Birding Near Peerancheru Lake APPA Junction

Birdwatching with GHAC near PBEL city

As the city develops more and more water bodies are getting under pressure from encroachment and silting. We at GHAC Nature regularly organize bird watching trips with  our members to various places in and outside city. A few days ago we visited the Peerancheru lake near APPA Junction for a early morning birdwatching session. I have been visiting Peerancheru Lake earlier many times as the last few years a lot of development has happened around the Peerancheru lake so the birds are used to humans, giving a good opportunity to  observe them.

We reached the lake around 6:30 in the morning and climbed down the lake bank opposite to PBEL city. It was appalling to see all kind of garbage thrown around by people and also a Ganesha Idol from the earlier Ganapati festival lying on the bank.

A Ganesha Idol on the lake bank: Pic by Raj Kumar Chabra

This is the irony of our society, once the festival is over we through the idols of the Gods in the lakes and not only pollute the waters, but also are not bothered about the very idols that we worshipped. Any ways our trip was about bird watching and after planning to come again specially to clean the lake we started looking for the birds. Initially we could not see any birds and were very disappointed. But soon the birds started making a comeback, after realizing we mean no harm to them.

First to show were some common pigeons, who were enjoying the water on a  hot day by dipping their beaks in water and occasionally even stepping in shallow waters near a rock.

Pigeons were the first to arrive

The pigeons were soon followed by Little Egrets, Bee eater, Indian Robin, white browed wagtail, grey heron, little egret, pond heron, painted stork, ashy prinia, rock dove, little ringed plover, river tern, stilt, common swallow. As more birds became visible the members became silent as to not scare away the birds and started talking in hush tones and sign language.

As we became silent, suddenly we could hear the bird sounds from every bush, tree and from the water where now the birds were looking for food without a worry in the world.

Egrets and Grey Herons : All want the same spot/ Pic by Santosh Kumar

A Purple sunbird was checking some flowers for nectar, an Oriental Magpie was slowly moving towards water, took a sip and flew away. The egrets were not happy to see a Grey Heron and showed their displeasure by making some threatening sounds. But the Grey Heron double the size of the egrets, did not even bothered and was more focused on challenging a cormorant for right to stand on a rock.

Grey Heron Challenges a Cormorant/ Santosh Kumar

               

A Red Wattled Lapwing was circling above us, making noises, only later we realized that there was a nest somewhere close by.

A Red Wattled Lapwing was circling above us: Pic by Santosh

                                                           

In the rocks nearby we found some Peninsular Rock Agama, basking in the sun some little frogs trying to blend with the drying mud on the lake bank.

An Agama Enjoying Sun/ Santosh Kumar

A Female Sunbird, looking for nectar

As the sun was getting hotter we decided to call it a day but not before we all posed for this group shot

GHAC Nature birdwatchers at Peerancheru Lake

If you would like to join a GHAC Nature event like Bird Watching, Nature Walk etc. then you can join our meetup group to be informed of future events.

About the Author: Prasad Np is a volunteer for GHAC Nature you can check his travel and wildlife articles and pictures on his blog desi Traveler. 

Pictures: The pictures were clicked by various GHAC members as mentioned above. We want to thank them for sharing the pictures clicked by them.