Lemon Pansy Butterfly
This was our second trip to Hebbal Lake, the first one ending in disaster as Keshav and I discovered that the lake was closed for de-silting. This time around, I decided to ensure that the lake was reopened by checking on Flickr if any photos had been taken of it recently.
I did eventually, after sifting through a ton of sad photos (of some company trip), find some lovely shots of the lake and tempted Keshav and my parents with them.
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I will not try to describe the route to the Lake, shall wait for Keshav to add that. People following my directions may never be seen again.
First Impressions: The Hebbal Lake-Park gate is hard to spot, so we drove slowly. There seems to be no designated parking area. The area outside the gate is used by various food vendors, the garbage heaps demarcate each stall. We parked under a tree at the right side of the gate beyond all the small garbage heaps.
It reminded me a great deal of the Madivala Lake, except here, the park is a lot bigger. There was no laughter club here and place was pretty much deserted.
 Great EggFly Male |  Koel - Female |
From the gate, we walked through the park (left side path), where the shrub like vegetation dotted with small trees is a haven for Prinias, Sun Birds, Flower peckers, barbets and Bulbuls.
SunBird Female
Following the path on the fringes of the lake, we saw a fair number of Parakeets at breakfast. They were unafraid and busy munching.
Rose Ringed Parakeet Male
The water birds however were easily spooked and would fly away even if we approached the side of the lake. We saw Coots for the first time here, and I got my first shots of a Purple Heron. Sadly the Pied Kingfisher eluded us yet again, and we only saw the White Breasted Kingfisher. There were a few White Ibis sitting rather far away in the trees.
The dense shrubbery at the end of the path, near the bamboo thicket yielded a Long Tailed Shrike and a Pied Crested Cuckoo. An Indian Cuckoo was also seen at a distance and id-ed with the help of my bad photos of it. We also spotted a water snake swimming away from the lake bank.
Pied Crested Cuckoo
 Long Tailed Shrike |  Purple Moor Hen |
Saw the Wagtails here as well - Large Pied Wagtail pair and a lone Grey/Yellow wagtail.
 |  Purple Heron |
Returning to the gate, we walked to the right side path which leads to a small rickety watch tower over looking the lake(more of a platform than a tower). Keshav bravely tested it to see if it would take his weight. (FYI : it did indeed take his weight – it did groan a bit though).
Hebbal Lake has a loo with running water (permanently running – might I add, the tap does not close).
I am glad that the de-silting exercise seems to have not disturbed the birdlife too greatly. I do wish the hawkers at the gate would dispose of their garbage a lot better.
Where to have breakfast: We had the breakfast buffet at South Indies – Indranagar. Read the review here
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