Munnar - views and curiosities

a local tourist bumps into an endangered Nilgiri Tahr..

 

 

 

 

 

Erivakulam National Park

 

 

 

Dashuden

 

The wife's hilarious take on my lack of match fitness

An isolated, abandoned hotel almost at the top of a steep forested slope - every kids dream

Cardamom

The Colour of Munnar

Our afternoon in the Munnar area was spent mainly on the forested slopes below Dashuden; sub-tropical jungle, mature forest and cardamom plantations containing an excellent variety of species.

 female Blue-capped Rock Thrush - a species which breeds in the foothills of the Himalayas and migrates south-west to winter in the forests of the Western Ghats

Highlights here included Nilgiri Woodpigeons, a Black-and-orange Flycatcher, more Kerala Laughingthrushes and Nilgiri Flycatchers, several roseatus Scarlet Rosefinches, Indian Tits, Black-hooded, Black-naped and Indian Golden Orioles, Indian Blackbirds, Oriental White-eyes, Brown-cheeked Fulvettas, Square-tailed Bulbuls, Long-tailed Shrikes and a female Blue-capped Rock Thrush amongst many others......

the endemic and very smart Indian Tit 

A wonderful day in this globally unique, bird-rich area of the upper Western Ghats, and really a bonus thanks to the genorosity of Sudeesh (who we highly recommend - see here for details). After making the most of all available daylight, we hit the road again after dark and headed back to Thattekad for a final couple of days.

A glittering prize after much patient searching - the endemic and skulking Black-and-orange Flycatcher

A last blast from Provence

Firecrest

All things must pass - including the last month in Provence, a latter stage of what's now almost a full year on the road. We've been very lucky to have had the opportunity to hole up down here in the perpetually sunny south French countryside, all thanks to our dear as-good-as family Maryna, Richard and Frankie, who (as always) have gone the extra mile and beyond.

After the world tour ended (up) in Europa a while back, we've been waiting patiently for all of our cards to fall before deciding on our next move. These last few weeks here have given us the peace, space and clarity to reach our decisions undistracted, and as a result, the next phase of our adventures are about to begin....

Little new to report from Birdland - an always enjoyable trip to the nearby and very picturesque L'Isle sur la Sorgue had the expected roll-call of lots of Crag Martins, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, and Cetti's Warblers, Grey Wagtails, Kingfishers and breeding Dippers along the river (a pair pictured below).

The countryside and ridges around the village continue to hold eye-rubbingly large numbers of Blackcaps, plenty of Sardinian Warblers and Common Buzzards, a few Dartford Warblers, a scattering of Cirl Buntings, Black Redstarts, Chiffchaffs, Firecrests and Serins, and Starlings and Chaffinches in near-plague proportions.

Of longer-distance migrants, the almost always clear conditions coupled with the regular blasts of Mistral are the likely reasons there's been little visible action locally, with two exceptions - a Black Kite drifted low over Frankie's riding lesson (!) a short distance east of here a few days ago, and a Short-toed Eagle headed north just west of the village yesterday.

Black Eagle & Steppe Buzzard - Munnar

While birding the steep forested slopes below Dashuden, this Black Eagle - the first of the trip since the Taiwanese mountains back in September - soared low overhead; a brief distraction from the excellent avian selection on view a little closer (see next post).
 

 

 

This Steppe Buzzard, meanwhile, made a few low sweeps over the car while we watched Nilgiri Flycatchers at the roadside.
 

 

 

An emerald in the stream (and rare woods in the trees)

Still in the Munnar region, Kerala, and two members of the pigeon / dove family in the same area of mid-elevation woodland: one not uncommon and relatively widespread in the right habitat, and one (here it comes again) endemic to a very restricted area.

First up, this Emerald Dove, which was frankly blinding. Despite having seen several previously, the views were typically brief and unsatisfactory as each disappeared in the blink of an eye into the forest understorey.

Not so this bird, which we found wandering around in a trackside stream; thoughtfully going against type, after it'd clocked us it trotted closer, digesting small pieces of grit and generally showing off (as you would if you looked like this). Photos, especially in the dark and shady jungle, can hardly do it justice, but still.....

 

Second up, the far rarer, highly sought-after Nilgiri Woodpigeon. One of maybe five we saw in the area (quite a haul), and another target species nailed; aesthetically not quite the above, but it tried.

 

 

Nilgiri Flycatchers, Munnar

Moving down from the hilltops, there was a range of species I was keen to try for in the sub-tropical forests nearby. Another highly localised endemic of the area is Nilgiri Flycatcher, classified as near-threatened and restricted to sholas in the highest reaches of the Ghats. First up, we tried a wooded gulley by the roadside, not far down from the entrance to Erivakulam.

