Trip Details
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INDIA - WESTERN GHATS FEB. 25-MAR. 9, 2020 India - Western Ghats Feb. 25-Mar. 9, 2020 Sri Lanka Bay Owl (phodilus assimilis) Janne Thomsen and Carsten Fog Side 1 INDIA - WESTERN GHATS FEB. 25-MAR. 9, 2020 Maps of tour Janne Thomsen and Carsten Fog Side 2 INDIA - WESTERN GHATS FEB. 25-MAR. 9, 2020 Introduction In respect of the livelihood of the bird guides of the region, this report does not provide GPS coordinates for the localities of the birds seen on the trip. Part of the salary of the bird guides consists of the tips they receive from satisfied customers and since bird guiding is a seasonal job, with a maximum extension of 6 month a year, it is very important to make sure that the professional bird guides have a viable business year after year. Their knowledge of the area and its natural life should therefore be guarded and appreciated. Having said that, we had a fabulous trip during which we saw 257 species of birds, 24 species of mammals, 88 species of butterflies and 9 species of reptiles. The landscapes of the Western Ghats of Kerala and Tamil Nadu are fabulous and uncrowded with huge variety. We were blessed with very fine weather and reasonable temperatures, meaning not too hot for a couple of Scandinavians used to a little colder climate. The people were friendly, the hotels good, the food excellent and the landscape and wildlife incredible. Acknowledgement Thanks to Thomas Zacharias, Kalypso Adventures, for the great trip arrangement. It is so nice to communicate with a person who acts promptly, is serious and flexible, and is proactive and Thomas is all of that. In-spite-of the 4½ hour time difference between India and Denmark, we were always promptly met with an answer, a solution, a recommendation to whatever we asked. Thank you for that. Thanks to our guide Sudheesh Sujathan, who is truly gifted within the natural field. With intimate knowledge of the wildlife of southern India, both birds, mammals, butterflies and reptiles, Sudheesh knows the habitats and the landscapes we travelled through and the wildlife that inhabits them and combined with the knowledge of the calls and songs of all the birds of the area, it was a pleasure to go birding in his company. His comment - ‘it’s not luck but skill’ - when we saw a rare bird or mammal was quite right. Sudheesh is not only a great birder, but also a very interesting person to spend time with and we learned a lot about both Kerala and Tamil Nadu during the days of our trip. Even though we did speak about lots of Janne Thomsen and Carsten Fog Side 3 INDIA - WESTERN GHATS FEB. 25-MAR. 9, 2020 things during our driving time, one ear and one eye was always on the birds outside and we often stopped mid-sentence to cramble out of the car for a passing Black eagle or Rufous Woodpecker. Thanks for that – without doubt that is the reason for us seeing so much and having such a great time. Thanks to our two drivers Sunil and Jojis for their good humour and endless patience, having to stop and reverse all the time to see a little brown bird. It requires enormous patience coping with the at times chaotic traffic, having an endless number of 3-wheeler taxis pull out straight in front of you, with no care to own or others lives, is really stressing. Drivers of that calibre are made of special material and my only wish is that there were more with that skill in my own country. Target species Birds 1. The Western Ghat endemics 2. The Peninsula India endemics 3. The Owls 4. The Nightjars Mammals 1. The Western Ghat endemics 2. Gaur 3. Dhole 4. Gray Slender Lori Practical Information Literature and Media Guides Birds of India, Second Edition – Richard Grimmett, Carol Inskipp and Tim Inskipp Trip Reports https://www.cloudbirders.com/be/download?filename=NIVALIS_India_01_2019.pdf https://www.cloudbirders.com/be/download?filename=VERHELST_India_12_2017.pdf Websites https://www.birdskerala.com/ https://www.kalypsoadventures.com/ https://www.cloudbirders.com/ Transportation We traveled by car to all locations. Kalypso Adventures supplied a very comfortable car for our trip, with very skilled drivers. Navigation We were blessed with a driver with local knowledge of the area, so navigation was never an issue. Janne Thomsen and Carsten Fog Side 4 INDIA - WESTERN GHATS FEB. 25-MAR. 9, 2020 Visa E-visa – 30 day. Remember to print a version with your picture on it. We had not printed a version with a picture on it and this gave us some trouble at the airport leaving Denmark. After this was solved, we had no more problems. Accomodation Hornbill Camp for 3 nights (http://www.thehornbillcamp.com/) Very friendly staff, very good food, very