Morning stroll in Male’

We stayed at an airport hotel since we arrived in the evening and sea planes only fly in daylight. We have a 9 AM flight so we had time to do a short stroll before we are on small islands. 

India Summary.

• Taj Palace — Delhi (Sultanpur and Okhla)
  Club room.
  Best Birds: Three Baby Spotted Owlets, Painted Storks, Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-headed Ibis, Coppersmith Barbet
• Khem Villas — Ranthambore National Park
  All natural food, great walk with hotel naturalist.Tedious Tiger Safaris
  Best Birds: Plum-headed Parakeet, Small Minivet, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Painted Sand Grouse, Common Kingfisher, Painted Spurfowl, Asian Wooly Stotk
• The Bagh – Club Mahindra — Bharatpur (Keoladeo NP)
  Switched room from a cramped one that smelled of sewage to a large one. Good birds on property.
  Best Birds: Cotton Pygmy-Goose, Saurus Crane,Black Bittern, Bluethroat, Red-napped Ibis, Common Hoopoe, Asian Green Bee-eater
• Oberoi Amar Vilas — Agra
  Giant suite with view on Taj Mahal.   Dinner on balcony. Thumbtack
  Best Birds: Egyptian Vulture
• Holiday Regency — Moradabad
• Jungle Lore Birding Lodge — Pangot (Kumaon Himalayas)
  India’s First Birding Lodge.  Rustic. Bob the dog. 
  Best Birds: White- Laughingthrush, Himalayan Bulbul, Hide: kalij Pheasent, Crested Laughingthrush,Lesser Yellow-nape, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Striated Laughingthrush,
• Jim’s Jungle Retreat — Corbett National Park
  Ragi Cookies, Bamboo Slippers, Great Upgraded Room. Tickell’s Blue flycatcher and more on property. Skipped most tiger safaris
  Best Birds: Jungle Owlet, Orange-headed Thrush, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, Ibisbill, White-capped redstart, plumbeous Redstart, Great Hornbill, Rufous-bellied Niltava
• Mayfair Himalayan Spa Resort — Kalimpong / Eastern Himalayas
  Confusing place with Snow White and Lord Shuva.   Cute Himalayan cafe. Wouldn’t clean room unless you are in it.
  Best Birds: Rufous-necked Hornbill, Mrs Gould's Sunbird, Red-headed Trogon, Blue-fronted redstart, Long-tailed Minivet,Whiskered Yuhina
• Flora Airport Hotel — Kochi
  
• CGH Earth Spice Village — Periyar National Park
  Villa with a private garden, Homemade Passionfruit Ice cream, local spicy and regular menu. Monkeys,and racket-tail drongos
  Best Birds: Asian Emerald Dove, Malabar Flameback, Malabar Parakeet, Greater-Racket-tailed Drongo, White-bellied Treepie
• CGH Earth Lockhart Bungalow — Munnar (Western Ghats)
  On tea plantation, 
  Best Birds: Brown Boobook, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, White-cheeked Barbet, Orange Minivet, Palani Laughingthrush, Indian Scimitar Babbler,Nilgiri Flycatcher, Black-and-Orange Flycatcher, Flame-throated Bulbul
• River House — Thattekad Bird Sanctuary
  Confusing walk with a naturalist, but it all walked out. sunbirds in flowers.
  Best Birds: Indian Paradise Flycatcher, Sri Lankan Frogmouth

Last meal in India

At Kochi airport heading to Maldives

Good thing we aren’t flying to the Middle East. 

Thattekad Bird Sanctuary

For our final day in birding, our guides wanted to take us to somewhere with a really long name that was very far away. However, our itinerary said we should go to Thattekad bird sanctuary which is a bit closer.  It’s a wildlife sanctuary run by the government, and a bit of a tourist attraction with some snakes in cages, the cafeteria, etc. However, it has trails that go by a river once you get beyond the entryway attractions 

We persuaded them to come here instead of their plan.  We might not see as many birds, but we’ve been here a month, bouncing cars and waking up very early.

We got there at seven when it just opened and within 15 minutes we saw the bird that Mike has been wanting to see the entire trip or maybe about 10 years: the male Indian Paradise Flycatcher with ts stunning long tail.  We’ve seen the female African Paradise Flycatcher and the female Madagascar Paradise Flycatcher which are fine but lacking the large tail.  We got a brief glimpse and a poor photo of the Borneo Paradise Flycatcher. 

Anyway, our guides heard and then spotted the bird and we spent 45 minutes watching it fly around some bamboo but rarely landing on an external branch where we could get a good view.  Eventually, it stopped and posed.

After that we walked around and they found a mother and fledgling Sri Lankan frogmouth. At first Chris didn’t want to get off the main path and walk through the forest to see it.  After Mike took a few photos, he convinced her to come see it. Although it was just 10 feet away, they blended into the tree and are hard to find. After looking for a minute she saw them and burst out laughing. 

We are ready to leave. Maldives, here we come!!

