Moving on to Topslip

So this was the morning of our attempt for Broad-tailed Grassbird, a hike up the mountain to the rocky, grass covered steep slopes just visible from our hotel. 

Grassbird habitat

The day dawned bright and clear and the hardy few made it without too much bother and as I suspected the grassbirds weren’t tape responsive, probably due to too many birders/groups visiting the same site. We did get brief tail-end views and Jeff had a conclusive view of another bird but it was far from satisfactory, and all we really had to show for our efforts up here were a couple of Tickell’s Leaf-warblers, Ashy and Plain Prinias and a pair of Black-throated Munias. The walk down did give us nice looks at Indian Blue Robin and we flushed a small quail from beside the path that called agitatedly for ages in the undergrowth that must have been a Painted Bush-quail, but failed to show.

Nilgiri Flowerpecker

We also had Nilgiri Woodpigeon and Nilgiri Flowerpecker to add interest this morning before returning to the hotel and packing up for the drive to our next hotel at the base of the mountains that leads to Topslip – which as I said earlier is closed. Great! 

This is the Olive Brook Hotel

The drive took upwards of 4 hours during which we stopped for our packed lunch, and then again when a small herd of Indian Elephants were causing a parking melee and again later for coffee and ice-cream for some. Better them than me – well for the latter anyway. Good luck with that then! But we passed through varied scenery of huge rolling, forested hills before reaching the plains and passed through Chinnar National Park and then Animalai Tiger Reserve where Hanuman Langurs and Bonnet Macaques preyed on innocent parked cars. As we approached our nice digs a covey of Grey Francolins ran across a small field and after checking in we heard and had brief silhouetted flight views of a Mottled Wood-owl and also heard an Indian Scops-owl.

A Good Day!

The day got off to a flyer with a pair of really confiding Indian Scimitar-babblers calling back to my ipod before breakfast! 

Malabar Whistling-thrush

After our best breakfast to-date and extremely close views of a perched Crested Goshawk, Malabar Whistling-thrush and Grey Junglefowl we headed up to Eravikulam National Park via use of the park’s shuttle bus service which ferried us and thousands of local Indian tourists as well during the course of the morning. 

Eravikulam National Park

But it didn’t seem to put the birds off and after admiring the fantastic scenery and the endangered  Nilgiri Tahr, had a close encounter with a pair of Kerala (Grey-breasted) Laughingthrushes that perched up nicely for us. 

Nilgiri Tahr

Kerala Laughingthrush

We walked uphill for about a kilometre and spent some time in a shady, damp area where a couple of Black-and-orange Flycatchers showed closer than yesterday’s bird. A White-bellied Blue Robin was also seen, and Nilgiri Flycatcher was also quite obvious. 

Black-and-orange Flycatcher

Other birds up here included Black Eagle, Long-tailed Shrike, Dusky Crag-martin, Hill Swallow, Plain Prinia, Tickell’s Leaf-warbler and Blue Rock-thrush. It was quite astonishing when Sudeesh asked the shuttle bus driver to stop for  minute as he had spotted an Indian Jungle Nightjar perched on a branch above the road, much to the amusement of the locals on board. But a great spot anyway. 

Indian Jungle Nightjar

Returning to the hotel for a quick lunch we then headed up to the Gap Road and spent a while searching for Painted Bush-quail at the rubbish dump area and succeeding in finding a couple of Nilgiri Pipits before continuing on. 

Nilgiri Pipit

At a certain spot we tried for Yellow-throated Bulbul and nailed it within 2 minutes! What a result! 

Yellow-throated Bulbul

So we returned along the same route, stopping to spotlight a pair of Brown Fish-owls and finally made it back to the lodge for 7.30pm. 

Munnar

So a last morning at Thattekkad and we headed to the viewing rock from our first morning here and saw many of the same species, although did add a confiding Blue-throated Flycatcher to our list. We spent a bit too long trying to call in a Grey-headed Bulbul early on as well and during this time Roy saw a Grey Junglefowl walked across the path behind us. With time running out we still needed White-bellied Blue Flycatcher so tried a few paces in this forest without a response. So we drove further on for several kilometres and tried the path we had walked yesterday. Sure enough our luck had changed, and thanks to David’s vigilance had a cracking male perched close by. Phew! 

White-bellied Blue Flycatcher

So with that done we drove back to the lodge much later than I’d hoped for but at least got to have a nice breakfast and some hot coffee for a change. Leaving here we then headed up into the Cardamom Hills and the town of Munnar, situated at around 1600m. The drive up was really spectacular with deep sided valleys and huge hills all around. After driving for a couple of hours we stopped at a small tea house and after admiring the splendid view got a scope on a Nilgiri Flowerpecker which gave much better views than last time. So continuing higher up the bumpy road we eventually stopped at a place where loads of trash had been thrown just below the road and spent a bit of time here. As soon as we arrived an Indian Grey Mongoose was found, and then a Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher flew in and was quickly followed by the endemic Nilgiri Flycatcher that posed nicely right in front of us.

Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher

Nilgiri Flycatcher

Then a Greenish Warbler showed very well, a few Oriental White-eyes passed by, and a Green Pit Viper was spotted amongst the bushes below us. 

Malabar/Green Pit Viper

When a pair of Nilgiri Woodpigeons flew in I just couldn’t believe it and to get a few photos was remarkable as from my previous experience from tours in Goa they are pretty shy. 

Nilgiri Woodpigeon

Nilgiri Woodpigeon

We also picked up our first Long-tailed Shrikes and Pied Bushchats further up, and a random stop produced a Tytler’s Leaf-warbler right by the minibus and I had a brief view of a Kerala (Grey-breasted) Laughingthrush but only Jeff managed to get on it. 

White-bellied Blue-robin

Black-and-orange Flycatcher

Our next port of call was just a bit further on and we spent a while scrutinising some bushes along a stream and our patience was rewarded with a pair of cracking White-bellied Blue Robins, another Nilgiri Flycatcher, Common Rosefinch and eventually a very sexy Black-and-orange Flycatcher just before the light went.

Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary Day 2

After yesterday’s success, today was always going to be something of an anti-climax and so it proved, but during our morning in another section of forest we still pulled I some new birds, starting with an Orange-headed Thrush skulking in the shadows. One of my favourites was an inquisitive Heart-spotted Woodpecker that circled us a few times before alighting in a treetop below our vantage point on an ‘escarpmet’. 

Heart-spotted Woodpecker

With the early morning mist slowly receding and visibility improving we also enjoyed a close Green Warbler, both Thick-billed and Nilgiri Flowerpeckers and Purple Sunbird. Plenty of other birds were watched flying by, although we had much better views of them yesterday so we walked down to another rocky area to scan the forest edge. Here we had a Yellow-browed Bulbul, Little Spiderhunter, Loten’s Sunbird, Malabar Starling and an Indian Pygmy Woodpecker. 

Leaving here we walked back to the bus and had our picnic breakfast before heading down into the Bamboo forest for our first crack of the day at Wynaad Laughingthrush. With the news that Topslip NP is closed and therefore our best chance at this species already blown it was crucial we get this species here. However, we tried all morning and again in the afternoon to no avail, but spent most of the time fighting off the battalions of leeches that were drawn to our unprotected feet. I think they were using my trainers as some sort of subway snack station as I had 14 leech bites around my ankles from this walk – a little ‘heads up’ would have been appreciated! Anyway, we had Indian Scimitar-babbler and Dark-fronted Babbler here, but they were scant consolation. In the afternoon we tried again without any joy and again tried some owling but were met by a wall of silence so called it quits and returned to the lodge for dinner.