Unexpectedly spotting a bird

We stayed in HSR Layout, Bangalore for 2.5 years until recently. For the final 6 months or so, everyday evening after 6:30-7, after it was dark, I used to hear this bird’s call. It used to fly by our house why making this loud call, a call I’ve never heard in life, and I couldn’t see it of course in the dark. So even if I wanted to know what bird it is, I couldn’t. And it used to bother me everyday.

After we moved to this new house in Hosa Road last month, I thought I’ll never find out the bird. But even in this house the same thing is happening! The same bird call everyday evening after dark! I dont know if it’s the same bird, but there is a good chance because the path is what it should be, and we’re not very far from the last place.

Anyway.

Couple of weeks back we made a trip to Mysore, as posted here. On our second day we decided to make a trip to Sri Venugopala Swamy Temple at the KRS backwater. Right before you enter the temple parking lot, there is a right turn, kind of an off road-ish path, that leads to the backwater where you can touch the water, take a bath, etc. We decided to go park the car near the water there. There is a video of the road leading to this place in the other blog post.

And guess what, just as I got out of the car, I hear the same bird call! I look towards the sound and I see 2 birds playing with each other. I grab the camera and run to take photo of them. But they were a bit far and I didn’t carry a tripod, so only photos I got were a bit shaky and not very clear, but I still got a clear enough photo to ID it.

It’s a bird called Red-wattled lapwing.

You can hear the bird call on the Wikipedia page. It’s loud!

In Bangla, it’s called a হটটিটি. Funny name! 😂