WESTERN GHATS

13 – 28 JAN 2019

The endemic Black-and-orange Flycatcher (GM)

Killian Vaucher (KV) & Gabriel Marcacci (GM)

Contact: nivalisbirding@gmail.com
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INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this trip was not a full birding trip, but to conduct bird surveys in
organic tea plantations in the Nilgiri mountains. Although within these two weeks we
spent only five days outside the plantations, we still managed to see all Western Ghats
endemics except the ultra-skulking Nilgiri Thrush, the Wynaad Laughingthrush as well
as the two recently split Laughingthrushes which are rather unaccessible at the
moment anyway.

TRANSPORT
We mostly used taxis kindly arranged by our hotel. Taxis may be the best option
regarding the cost/flexibility ratio to travel the Western Ghats. Note that even though
the distances between birding sites seem to be rather short, driving the curvy roads
of the mountains takes a lot of time. Almost all the sites are accessible by public
transport, which would be a cheaper option, but more time costly.

DIRECTIONS
To find our way to most of the sites we only used the smartphone application
MAPS.ME, allowing to take easily GPS points, markers, etc. This is a free application
on which you can download freely the maps of all the countries of the world (and most
are very accurate, even in remote areas). You will find precise GPS coordinates in this
report. The taxi drivers know their area very well including most of the birding sites.

ACCOMODATION AND FOOD

In India, food is great! We did not suffer any food poisoning during all our stay and
every meal was delicious. We only stayed at four different places that we already
booked in advance. However, we could have easily found nice hotels day-to-day.

SECURITY
Southern India is totally safe, and we did not have any bad experience. The potential
risk comes more from wild animals (mostly elephants which are surprisingly abundant
there). As a consequence, you cannot walk and explore freely most of the forest areas,
especially by night, and you often need a local and/or special permission.

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VISA
You need to get your visa before arrival. The easiest option was to get granted e-visa
which allow you to end the procedure on arrival. Be sure to use the official website
when you applicate for the e-visa (https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/evisa/tvoa.html) and
be careful to print your e-visa application which you will need to present at the
immigration on arrival. A two months with two entries visa (the minimum possible)
costed us 70 USD.

MONEY
ATM are widespread and most big hotels and facilities do accept credit card. At the
time of our visit 1 USD ≈ 70 Indian Rupee (INR).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to thank Pavan Sukhdev, who proposed us this project and warmly
welcomed us in his wonderful homestay, and Stephan Lorentz for his advice.

REFERENCES
We used three trips reports found on cloudbirders.com (VERHELST 2017,
BRECKENRIDGE 2017 and MERRILL 2017) together with ebird to have up-to-date
information. As literature, we used “Birds of Indian Subcontinent” (Grimmett et al.
2011).

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VISITED SITES

THATTEKAD
We stayed two nights in Jungle Bird Homestay
(http://junglebirdhomestay.blogspot.com/) which we absolutely recommend: although
accommodation and food were rather basic, we were living with Gireesh’s (the owner)
family in a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Gireesh and his mother are both bird
guides and they perfectly organised everything (early breakfast, driving to other spot,
night sessions). Birdwatching with Gireesh is a great experience on its own as he is
never tired (he is also working as a lawyer between two birding sessions) and so
enthusiastic (even more than us) to spot the birds! It costed us around 30
USD/day/pers. for food and accommodation with 15 USD extra for each excursion at
Urulanthanni (to pay the vehicle and the “entrance fee”). It is possible to contact
Gireesh by email (junglebirdhomestay@yahoo.com) or directly by whatsapp (+91
98470 34520) and we would recommend to book in advance as there are usually many
Indian photographers coming at this place.

Around Thattekad, we visited Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary (490 INR/pers.) where we have
seen most of the target species including White-bellied Treepie, Indian Pitta, Malabar
Grey Hornbill, Malabar Parakeet, Malabar Woodshrike, Malabar Whistling Thrush,
Malabar Starling, Southern Hill Myna, Grey Junglefowl, Rufous-bellied Eagle, etc. The
entrance of the sanctuary (10.131026, 76.688183) is only at 300 meters from Jungle
Bird Homestay. Before entering the sanctuary, you need to get a ticket (490 INR/pers.)
at Thattekad Bird Sanctuary reception just next to Gireesh’s place. Note that Salim Ali
closes at 5:30pm. We also explored a track in nice forest starting just the other side
of the Periyar River (10.127184, 76.683837) which does not require any special fee to
access it. Here, the White-bellied Treepie seemed to be easier to find than in Salim Ali.

