A Birding safari (with some extras) in the Western Ghats of Southern India

[TonyQ]

stunning photos of a spectacular animal

Really beautiful 

[Atravelynn]

Those statues were a nice bonus amongst all the fabulous wildlife sightings, both birds and primates.

[michael-ibk]

Really cool monkeys!

[janzin]

After our morning with the macaques, we continued on our way to our next destination, Munnar, another hill country locale with a good chance of several more endemics.  But on our way, we made a stop at the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary for another--get this--squirrel! The Giant Grizzled Squirrel is found in Sri Lanka as well as the Western Ghats, and is considered near threatened due to habitat destruction.

 

By the way, we'd now left Tamil Nadu and were in our third Indian state of the trip: Kerala.

 

Our target here:

 

 

Here as in other reserves we needed to be accompanied by a local guide. The Chinnar sanctuary is adjacent to the Anamalai Tiger Reserve and there could be predators about (not likely, but you never know.) He took us to a forest trail that paralleled a stream.

 

He pointed out a Brown Fish Owl roosting in a crook of this tree...possibly in a nest. Terrible photo but it was the only time we saw this owl on this trip.

 

 

There were also a few Jungle Owlets in the forest.

 

 

We didn't see too many other birds, it was midday and the forest was rather quiet.

 

 

But it wasn't too long before we found our first Grizzled Giant Squirrel. These squirrels are almost entirely arboreal and rarely come down to the ground.

 

 

They are much less colorful than the Malabar Giant Squirrel, mostly black and grey--well, grizzled!

 

 

 

But still very cute.

 

 

Here's a habitat view of the stream we followed.

 

 

Notice the group of people downstream.  It turned out this was a school group of young women, on a nature hike with their teachers and the local guide. As always in India, they were very curious about us foreigners and when they found out that Alan was a former teacher they were very excited to talk with him and hear about education in the USA.

 

 

Eventually we returned to the car to continue on our way to Munnar. But not before we found a few new species along the road. We stopped when Anoop spotted a new monkey for the trip--the Tufted Grey Langur, found in southeast India and Sri Lanka. It was the only time we saw this species, which as you can see as a bit of a peaked hairdo.

 

 

We also found a Muntjac, or Barking Deer...again, the only time on the trip we saw this not-too-uncommon, but shy, deer.

 

 

At one stop, in the distance we saw a few more Nilgiri Langurs.

 

 

Grey-backed Shrikes were common all over but this is probably my best shot of one.

 

 

Nearing Munnar, we were back in tea country.

 

Shot taken from the moving car...

 

 

Very close to our hotel we found a pair of elephants wandering in a grove of tea.

 

 

 

 

 

The next two nights we would spend at Olive Brook lodge, a bird-friendly accommodation in the hills above Munnar.

Edited May 31, 2023 by janzin

[Dave Williams]

Very interesting and informative report. Thank you! You have definitely ruled out Kabini as far as I’m concerned! Running for a place on the jeep is not on my agenda! Out of curiosity how do they charge for bridge cameras with huge zooms?

[janzin]

7 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

Very interesting and informative report. Thank you! You have definitely ruled out Kabini as far as I’m concerned! Running for a place on the jeep is not on my agenda! Out of curiosity how do they charge for bridge cameras with huge zooms?

Good question. As far as I understand it's the same...see below.  However, I am not sure how they'd check.  It seemed like it was the responsibility of your guide to report the cameras...our guide from the lodge took note of who had what. (One tiny advantage of this was that all the camera fees went on our hotel bill, so we could pay them by credit card. Which left us with a lot of leftover rupees as we had expected to need to pay in cash.)  So possibly they wouldn't know how much zoom you had on a bridge camera. 

 

I remember now that I used my 100-400 instead of my 500mm lens on a few safaris to reduce the cost. But my spouse was using a 150-600 Tamron.

[Soukous]

22 hours ago, janzin said:

my spouse was using a 150-600 Tamron.

 

Don't you let him use your Nikon lenses? 

 

A bit of a side bar, but I am very curious to know how the Tamron stacks up against your Nikon lenses. Every review I read seems to have a different verdict - this hints at some inconsistency.

