South&India& 20&October&–&3&November&2012& & ! ! Rob!Gordijn!&!Helen!Rijkes!([email protected])! ! Introduction& This!was!our!first!trip!to!India!and!since!we!had!heard!good!things!about!the!South!we!planned!a!two! week!trip!to!South!India.!Due!to!work!obligations!we!could!not!go!any!later!than!the!last!two!weeks! of!October,!which!was!a!bit!tricky!since!this!was!at!the!ending!of!the!monsoon!period.!!We!managed! to!see!all!our!main!target!which!included!all!South!India!endemics.!India!is!a!beautiful!country!and! besides!all!the!special!birds!there!are,!we!also!really!enjoyed!the!friendly!people,!delicious!food!and! beautiful!scenery.! Itinerary& 20 oct Arrival at Cochin. Travel to Thattekad (Jungle Bird Homestay) 21 oct Thattekad: Morning at “The Rock”, afternoon around Homestay 22 oct Thattekad: Morning at “The Rock”, afternoon at Urlanthany area 23 oct Thattekad: Morning at Urlanthany area, afternoon near Homestay 24 oct Morning at Thattekad (Urlanthany), then travel to Munnar (3,5 hours by bus) 25 oct Munnar: Morning at Rajamalai NP, afternoon at Cardamom Shola 26 oct Munnar: Morning to Bodi Ghat, afternoon at Cardamom Shola again 27 oct Travel to Ooty (9 hours by bus/taxi) 28 oct Ooty: Morning and late afternoon at Cairnhill Shola 29 oct Travel to Masinagudi: morning at Sighur Ghat road (taxi), afternoon around Jungle Hut 30 oct Masinagudi: Birding around Jungle Hut 31 oct Masinagudi: Morning at Jungle Hut, afternoon travel to Mysore 1 nov Mysore: Morning at Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, 6 PM night bus to Cochin (10 hours) 2 nov Arrival at Cochin, travel to Cherai Beach 3 nov Cherai Beach, travel to airport, flight back home ! Practicalities& Weather' Most!of!the!places!we!visited!were!still!in!the!‘small!monsoon’!period!(September!to!November),!but! we!were!lucky!that!this!was!an!dry!year.!Although!we!did!not!have!much!rain,!we!were!told!that!bird! activity!is!much!higher!later!in!the!season!(from!December/January!onwards)!and!therefore!targets! are!much!easier!to!find.!! Guiding' We!arranged!guides!for!Thattekad!and!Masinagudi,!all!other!places!we!birded!ourselves.!This! combination!worked!perfect!for!us.!(In!Thattekad!most!areas!are!not!allowed!visiting!without!a! guide,!and!in!Masinagudi!there!are!elephants!all!over!the!area,!so!it!is!not!recommended!to!wander! around!on!your!own.)! Travelling' We!booked!a!return!ticket!with!Emirates!from!Amsterdam!via!Dubai!to!Cochin!for!€690.! In!India!we!used!a!combination!of!buses,!rickshaws!and!taxis,!depending!on!our!schedule!and!what! was!available.!For!long!distances!we!mostly!used!normal!buses.!Buses!are!cheap!(approximately!10! rupees!per!person!per!hour)!but!they!are!also!very!slow!(average!40!km/hour).!When!we!wanted!to! do!some!birding!on!the!way!(Bodi!Ghat,!Sighur!Ghat!road)!we!arranged!a!taxi.!For!distances!within!45! min,!rickshaws!were!the!perfect!option!since!they!are!widely!available.! [ Cochin!to!Thattekad:!We!arrived!at!the!airport!at!9am!and!took!a!taxi!directly!to!the!Jungle! Bird!Homestay!at!Thattekad.! [ Thattekad!to!Munnar:!Direct!bus!Kothamangalam!to!Munnar!