Month: January 2019

Bird watching – Wayanad

I had written previously about my trip to Wayanad. One of the things I was looking forward to in the trip was to do some bird-watching and hopefully see some of the birds that are primarily found only in the Western Ghats region.

I am delighted to say that I had a very enjoyable few days of bird-watching where I got to so a few birds that have been on my ‘to see’ list for a while now! These include the Vernal Hanging Parrot and Malabar Barbet.

 

The full list below (all names as per Salim Ali’s ‘The Book of Indian Birds’):

  1. Little Cormorant
  2. White-necked (Woolly necked) Stork
  3. Brahminy Kite
  4. Unidentified Sparrowhawk
  5. Changeable Hawk-Eagle
  6. Falcon
  7. Grey Junglefowl
  8. Indian Peafowl
  9. River Tern
  10. Spotted Dove
  11. Blue-Winged (Malabar) Parakeet
  12. Indian (Vernal) Hanging Parrot
  13. Unidentified Swift
  14. Malabar Grey Hornbill
  15. Crimson-Throated (Malabar) Barbet
  16. Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
  17. Common Golden-backed Woodpecker
  18. White-Cheeked Barbet
  19. Black Drongo
  20. Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo
  21. Ashy Drongo
  22. Bronzed Drongo
  23. Grey-Headed (Malabar) Starling
  24. Common Myna
  25. Jungle Crow
  26. Scarlet (Orange) Minivet
  27. Gold-fronted Chloropsis
  28. Red-Vented Bulbul
  29. Red-Whiskered Bulbul
  30. Black (Square-tailed) Bulbul
  31. Verditer Flycatcher
  32. Blyth’s Reed Warbler
  33. Indian Blue Robin
  34. Oriental Magpie Robin
  35. Indian Blackbird
  36. Great Tit
  37. Oriental Tree Pipit
  38. Grey Wagtail
  39. Large Pied Wagtail
  40. Purple-Rumped Sunbird
  41. Small (Maroon backed) Sunbird
  42. Loten’s Sunbird
  43. Purple Sunbird
  44. Oriental White-Eye

 

Wayanad

Wayanad is a hilly region in the north of Kerala, bordering Karnataka. It is about two hours from Kozhikode (Calicut) and six hours by road from Bangalore. It is here that we went for a end of year holiday with family.

We stayed at the wonderful Annapara Home Stay, a boutique home stay located amidst coffee plantations with fantastic views of the tall mountains all around. It was a wonderful experience, with amazing home cooked food and awesome service from Pravin and Shibu – the two caretakers.

In addition to spending time at the beautiful property, we also went on a hike to a couple of waterfalls nearby, visited the Banasura Sagar dam, ziplined over tea plantations, visited Pookode lake and the Muthanga or Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary. Except for the last, which we all felt was frankly not worth the effort, everything else was fun and relaxed.

Definitely a place worth visiting more than once!

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