 

[Soukous]

22 hours ago, janzin said:

possibly they wouldn't know how much zoom you had on a bridge camera. 

 

I remember now that I used my 100-400 instead of my 500mm lens on a few safaris to reduce the cost. But my spouse was using a 150-600 Tamron.

 

In many of the parks I have visited the camera fee is the same for all cameras, no matter what lens you have. But what makes this whole camera fees issue so absurd is that 90% of visitors use their cellphones and pay no fees at all, yet they are the people who have caused the most incidents in the parks pursuing their obsession to get selfies of them with wildlife in the photo.

 

I too have been on game drives where I took no photos at all, so I was paying for the privilege of carrying my camera. I'll admit that I only ever paid for 1 camera, even when I had a second in my backpack. I can only use 1 at a time. Our guides did not seem bothered by this. 

 

 

[janzin]

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

 

Don't you let him use your Nikon lenses? 

 

A bit of a side bar, but I am very curious to know how the Tamron stacks up against your Nikon lenses. Every review I read seems to have a different verdict - this hints at some inconsistency.

 

@Soukous He is quite happy with the Tamron on the D500--he's shots are usually as sharp as mine with the 500PF.  And actually he has his own copy of the 500PF but for most safari he prefers the single zoom as he doesn't really like to use two bodies. Two bodies would have been impossible at Kabini anyway, regardless of the cost, as the seating was so tight. 

 

However, he's now gone over to the dark side--just got the Nikon Z8   We'll have to see how the Tamron works on that camera although I'd expect it to be quite good.

 

 

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

 

In many of the parks I have visited the camera fee is the same for all cameras, no matter what lens you have. But what makes this whole camera fees issue so absurd is that 90% of visitors use their cellphones and pay no fees at all, yet they are the people who have caused the most incidents in the parks pursuing their obsession to get selfies of them with wildlife in the photo.

 

I too have been on game drives where I took no photos at all, so I was paying for the privilege of carrying my camera. I'll admit that I only ever paid for 1 camera, even when I had a second in my backpack. I can only use 1 at a time. Our guides did not seem bothered by this. 

 

 

Agree it's the selfie set that cause the most problems! And yes in other parks I recall our guide just telling us to keep one camera in the pack.  But as noted above, two bodies at Kabini would be just too cumbersome. There's really no room to even bring much of a backpack with a full vehicle.  

 

I hope to get back to editing later today or definitely tomorrow, I still have lots of days to cover--including some of the best bird photos--but the last few days have been super busy...

[janzin]

The next day was spent at various locations around Munnar. The original plan had been to visit Eravikulam National Park outside of Munnar for the Nilgiri Tahr but it sort of slipped Wild World India's mind that the park would be closed from Feb 1st. Oops.  But not to worry, Anoop had lots of spots staked out for various target birds. Honestly, as usual in these sort of trips, we just followed along wherever we were taken so I don't really know precisely where we were most of the time. (Actually, I could find out as I have the GPS tracking active on my Z9, but it's really not important for this report to detail where exactly we were.) Suffice to say we spent the full day in the area and I'll post an assortment of the birds we saw.

 

But the first creature we saw in the very early morning was not a bird, but a snake. This Large-scaled Pit Viper is venomous, although not usually fatal to humans.  Endemic to the Western Ghats, south of the  Palghat gap in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Anoop spied it curled up in a crevice in the rocks on the side of the road.  It wasn't very large, maybe about 12 inches although we could not see it fully.

 

 

Later in the afternoon when we returned up the same road we found it still in the same spot.

 

Next up, another beautiful Laughingthrush. This it the Western Ghats endemic Palani Laughingthrush, which is one of those species which is found only south of the Palghat gap and split from it's close relatives north of the gap.

 

 

And another very localized endemic, the White-bellied Sholakili.  (Formerly known as the White-bellied Blue Robin.) This one was singing it's heart away in the deep brush--Anoop illuminated it briefly with his flashlight (which didn't disturb it a bit, it kept on singing away.)

 

 

Along the roadside, a more common Pied Bushchat.

