Pelican Diaries @ Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bangalore, India

Sometime back, I was taking my morning walk in the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens at Bangalore, India. There is a lake towards the south-western gate of the Park. And in this lake, there were a couple of Spot-billed Pelicans. They were so pretty that I stopped for a while to just watch them. Their scientific name is Pelecanus philippensis and the blue spots that u see on their funny beaks is almost like finger-prints of humans. Incidentally, they visit Bangalore every winter and flock all those water bodies which have good number of fish. Interestingly, the Bangalore Municipality has leased out lakes to private parties for fish culture commercially. This abundance of fish attracts the Pelicans. More details at the end of this blog...

I was so taken by the gimmicks of the pelicans that the next day morning, I was there with my cam and glass.

Some of the shots I made there...

What is happening here is this: There is this little bridge over the lake for people to cross over. Some people stand on the bridge and drop in biscuits, flour, etc to feed the fish. This, I was told, relieves them of some sins !!! Now, the fish get attracted by the food and the Pelicans get attracted by the fish.



Apparently, in playful mood...


Okie, lets strategise to fish together...muaaanh...


There, I spot some fish...


Let's go...


Follow me love...


There, good that u caught up...


Well done, mate...but just don't splash on me so much...


Some other hues:






Hope u enjoyed the series as much I did making it...:-)

NB: I was astounded by seeing soooo many pelicans around bangalore and obviously the enthused photogs love the birds So I was doing a bit of research on why so many of these birds are cropping up...Saw this in one of the posts on web. FYI. Happy Pelicanning
*****If you are visiting Hebbal Lake, you could spot flocks of white skimming low over the surface: it’s the season for winged beauties to visit city lakes, and the spotbilled pelicans are here to nest.Ornithologists and nature lovers are delighted — the flocks are growing in number, and at last count, a record number of 237 pelicans were spotted at the lake.In North Bangalore, one can spot pelicans at the lakes of Yelahanka, Jakkur, Hebbal and in South Bangalore, at Madiwala, Agara and Mavathur, Kanakapura Road. A majority of these lakes are leased out to private parties, and the commercial fishing there attracts the pelicans in large numbers. In 2005, at least 225 pelicans were spotted at Yelemallappa Chetty tank along Old Madras Road.There is also a steady increase in the number of pelicans in the state. Over the years, the nesting population has doubled — from 200 in 1995 to the present 400. Ornithologists point out that this increase in number is due to good nesting grounds in Mysore, Mandya district, Kokkare Bellur, and at Ranganathittu. In Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, there are 21 breeding colonies, and their numbers have risen from less than 4,000 to around 6,000.Bird expert S Subramanya says good community-based conservation work by NGOs in the region, coupled with improved protection of breeding sites, has led to an increase in its number. In the 1920s, more than a million spot-billed pelicans were believed to exist in South and South-East Asia. But by the 1990s, the number had dropped to fewer than 12,000 birds, and the species was listed as vulnerable. The decline was largely caused by conversion of wetlands and loss of nesting sites.Ornithologist M B Krishna says that due to ongoing habitat loss and human disturbances, the spot-billed pelican’s numbers have been on the decline. They are also disturbed by the steady movement of boats.*****