Sanjeevaiah Park, Hyderabad, December 2013

Apparently everyone is supposed to pay the IR10 charge before entering Sanjeevaiah Park through the subway tunnel or cellar steps. So it was odd that I caused such a stir in trying to hand over my money. The man at the ticket desk seemed shocked and I had to pass through an airport-style security scanner and get my bag searched. Cameras are not allowed in the park, but I suspect that the guard had no wish to look after my bag and waved me on. Meanwhile, the rest of the park visitors streamed through an open gate (at Google Earth ref; 17 26 4.59N 78 28 39.98E), ticketless and possibly intent on mischief; or worse, photography.

In 2010, 2 bombs exploded in Hyderabad, claiming 42 souls. 2 other devices were found and defused. The next day 19 further unexploded bombs were found at strategic points around the city. I suspect that the security presence is in response to perceived threat. Bearded wierdos carrying rucksacks attract attention from security guards wherever they go.

The 92 acres of Sanjeevaiah Park in Hyderabad extends out into Hussain Sagar, the city’s big lake. It is a typical city park with lawns, trees and well made paths. It is bordered on 3 sides by the lake and has a small pond which was screened off today. This was a shame as the surroundings of the pond were nicely unkempt.

 The trees along the road that passes the pond were busy with birds. The Indian Golden Oriole was split from its European counterpart a few years ago. The extended eye-stripe is probably the best field marking.

The cawing of House Crows made me think that I would not be able to hear any other bird calls, but a thin insistent “Chiweet” gave away a Greenish Warbler and the harsh “chick” of a Purple-rumped Sunbird drew me towards a stand of pink-flowering trees. 

Other park visitors seemed to have no qualms about flaunting the rules with compact and camera phones, so I pulled out the Canon and took a couple of discrete shots.

There was a Purple Sunbird in the same tree wearing pre-breeding colours. Some species of sunbirds pass through an eclipse plumage. 

I don’t confess to understand the purpose of this phase of the moult, but I suspect that this was what the Purple Sunbird was changing from. What is the difference between eclipse plumage and non-breeding plumage? And why do only a few families pass through it? Sometimes only selected species within a family undergo eclipse. As well as sunbirds, ducks are commonly said to be in eclipse rather than non-breeding. If anyone can shed any light on this issue, please do.

A Black Drongo was perched in the lower branches of the same tree and I ventured a quick snap and then stowed the camera again before my crime progressed from lamb to sheep.

Birds seen; 29

Indian Spot-billed Duck 25, Little Grebe 1, Little Cormorant 1, Cattle Egret 35, Indian Pond-Heron 4, Black Kite 3, Eurasian Coot 3, Red-wattled Lapwing 3, Black-winged Stilt 15, Common Sandpiper 3, Wood Sandpiper 2, Spotted Dove 3, Asian Koel 3, House Swift 6, Coppersmith Barbet 2, Indian Golden Oriole 1, Black Drongo 2, House Crow 70, Barn Swallow 10, Red-vented Bulbul 1, Greenish Warbler 2, Blyth’s Reed Warbler 1, Yellow-bellied Prinia 1, Red-breasted Flycatcher 2, Common Myna 4, Asian Pied Starling 4, Purple-rumped Sunbird 5, Purple Sunbird 4, White-browed Wagtail.

Sanjeevaiah Park is on Necklace Road, on the north shore of Hussain Sagar Lake. There were no facilities inside the park that I could see. There were a couple of refreshment stalls outside the park, close to the entrance.
I should have checked the opening times. There is a big metal fence that will prevent all but the most persistent from getting into the park by any other means that the gate or the subway. According to the HUDA (Hyderabad Urban Development Authority) website, general tickets are issued for entry from 08.00 'til 19.00

Visit the dedicatedIndian Page for more posts from the sub-continent.

Birding, Birdwatching in Hyderabad, Andra Pradesh, India.

Hussain Sagar delta, Hyderabad, December 2013

The contributors at 10,000 Birds posted a series of articles about poop and how much birds seem to love it. Well, it isn’t the actual poop itself that attracts the birds, but the wonderful squishy environment that lots of poop can produce.

I was called at a moment’s notice to fly to Hyderabad. It was my first visit to the area and I was delighted to find a wonderful squishy delta on Hussain Sagar (the large feature lake in the centre of the city), that appeared to have been built from the contents of a large drain that spilled into the lake. 90 million litres of delta-building material flows into the lake every day, producing a very attractive environment for the birds. I was lucky that this visit was during the winter as many of the wading birds seen are seasonal visitors and breed much further north.
The Black-winged Stilts were easy to spot and were registered before the taxi had even stopped. A White-throated Kingfisher flashed across the wide drain and Asian Koels cried from a line of trees between the road and the water.

I was en-route to Sanjeevaiah Park, but stopped early to look at the lake. Sadly I was looking straight into the rising sun, so I hardly bothered with the camera and spent more time trying to split stints and sandpipers.

There are two likely Stints, but I could only reliably identify the Little Stint with the binoculars. One that could have been a Temminck’s Stint was chased off by a Little Stint as soon as I got the camera trained on it, but the snatched picture confirmed the split.