After a little teamwork we were onto a pair, staying in the deep shade (and therefore not so photogenic) but giving great views. Another subtly beautiful new species for the day, with plenty more to follow.

 

male

 

female

Nilgiri Pipits - Erivakulam, Kerala

Well, we'd heard they'd probably be a serious pain to track down. As it turned out, we were on the path for no more than ten minutes before this bird peeked over the top of a boulder close to us, checked us out, decided we were mostly harmless and hopped around in full view for a while before slinking off into the long grass. We saw perhaps another eight or nine, all pretty close, with little effort; maybe we were lucky?

A really smart bird - as good as any other bird of the day in my opinion, endemic and otherwise. Plenty more from the day in the Munnar area to come.

 

 

Erivakulam National Park - Munnar, Kerala

 

 
Thanks purely to the goodwill of our new, good friend Sudeesh, we fulfilled a much anticipated opportunity for a hit-and-run on Munnar, deep in the Western Ghats, for a memorable day in a truly beautiful part of the world. A good two hours or so due east of our Thattekad basecamp, the area is known for a range of highly localised, habitat-specific and altitudinal specialities.

 

Tickell's Leaf Warblers - well sprinkled in high-altitude sholas 

After pretty much cleaning up on a long list of local endemics at lower altitudes (thanks to the quality, leisurely birding at both Periyar and Thattekad), I was as good as resigned to Munnar remaining a logistical impossibility - until Sudeesh stepped up and offered his wheels, driving, local knowledge, enviable finding skills and good company for a long, full day in the field.

On the road for 0500 after our customary early hours balcony breakfast, we endured a typically muscle-spasming ride on typically shocking roads before the increasingly sharp hairpins and sheer drops signalled our ascent up into the higher levels. That Amity's breakfast was involuntarily dispatched into a roadside ditch around here was yet another reminder of the things my non-birder, arguably insane wife is willing to put up with. (I know; lucky doesn't even come close).

'Er indoors, far from indoors

Our first port of call was Erivakulam (around 16km beyond Munnar), one of the state's most important reserves and well known for its long list of endemic flora and fauna. Along with neighbouring areas, the reserve incorporates a range of habitats, including treeless ridges, mineral-striped slopes and high rolling plateau, the globally unique sholas (subtropical dwarf forests usually along the banks of water courses), montane grassland and semi-steppe, spice growing areas and labyrinthine tea plantations.

singing male Pied Bushchat

We made it to the reserve shortly after dawn, the timing being everything - plenty of tourists (mostly natives) were already beginning to fill up the improvised car-parking / snack-stall / souvenir-trading circus at the entrance, and it was only going to get plenty busier. At the front of the queue when the office opened, we were on the first reserve bus up the hill - a picturesque fifteen minutes or so winding up single lane track, and the only way to ascend the final stretch of road (other vehicles thankfully being prohibited).

The trees along the forested stream here held a Tytler's Leaf Warbler, a notoriously scarce and hard to find species; soon after and rounding a corner in the bus, Sudeesh got very excited and pointed in the direction of a boulder by the side of the road - in time for us to see a Nilgiri Marten before it disappeared into the rocky scrub. A rare endemic mammal, they're seen with far less frequency than the big cats, so we were off to a flyer.....

 

Kerala Laughingthrush

Disembarking at the end of the road by the a tiny visitors centre and kiosk, we continued upwards: at somewhere around 2300m, it was hardly as punishing as it may sound, with a easy track, the skies bright and sunny and the temperatures already warm by 0800. Under the shadow of Anamudi (at 2700m, the highest peak in India outside the Himalayas), we ambled up the slope and immediately came across a group of Kerala Laughingthrushes - one of our target endemics, giving great views in the sunshine, not least the bird on the nest by the side of the track.....

  
Hill Swallows (recently split from Pacific, and a local endemic), three Eurasian Kestrels, a couple of Common Buzzards and two Northern House Martins were buzzing around the slopes as we enjoyed the stunning views over the ranges, with families of Nilgiri Tahrs (the poster boys and girls of the reserve) trotting around in front of us - some within touching distance - and further afield against the multi-coloured slopes.

any excuse to use this photo again will do just fine

 Other species present included a good scattering of neon-yellow Tickell's Leaf Warblers, Pied Bushchats, Square-tailed Bulbuls (another new endemic), Indian Blackbird and Long-tailed Shrike.

On the dry steppe-like habitat of the montane grasslands either side of the track, there was one main target species - unique to exactly this habitat, in exactly this area - that we were told could be very tough, especially as straying from the track was (justifiably) prohibited. Tune in next time to see how we fared.....