It had not taken us long to figure out that customer service in India is a complete crapshoot. Even the best laid plans can be capsized by a minute detail you completely took for granted. But then as you are rolling your eyes in resignation, you come across folks who are kind, helpful and replete with unrivalled specialist knowledge. We were certainly indebted to Mr. Joy of Hotel Maria International (in Kothamangalam) who put us in touch with the highly recommended, but extremely elusive Sudheesh, a naturalist at the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary (also called Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary) and an assistant to the world renowed birder K.V. Eldhose.
(http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2008/07/12/stories/2008071252770800.htm). Then we have a host of internet pals to thank, first and foremost, "Synomymous" of IndiaMike.com (http://www.travelpod.com/members/indianature), who was a veritable gold mine of advice on sights, weather, local "gotchas" and every little last detail of anything you could think of! Then there was "Pravman" of Tripadvisor.com and also Peek, Vandy and many others of IndiaMike.com. What a great coterie of people from across the world - thanks guys/gals for all your help in making our trip memorable and as according to plan as any India sojourn could conceivably be!
Pardon the digression! Back to Kothamangalam and August 19. A day of feather and plumage-spotting awaited us at Thattekad, with a mandatory start at the crack of dawn. Surprisingly we awoke on schedule at 5am thanks to our trusty Blackberry Alarm clock. We were quickly dressed, plastering our legs with lime (chunnam) to assuage our leech paranoia (we had probably read more about this subject than almost anything else!) After all this palaver, we finally pulled into Thattekad at 6.45am, not too bad!
Sudheesh was right ther
e as promised and we were ready to discover India's bountiful nature, having taken our fill of the cultural treasures of Kochi and Thrissur. Walking up from the gate we speedily entered what can only be described as a magical river valley. Early morning rays bounced off a distant mountain that was shrouded in clouds and fell on a large natural pond, that was dammed on one side of a bridge (that we were on), and a free flowing river on the other side. The pond was covered in a variety of fresh water plants that glinted g
old-brown-green in the sunlight. On the other side, a lady washed her clothes, slapping them on the water-adjoining rocks to wring out the moisture. The air was gently warm, with a slight breeze that prevented things from getting sticky. We had spent a good deal of time compiling a pictoral bird list. So imagine our joy in spotting the Bronze-winged Jacana (a brownish-rust bird - perfect camoflage in that pond) but distinguishable by its large web-like feet. It literally walked on water, tip-toeing over the pond-covering plants.
Over the cou
rse of 4 hours we saw almost 40 varieties of birds, including the Black-hooded Oriole, a particularly fine specimen of the Malabar Parakeet, The Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (photo right) and a Black-Rumped Flameback Woodpec
ker (left photo), along with their more common (yet very pretty) brethren, the Racket-tailed Drongo, Red-wattled Lapwings, and a White-browed Wagtail. We wand
ered down a wooded path trying to outdo Sudheesh in bird identification, but only succeeding in finding the more common varieties. After a while, Sudheesh disappeared while we tried to video-tape an enormous Female Wood spider. He reappeared to lead us to a couple of Ceylonese Frogmouths that were quietly sitting on the branches of a dwarf tree (see photo left).
Not to be outdone by the birds, the butterflies came out in a full force as the sun crept up the sky. A wet humidity, solar warmth, and wafting breeze sweetened by mud-flowers-spices made for a heady cocktail so that we enjoyed the Paris Peacock, (photo left) and had a quick vision of the largest butterfly in India, the Yellow Songbird (we had a much better view of it a few days later at the Chinnar Wildlif
e Refuge). Reigning peace, punctuated by bird calls, with a background orchestra of crickets and Ciccada, will remain with us forever. As we trudged further up the path, suddenly Chitra folded her brow, sensing an animal scent. After a second, Sudheesh identified it as the urine of a wild elephant. We promptly turned back - when you are in nature, discretion is always the watchword. As we back-tracked, there then followed a Spanish inquisition from Shobhita and Sarvesh."Is the elephant dangerous?", "will it eat us", "can't we run away", "can the wild elephant hear us really well", "can he smell us?", "Will he trample us down?", "Will they come out of the forest? No? But what if they are stampeding?" This all taxed our minds rather more than anything we had hitherto seen. It's a subtle skill to give a child a meaningful response without scaring the wits out of them!
