Western Ghats - 2nd December (Day 8)

Today we were up at 06:15 to a rather overcast morning with light drizzle. We had time for a coffee and biscuits in the Jungle Hut lodge then headed out to area of grassland and scattered trees and scrub at Mudumalai. It was a very enjoyable morning with good numbers of birds to be seen. The highlight was Indian Nuthatch plus Hill Swallow, Bay-backed Shrike, Indian Robin, Yellow-wattled Lapwing, Plum-headed Parakeet, Syke’s Warbler, Blyth’s Reed-warbler, Lesser Whitethroat (of the subspecies althaea, sometimes split as Hume's Whitethroat)  Pallid Harrier and Pale-billed Flowerpecker. Having seen the Nuthatch, the main target here, we headed to a bamboo dominated gully at the back of the lodge. By now it was sunny and fairly hot which was a welcome change to the recent wet weather. In the bamboo we found Tickell’s Blue-flycatcher, Malabar Whistling-thrush and Orange-headed Thrush but the main target Nilgiri Thrush, gave only poor views, briefly on the ground and in flight. Nilgiri Thrush is not yet split by HBW Alive and remains a subspecies, neilgherriensis, of White’s Thursh albeit that it is recognised as a potential future split given further study and evidence to suggest a separate species. After a superb breakfast we headed back into the bamboo for the Nilgiri Thrush which eventually gave good views as it fed on the ground amongst the bamboo stands occasionally being chased by a Malabar Whistling-thrush. In addition, we recorded Puff-throated Babbler, Indian Blackbird, Common Tailorbird and Oriental Magpie-robin.

Bay-backed Shrike - Mudumalai

Indian Robin - Mudumalai

Lesser Whitethroat of subspecies althaea - Mudumalai

Indian Nuthatch - Mudumalai

Blyth's Reed-warbler  - Mudumalai

Pale-billed Flowerpecker - Mudumalai

White-browed Wagtail - Mudumalai

Yellow-billed Babbler - Mudumalai

Yellow-wattled Lapwing - Mudumalai

Habitat at Mudumalai

Northern Lime Swallowtail Papilio demoleus - Mudumalai (see here)

Hoopoe - Forest Hut, Mudumalai

Indian Pond-heron - Forest Hut, Mudumalai

Greenish Warbler - Forest Hut, Mudumalai

Tickell's Blue-flycatcher - Forest Hut, Mudumalai

Oriental Magpie-robin - Forest Hut, Mudumalai

Orange-headed Thrush - Forest Hut, Mudumalai

White's Thrush of the subspecies neilgherriensis, a possible future split as Nilgiri Thrush  - Forest Hut, Mudumalai

We packed our bags at 13:30, loaded the mini-bus and began the drive back to Ooty. We stopped at the small but colourful village of Kallatty for Painted Bush-quail where a flock of five with two chicks quickly gave fairly good but brief views amongst the scrub and rock on the outskirts of the village. We then walked up the road above the village through plantation woodland and secondary growth seeing Nilgiri Flycatcher, plus Greenish Warbler, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Bar-wing Flycatcher-shrike, Pied Bushchat (of the subspecies nilgiriensis), Dusky Crag Martin and Tickell’s Leaf-warbler. We then drove back to Ooty arriving at 17:30 and checked back into the Taj Savoy hotel where we had stayed in on 30th November. We relaxed for a while and then had dinner but were disappointed to find that there was a religious festival ‘Milad Un Nabi” and no alcohol was being served. Fortunately, Clive had brought with him a stash of Famous Grouse and so we retreated to his room to do the log and savour a ‘wee dram’.

