Reconnaissance: Magarpatta City Garden

Magarpatta City hosts a rather impressive garden at its very center. Flanked on all sides by 'Towers', the garden has a somewhat circular shape and is quite vast. There are mostly lawns, flower beds, a few Nilgiri trees, Bamboo bushes, even a pond. After 2 months in Magarpatta City, a 'recon' mission to this garden was due. So off I went.

First up were Yellow Wagtails. Plenty of them. Scurrying over the lawns, and wagging their tails like a manual water-pump, they were rather amusing to watch. Some were looking for worms, others were just squabbling about. A few were making chirping calls. A good start!

Two Black Drongos were sitting calmly on a small tree nearby. There were Red-Vented Bulbuls flitting in and out of small bushes, apparently chased by Common Mynas. An old man in the vicinity was wondering what I was doing....

Moving on, I came to a big tree. A rather harsh sound made me look up. It was a Eurasian Golden Oriole. For such a nice looking bird, its call (which was somewhat like a cat's snarl) was certainly incongruous. It soon disappeared into the foliage.

And after that came a pond. Not surprisingly, a Pond Heron was standing on some Lotus leaves staring intently at the water. Behind them, almost like magic, two Red-Wattled Lapwings materialized into view. They were nearly camouflaged against the background, which was the pond's white border by the way. Puzzles me how these Lapwings manage to blend themselves against even a white background!

A little ahead were some Bamboo bushes, bursting with activity. Green Bee-eaters were busy hunting for insects. An unidentified warbler was hopping about. A White-Throated Fantail Flycatcher sat on a small white fence (like those in the old Cricket stadiums) and swerved rapidly from side to side. Perched beside it, a Magpie Robin occasionally dropped to the ground and pecked at it, apparently feeding on insects. Red-Whiskered Bulbuls were sitting atop some nearby bushes.

Mission accomplished. Back to work!