Malabar Barbet (left, GM) and Urulanthanni (right, GM)

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It is also the only place we recorded the difficult and very localized Grey-headed Bulbul
and several Blue-faced Malkoa.

THATTEKAD - URULANTHANNI
We visited this place which is about 20-30 minutes’ drive from Thattekad twice during
day time and once for a night session. You cannot access the area without a local
guide because of the high abundance of elephants. The birds were a bit different from
Thattekad with Malabar Barbet, Grey-fronted Green Pigeon, both Purple-backed &
Loten’s Sunbird, Flame-throated Bulbul, Orange Minivet, Dark-fronted Babbler,
Malabar Grey Hornbill, Orange-headed Thrush and Vernal Hanging Parrot being quite
common. It was also the best place for White-bellied Blue Flycatcher, Malabar Trogon,
Sri Lanka Frogmouth and Sri Lanka Bay Owl (see paragraph below). It was also an
excellent place for woodpeckers with 6 species recorded within one hour: Black-
rumped Goldenback, Greater Goldenback (ssp socialis “Malabar Goldenback”
sometimes referred as potential split endemic to southern India), Heartspotted
Woodpecker, White-bellied Woodpecker, Lesser Yellownape (ssp chlorigaster “Indian
Yellownape” potential new split endemic to peninsular India) and Brown-capped
Pygmy Woodpecker. But the main reason to visit Urulanthanny is without any doubt
to have a chance to see its superstar: the mythical Sri Lanka Bay Owl. Indeed,
Urulanthanni might be the best spot on earth to see this scarce and very localized
species. Therefore, we spent two and a half day looking for it (it had not been recorded
for five days) and we finally found it roosting our last morning! We enjoyed the
privilege to have prolongated view of this truly magical bird perched a few meters
above us.

Note: Urulanthanni used to be a relatively good spot for the Wynaad Laughingthrush
which favours bamboo thickets but we could not reach this area because of the high
elephant activity in this sector.

THATTEKAD – NIGHT SESSION

When visiting Thattekad, you must plan to allocate your evening for night sessions as
most of Southern Indian night birds are occurring in the area. We spent the first
evening in the other side of the Periyar River where we recorded Jerdon’s and Great-
eared Nightjar, Sri Lanka Frogmouth, Indian Scops Owl, Jungle Owlet and a distant Sri
Lanka Bay Owl calling. We tried the Bay Owl in Urulanthanni the second evening where
we had great views of the impressive Spot-bellied Eagle Owl. Great-eared Nightjar and
Brown Fish Owl were present around Jungle Bird Homestay. Mottled Wood Owl and

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Jungle Nightjar also occur on the other side of the river (10.116149, 76.67589) and
Gireesh knows a Brown Wood Owl’s roosting spot.

It was such a relief when we finally found after much effort this roosting Sri Lanka Bay
Owl during our last morning in Urulanthanni.

MUNNAR - POTHAMENDU
Munnar is located at 1500 meters asl and offers the opportunity to find most of the
Western Ghats’ highland endemics. The landscape is dominated by shaded plantations
such as tea and cardamom, shola forests and grasslands. Birders usually visit two sites:
Pothamendu and Eravikulam National Park. After reading several trip reports stating
that birding the crappy spot behind the toilet of the too crowded Eravikulam NP was
not mandatory to see all target species, we decided to give up this place and focus on
Pothamendu area. Staying two night at the Shamrock Holiday Home (rather cheap and
nice hotel, 20 USD/night/pers.). We spent most of our time birding the last 500m of
the access track to Deshadan Mountain Resort. It turned out to be the right decision
as we easily found all the target species: Palani Laughingthrush, White-bellied Blue

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Robin, Black-and-Orange Flycatcher, Nilgiri Flycatcher, Nilgiri Wood Pigeon, Indian

Black-lored Tit, Square-tailed Bulbul, Indian Blackbird, Black Eagle, Malabar Whistling
Thrush, etc. We walked up to the grassy ridge above Deshadan Mountain Resort
(access path here: 10.055814, 77.073108) early morning where we easily saw the
usually difficult Broad-tailed Grassbird coming to the playback just as we went out of
the forest (10.055977, 77.073391). As we climbed higher to a big boulder with a nice
view (10.057692, 77.073935) we spotted several Nilgiri Pipits and Tickell’s Leaf
Warbler and a family of Painted Bush Quail. Although most birders go for Eravikulam
NP early morning and try the Grassbird in the afternoon, we suggest to do the opposite
(or to even skip Eravikulam NP) as the Grassbird might be easier early in the morning.