 

 

And a better look at Indian White-eye.

 

 

Nilgiri Flowerpecker, a rather drab endemic found throughout the Western Ghats. We'd seen it earlier in the trip in Masinaguidi, in fact in the garden of the Jungle Hut lodge, but I didn't get a photo then.

 

The beautiful Crimson-backed Sunbird, also endemic to the Western Ghats. I'll have better photos from the hide at Thattekad but he's so lovely I can't resist posting a few now.

 

 

 

Another bird which I'll have better shots of from Thattekad, the Malabar Whistling Thrush.

 

 

This Malabar Giant Squirrel was positively glowing in the sun....amazing colors on this one.

 

 

Another drab forest dweller, not an endemic but in fact widespread over Southeast Asia, the Brown-cheeked Fulvetta.

 

 

And the very common Red-whiskered Bulbul.

 

 

A better shot of the White-bellied Sholakili.

 

 

Towards the end of the day we followed the road that climbed the hill above Olive Brook and led to another another lodge, which advertises itself as the highest resort in Munnar. From here we had a view of some very high open trees and the idea was to watch as birds came through to roost for the night. Sure enough, we saw Southern Hill Mynas (a first for the trip and a lifer), Ashy and Bronzed Drongos, Common Rosefinch, and others, but most were too distant for photos--except for this Chestnut-headed Bee-eater.

 

 

Tomorrow we head out for the 90km drive to Periyar National Park, for another two night stay at what turned out to be our favorite accommodation, Spice Village.

[pault]

Some beautiful birds and beautiful shots of them. 

 

If you just posted your photos (other than your worst tiger shot) and kept quiet, Kabini would look great - just a little bad luck with the tiger. 

 

You must have birdied the lodge gardens to death with all that downtime. 

[janzin]

4 hours ago, pault said:

Some beautiful birds and beautiful shots of them. 

 

If you just posted your photos (other than your worst tiger shot) and kept quiet, Kabini would look great - just a little bad luck with the tiger. 

 

You must have birdied the lodge gardens to death with all that downtime. 

Thanks for the kind words @pault! Yes, I did manage some nice photos and the great sloth bear sighting at Kabini...but the downsides (and not just the tiger bad luck, as that can happen at any park) would likely keep me from returning. Still, YMMV or ETTO as they say

[janzin]

We took a very scenic route from Munnar to Periyar, in fact Anoop said it was one of the most scenic roads in all of Kerala and it certainly was lovely.

 

Panorama from a roadside stop.

 

 

Us taking the photos

 

 

Tea country, of course.

 

 

We made several stops along the road for birds. This Yellow-throated Bulbul is an endemic of the Western Ghats and Anoop knew the right spot..

 

 

 

While we were photographing the Bulbul, a Blue-faced Malkoha landed in a nearby acacia tree.

 

 

Road view.

 

 

And somewhere along the route, the usual cow-jam.

 

 

 

Around lunchtime we arrived at our lodge, Spice Village in the small village of Thekkady, adjacent to Periyar National Park and Tiger Reserve.  This lodge is modeled on the dwellings of the native Manan tribe of this region, and very eco-conscious, each accommodation a thatched roofed cabin, with their own organic gardens, etc.  It was definitely the favorite lodge of our trip, even more so than Evolve Back (which was also lovely) but something about Spice Village was just more cozy.

 

Our room

 

Visitors on our front porch.

 

 

View from our cottage.

 

 

The pool (never got to use it, of course. Always birding although it was really tempting here as it was pretty hot.)

 

 

There were two restaurants: the main one which at dinner was a buffet but at lunch you ordered a la carte--expansive choices and delicious food. There was also another dining spot called the "50 Mile Diet" where all the food was purported to be sourced within 50 miles. This, we found out, cost us extra for the one dinner we had there, as it wasn't included in our plan, but we tried it one night just for a change. Very delicious as well.

 

[janzin]

After a delicious lunch we headed for our first afternoon in Periyar Tiger Reserve. I assume there are tigers there although it is not particularly known for spotting tigers and given how there are walking trails I assume that if there are tigers, they are nowhere near where the tourists generally go. I am actually not even sure if there are jeep excursions there, as all we did was walking.  As in other reserves, it was required to be joined by an official guide. We met him at the entrance kiosk which is actually in a small village, and headed out for our walk.

