Manchanbele Reservoir.

Yet another weekend, yet another effective birding. I actually wanted to visit this place during monsoon's because of the aquatic birds. But other places invited me first during that time, hence this got delayed. It was a nice getaway though. 

Sunrise on the way to MB Dam.

Manchanabele Reservoir.

Manchanabele is a tiny village by the foothills of Savanadurga. The rocky hills have created a valley that can collect rain water enough for nearby villages. Entry into the MB reservoir is now banned by BWSSB due to obvious reasons, couple of boys had got drowned while playing near the reservoir. Sad news.!

I was expecting pretty good sightings as there was no crowd; as a matter of fact we were near the reservoir by 7 which is an ideal time for healthy birding.

We took the trail besides BWSSB fencing. It was not so happening, but the trail looked deserted and we started enjoying it.

Black Drongo singing.

Red Rumped Swallow.

Swallows perched on wire.

Rosy Starlings.

White Browed Bulbul.

We were welcomed by a juv Drongo, the call was melodious. Adding to that, there were lots of red-whiskered and red-vented bulbuls tweeting, barn swallows, rosy starlings and jungle babblers chirping; we felt so fresh. 

Purple subird-male.

Subird-female. 

Paddyfield Pippit.

  

Steppe Eagle.

The trial came to an end from where we saw the dam. It is a small dam managed and maintained by BWSSB. The water was clear and the place was peaceful as heaven. I proceeded towards the big water tank in search of birds and was lucky to see three large green bee eaters perched on a small branch, it looked like a cute family picture. The moment I advanced to take a snap couple of them flew away..! it was pretty annoying, but I managed to capture least a single member.

Green bee eater-large

Indian Robin.

Further, I found common birds like magpie robin, Indian robin, spotted doves, ashy prinia, asian koel, greater koucal, brahminy starling, laughing dove, brahminy kites, black kites, steppe eagles, white browed wagtail, grey wagtail, white browed bulbuls, coppersmith barbet, white cheeked barbet.

 

By now it was 9:30 and we had spent good amount of time in experimenting with our kits. The lighting was perfect and so was the weather. With so many bad, not so bad and little good fotographs we left the place, only to find Indian Roller which was enjoying the broad day light. It was sitting on a high tension wire. Below the wire were a pair of rose ringed parakeets playing as if they were love birds.

Indian Roller. 

Rose Ringed Parakeet.

Directions to Manchanabele Dam reservoir:

Mysore Road >> Right @ Rajarajeshwari engineering college >> Big Banyan tree >> left @ Shankrappa circle >> Manchanabele.