White-bellied Blue Robin (left, GM) and a conspicuous Malabar Whistling Thrush (right, KV) just under
Deshadan Mountain Resort

Painted Bush Quail (left, GM) and the view over the ridge (Broad-tailed Grassbird habitat) from the
large boulder (right, GM)

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CHINNAR WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

We just made five minutes stop en route (10.296086, 77.181017) where we directly
found both White-browed and Yellow-throated Bulbul. If we would have more time,
we would have loved to explore this sanctuary as the habitat looked very inspiring.

KOTAGIRI
According to ebird, Kotagiri might be a reliable spot to see the scarce Kashmir
Flycatcher. We birded the area (11.414846, 76.866191) only for two hours and did not
find any flycatcher. We still got a male Nilgiri Blue Robin, a flying Hill Swallow and the
only Red-headed Vulture of the trip.

O’LAND PLANTATION STAYS

O’Land (11.253392, 76.737576) is an organic estate which cultivates tea, coffee,
pepper and is also a superb eco-lodge perfectly situated in the southern slope of the
Nilgiri mountains. We spent 10 days exploring the 100 ha of the plantation as we were
asked to conduct bird surveys in order to increase the birding list of this place which
aim to attract more birdwatchers. This place was surprisingly remote and wild as it is
located at the upper edge of a large rainforest patch. The plantations are eco-friendly
managed, thereby allowing lot of animals such as Indian Gaur, Asian Elephant,
Leopard, Sloth Bear, Dhole, Porcupine as well as several species of deers and monkeys
to live within the estate. We recorded 97 species including some difficult or endemic
species like Great Hornbill, Pied Thrush, Malabar Whistling Thrush, Orange-headed
Thrush, Indian Blackbird, Yellow-throated Bulbul, Square-tailed Bulbul, Nilgiri Wood
Pigeon, Rufous Babbler, Dark-fronted Babbler, Indian Scimitar Babbler, both Nilgiri and
Verditer Flycatcher, Malabar Parakeet, Vernal Hanging Parrot, Tytler’s Leaf Warbler,
Black Eagle, Orange Minivet, Malabar Woodshrike, Malabar, Coppersmith and White-
cheeked Barbet, Indian Black-lored Tit, Grey Junglefowl, Red Spurfowl. Nilgiri
Laughingthrush, Black-and-Orange Flycatcher, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Malabar Pied
Hornbill and Jungle Nightjar have been recorded by other birdwatchers. Furthermore,
although we were disappointed with most places visited in the Nilgiri mountains
because of the very low bird activity, we observed in O’Land the highest bird activity
of the whole trip. It was such a pleasure to explore this well preserved and quiet
habitat comparing to the artificial and crowded Doddabetta Peak. If you are looking
for a quiet retreat with nice birding opportunities, we definitely recommend to visit

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O’Land Plantation Stays (we truly loved it!). And last but not least: they served the
best food we had in India! Please visit their website if you are interested:
http://olandplantation.com/.

Rufous Babbler (left, GM) and the highly localized Yellow-throated Bulbul (right, KV)

A record shot of one of the two maled Pied Thrush (left, GM) and the huge Great Hornbill (right, KV)

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The stunning Malabar Parakeet (left, GM) and our lovely terrace at O’Land (right, GM)

COONOOR – SIMS PARK

We spent one afternoon birding this city park aiming in finding Nilgiri Laughingthrush
in order to skip Doddabetta Peak on our way to Mudumalai. We did not see any
laughingthrush but six very confident Black-and-Orange Flycatchers as well as some
Nilgiri Wood Pigeon, Puff-throated Babbler and Indian Blue Robin. We do not
recommend visiting this place unless you are missing one of these targets.

OOTY
During our stay in India, Cairn’ Hill was closed due to an unfortunate accident
between a tourist and an Indian Gaur. We found Ooty area largely degraded with
forest dominated by invasive species such as Eucalyptus and Pine trees. The
landscape in Coonoor – Kotagiri area seemed more preserved.

