It was a nice treat to have a ‘sit down’ breakfast
at 6.30am before one final fling into the bird-filled forests of Thattekad.
This morning was a little different as we visited a feeding station and walked
along the forest edge and then patiently waited in a concealed position some 40
metres away from an open area that some grain had been placed to attract Grey Junglefowl and Red Spurfowl.
Well after 10 minutes two
jeeps with bird photographers pulled up right in front, no less than 6 or 7
metres from the feeding area really obscuring our view. Now, those of you who
know me will know of my disdain for the vast majority of this subspecies of
human.
Grey Junglefowl |
Still we had nice views through scopes of many Grey Junglefowl and a pair of Red
Spurfowl feeding right out in the open. Nice! Oh and a calling Common Hawk Cuckoo was spotted, and a group of Black-throated Munias
visited the feeding station as well.
White-bellied Blue Flycatcher |
Following this excitement we drove back
to the forest where a male Indian Blue
Robin proved to be very obliging as it flew from perch to perch in front of
us, a Yellow-browed Bulbul posed
nicely, Large-billed Leaf Warbler
came in to check us out and some Dark-fronted
Babblers were seen well. We also saw Malabar
and Black-rumped Flamebacks, Vernal Hanging Parrot, Little Spiderhunter, Purple Sunbird, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Golden-fronted
Leafbird, another White-bellied Blue
Flycatcher and more Nilgiri
Flowerpeckers.
After lunch back at the hotel we said our goodbyes
to the wonderful Soma Birds Lagoon Lodge and headed up into the hills to
Munnar. The scenery changed remarkably to forested hills and we took a little
walk whilst our minibus took a detour to avoid a bridge and saw Long-tailed Shrike, Pied Bushchat and had a brief look at
our first Kerala Laughingthrush.
Black-and-orange Flycatcher |
Once
we had checked in and enjoyed some masala tea, drove a short distance to a
drinking pool. Here despite the close proximity to passing traffic we enjoyed
close views of some great birds coming to drink and bathe right in front of us.
First up was a White-bellied Blue Robin,
followed by a pair of Nilgiri
Flycatchers, Black-and-orange Flycatcher, Indian Blackbird, a
group of Kerala Laughingthrushes and
Malabar Whistling-Thrush.
Not a huge number of birds today but filled with
quality. Once back at the hotel an Indian
Scimitar-Babbler appeared in the garden and a Crested Hawk-Eagle was perched in a large tree.
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