An Overnight at Srirangapatna - Part 1

It all started with plans for girls day out, friends planning to catch up sans husbands. But then the plan sounded so good that the hubbies joined in as well.

Long Weekend meant that we had very few places to choose from. After some failed attempts to find accommodation in the popular holiday destinations we decided to do an overnight at Srirangapatna.

We read about a place called Pegasus Art Bistro and decided to give it a try. (Of course beggars can’t be choosers).

Though we left at about 8:30 am, due to holiday traffic we took 5.5 hours to cover the distance of 120 Kms. Tired and hungry we finally reached Pegasus.

The rooms at Pegasus were nice looking and the creeprs growing on the roof and around gave it a pretty look.

The rooms had abstract painting done by the owner’s late husband and made it cozy.

While we settled our lunch was being cooked. Luckily the host is a good cook and we got some tasty European Food. The long journey and heavy lunch has made us sleep. While some wanted to rest, Akshata , Kavisha and me decided to visit Ranganatitu. By the time we got there it was almost closing time.

Unfortunately for us since it was the last ride for the day, the guide/boatman looked disinterested and didn’t point out birds.

Seeing us with bird book, binoculars and camera people on the boat, kept point birds and asking for names. Luckily for us they were the popular birds and we could easily identify them.

The only time he mentioned the bird was when we saw a Night Heron and started looking at the field guide to identify it. That’s when we realized that he knew the birds that were around. The ride was over in less than 10 mins and for a longer ride we were asked to book the 1000 Rs Boat Ride. We decided to do that some other day. After walking around the shore for a while we headed back to the home-stay

Just as we settled in at the home-stay the sky opened and we had a downpour that lasted through the night. The night’s stay was uncomfortable due to the leaks the rains caused. Everything around had a wet feeling. Though we were tired the night turned out to be a sleepless one.

The owner recognized this and charged us less for the stay. She mentioned that the leak was due the fact that the tiles had just been laid and they had not yet faced a rain to identify leaks

Pictures:

https://picasaweb.google.com/belliappaaishwarya/Srirangapatna#

Information:

The resort is situated on Mysore By Pass (Yelwal Road). The road is pretty bad especially the stretch close to KRS dam turn on.

The Bird Sanctuary opens at 7:00 am and one can hire a boat for 1000 Rs and get a 30 mins ride. If you are a birder I think that this would be a better option than the regular rides

List of Birds Seen

1. House Crow
2. Jungle Crow
3. Black Kite
4. Brahminy Kite
5. Black Ibis
6. Black Headed Ibis
7. Painted Stork
8. Open Billed Stock
9. Night Heron
10. Pond Heron
11. Rock Pigeon
12. Spotted Dove
13. Pied Wagtail
14. Jungle Babbler
15. White Cheeked Barbet
16. Rose Ringed Parakeet
17. Common Tailor Bird
18. Pale Billed Flower Pecker
19. Crimson Rumped Sunbird
20. Common Iora
21. Darter
22. Little commorents
23. Eurasian Spoon Bill
24. Common Flame Backed
25. White Browed Fantail
26. Spotted Owel
27. Red Vented Bulbul
28. Red Whiskered Bulbul
29. Indian Robin
30. Pied Bushchat
31. River Tern
32. White Breasted Kingfisher
33. Stock Billed Kingfisher
34. Pied Kingfisher
35. Common Myna
36. Jungle Myna
37. Hopper
38. Baya Weaver Bird
39. Little Minivet
40. Magpie Robin
41. Swallow (too far off to ID)