OOTY - DODDABETTA PEAK

This place might be one of the worst birding spots we have ever seen: the gates
opened at 8:00 am and it quickly became awfully crowded. All of the access track to
the viewpoint was covered with shops and food trucks. Birding there is like birding in
a crappy music festival. We tried to escape the crowd by crossing the fences and
walking downhill the viewpoint toward Ooty (11.400073, 76.735161) but bird’s activity
was desperately low. The worst thing was that our main target species, the Nilgiri
Laughingthrush, was mysteriously so common and abundant, behaving like cities
pigeons and eating craps between food trucks. Nilgiri Wood Pigeon and Indian
Blackbird were both also surprisingly common. Although we have seen easily our

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targets species, we did not enjoy this place at all. If one has more time, we would
recommend to bird more pristine habitat nearby like Avalanche National Park.

OOTY – BOTANICAL GARDEN

We birded the awfully crowded botanical garden for just half an hour: the time needed
to localize a pair of Nilgiri Blue Robin which appeared suddenly just in front of us even
though the habitat did not look totally appropriate.

MUDUMALAI TIGER RESERVE

We spent only one night in Mudumalai sleeping at Jungle Hut. The area appeared to
be well protected and the government seemed to have recently implemented several
new restrictions: it was totally forbidden to do night sessions within AND outside the
reserve boundaries (we were even denied to use our spotlights from the car on the
access road to Jungle Hut). Actually, from 6pm, everybody needs to be within their
whatever accommodation’s compounds. Night-safaris do not exist anymore (officially
– there still are unofficial safaris starting from Masinagudi after dusk…) and all day-
safaris are conducted by the government. Moreover, most of the lodges in the area
were closed due to conflict with elephants (they appeared to be situated on an
elephant migratory corridor). However, we were allowed to bird the access road
Masinagudi – Jungle Hut freely during day-time. Finally, as we were staying only one
night, we were running out of time – a not comfortable feeling when birdwatching. We
then do recommend to stay at least two days to explore this area.

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MUDUMALAI – JUNGLE HUT

The perfect place to stay. Although it is rather expensive (100-150 USD/day for 2pers.,
including all meals), it was definitely worth it. The staff was very nice and helpful, food
was great and the lodge itself really nice. But staying at Jungle Hut mostly allowed us
to bird the thick bamboo patch within the compounds in order to see the mytical and
ultra-skulking Nilgiri Thrush. Exploring this patch for three hours (one in the afternoon
and two in the morning) yielded in Forest Wagtail, White-rumped Shama, Malabar
Whistling Thrush, Orange-headed Thrush, Puff-throated Babbler and several Indian
Pittas, but sadly no sign of a single Nilgiri Thrush… Other good birds in the lodge’s
garden were a stunning Indian Nuthatch, a female Taiga/Red-breasted Flycatcher and
Oriental and Indian Scops Owl.

View of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve from Temple (“Bokkapuram”) Hill (left, GM) and Malabar Lark (right,
GM)

MUDUMALAI - TEMPLE HILL

It took us 20 minutes to walk form Jungle Hut to the temple above Bokkapuram.
Malabar Lark was easily found on the rocky slope (11.542103, 76.645043). Were also
present Yellow-wattled Lapwing, Hill Swallow, Yellow-billed Babbler, Bay-backed
Shrike and Brahminy Starling. We did not have the time to go further to look for the
White-bellied Minivet.

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MUDUMALAI - SAFARI
We did the 2,5 hours safari which costed 2950 INR/car (we could have shared our car
with other people to reduce the price). We started at 4:30pm and came back at
7:15pm. The safari is actually not going within the reserve boundaries but in the “buffer
zone” south of the reserve. From the car, we managed to find some good birds
including two families of Jungle Bush Quails, a flying unidentified Button Quail, a pair
of Painted Spurfowls climbing a big boulder, several Indian Vultures, lot of Bay-backed
Shrikes, a lone bull Indian Gaur, three dozen Spotted Deers, a single Sambar and six
Asian Elephants.

Asian Elephant (left, GM) and view of Malampuzha lake (right, GM)

MALAMPUZHA LAKE
We birded the lake for two hours on our way back to Cochin airport. We decided to
visit this place because of sightings of both Black-bellied Tern and Nilgiri Thrush on
ebird. Although this place seemed to have a great potential, we did not have enough
time to explore it properly. We still managed to add several last-minute species for our
trip list including three Small Pratincoles which concluded this very pleasant trip
through the wild and beautiful landscapes of the Western Ghats.

SPECIES SEEN

We recorded 244 species during our two weeks short trip, including all Western Ghats
endemic excepted Nilgiri Thrush, Wynaad Laughingthrush and the two newly
discovered Laughingthrushes (still not available). Moreover we dipped White-bellied
Minivet and Jungle Nightjar in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve due to lack of time. We present
you only a detail species list for the Western Ghats and India endemics.

