Dr.Shrikanth Hegde's Photography: Birding Tour of Thattekad and Munnar ,Kerala

Thattekad ia an important destination for birding in South India. Thattekad ,in Sathyamangalam district of Kerala is located about 60Kms north east of Kochi .The sanctuary ,Salim Ali bird sanctuary of Thattekad is between two branches of Periyar river. Dr Salim Ali described this as the richest bird habitat on peninsular India comparable to eastern himalayas" .The sanctuary is a relatively small place with about 25 Sq.Kms in area and nearly 250 species of birds inhabit this sanctuary.The literal meaning of Thattekad is flat forest, the region is an evergreen low-land forest.

I chose to go on photo tour of Thattekad and Munnar conducted by Toehold,Bangalore between 26th and 29th January. The tour had 12 participants and led by Mr Giri Cavale of Toehold. Thattekad is about one and half hour drive from Kochi airport and the camp site ,Horn bill resort, a serene place facing the sanctuary and the gently flowing Periyar river separates the horn bill camp from bird sanctuary.A morning coffee at the camp is complimented with scenic beuty of Periyar with sweet calls of Malabar Whistling Thrush. Unfortunately ( or rather fortunately for the birds ) the sanctuary is not open for public for last few years. But the birds move around in surrounding forest areas and offer a good birding opportunities in surrounding places as well.

We chose to do birding at three places nearby with the help of a guide and on one of the days covered Munnar also. Munnar a scenic place better known for its land scape and tea gardens is also a good place to see endemic birds species of Nilgiri range.

Birding in Thattekad is a different experience. We could sight so many birds in a short span. Though it may be technically difficult to photograph them considering their size ,distance and height of trees and camoflouge it is possible to see good number of birds species not seen earlier.. I have seen Brown Hawk owl,Collored scops owl, common hawk cuckoo , Blue cheaked barbet,white cheaked barbet, chestnut headed bea eater, blue tailed bea eater, malabar parakeet,plum headed parakeet, parrot, Malabar trogone, whistling thrush, Scarlet mini vet,small mini vet, yellow browed bulbul, ruby throated bulbul, black bulbul, red whiskered bulbul, shrike, wag tail,Robin,magpie , Oriental dollar bird, Hill maina, common maina, white eye, gold finch, black and orange flycatcher , Nilgiri fly catcher, Malabar grey Horn bill, Pompador green pigeon, Nilgiri wood pigeon, flame back woodpecker, indian scimitar babbler, Baza, fairy blue bird, drongo, rocket tailed drongo, drongo cuckoo , ashy drongo, velvet fronted nuthatch,, rusty tailed flycatcher , jungle fowl, treepie,golden oriole,black headed oriole, bushchat , nilgiri pipit, Indian pitta, and the most unique of this tour Srilanka Frogmouth.

There are many other birds which are common in other areas but one visit to Tattekad will make us add at least 30-40 birds not seen earlier.
Some of the pictures in the web album are for record purpose only as the size of the birds and distance make our equipments inadequate for a good image.

A view of Periyar river and on the right bank Dr Salim Ali Tattekad bird Sanctuary:

SriLanka Frogmouth in its nest. The nest is a small tuft and a solitary egg. It is a nocturnal bird and sits on small bush very well camouflaging

SriLanka Frogmouth male and female roosting . They are so named due to their resemblance to frog mouth ,they have good binocular vision and remain in same roosting place until disturbed by human or other birds.