 

The big target for the afternoon was another rare and localized Laughingthrush, but first we found several other good birds.  It was a difficult area for photography as it was fairly dense but right around the village we got another target, the Western Ghat endemic Malabar Parakeet.

 

 

And our first really good view of the Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, a spectacular, if somewhat common bird. We'll see him again, and with better photos to come from Thattekad.

 

 

The local guide knew where this pair of Sri Lanka Frogmouths were roosting. A bird I really wanted to find! Unfortunately very impossible to see clearly but in the spirit of EBC (every bird counts!), here's the best I could do.

 

 

Other good birds seen here, but without decent photos (at least from this day), were Jungle Owlet, Malabar Starling, Indian Scimitar-Babbler, Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike, and more.

But would we find the one bird most wanted?

 

Yes, of course we would!  We came upon a bit of a clearing and found multiple Wayanad Laughingthrushes!  This bird is endemic to the Western Ghats south of Goa, with a patchy distribution. They are often found in groups (Anoop said he counted seven here, although I only think I saw four.)

 

 

 

It was also exciting that they were more or less out in the open, as they can usually be found in the deep woods. 

 

On that high note we headed back to Spice Village for the evening...we had a full day in Periyar coming up tomorrow.

 

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by janzin

[Atravelynn]

You've outdone yourself with the squirrels and so many interesting birds.

[janzin]

1 hour ago, Atravelynn said:

You've outdone yourself with the squirrels and so many interesting birds.

thanks Lynn, there were even more squirrel species I didn't get photos of!   Including the endemic and endangered Nilgiri striped squirrel.

[janzin]

The next morning we were told we needed to take a short raft ride across the Periyar river to where we would bird for the morning. But when we arrived at the launch site, it was a bit misty!

 

 

But no worries, the raft was out there...somewhere...

 

 

The raft turned out to be a very interesting--if of somewhat questionable stability--hand-pulled raft made of wooden logs and planks...

 

 

Which you needed to ride standing up!

 

 

Well, that was fun, fortunately a very short three minute ride on a calm river.

 

By the time we got to the other side the mist had already started to burn off and it was a very lovely sight.

 

 

With Anoop and our local guide we headed into the forest in search of some new birds. However, the morning was a bit slow, although we enjoyed the forest.

 

A very common Orange-headed Thrush.

 

 

An immature Malabar Parakeet...note it doesn't have the pink bill or the coloration of the adult.

 

 

And our first photos (not first sightings) of Indian Scimitar Babbler.

 

 

A very startled looking Jungle Owlet.

 

 

By the time we were to return, the mist was entirely gone. Now you can see just how short the ride actually was.

 

 

Look Ma, no hands!

 

 

We returned to Spice Village for lunch and a rest, but it wasn't long before we were back again in the park. This time we wandered the roads around the village and entrance areas and we actually did better here with birds than we had in the forest.

 

We spend awhile with a cooperative Malabar Trogon. Such a beautiful bird, I hope you to mind a few more photos.

 

 

A back view!

 

 

 

A Common Flameback, not to be confused with the Greater Flameback or Black-rumped Flameback which we'd also seen. This was a life bird and the only time we saw one. It is easy to confuse with the other Flamebacks at first glance, but it has a different facial pattern and a black nape. In India it is found primarily in the Western Ghats.

 

 

Another Jungle Owlet but what is interesting to me in this photo is the weird growth (some sort of fungus??) on the tree trunk.

 

 

Another endemic found only in the Western Ghats, Malabar Gray Hornbill.

 

 

Southern Hill Myna

 

 

Probably the most beautiful of all the Nuthatches, the Velvet-fronted Nuthatch. So hard to photograph these guys but I got lucky! One of my favorite photos of the trip!

 

 

And lastly, the day just wouldn't be complete without another Malabar Giant Squirrel.

