Episodes of Lake Marathon: 09 Hadinaru Lake
Chasing down the geese!
Have you ever heard of a bird which travels 1000miles in a single day? Yes, you read is right. Bar headed goose is one of the world's highest flying birds. It can cover 1600km in a day. They have also seen flying over Mount Everest which is 8,848m height. They breed during the December to March and during this time, flocks of them will flew all the way to some of the lakes in Karnataka. Their spotting is well known in a lake named "Hadinaru Kere (Hadinary Lake)", Nanjangud, Karnataka, India. So I planned to pay a visit to Hadinaru kere especially to admire the famous Bar headed geese.
This episodes is quite special to me as this is the first time that my husband accompanied for the Lake Marathon with me. I pulled him all the way to show him bar headed geese and even he was pretty excited 😃. Let us see what awaits me in Hadinaru Kere! Keep scrolling.
Day 1: 7th January 2023
Sunrise in Hadinaru Kere
We could still see the moon on the sky as we had left for Nanjangud very early in the morning that day.
We started from the backside entry of the lake. It was around 6.30am in the morning, the lake was just awake, very calm and quiet. All we could see was the peaceful water a lonely cormorant flying over us. We waited for sometime and walked on the banks, there we first saw, spot billed duck amidst the bushes.
A native, single great egret was found among the flock of ducks.
Large egret
Spot billed duck, common in fresh water lakes of Mysuru is a non-migratory species.
Spot billed duck
This is a far sighting from the lake banks, there is a thick forest area in the other side of the lake and some of the cormorants, ibis and herons were found roosting on the branches.
Cormorants, ibis and herons roosting on the tree branches.
Towards the left side of the lake there are some short trees, A white cheeked (throated) kingfisher and a pair of blue tailed bee eaters were spotted there.
White breasted kingfisher
A closer look can confirm the species, spotting this one for the first time in this season, blue tailed bee eater. Previously I had seen this near H.D Kote, Karnataka.
Blue tailed bee eater
Common native bird, mynas were found perching on the cable wires.
Common Myna
Another commonly found bird, pond heron was spotted on one of the tree branch.
Pond heron
These were the birds I could see in the first half of the visit. Yet there was no clue of the bar headed geese I was longing for. So we took another route and landed up in the Hardinaru park, hoping to find some geese at least here.
A view from the Hadinaru park
On the park fence, 2 wagtails were resting. Scientific name of White browed wagtail or large pied wagtail is interestingly, Motacilla maderaspatensis. The species name maderaspatensis is named after Madras city (former name Chennai).
White browed wagtail
Pied Bush Chat Male (left) and female (right)
Common Coot
This tree had lots of bird nests in its branches. Not sure which bird's nest it could be.
It was 8.30 am and still we had no clue about the bar headed geese. Learnt that the day was unlucky for us and returned to Mysore.
Life is a circle. The end of one journey is the beginning of the next.
- Joseph M Marshal
Day 2: Continued chase down of the bar headed geese!
Even on the Day 2 of the Bar Headed Geese chase hunt, I was equally excited and curious. All I wanted was some glimpses of these famous geese. We started from the back entry, hoping to spot some geese, since we were a bit early, we thought of capturing other winged beauties.
Cormorants, Egrets and Ibis roosting on the tree branches
Two more birds were perching on the other side of the tree, those happened to be Asian Green Bee Eater and Long Tailed Shrike. Quite common among this season.
Asian Bee Eater
Long Tailed Shrike
Another shrike was hidden amongst a Ficus tree branches. Also, I could see Blue Tailed Bee Eater another time in this lake, which are not usually found inside the city.
Blue Tailed Bee Eater
Common coots were found in good number this time.
Common Coot
A single White Breasted Kingfisher was sitting on the cable wire.
White breasted Kingfisher
This is dove species, I am recording for the first time in the lake marathon episodes, Laughing Dove. Its closet cousins, spotted doves are commonly found.
Laughing Dove
So here they are, we found a small group of geese flying all the way from far and sat just right in front of us. The moment we saw the birds flying, all the bird watchers and photographers were busy taking snaps of them as if they are the VIPs. All were longing to spot the mighty bar headed geese!
What do you think these bird could be? Were we lucky enough to spot the bar headed geese?
Unfortunately we are not! These are Cotton Pygmy Geese. Anyhow I am seeing these birds for the first time, as excited as seeing the bar headed geese.
Bar Headed Geese
A single red vented bulbul was spotted
Red Vented Bulbul
A purple moorhen was hidden in the middle of the grasses. Also a lapwing bird was spotted
Purple Moorhen
Red wattled lapwing
I saw a small little bird peeking through the grasses, earlier I thought it was a baya weaver. But close observation made me realize that it is a streaked weaver. The bird had a bald yellow head and the body was pale with some black spots.
Streaked weaver
Sorry about the picture, but I could see some yellow wagtails on the ground, similar ones were seen In Varuna Lake as well.
Yellow Wagtail
An obvious bird to spot, a pond heron on a coconut leaf.
Pond Heron
There were hundreds of barn swallows perching on the cables everywhere. Some were even found flying on top of us. It is very difficult to capture a still image of these birds as they are quick in their movements and tiny in appearance.
Barn Swallow
There was an hidden bird among the Ficus tree branches, happens to be chestnut starling.
Chestnut starling
Ashy Prinia
Floral Diversity of Hadinaru Lake:
Lilly
Opuntia
Calotropis
A fresh watered bivalve (Unio)
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