(3!hours),!buses!go!often.! [ Munnar!to!Ooty:!This!is!a!long!way!to!cover!by!bus!in!one!day.!We!left!Munnar!at!9AM!and! with!a!short!stopover!in!Udalmapet!we!were!at!3PM!in!Coimbatore.!Since!Ooty!was!still!quite! far!we!arranged!a!shared!taxi!for!the!last!part!and!arrived!in!Ooty!at!18:45.! [ Ooty!to!Masinagudi:!We!arranged!a!taxi!at!6!in!the!morning!since!we!wanted!to!do!some! birding!stops!on!the!way!at!the!Sighur!Ghat!road.! [ Masinagudi!to!Mysore:!We!were!dropped!off!by!a!jeep!from!Jungle!Hut!at!the!junction!where! the!main!road!from!Ooty!joins!the!old!road!again.!Here!we!only!had!to!wait!for!20!minutes! before!we!were!in!a!bus!to!Gundlupet!(45!min)!and!from!there!a!bus!to!Mysore!(1.5!hour).! [ Mysore!to!Ranganathittu!Bird!Sanctuary:!We!took!one!of!the!many!Bangalore!bound!buses! and!got!off!at!the!first!stop,!Srirangapatnam!!(30!min).!From!there!we!took!a!rickshaw!to!the! reserve.! [ Mysore!to!Cochin:!Direct!nightbus!that!left!Mysore!at!6:30pm!and!arrived!in!Cochin!at!4am! (it!was!!supposed!to!arrive!at!6am).! ! ' Eating'&'Sleeping' Most!nights!we!spent!about!800!rupees!for!a!double!in!a!hostel/homestay!(with!the!exception!of! Jungle!Hut!and!a!hotel!in!Mysore).!Eating!was!either!at!the!hostel!or!at!a!local!restaurant,!it!never! cost!more!than!a!few!hundred!rupees!for!the!two!of!us!and!every!time!it!was!delicious.! Visited&Sites& All!places!we!visited!are!described!in!the!Birdwatching!guide!to!India!(site!description!are!still!quite! usefull!although!the!book!is!not!very!recent).!In!addition!we!gathered!information!from!tripreports.! The!following!tripreports!were!very!usefull!for!our!itinary:!! • Sander!Bot,!2010!! http://83.84.118.179/Apache/doc/doc00279.pdf!! • Lieven!de!Temmerman,!2008! http://www.freewebs.com/lievendetemmerman/India%202008%20tripreport.pdf! • Hans!Matheve!,!2006! http://users.ugent.be/~hmatheve/hm/INDIA06.html! • Kolbjørn!Schjolberg!,2003! http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/india/india25[sw/sw[india[03.htm!! ' Thattekad' We!stayed!in!Thattekad!for!4!nights!at!the!Jungle!Bird!Homestay,!run!by!advocate/birdguide!Gireesh! (junglebirdhomestay.blogspot.com).!We!had!a!wonderful!time!here!and!would!definitely!recommend! the!warm!hospitality!of!this!family!homestay.!We!spent!half!the!time!birding!with!Gireesh!and!the! other!half!with!his!cousin!Sudeesh,!a!very!good!bird!guide!as!well!who!has!his!own!guiding!business! (see!endemicbirdtour.com!for!his!website).!! Birding!was!done!mainly!at!three!different!sites!around!Thattekad:! 1. Around!the!Homestay!(10°!7'45.02"N,!76°41'20.91"E:!Most!trails!around!the!homestay!are! not!open!for!visitors!without!a!guide!(if!you!want!to!walk!on!your!own,!you!can!bird!around! the!bridge!and!on!a!trail!that!goes!onto!the!right,!100!m!after!the!bridge).!In!the!forest! around/behind!the!homestay!we!saw!nice!species!such!as!White[bellied!Treepie,!Indian!Pitta,! Sri!Lanka!Frogmouth!and!Jerdon’s!Nightjar.! 2. At!“The!Rock”!(10°!8'22.70"N,!76°43'33.67"E):!!Two!mornings!were!spent!on!top!of!a!big!rock! surrounded!by!forest.!Good!bird!activity!on!both!days!with!species!as!Malabar!Grey!Hornbill,! Malabar!Trogon,!Grey[headed!bulbul.! 