Over the weekend, had an opportunity to visit Puttaparthi, popular, as the abode of Sri Sathya Sai Baba. Puttaparthi, is just around 150km drive from Bangalore, on the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway (NH 7). The drive was very good and a pleasurable one, as the roads are superb all through.
Stayed there for a couple of days, and on one of the mornings,decided to do some birding around the place. Had read up on the Internet, that there are many lakes around Puttaparthi and also a river, called, Chitravathi, that flows through the place. After inquiring around, got to know that most of them had dried up,thanks to the total lack of rain over the past few months and also that there was a dam built on the Chitravathi river, which acted as the storage for the town’s water needs. So, the river, too was dry, covered by bushes and shrubs all through. But, anyways, decided to venture out and try my luck….
Headed out by around 6:00 AM in the morning. The road, right opposite to the temple premises, incidentally also called the Chitravathi road, leads straight to the river embankments of what is now a dry river bed. Walking on the road, alongside, tried to look around for bird activity.Common Mynas had started their mornings, so had the Asian Koels, with their calls….A bit further down, came across a small temple, noticed some bird activity around and got down onto the river bed, which was covered in trees and shrubs. The area around seemed to be fenced as well, looks like some plans for a layout or a apartment complex in the near future…, just as in namma Bengaluru :-)
Spent an hour/hour and a half there, saw a lot of Munias, Large Grey Babblers, Prinias, Silverbills, Green Bee Eaters and Sunbirds around the place. A few butterflies too were starting off on their routine….. Overall, had a good time….Anyone heading to Puttaparthi, and interested in birding, walk alongside the Chitravathi, should definitely be on the cards. Couldn’t venture to the lakes around the place due to lack of time, anyone having info about the lakes there, please do let me know, would add them to my list, in case I get to visit Puttaparthi again…….
Here are a few of the pics that I managed ………..
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