There were lots of Wood Sandpiper, but the similar Green Sandpiper was quite likely too. I only caught one for sure with broader tail stripes and dark underwings. I don’t remember taking this shot, but it looks like a contender.

The extent of the Ruff’s distribution may not quite reach as far as Hyderabad, so I enclose this photo as a record in case the sighting should be called into question.

The delta reaches perhaps 400meters out into the lake, but as this is my first visit, I can’t say if it is a year-round feature. There is a campaign to clean up the lake. Much of it is made up of floating litter and the solid islands are very low-lying. I guess the personality of the place would change very quickly as water levels fluctuate. The water-levels had dropped enough to allow me to walk down the bank a little at Google Earth ref; 17 26 11.49N 78 28 4.83E). Black Drongos hawked from posts and a Clamorous Reed-warbler scolded from a bush.

At Google Earth ref; 17 26 12.18N 78 28 16.42E, there is a small promontory that juts slightly out into the lake and allows for a better light angle.

The Purple Swamphens were very obvious, but the Little Ringed Plovers needed careful scanning to pick out. Around the edges, Indian Pond-Herons, Cattle Egrets and Bronze-winged Jacanas picked through the water hyacinth.

A European Marsh Harrier flew over and sent clouds of stint, sandpiper and stilt into the air. It was odd to note that the constant presence of Black Kites caused the waders little or no concern, but a cruising harrier put them immediately to flight.

Birds seen; 42

Indian Spot-billed Duck 40, Little Grebe 4, Great Cormorant 5, Cattle Egret 10, Indian Pond-Heron 8, Black-shouldered Kite 1, Black Kite 20, Eurasian Marsh Harrier 1, White-breasted Waterhen 2, Purple Swamphen 150, Eurasian Coot 15, Red-wattled Lapwing 35, Little Ringed Plover 3, Black-winged Stilt 100, Bronze-winged Jacana 3, Common Sandpiper 15, Green Sandpiper 1, Marsh Sandpiper 2, Wood Sandpiper 80, Little Stint 300, Temminck’s Stint 1, Ruff 6, River Tern 5, Spotted Dove 5, Rose-ringed Parakeet 4, Asian Koel 2, Greater Coucal 1, House Swift 15, White-throated Kingfisher 1, Brown Shrike 1, Black Drongo 2, House Crow 40, Grey-throated Martin 80, Barn Swallow 20, Red-vented Bulbul 2, Clamorous Reed-warbler 1, Yellow-bellied Prinia 2, Common Myna 2, Asian Pied Starling 6, Purple-rumped Sunbird 3, Purple Sunbird 1, White-browed Wagtail 1.

In the distance, many more birds could be seen, but I was unable to identify them accurately so far off in the light conditions. A few that I could pin down were Indian Spot-billed Duck and Red-wattled Lapwing, but these were also easily seen much closer in. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to have a scope handy and the viewing conditions would probably be better in the afternoon.

There are no time restrictions here as birdwatching can be done from a public overlook, but nor are there any facilities. Sanjeevaiah Park is approx 1km further along and I believe that there may be refreshment stands and toilets there.

To instruct a taxi driver, ask to be taken to Necklace Road which runs around the northern section of Hussain Sagar Lake. The delta can be seen in the northwest corner of the lake between Jalavihar Entertainment Water Park and Sanjeevaiah Park.

This is the first post from Hyderabad, but visit the dedicated India Page just the same for more posts from the sub-continent.
Birding, birdwatching in Hyderabad, Andra Pradesh.

AT & T Park, San Francisco Giants' Stadium, San Francisco, November 2013

Happy Thanksgiving. I was feeling the worse for wear today and didn’t venture out until late into the morning. I took a walk to the bottom of Third Street in San Francisco hoping to clear my head and ended up having a delightful Thanksgiving lunch (sitting on a damp rock with a turkey foot-long from Subway) across from the AT & T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.

A tilting bridge over the water makes me wonder if the stretch of water that heads inland may once have been a dock. Now it is trendy apartments and a berth for a few houseboats. Across from the stadium, the water’s edge is shored up with a rock bank. 

The tide had withdrawn and a small flock of 8 Least Sandpipers were picking through the green growth.

The water was perfectly flat and giving some wonderful reflections.

Sitting on the rock kept my silhouette low and the birds worked their way along, passing right in front of me and giving great views. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I much prefer to see one bird well than lots of birds badly, so this was a treat.

The call of a Yellow-rumped Warbler kept catching my attention from a row of small trees just behind me. A single ‘pish’ brought it down, curious to see what was making such a silly noise.

On a small patch of grass here, was a small flock of mixed blackbirds. The Red-winged Blackbirds flew in and out, but the Brewer’s Blackbirds were very bold. A woman was feeding them and they had become very approachable.

On the stadium side of the bridge is a marina. A walkway gives a view across to the breakwater and further out into the bay. Surf Scoters and Western Grebes were seen in the distance with Double-crested Cormorants, Western Gulls and a Brown Pelican roosting on the breakwater.

