Western Ghats Birding
By Jayantika Dave
Hi fellow birders!
If a dear friend, invited you to end the year, birding in the wilds of Thattekad, Kerala, with a truly knowledgeable bird guide, and friends old and new….what would you do?! You would go! ….Oh yes, you would go! Check out the tour in www.enchantedindia.com
Which is exactly what Himanshu and I, Mona and Rajiv Khanna, Neelam Sethi and Jannat did, when Nikhil Devasar extended this invitation, resulting in five, mind blowing days, with the sighting of 100 bird species, of which 18 were lifers for me! What a lovely way to end 2017!
So on 28 Dec, we all flew in from different locations to Cochin, and were driven 1.5 hours to the Birding camp of KV Eldhose. 4 huts, beautifully situated amongst rubber and acacia plantations and mixed forest, were our home for the next 4 days, with very tasty Kerala meals cooked and served by the family personally.
KV Eldhose is a legend….he has studied the birds of this area intimately, knows what special delicacies they would enjoy, which areas they like to inhabit and where to look for them.
The first morning, everyone had frogmouths on their mind, so off we went to track this secretive bird. At the first favourite haunt, we came up empty handed. So we continued to wander the forest, marvelling at the sight of Loten’s and crimson backed sunbirds on the brilliant red semul flowers, the the sight and sound of the noisy, rich chestnut and fawn Malabar squirrel, the Malabar parakeets with their unusual black and turquoise collared necks, and all of this against a backdrop of the incessant calls of the white cheeked and crimson breasted barbets, interlaced with the gurgle of tranquil streams ….a meditation audio medley! After searching for an hour, we were finally rewarded with two sightings of frogmouth pairs….from strange angles….from right below, or too high up….so while we did see them, they left us hungry and wanting more!
The afternoon was a flycatcher’s paradise! From the blue throated blue, to the white bellied blue, interspersed with rusty tailed, brown breasted, Paradise and Tickells blue flycatchers, with the brilliant black naped Monarch making a star appearance! Not to be outdone, a pitta would do a board walk periodically and disappear, the Malabar whistiling thrush with its iridescent blue flashes would make its star appearance, and the Asian Fairy Bluebird finally shyly appeared, taking our breath away! The backdrop this time, was the incessant call of the Imperial green pigeons, and the raucous racket of the rufous tree pies, and the racquet tailed drongos, which appeared so often, we finally began to ignore them!
But were we satisfied with such a lovely full day of sightings? O no!….we wanted more! And what can you see after dinner on a lovely supermoon night?….Nightjars! So we drove out again, and Eldhose, knowing the roosting points so well, pointed his powerful flashlight at a rocky outcrop….and there he was….a Jungle Nightjar in all his grey mottled glory! Another sweep of the flashlight, and Jerdon’s showing their chestnut colors, on a knarled tree trunk! We stood….and drank it all in! So special to be able to see the nightjars, up close, and again….and again!
Day two was owling morning! So off we went, to walk in dense forest with tall old trees….perfect owling country! Our first sighting was the Brown Hawk Owl, with the dense streaking on the chest clearly visible. This was followed by the huge Brown Fish Owl, looking down at us with startlingly big yellow eyes and prominent ears. On the drive back, the Jungle Owlet calls lured us into walking some more to find it, and what a sight it was….a little chap, beautifully marked, sitting amongst the bright red fall leaves! The Mottled Wood Owl only got sighted that night, but with its chestnut markings, it was so well worth the wait!
The afternoon then was highlighted by wonderful sightings of the White bellied tree pie, Grey Jungle fowl in full breeding plumage, and lovely sightings of the Asian Fairy Bluebird again, amidst a host of Blyth’s starlings and yellow browed bulbuls.
The third morning was again a forest walk, and after walking deep into the forest, we finally found a pair of frogmouth….deep into scrub, but at eye height, nestled together, enormous eyes being opened periodically to check us out, wide gape and bristles clearly seen! What a sight….something I had never seen before….what a lifer! And as if that wasn’t enough, the second part of the walk got us lovely and long sightings of a pair of Malabar trogons….gloriously showing off their red, their chestnut, their bars, their blue eye surrounds! Thrilling!
And so the days flowed into each other, filled with new sightings, new experiences, and new places with a trip to Munnar too, where the highlight was the Little Spiderhunter.
We sang our way into the new year, and thanked a merciful God, that we were able to spend these days, immersed in natural and avian beauty, in the company of like-minded, good friends!
Thank you Nik for leading such an amazing trip, KV Eldhose for unforgettable sightings and warm hospitality, and Neelam, Jannat, Himanshu, Mona and Rajiv for being such wonderful birding companions!
Here’s to 2018….and many more such trips!
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