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Painted Bush Quail: two families seen at Munnar (above Deshadan Mountain Resort) and
one family en route between Coonoor and Ooty.

Painted Spurfowl: a pair seen during the Safari in Mudumalai.

Red Spurfowl: one seen at O’Land.

Grey Junglefowl: commonly seen in Thattekad, Munnar, O’Land and Doddabetta Peak.

Nilgiri Wood Pigeon: seen easily at Munnar, O’Land and Sims Park (Coonoor).

Nilgiri Imperial Pigeon: only one seen at Urulanthanni and one at Munnar.

Grey-fronted Green Pigeon: common at Thattekad.

Malabar Parakeet: common at Thattekad and O’Land.

Sri Lanka Bay Owl: one heard at Thattekad and one seen at Urulanthanni.

Spot-bellied Eagle Owl: one seen at Urulanthanni.

Sri Lanka Frogmouth: several seen or heard both at Thattekad and Urulanthanni.

Jerdon’s Nightjar: two seen at Thattekad.

Indian Swiftlet: common at Thattekad and Urulanthanni.

Blue-faced Malkoha: four at Thattekad (other side of Periyar River).

Drongo Cuckoo: one seen at Thattekad and one at O’Land.

Malabar Trogon: a pair seen at Urulanthanni.

Malabar Grey Hornbill: common at Thattekad and Urulanthanni.

White-cheeked Barbet: common at Thattekad, Urulanthanni and O’Land.

Malabar Barbet: common at Thattekad, Urulanthanni and O’Land.

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Greater/”Malabar” Goldenback: common at Thattekad, Urulanthanni and O’Land.

Lesser/”Indian” Yellownape: a few seen at Thattekad, Urulanthanni and O’Land.

Indian Pitta: seen at Thattekad, Urulanthanni and Jungle Hut.

Malabar Woodshrike: seen at Thattekad and O’Land.

Orange Minivet: commonly seen at Thattekad, Urulanthanni and O’Land.

White-bellied Treepie: a few seen at Thattekad (Salim Ali and other side of Periyar River).

Indian Yellow Tit: commonly seen at Munnar and O’Land.

Malabar Lark: easily seen at Temple Hill.

Grey-headed Bulbul: heard at Urulanthanni and only one seen at Thattekad on the other
side of Periyar River.

Flame-throated Bulbul: commonly seen at Thattekad and Urulanthanni.

Yellow-throated Bulbul: two seen in Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary and two at O’Land.

Yellow-browed Bulbul: commonly seen at Thattekad, Urulanthanni and O’Land.

Square-tailed Bulbul: a few seen at Munnar and O’Land.

White-browed Bulbul: only one seen in Chinnar.

Broad-tailed Grassbird: one seen above Deshadan Mountain Resort.

Tytler’s Leaf Warbler: a few heard or seen at Munnar and O’Land.

Dard-fronted Babbler: a few seen at Urulanthanni and O’Land.

Rufous Babbler: a family seen daily at O’Land.

Indian Scimitar-Babbler: commonly seen at Munnar and O’Land.

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Yellow-billed Babbler: common in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.

Nilgiri Laughingthrush: common at Doddabetta Peak only.

Palani Laughingthrush: commonly seen at Munnar.

Southern Hill Myna: commonly seen at Thattekad and Urulanthanni.

Malabar Starling: commonly seen at Thattekad and Urulanthanni.

Malabar Whistling Thrush: seen at Urulanthanni, Munnar and O’Land.

Pied Thrush: two seen at O’Land.

Indian Blackbird: commonly seen at O’Land and Doddabetta Peak.

Nilgiri Blue Robin: a male seen at Ooty Botanical Garden only.

White-bellied Blue Robin: a few seen at Munnar.

Black-and-Orange Flycatcher: a few seen at Munnar, Coonoor (Sims Park) and

Doddabetta Peak.

Nilgiri Flycatcher: commonly seen at Munnar and O’Land.

White-bellied Blue Flycatcher: only seen at Urulanthanni.

Sri Lanka Leafbird: commonly seen at Thattekad, Urulanthanni and O’Land.

Jerdon’s Leafbird: seen at Thattekad and Jungle Hut.

Nilgiri Flowerpecker: seen almost everywhere.

Crimon-backed Sunbird: commonly seen at Munnar.

Loten’s Sunbird: seen at Urulanthanni.

Nilgiri Pipit: several seen at Munnar.

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