Hampi and thereabouts – wildlife

March 17, 2013 by Kiran | 1 Comment

The best part about visiting Hampi and Kamalapura, which is a small village close to Hampi, is that it is a heady mix of history, wildlife and birding. The general trip report is here. This post captures some details of the wildlife that we came across.

Had a borrowed a pair of binoculars and a book listing the birds of India, from a couple of friends. This made the bird-watching all the more fascinating and worthwhile. In addition to the “birding”, came across other forms of wildlife too.

The Sloth Bear Resort – where we stayed – had a trained snake-handler as a staff member. Had a conversation with him about snakes in and around the resort, and was informed that Cobras, Rock Pythons are to be found rather easily. Asked him to show me a snake, if he spots one on the grounds. Within a couple of hours, he came calling. He had a smallish two feet long snake in his hands. I got to touch a snake, for the first time. It is the non-venomous Striped Keelback. The blue colour between its scales was mesmerizing (the inter-scale blue colour is visible in the photo)

Striped Keelback (image credit: http://www.snakesoftaiwan.com)

On a visit to the Virupaksha temple – in the late evening – there were a handful of devotees within the temple premises about, and all of a sudden there was a heightened sense of excitement; some of the devotees there prostrating on the ground, close to a gopura. Noticed that there was a Cobra there, and it had spread its hood. We hoped no harm would come to it, and moved on from there.

On a trip to the Daroji Sloth bear sanctuary, it started raining, and the weather immediately turned out to be rather pleasant. Spotted a small tortoise crossing a road within the sanctuary, stopped to examine it. It turned out to be an Indian star tortoise.

Indian Star Tortoise

And the sloth bears at the sanctuary. They come out during the cooler part of the evening, around 4:30pm ish. Spotted a mother with a clinging cub, riding on its back. Spotted a couple of juveniles too.

Sloth bear with its cub

The Sloth bear resort arranges for early morning bird watching sessions, with a guide to help with the spotting and identification of birds. An irrigation canal close to the resort was the spot for this bird watching. This turned out to be a good introduction to birding.

Black stork – this is migratory bird, and we couldn’t spot it on a repeat session of bird watching the next morning.

Black Stork

Red Vented Bulbul – there were quite a few of them within the resort premises, as well as during the bird watching excursions.

Red Vented Bulbul

Eurasian Eagle Owl – this is a large and imposing owl. We spotted a roosting couple, and also a mother with two chicks.

Eurasian Eagle Owl

Spotted Owlet – compared to the eagle owl, this is a really petite bird. Rather high cute factor though. Spotted atleast 4 of them.

Spotted Owlet

Asian Paradise Flycatcher – this is a rather exotic looking bird; small body, with a really long and sinuous tail. Looks beautiful in flight.

Asian Paradise Flycatcher

White throated Kingfisher – spotted quite a few of these birds, during the morning session, along the irrigation canal.

White throated Kingfisher

Egret – two types little egret, and cattle egret – spotted these feeding along the canal.

Cattle Egret

Little Egret

Green Bee-eater – this bird is a burst of green, especially when it flies. Its flying pattern has a sense of gaiety about it. Spotted several birds within the resort grounds, as well as along the canal.

Green Bee-eater

Indian Robin – the male sports a black plumage, with a rust coloured under-body. Again turned out to be rather plentiful every where we observed.

Indian Robin

Laughing dove – this dove sports a spotted “neck lace”; and I saw most of these birds within the resort grounds.

Laughing Dove

Indian Pond Heron – found this only at the canal.

Indian Pond Heron

Eurasian Collared Dove – Indu spotted these at the Daroji bear sanctuary.

Eurasian Collared Dove

Purple Sunbird – this is a small, but spectacularly colourled bird – the purplish plumage is iridescent when the sunlight hits it at an angle.

Purple Sunbird

Eurasian Thick-knee – Indu spotted this one at the Daroji sanctuary

Eurasian thick-knee

Painted Spur fowl – Indu happened to spot this at a nature camp close to the resort

Painted spur-fowl

Rose Ringed Parakeet – spotted pair at the resort.

Rose ringed parakeet

Grey Francolin – spotted this primarily in the Daroji bear sanctuary.

Grey Francolin

Sparrows – they thronged the resort’s dining area; and were at their noisiest during dawn and twilight.

Male sparrow

Red Wattled Lapwing – the shrill whistle like call of this bird, and its contrasting plumage makes this easily identifiable. Sighted quite a few at the canal, but only heard and couldn’t sight them at the resort.