3. At!the!Urlanthany!area:!The!Idamalayar!Dam!is!closed!for!visitors!nowadays,!so!the!best! place!for!Wynaad!Laughingtrush!is!at!Urlanthany!where!there!is!a!large!area!of!bamboo!(10°! 7'0.69"N,!76°45'58.29"E).!We!tried!three!times!for!the!Wynaads,!only!with!success!the!third! time!(note!that!the!area!is!not!always!accessible!when!there!are!elephants!around).!Apart! from!the!hundreds!of!leeches!(the!leeches!should!mostly!be!gone!by!January),!other!birds! that!we!saw!here!are!White[bellied!woodpecker,!!Puff[throated!babbler,!Indian!Pitta.! ! ' ' Munnar' In!Munnar!we!stayed!at!the!Greenview!Hostel.!It!was!busy!in!town!since!our!visit!happened!to! coincide!with!the!Indian!Holidays.!From!here!we!birded!three!areas:! 1. Rajamalai!National!Park:!Half!an!hour!by!rickshaw!from!Munnar,!the!Rajamalai!NP!is!a!good! birding!place!to!visit.!Try!to!be!there!when!the!park!opens,!especially!on!weekends!and! holidays.!(The!park!now!opens!at!7:30).!When!you!get!out!of!the!park!bus!there!is!a!good! shola!directly!left!of!the!museum.!Here!we!saw!Blue!Whistling!Thrush!and!Kerala! Laughingthrush.!For!Black[and[orange!Flycatcher!and!White[bellied!Blue!Robin!try!the!shola! that!is!around!the!second!small!bridge!when!you!walk!up!(10°!8'36.32"N,!77°!2'12.41"E).! Going!back!to!Munnar!you!pass!by!a!school!(10°!7'31.78"N,!77°!3'13.87"E)!where!also!a!small! shola!still!exists,!good!for!Nilgiri!flycatcher!and!Black[and[orange!Flycatcher.! 2. Cardamom!Shola!&!Deshadan!resort:!The!map!in!tripreport!Schjolberg!2003!is!still!accurate.! When!you!arrive!at!Deshadan!resort!go!through!the!resort.!!At!the!end!there!is!a!small!trail! around!the!gate!after!which!the!dirt!road!starts.!The!guards!are!used!to!birdwatchers.!We! found!the!grassbird!at!the!top!of!the!first!grassy!hill,!close!to!a!big!rock!(10°!3'32.21"N,!77°! 4'14.98"E).!It!was!very!skulky!and!mostly!covered!in!the!small!bushes,!not!in!the!grass.!From! Munnar!to!the!beginning!of!the!cardamom!shola!it!is!only!half!an!hour!walking.! 3. Bodi!Ghat!road:!We!arranged!a!taxi!at!the!hostel!the!previous!night!(1500!rupees!from!5AM! till!12AM).!The!road!is!quite!busy!with!traffic!but!the!birding!here!is!still!very!good.!The!km! signs!are!not!very!clear!and!we!got!out!at!the!small!temple!(6!km!down)!and!walk!from!there! (10°!2'11.30"N,!77°15'51.69"E).!Along!the!ways!we!saw!Yellow[throated!bulbul,!Rufous! Babbler,!Tawny!Babbler,!Blue[faced!Malkoha,!etc.! Ooty' We!visited!three!sites!near!Ooty:! 1. Cairnhill!forest:!This!shola!is!only!a!few!km!outside!Ooty,!and!known!by!the!local!riksja! drivers.!We!birded!here!from!6:30!to!12!AM!and!again!from!3!to!5!PM.!All!target!species! were!seen!but!overall!it!was!very!quiet.!The!birds!are!there,!but!it!requires!endurance!to!see! them.! 2. Botanical!garden:!Although!a!visit!to!the!botanical!garden!seemed!rewarding!from!other!trip! reports,!our!visit!on!a!Sunday!afternoon!turned!out!not!to!be!the!best!timing.!It!was!very! busy!and!every!5!min!a!group!of!young!Indiers!wanted!to!take!a!photo!with!us.! 3.