Weekend trip to ‘KN Shola’!
This was our third visit to Forest Trails. See [1] [2]. Forest Trails is owned and run by INP member Krishna Narain (KN).
Forest Trails is a a patch of outstanding protected habitat adjoining the Bannerghatta National Park just outside Bangalore (see route map at end of gallery). It has an established colony of Yellow-throated Bulbuls within its boundaries in addition to other great wildlife. We saw elephant spoor not far from camp as well as heard of a leopard kill in an adjoining village – and we were less than 20 kms from Bangalore city! The area has mostly dry deciduous forests and thorny scrub, with patches of moist deciduous forests along the streams.
There are plenty of exposed rocky patches interspersed with scrub that makes it a haven for bulbuls, nightjars, larks and pipits. We spent the last weekend at Forest Trails. Our main objective was the Yellow-throated Bulbul which I had photographed a couple of years ago here. The picturesque peak at Forest Trails (Doddibetta) now has a resident colony.
We saw them several times – though they ensured that they stayed out of 400 mm telephoto range! The new resident naturalist at Forest Trails (Sudheesh – an erstwhile bird guide at Thattekad) is an asset to Forest Trails and can now take a birder straight to the bulbuls. In addition to the bulbuls, we saw several Honey Buzzards, Cuckoo Shrikes, Long-billed Pipits, Nightjars and Rufous-tailed Larks. We were back in Bangalore Sunday afternoon.
Cheers, –r@mki March 20, 2006 | Bangalore