 

 

The following day the plan was to leave early and head straight to Thattekad--Anoop's home area and one which he was eager to show us around. He had a special treat lined up---and a promise of guaranteed Indian Pitta. Let's go!

Edited June 14, 2023 by janzin

[Zim Girl]

Love the misty river crossing picture and that Malabar Trogon is a stunning bird!

[Soukous]

I'm really enjoying travel(l)ing along with you on this trip.

[janzin]

8 hours ago, Soukous said:

I'm really enjoying travel(l)ing along with you on this trip.

@SoukousThanks! Have you birded the Western Ghats? I would have thought you'd done so....

[TonyQ]

Well done with that Nuthatch, really beautiful (bird and photo!)

[Soukous]

13 hours ago, janzin said:

@SoukousThanks! Have you birded the Western Ghats? I would have thought you'd done so....

 

Yes, parts of it, but not in nearly as much depth as you did. I clearly need to go back.

[Atravelynn]

You made the most of the misty river scene.  The sun came out for more magnificent bird sightings and shots!

[Jil]

What wonderful photos ....I am so enjoying going along with you....bringing back such wonderful memories

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Jil

[janzin]

From Periyar we drove pretty much straight through to Thattekad, arriving around lunchtime. Our accommodation here was Hornbill Camp, a series of tents on wooden platforms situated along the river. They were in the process of renovating all the tents which were advertised as "luxury;" although I wouldn't call them that, they were quite comfortable with (always important here) good air conditioning. Wifi was available only around the dining area. A bit sparse inside.

 

Our tent.

 

 

I had to laugh when I saw the fabric used for the door curtains.  I don't think there are Toucans in India But it was amusing and cheerful!

 

 

The view of the river from our tent.

 

 

The "resort" was comfortable enough but the big downside was the food, which was mediocre to just plain bad, and not much of it. But it was tolerable for two nights. This was the only place we stayed where we didn't enjoy the food. But at least we didn't get sick--that's always something

 

After our (bad) lunch and a bit of a rest in the hot part of the day, we headed off to our "surprise."  On our way there we drove through a swampy are which yielded a new bird for the trip, Gray-headed Swamphen.

 

 

Our surprise--it turned out that Anoop had planned for us to hang at a photo blind for the rest of the afternoon--Yay!! I'm finding that I really love these blinds in India, you may remember we spent some time in one in Sattal (if you read my prior India trip report.)  I don't know why they don't do more of these in South American countries (where there are often feeders, but rarely blinds.)  Now this blind was pretty primitive---just a canopy with holes in it, but it did the trick.  We had a blast shooting for several hours, with a good variety of birds coming to a water bath and feeding station.

 

The blind. You'll note that there's no platform for your camera, which would have been useful as most of us in there didn't have tripods. So after awhile we turned some chairs around to help support our long lenses--it was better than nothing!

 

 

Of course, Anoop was friends with the property owner (as I mentioned before, he lives in the area.) At one point he came and brought us fresh hot tea...although I think iced tea would have been more appropriate. It was a bit of an oven inside there

 

To the birds.  I will just post them more or less in order as they were taken, as I'm still processing them, and you'll probably see some duplicate species.

 

Practically the first bird we saw was my "MOST WANTED" of the entire trip, the Indian Pitta. Anoop had promised it and here it was! Whoo-hooo!

 

 

 

After that it was all icing on the cake...

 

Malabar Whistling Thrush

 

 

Another Western Ghat endemic, Malabar Starling--a bit bedraggled after bathing.

 

 

And a Western Ghat/Sri Lanka endemic, Yellow-browed Bulbul.

 

 

Black-throated Munia (you'll come to recognize that branch with the berries...it was very popular with the birds.)

 

 

Munias taking a bath..

 

 

The beautiful White-bellied Treepie, another Western Ghat endemic.

 

 

 

Having a bath..

 

 

The very familiar Jungle Babbler, seen in parks all over India.

 

 

Orange-headed Thrush again.

 

 

I'll end this post with the Asian Fairy-bluebird. This is the female, the male looks much more spectacular, but that will be in the next installment. Still, that red eye stands out!

 

 

Stay tuned for Part II from the photo blind, coming soon!