Kallatty Area

Kallatty Area

Kallatty Area

Kallatty Area

Kallatty Area

Kallatty Area

Bonnet Macaque - Kallatty

Red-whiskered Bulbul - Kallatty

Red-whiskered Bulbul - Kallatty

Nilgiri Flycatcher - Kallatty

Blyth's Reed-warbler - Kallatty

Crested Goshawk - Kallatty

Pied Stonechat - Kallatty

Pied Stonechat - Kallatty

Pied Stonechat - Kallatty

Doom and Gloom at dinner time

Whisky and the log

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)

• Day 1 – International flight from London Heathrow.
• Day 2 – Landed Chennai then flight to Port Blair. Birding on Andaman Islands PM.
• Day 3 – Andaman Islands.
• Day 4 – Andaman Islands.
• Day 5 – Andaman Islands.
• Day 6 – Travel day from Port Blair (Andaman Islands) to Ooty (Western Ghats). 
• Day 7 – Birding Ooty then on to Mudumalai. 
• Day 9 – Birding Ooty and then drive to Munnar.
• Day 10 – Birding Munnar area.
• Day 11 – Drive from Munnar to Periyar Tiger Reserve.
• Day 12 – Periyar Tiger Reserve. 
• Day 13 – Drive from Kumily to Thattekkad.
• Day 14 – Thattekkad area. 
• Day 15 – Thattekkad area then travel to Chennai.
• Day 16 -  International flight.

India (Rajasthan and Kashmir) Trip - 28th July - Day 4

Today was to be mainly a travel day with an eight hour drive back to Delhi ahead of us. We had a bit of a lay-in and were up at 06:30 for a 07:00 breakfast, loaded the car and drove short distance to the thorn forest of Puscar (08:00-10:00). Targets here were White-naped Tit and White-bellied Minivet but we saw neither and the birding was generally a little slow with highlights being Small Minivet and Yellow-crowned Woodpecker.

We then commenced the long drive back to Delhi with a lunchtime stop in Jaipur where we sampled the traditional dish of Dal Batchurma and enjoyed the spectacled of the bustling city streets sound tracked by the blasting of car and motorbike horns and the stench of rot and joss sticks. The relative hardship of life here was striking with humans competing with dogs, pigs and cows for a living, mothers begging with their new born children and a dead homeless man lying in the gutter while people walked by oblivious. The grandeur of the architecture of the old town belying the squalor of the lives in the streets below.

We left the city to the north-west via the Nahargarh Fort, where we briefly stopped for photographs, and past decorated Elephants walking along the roadside and dwelling in the city for the enjoyment of tourists. We decided to stop for an hour or so in the Nahargarh Biological Park (14:30-16:00), the temptation of popping back on our way past was too great, and we quickly located Indian Pitta again even though it was 14:00 and at that quiet time of the day. The bird showed well but always rather obscured by tree branches and eventually it lost interest in the playback. A short walk through the thorn scrub produced Indian Golden Oriole, Common Wood-shrike, Cinereous Tit, White-browed Fantail and other now familiar species. We had a final try for the pitta and once again the bird flew in and showed reasonably well but again a bit too obscured for decent photographs.

Back on the road we arrived in Delhi at 21:00 and checked into the Hotel Shanti Palace. After a fantastic and very large Indian meal we crashed at 11:30.

Todays weather: Slightly sunnier today but still mainly cloudy and overcast with occasional light showers. Wind fairly strong.

Small Minivet of race cinnamomeus - Puscar Thorn Forest

Red-vented Bulbul race humayuni- Puscar Thorn Forest

Brahminy Starling - Puscar Thorn forest

White-bellied Drongo of nominate race - Puscar Thorn forest

Bay-backed Shrike of nominate race - Puscar Thorn forest

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker of race pallecens - Puscar Thorn forest

Happy pig - Ajmer

Architecture - Jaipur

Elephants - Jaipur

Indian Pitta - Nahargarh Biological Park

Indian Pitta - Nahargarh Biological Park

IIndian Golden Oriole (female) - Nahargarh Biological Park

Curry (again) - Hotel Shanti Palace - Wins the curry of the trip award! 

Links to the other Days of the Trip:
Day 1 - Background and Travel day
Day 2 - Surajpur Wetland and Nahargah Biological Park
Day 3 - Sonkhaliya
Day 5 - Fly Delhi to Shrinigar (Kashmir) then Yousmarg
Day 6 - Yousmarg
Day 7 - Dachigam National Park, Shankarachariya Temple and Dal Lake
Day 8 - Yousmarg then return to Delhi and flights home

If you have any comments or queries on this post then please do not hesitate to contact me at simon@ecosa.co.uk