Birds seen; 10

Surf Scoter 35, Western Grebe 3, Double-crested Cormorant 20, Brown Pelican 1. Snowy Egret 1, Least Sandpiper 8, Western Gull 15, Yellow-rumped Warbler 2, Red-winged Blackbird 2, Brewer’s Blackbird 8.

The stadium can be seen at Google Earth ref; 37 46 42.12N 122 23 22.94W

Visit the dedicated USA and CanadaPage for more posts from San Francisco, including;

Tropical Kingbird at Crissy Field and Half-moon Bay

Mayfield and Charleston Sloughs, San Francisco, November 2013

Tomorrow was the third Thursday of November (Thanksgiving, for those of you without a North American connection) and I was under a strict timing schedule to get the bike back to the shop and allow the guys there to close up and get home to their families on the eve of the holidays.

I had already explored the sloughsand marsh areas around the Lucy Evans Boardwalk and Interpretation Centre, but time was not my friend today.  Mayfield and Charleston Sloughs passed in a bit of a blur, which is a terrible shame because there were thousands of birds.

Notably, lots of Canvasbacks; as many as I have ever seen in one place. Waders were pushing further from the shore now as the tide ebbed, but a Western Sandpiper seemed to be in two minds and stayed close, holding a lovely pose.

A few other birds stayed close to the edge of the slough (do sloughs have banks or shores I wonder). Single Dunlins looked oddly large and individual dowitchers were impossible to tell apart. I was really getting the hang of Least Sandpipers today with some really close up views.

I had another chance to get a look at the Northern Harrier and missed a stunner as the bird bore down on me with its eyes fixed firmly on the weak point in my neck. I have lost a bit of weight perhaps, but not that much surely! I couldn’t get the focus as it sized me up, but eventually got it as the bird realised that it probably wouldn’t be able to carry me off unless I lost a few more pounds.

Surf Scoters, Common Goldeneye and Bufflehead on Shoreline Lake rounded out my list of ducks.

On the slough beyond the lake, a small flock of Eared Grebe caught my attention. They appeared to be “porpoising”, diving and resurfacing, heading towards me. It struck me as an odd means of moving, but as they approached, I noticed that as one dived, another surfaced, giving the impression of a single fluid motion.

Rather than a small flock of 15 or so, there were around 60 with most of them either diving beneath the surface, or swimming very low in the water. Was it cooperative feeding behaviour I wonder, or looking out for each other?

Birds seen;32

Canada Goose 30, Gadwall 6, American Wigeon 35, Mallard 25, Cinnamon Teal 4, Northern Shoveler 800, Green-winged Teal 25, Canvasback 150, Surf Scoter 5, Bufflehead 3, Common Goldeneye 3, Ruddy Duck 1200, Pied-billed Grebe 2, Eared Grebe 60, Double-crested Cormorant 4, American White Pelican 1, Snowy Egret 2, Black-crowned Night Heron 8, Turkey Vulture 1, Northern Harrier 1, American Coot 80, American Avocet 100, Willet 10, Western Sandpiper 4, Least Sandpiper 120, Ring-billed Gull 6, Herring Gull 12, Anna’s Hummingbird 3, Black Phoebe 1, American Crow 4.

Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Yellow-rumped Warbler and Lesser Goldfinch were also seen as I headed home along North Shoreline Blvd.

If you want to head out from here, North Shoreline Blvd runs from Shoreline Lake at Google Earth ref; 372554.75N 122 5 10.11W. It runs for 5kms, crossing Highway 101 and meeting up with the Caltrain tracks at Central Expressway. Mountain View Caltrain Station is just 500 m southeast (left). San Francisco Station at the bottom of Fourth Street is about 1 hour and 10 minutes from here.

Alternatively you can head out from Terminal Blvd to the west of Shoreline Lake. From Terminal Blvd at Google Earth ref; 37 26 0.61N 122 6 0.17W, San Antonio Road runs south for 3kms, crossing the Highway 101 to the San Antonio Caltrain Station at San Antonio and Alma (Google Earth ref; 37 24 26.94N 122 6 26.93W). A day-ticket on Caltrains cost US$ 14 AS AT December 2013.

More posts from the baylands can be seen at the links below;

http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2010/02/palo-alto-baylands-san-fancisco.html

http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2010/11/palo-alto-baylands-san-francisco.html

http://redgannet.blogspot.com/2010/11/shoreline-at-mountain-view-palo-alto.html

http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/charleston-slough-at-terminal-boulevard.html

http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/palo-alto-baylands-on-foot-san.html

http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/baylands-preserve-palo-alto-san_9.html

http://redgannet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/mayfield-and-charleston-slough-palo.html

Visit the dedicated USA and Canada Page for more posts from San Francisco, including; Sutro Baths and Point Reyes.

Boston, Boston, let it be Boston.

Standby starts tomorrow.
A surge of Snowy Owls are sweeping southwards along the east coast, with  Boston's Logan Airport being one of the prime sighting areas.
Let it be Boston!