November 11-December 1, 2024 with Terry Stevenson
Our November 2024 South India tour followed our well-tried route from the mid-altitude country around Bengaluru, Mysore and Nagarhole National Park, to the mountains collectively known as the Western Ghats (where most of the endemic species occur), and finally to The Backwaters and the coastal strip around Kochi.
Our first day birding took us south of Bengaluru to Kokkare Bellur, a small village in the heart of the farmlands where Spot-billed Pelicans nest in trees right along the main street and Red-naped Ibis feed in the rice fields.
Continuing south we then made a stop at the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, a marvelous reserve with numerous waterbirds including Painted Stork, Indian Cormorant, Indian Pond-Heron, Black-headed Ibis and more Spot-billed Pelicans. A pair of Great Thick-knees shared a small rocky island with several huge Marsh Mugger Crocodiles, while along the wooded shoreline were Brahminy Kites and White-throated Kingfishers. Further from the shore we found Indian Gray Hornbill, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Spot-breasted Fantail, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Blue-throated and Tickell’s Blue flycatchers, and Purple-rumped Sunbird. The numerous House and Large-billed crows were just about everywhere, and would be with us throughout the tour, as were our first Indian Palm Squirrels and although not so widespread, roosts of giant Indian Flying-Fox.
After a night in Mysore we headed to the nearby Lake Kokkarehally (common with locals for an early morning walk) where we had excellent looks at many super close waterfowl – so not just a great for birding, but for the photographers too! Highlights included Indian Spot-billed Duck, Gray-headed Swamphen, White-breasted Waterhen, Asian Openbill, Oriental Darter, Little Cormorant, Purple Heron, Common Kingfisher, and Blue-tailed Bee-eater. After breakfast at our hotel we headed further south, where stops at a roadside pool provided us with looks at an Indian Spotted Eagle. Continuing on we arrived at Nagarhole National Park (now a Tiger Reserve) and walked the lodge grounds picking up Asian Koel, Coppersmith Barbet, Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, Small Minivet, and for a good comparison, both Black and Ashy drongos.
There are now strict rules on times when you are allowed to drive within the Tiger Reserves so after a night at Kabini Jungle Lodge we were up early to begin our first drive at 6 a.m. We then returned at around 9:30 for a delicious Indian buffet breakfast, and then had another walk in the grounds before lunch, followed by a second drive in the park from 3 – 6:30 p.m. Highlights today included Indian Peafowl, Yellow-footed Green-Pigeon, Red-headed Vulture, Crested Serpent-Eagle, Gray-headed Fish-Eagle (rather rare here), the endemic White-cheeked Barbet, four species of woodpecker including Heart-spotted, Streak-throated, Black-rumped Flameback and Lesser Yellownape, Plum-headed Parakeet, Indian Golden Oriole, Common Iora, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Long-tailed Shrike, Southern Hill Myna, Brahminy Starling, Nilgiri Flowerpecker, and Golden-fronted Leafbird. Mammals included Common Langur, the gorgeous Indian Giant Squirrel, Wild Boar, Sambar, literally hundreds of Spotted Deer, and 14 magnificent Gaur.
Now joined by our expert local guide Sathyan Meppayur, our second day followed a similar pattern of morning and evening game drives, with new species including the beautiful Gray Junglefowl, Green Imperial-Pigeon, Changeable Hawk-Eagle, Brown Fish-Owl (incredible spotting by our driver) Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Gray-breasted Prinia and Yellow-eyed Babbler (which is actually a Parrotbill). New mammals were a very close Stripe-necked Mongoose, and Indian Elephant.
