to get our orders and the taste was really bad. For any tourists reading this entry, please stay away from Hotel Ramanashree.

The palace again had a lot of people and there seemed to be mad rush.We managed to get the tickets and submit our footwear to enter the palace. The palace was a good place to spend more than an hour admiring all the grandeur and luxury on offer.

It was hot and the sun was directly above our head before proceeding to Mysore zoo. It is supposed to be the best zoo of India. The zoo held its reputation after we roamed inside for almost 3 hours.

We were very tired by now and sun had set. We decided to head back to home which meant another 3 hours of driving. On way we stopped at Cafe Coffee day for a different than typical south Indian food the whole day.

A great day with a very good sleep anticipated.Another 2 days of the long weekend awaited with much plans and excitement.

The next blog entry should have the trip photos. Stay tuned!

Ranganthittu Bird sanctuary is in Mandya district on way to Mysore from Bangalore.

It was my first bird photography experience with BWS group and I was also testing my new Canon 100-400L IS lens to be used on my future trip to African Safari.

I had always read about the excitement and joy of chasing birds through the viewfinder and finally capturing them onto memory cards. I lived all those moments of happiness and accomplishment at Ranganthittu. It is a dream place to capture birds in their full glory.

The number of birds that are available at this place is huge and they seem to get less disturbed with human co-existence and close approach to their habitats. A boat ride takes one very close to them to frame the birds majestically. There are moments when one can get confused as there are subjects to be shot in 360 views.

It was a learning experience of framing the birds and allowing the photos to breathe and hence stand out. Personally I am quite impressed with this place and the lens. It was also about carrying the camera lens combination around neck for almost 6 hours straight.

The collection of photos can be found at the following link:

CLICK HERE for GALLERY

Some of the birds we saw were storks, egret, spoonbill, pelican, cormorant, fly catcher, kingfisher, river tern.

We had taken boat rides at 2 times of the day, one is morning around 11 am and another one around 4:30 pm to give us good variations in the lighting conditions. Both the sessions provided us with good opportunities to shoot birds and learn about their species.

Apart from the boat rides, one can walk around the sanctuary islands and still capture birds in flight and on distant trees. A long telephoto lens seems a must in such situations. Also I agree with the common saying that for bird photography any lens focal length seems less.

We reached back home around 9pm with gigs of photos only to be processed in the coming days and finally posting them here.

Feedback is welcome.

What a weekend it was, seeing different varieties of egrets, Blue Jay and many other birds fly pass around me and offering me catwalk model shots.

The 2 days of Saturday and Sunday were spent in the beautiful gardens of Lalbagh and Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary in Mandya district near Mysore. This is nesting time for birds in Ranganthittu and they were readying to find warmth to lay their eggs.

This was my first outing to a birding photography tour and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The subjects were available in plenty. I just needed to be patient and wait for the right moment before hitting the trigger. I would recommend the place of Ranganthittu to all photographers if they intend to capture some motion shots of birds.

Even if you are not a photographic enthusiast, it is a good place for a family picnic with a boat ride.

The advantage of going to this place is that the birds seem to be comfortable with human presence very close to them. The sanctuary is made up of multiple islands which can be navigated using wildlife department authorized boats. The boatmen are very knowledgeable about birds, their behaviors and day-to-day activities. This in turn help us in getting very close for close shots.

The surprise awaiting us were the sight of crocodiles seen basking on the rocks around this lake sanctuary. Per the boatmen, they are non aggressive but then we were told to take precaution by not going very near to them and disturbing them. The population of crocodiles is around 40-50 in that area.

Good time to sight birds is from November to January yearly. By end of February, the birds are expected to lay their eggs and then offering some more rare glimpses of their young ones. An opportunity not to be missed in this area.