good service and good grounds for birding. Abad Green Forest for 2 nights (https://www.abadhotels.com/thekkady) Very friendly staff, good food, good room. Olive Brook for 2 nights (http://olivebrookmunnar.com/) Exceptional staff, good food, good room, great birding from the dining room and surroundings. Stanmore Tea Bungalow for 2 nights (http://teabungalows.com) Authentic old colonial villa, exceptional staff, very good food, very good level of service and a very good experience. Accord for 1 night (https://www.theaccordhotels.com/accord-ooty) Friendly staff, good food, good room, good birding at the hotel. Jungle Hut for for 2 nights (http://www.junglehut.in/) Friendly staff, good room, OK food Money The Indian rupee was about 10 Rupees to 1 Danish krone. We changed an adequate amount while transferring from one flight to another at Doha, Qatar Cost Apart from the pre-paid trip arranged by Kalypso Adventures we only needed money for tips and a few drinks. By Danish standards prices were not high. Health and safety We had no trouble with our health and safety was no problem anywhere on the trip. Seen in hindsight we were very lucky that the corona pandemic had not broken out yet. We just made it home before Denmark closed down two days later. Weather Mostly sunny and warm. Only two small showers of rain during the whole trip – one during the early hours at night and one during the day well timed to coincide with the return to the car from a good birding trek. Equipment Canon 7D 100-400mm Canon Swarowski SD 10*42 Leica Trinovid 8*42 HD Sony dictaphone Janne Thomsen and Carsten Fog Side 5 INDIA - WESTERN GHATS FEB. 25-MAR. 9, 2020 Itinerary Day 1, 2, 3: Thattekkad Day 4, 5: Periyar Tiger Reserve Day 6, 7: Munnar Day 8, 9: Valparai in the Anamalai hills Day 10: Ooty Day 11, 12: Mudumalai Day 13: Return to Kochi Sri Lanka Frogmouth (batrachostomus moniliger) male and female Janne Thomsen and Carsten Fog Side 6 INDIA - WESTERN GHATS FEB. 25-MAR. 9, 2020 VISITED SITES Hornbill Camp – 25.02, 26.02 and 27.02.2020 The locality covers 500m both sides of the entrance, the whole of Hornbill Camp and the view of the Periyar river from the plot. Tented camp on a plot of land bordering the Periyar river with a fine view to the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary. To the left of the entrance is a small rubber plantation and to the right a series of smaller lakes. Sitting in front of the tent gives good views of the birds on the river and those crossing over to and from the bird sanctuary. The ever-present sound of White-cheeked Barbet adds to the atmosphere and there is River Tern, Whiskered Tern, Little Cormorant and White-throated Kingfisher along the river nearly all the time. We had some good sightings from the tent of crossing Malabar Parakeet, Malabar Grey Hornbill and Crested Serpent-eagle. There was always a little group of ‘seven sisters’ – Jungle Babblers near the tent chatting away incessantly. Highlights: Indian Scops Owl, Crested Serpent-eagle, Malabar Grey Hornbill Birdlist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S65926776 https://ebird.org/checklist/S65926278 https://ebird.org/checklist/S65855061 Asian Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica) Janne Thomsen and Carsten Fog Side 7 INDIA - WESTERN GHATS FEB. 25-MAR. 9, 2020 Jerdon's Nightjar (caprimulgus atripennis) male and female Urulanthanni – 25.02, 26.02 and 27.02.2020 Urulanthanni is an area well-known for its general forest birding, and at the same time being Sudheesh’ backyard. Sudheesh has birded here since a boy, which of cource gave us an advantage. We spent lots of time walking through the forest on small paths and places, where there were no paths at all, to find the elusive Sri Lanka Bay Owl, which we found resting about 4m off ground well hidden in the foliage. We also spent time resting and having our packed breakfast on the massive granite rocks giving a commanding view of the forest below and while doing so, picking up an impressive list of Western Ghats specialities, including Malabar Barbet, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Malabar Starling, Malabar Parakeet, Malabar Woodshrike, Flame-throated Bulbul, Grey-fronted Green Pigeon and Asian Fairy Bluebird. A short walk nearby produced a pair of roosting Sri Lanka Frogmouths and here it was easy to see, that a lot of birders visits the site. Lots of small paths around the bush where they were roosting. En route to a river area nearby, to find Blue-eared Kingfisher, which we added to our ever growing list, we picked up an Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, a lovely bird to see perched in a dried-out gully and a roosting Indian Scops-Owl.