Ooty

We dropped into the Botanical Gardens after a late start and quickly picked up Velvet-fronted Nuthatch and a superb male Blue-capped Rock-thrush, but the recently reported Kashmir Flycatcher failed to appear. 

Blue-capped Rock-thrush

So we checked out a few sites for bush-quail, one of which was alongside a lake where Indian Spot-billed Duck was seen, as well as another Black-and-orange Flycatcher. Then a short drive to an open, close-cropped grassland area gave us Brahminy Kite, and more importantly at least 4 Malabar Larks. 

Malabar Lark

After a great lunch in a local restaurant we spent the remainder of the day on bush-quail duty but turned up a big, fat zero so retired early to our luxurious hotel and made the most of the facilities, as the rest of the week was going to be a full one!