Leaving Nagarhole behind we then headed yet further south, where a stop at another roadside pool gave us great looks at Lesser Whistling-Duck, Cotton Pygmy-goose and Pheasant-tailed Jacana. A walk in some scrub-bush farmland at Bandipur gave us Malabar Lark, and while searching for this endemic we also had good looks at low flying Short-toed Snake-Eagles, a Booted Eagle, our first Asian Green Bee-eaters, Indian Roller, Bay-backed Shrike, Sykes’s Warbler, White-browed Bulbul, Indian Robin, and Indian Silverbill. Most amazing of all though, was the Sloth Bear that we watched for at least 15 minutes as it ambled along digging up termites only 30 meters from our vehicle on a busy main road. We rounded off the day with a short walk at our farm guest house at Mudumalai, where for most of us, was the birding highlight of the day – the spectacular White-naped Woodpecker!
We were then joined by local guide Sidi and had a full day birding in this area. Taking a mixture of short drives and walks, we found Jungle Bush-Quail, Blue-faced Malkoha, Common Hawk-Cuckoo, Yellow-wattled Lapwing, White-rumped Vulture, Spotted Owlet, and the amazing Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl. A secretive Indian Pitta only showed for some of our group, but then Indian White-eye, Yellow-billed Babbler and Indian Nuthatch all showed well. We finished the day by staying out until dusk, giving us good looks at both Jungle and Savanna nightjars.
The following morning found us travelling in two ‘jeeps’ and stopping along the way for Jerdon’s Lark (yet another endemic) before climbing high in to the Nilgiri Hills near Ooty. After lunch in our new modern-style hotel we took a short drive to Dodda Betta, where Nilgiri Laughingthrush was waiting for us - literally right at the bus park. This area is particularly popular with local people, and waste from the numerous food stalls also attracts several other great birds including Gray Junglefowl, Indian Blackbird, and Nilgiri Flycatcher, but best of all was a mega-tame Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon – literally only ten feet away – and we then finished off this great day with yet another mega-difficult bird, a super-skulker, Nilgiri Sholakili!
Continuing on, we then had a rather long travel day as we dropped from 7500 feet to the lowlands – passing through some spectacular mountain ranges (rearing above the misty valleys), numerous rural villages, beetle-nut farms, coconut plantations, and then vast tea estates. Although this drive took us most of the day it was not without birding stops as we enjoyed Indian Swiftlet, Crested Treeswift, Gray-headed Canary-Flycatcher, the extremely local (and endemic) Palani Laughingthrush, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, and the gorgeous Black-and-orange Flycatcher.
Now based at Munnar in the Anamalai Hills we headed out early the following morning for a few hours walk in the Eravikulam National Park. Here our main target was the White-bellied Sholakili – and we weren’t disappointed, with the whole group watching this normally super shy skulker, totally unobstructed, as it flicked around in leaf-litter right next to the trail. Other birds we enjoyed in the Munnar area were Indian Yellow Tit, Square-tailed Drongo, Tickell’s Leaf-Warbler, Indian Scimitar-Babbler, Southern Hill-Myna, Malabar Whistling-Thrush, and Nilgiri Pipit (always difficult to find and for those who missed it on the first morning we were lucky enough to have scope views of a second the following day). The mammal highlight was Nilgiri Tahr – a wild goat that is endemic to the high slopes and ridges of the mountains here.
Munnar was our last stop in the high country before we headed still further south descending the spectacular escarpment below Bodi Mett. Here, we stopped at our usual site for Yellow-throated Bulbul and although it took quite a while we were eventually all rewarded with good looks at this very localized species (don’t be fooled by the maps in guides and apps). Continuing on by mid-afternoon we arrived at the delightful Spice Village for a three night stay, and while Deepu (our local Mr. Fixit) took whoever wanted to a spice farm and souvenir shopping, we worked on finalizing details with the local guides for the following two days activities.
