I happened to go to Melkote with my cousins Madhukar and Giri along with my friend Pradeep. We decided to visit Srirangapattana . Since Ranganatittu is near to Srirangapattana and love towards birds, we decided to go to the bird sanctuary.
Small Introduction of Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary also known as Paksi Kashi of Karnataka is a Bird Sanctuary in Mandya District of the state of Karnataka in India. It is a very small sanctuary, being only 67 km². in area, and comprises six islets on the banks of theKaveri River. Ranganthittu is located three kilometers away from the historic town of Srirangapatna and 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north ofMysore.
The islets came into being when a dam across the Kaveri river was built in the 18th century. The ornithologist Dr. Salim Ali observed that the isles formed an important nesting ground for birds, and persuaded the Wodeyar kings of Mysore to declare the area a wildlife sanctuary in 1940
When we reached there (Oct first weekend) , there was a large number of tourists, who were on the way back after Dassara of mysore.
Since there was no other birds than Oriental white Ibis, the general tourists were disappointed. Many of them expressed openly that it was a waste of time as they didn’t see much of the birds.
It’s a kind of Blessing for us, as we could concentrate solely on white ibis . The Boat man who took us was very soft spoken and knew a lot about these birds in this Sanctuary. He initially told us that this was not the season for sanctuary but after seeing our enthusiasm, he took us on a slow and detailed ride.
We found good crowd of Oriental White Ibis and a couple of Indian River Tern
We took relatively satisfying pictures of bird inpite of an adverse light condition ( It was at 12 noon )
Description of the White Ibis : A large white marsh bird with naked black head and neck, long, stout, black down curved curlew-like bill. It is found in marshy wetlands inland and on the coast.
It feeds on various fish, frogs and other water creatures, as well as on insects. Adults are typically 75 cm long and white-plumaged, with some greyer areas on the wings.
The bald head, the neck and legs are black. The thick curved bill is dusky yellow. Sexes are similar, but juveniles have whiter necks and a black bill.
In between we see crocodiles floating but the best part would be to see when the crocodiles are resting on one of the islands.