Birds from a Hide in Munnar

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Little Spiderhunter

Golden-fronted Leafbird (male)

Flame-throated Bulbul

Malabar Whistling Thrush

Yellow-browed Bulbul

Black-throated Munia

Indian Yellow Tit

Vernal Hanging Parrot

White-cheeked Barbet

I love wondering ……

Last bird outing in Munnar we drove to a resort called Cliff House. We hiked up their back path and then down their entryway road a bit. I spotted this little gem and wondered about its history. As we have previously mentioned, while our guide is an excellent birder, he is not all that forthcoming with extra little stories. So I just make them up in my head. I’m certain a wicked witch lives here.🫢

Beauty and The Beast

The beast being trash! There are many beautiful things we have run into during this trip and we have seen some efforts at preserving the environment. While birding we have often been in “plastic free zones” but it’s just a sign posted and doesn’t seem to be a national interest. Other times birding by the side of the road or near water, I have tried to discreetly photograph the unfortunate utter disregard for Mother Earth with trash strewn everywhere. One day up in Latpanchar, I had some trash in a cloth bag from the breakfast the hotel sent with us. We were going to hike back down a big hill to a hide and I didn’t want to carry it. I was either going to put it in the car (which wasn’t nearby) or Mahendra offered to carry it. The local guide from that area indicated he should just throw it right into the huge pile already there. Mahendra knew I had a problem with this but he said in the long run that’s where it will end up and they just burn it. I cringed and closed my eyes and let him do it. But of course I did not photograph that heap because I feel it would not be polite or possibly embarrass them. But honestly if they were embarrassed by the mess, I guess there would be more effort to change? These little photos of trash are nothing at all in comparison to what we saw everywhere.

Settling in - Thattekad

Our last two days were originally scheduled to be at a place called Hornbill Camp, a tent style place. We had been reading recent trip advisor reviews and were frankly dreading it. A few days back, Mahendra mentioned they had switched us, but as usual we got very few details. We are planners; we need details! Eventually the night prior he sent us the link to River House where we are now and we breathed a sigh of relief.

We arrived and were greeted warmly; although no ink added to our foreheads or necklaces or scarves placed on our persons. 😂 That’s okay; we prefer the genuine warm greeting over some of the rituals. Although many of the welcome beverages (non alcoholic) have been very much enjoyed. 

I digress. So we got the lay of the land here, and it’s super cute. Five rooms in one main building, a separate restaurant just a stroll through the gardens, a pool, and a yoga facility. I’m set for a noon class tomorrow 👏🏻.

We have had our lunch, opting for the Kerala style Indian food as opposed to “sandwiches.” Why come to India and eat sandwiches? They got the memo that I am gluten free, but no one mentioned I don’t tolerate high spice level well - but I still had plenty to keep me going until we maybe make it back from birding to check out snacks at tea time. We bird at 3:30 and are also supposed to do a brief night birding tonight.

Funniest thing during our orientation to the room when the host points out the switch to turn on the hot water and then says, “but it’s hot here now so you probably won’t need that.” I assured him that we do indeed like hot showers so we will be flipping that switch. He obviously doesn’t know Mike at all and it reminded me of the Fiji cold shower I took in the airport and raved about and forgot to tell Mike there was no hot water before he went and “enjoyed” one himself.😂

So I haven’t photographed any of the outside yet, it is quite hot at midday, but I got a few of the cute room only slightly disrupted with our settling in. (And Mike in his afternoon siesta 😴) As I was taking them, I discovered another fun fact: there is a gaping hole in the bathroom wall where the water heater comes in - I’m sure all various creatures will be enjoying entry there in the night so I will insist on keeping the doors closed between bedroom and bathroom. Other than that we shall be perfectly content for two nights rest here before our last day in India  - which will be interesting - as we check out, bird the day, then get on an evening flight to Maldives. Hope we don’t stink too bad!

Fortuitous anti-nausea stop

We departed early from Munnar in order to stop at a bird hide. The road to Thattekad was again to be curving but Chris didn’t want to take the Dramamine because it makes her so drowsy. So after our stop at the blind (nicest blind ever!) we did the drive and made a stop just so Chris could stretch and breathe. Right away Ajo warned us of a lot of monkeys next to the car and then he quickly heard and got us on a Malabar Trogan. Trogan is gorgeous! Chris thinks the Bonnet Macaque Monkey could use a new milliner! This hair hat thing parted in the middle is not very stylish- but they were well behaved monkeys and did not try to take any snacks.

Munnar birds

Black-and-orange Flycatcher (male)

Nilgiri Flycatcher (male)

Blue-capped Rock-Thrush

White-bellied Sholakili

Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher

Indian Scimitar Babbler

Palani Laughingthrush

Crested Serpent Eagle

Changeable Hawk-Eagle

Blyth’s Reed Warbler

Nilgiri Blackbird

Steeped in beauty

So we are now in Munnar surrounded by and staying on a tea plantation. It is reminding us a lot of Napa but instead of grape vines there are tea shrubs. This is Lockhart Bungalow with three rooms set aside as guest accommodations along with several common areas for tea and also a dining room. It was once the manager’s house.  Since we leave before the crack of dawn as usual for birding, we miss breakfast which they often serve in the gardens weather permitting. We also usually skip dinner (as we do at home) because it often doesn’t begin until 7:30 or 8 pm. That leaves lunch for us to relax and enjoy during the bird lull, and the inn has been graciously doing a nice job of filling us up for our one sit down meal. This is just a two-night stay here and we move on to our final stop in India. Birding has been pretty good here - several new and colorful lifers this morning and we go out again at 2:45 this afternoon. The drives have not been as far to bird from the accommodation, so although still quite curvy it’s not so bad. When we depart in the morning, we stop at a hide before continuing along birding en route to River House.

Here are some of the grounds and tea fields. The interior is quite lovely and historic, but I felt their website shows better photos than I could get, so if I need a refresher I can pull that up.