We decided the best plan was to alternate walks, reversing morning and afternoon timings for the two best birding trails available; as such we were able to visit both areas at the best time (mornings!) and by doing so we added such varied species as Sri Lanka Frogmouth, Changeable Hawk-Eagle, Indian Scops-Owl, Jungle Owlet, 6 great birds (mostly endemics) with the prefix Malabar to their name – Trogon, Gray Hornbill, Barbet, Parakeet, Woodshrike, and Flameback! We also had great looks at two more endemics, the striking White-bellied Treepie, and the extremely localized Wayanad Laughingthrush. Other memorable sightings included, Common Flameback, Lesser Yellownape, Rufous and White-bellied woodpeckers, Vernal Hanging Parrot, fabulous looks at Indian Pitta, Orange Minivet, Black-hooded Oriole, Green Warbler, Orange-headed Thrush, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Asian Fairy-Bluebird, and Nilgiri Flowerpecker, while top new mammals were Nilgiri Langur and the uncommon Dusky Palm Squirrel.
We then headed to another lowland forest (Uranlanthanni) and based ourselves for three nights at the Tapovan Resort Lodge. With an enormous variety and vast helpings of home-made Indian food it’s almost impossible not to gain weight here – but perhaps the forest walks a helped a bit………. just some of the highlights we enjoyed were Gray-fronted Green-Pigeon, an adult and juvenile Sri Lanka Frogmouth, Great Eared and Jerdon’s nightjars, the rarely seen Sri Lanka Bay-Owl, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Dollarbird, Speckled Piculet, Ashy Woodswallow, Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike, Black-naped Monarch, Flame-throated Bulbul, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Asian Brown, Brown-breasted, Verditer and White-bellied Blue flycatchers, and Crimson-backed and Loten’s sunbirds. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all though was not even a bird, there within 50 meters of both the frogmouth and the bay-owl were a mother and baby Slender Loris – and just amazing to see this species in daylight!
As we were now nearing the end of our tour we turned west and made our way to The Backwaters – a vast area of open lagoons, rice fields, and dykes lined with coconut palms. After a night at the delightful Coconut Lagoon we took a morning walk behind the resort seeing huge numbers of Little and Indian Cormorants, Oriental Darter, Gray-headed Swamphen, Whiskered Tern, both Pheasant-tailed and Bronze-winged jacanas, and Stork-billed Kingfisher. And then, after breakfast and time to pack, enjoyed a four hour boat cruise with an onboard delicious seafood lunch………the perfect way to wind down a tour as we slowly made our way to Alleppey and our final destination – Kochi on India’s south-west coast.
In all a total of 27 endemics were seen, plus many other wonderful birds from junglefowl to pittas, trogons, hornbills and parakeets, treepies, laughingthrushes, and some simply gorgeous sunbirds. Mammal highlights were the amazing encounter with the Sloth Bear and the unforgettable Slender Loris!
Our next tour to south India runs in November 2027.
Mammals seen on the tour included;
Indian Flying Fox, common at Ranganathittu, Kabini, and the Tapovan area.
Bonnet Macaque, very common and seen almost daily.
Common Langur, most common at Nagarhole, and a few others at scattered sites elsewhere.
Nilgiri Langur, about 40 in and around Periyar.
Slender Loris, amazing to see one with a baby in daylight.
Indian Palm Squirrel, very common and widespread.
Layard's Palm Squirrel, one near Munnar.
Dusky Palm Squirrel, one at Periyar.
Indian Giant Squirrel, this striking huge squirrel was widespread in forest areas.
Sloth Bear, fabulous looks for about 15 minutes near next to the road at Bandipur.
Indian Gray Mongoose, one at Mudumalai, and 2 at Coconut Lagoon.
Stripe-necked Mongoose, singles at Nagarhole and Periyar.
Indian Elephant, six, including a large bull at Nagarhole.
Wild Boar, two at Nagarhole, 4 at Chinnar, and 1 in the Uralanthanni area.
Spotted Deer, many hundreds in the Nagarhole to Mudumali and Bandipur area.
Sambar, ten at Nagarhole, and 8 at Periyar.
Gaur, we saw 26 of these gorgeous bovines at Nagarhole, and then 6 at Munnar.
Nilgiri Tahr, five at Eravikulam.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/323496
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/ins24TRIPLIST.pdf
Terry Stevenson