Sudheesh succeeded in distracting them (and us, let's be honest), by leading us into a lovely meadow where we had a close up view of the Malabar Hornbill with its distinctive hooked beak (photo right). Vijay also caught on video the light-hearted sparring of 2 Heart spotted woodpeckers flitting between trees in search of a resting place. On we went, with the multi-to
ned melody of the Black-hooded Oriole punctuating our thoughts. Then a beautiful sight, the male Malabar Trogan; black brow and dazzling red colored chest. It flitted around then came into perfect view (photo left). We had a glorious 90 seconds of seeing him up close and personal, courtesy of Sudheesh's telescope.
As we left, Sudheesh offered the telescope to Sarvesh who of course eagerly grabbed it and walked off with it over his shoulder. We had a few seconds of heart palpatations. Sudheesh had earlier explained how his favourite binoculars (which had cost a pretty penny) met their demise as his 1 year old daughter had grabbed them and given them to the family dog, who promptly snapped them in half! We did not want to risk a repeat performance so we hastily retrieved the precious tripod!
We had wondered if we might get a glimpse of the Wynaad Laughing Thrush, but Sudheesh opined that this elusive bird would need us to trek into the thick of the jungle about 10 kilometers out, well into Elephant territory, not advisable with little kids. So we bagged that option and instead adjourned for lunch in a tiny office used by the Guides. As usual, Shobhita and Sarvesh quickly made friends with several of the young naturalists, and joined them in a spirited game of chess, while we all ploughed through our dry cheese sandwiches. Sudheesh meanwhile showed us his album of quite awe-inspiring shots. Brilliant colored insects and butterflies up close - so close you could touch or smell them! Raindrops hanging off a wildflower; Two frogs mating. All with a simple handycam! He said he will often walk on his knees for half an hour for the thrill of composing the perfect picture.
The afternoon walk in nearby woodlands (outside the Thattekad Sanctuary) was very different. We were now in the thick of a humid, tropical afternoon with not even a whisker of breeze. The birds were scarcer, but not the raw beauty that accompanied our every step. At one point, Sudheesh suddenly ushered
us through a mud-laden path off the side of the trail. After a few metres, it opened out into a quite idyllic scene with a full view of the somnolent river backgrounded by gentle hills and coconut trees. The terrain underfoot was distinctly soft reflecting recent flooding of the plain. A soporific Cormarand preened itself by the riverside and the forestry behind us resonated with the frog-like croaking of burbits and treepies and the continual and pulsing hiss of the Ciccada. Sudheesh suddenly mixed things up, shifting to his left up a steepish slope. Change of altitude, maybe a change of luck! After hiking up maybe 300-400 feet, we levelled out. The Jungle Owlet we were told is common to this area. We heard its call, but no sighting! We did come through a patch of quite delicious-smelling peppermint plants which warmed our nostrils. By this time the shirt was stuck to our backs and we were bathed in sweat ... a sweet, natural sauna. We could feel life stirring back into the forest, but the children were tired. So we disbanded for an hour's rest.
Back at aroun
d 4 pm and we were almost immediately greeted by beautiful green-gold bee-eaters, spotted with Shobhita's help! Then a Lesser Yellow-Naped woodpecker, at first a fleeting glimpse, but then a full shot as he amazingly responded to Sudheesh's knocking mouth-call!
A glance skywards revealed clouds settling in and before long, the heavens had opened, just as we strolled into another beautiful valley. After several days of unseasonable near-drought (much to the horror of the native farmers), we were finally to be treated to prime Kerala monsoon. The birds slipped away under cover, but not before we had spied a White-breasted Water Hen with 5 little chicks! We took shelter under a convenient tree and marvelled at the thunde
r and the pelting rain, the mountains and the valleys awash in water and an elderly lady under her umbrella leading her cows away from the fields. Our feathered friends were also at large, with a maroon-chested Kingfisher, a Cattle Egret swooping into the open plain, and a large Cuckoo Shrike. Shobhita and Sarvesh sang and leapt around in a manner that might have turned Gene Kelly's head, although we then had the rather more dubious honour of seeing Sarvesh completely drench his lone pair of hiking boots!
What more can we say about this day? A nature paradise amidst three different climactic patterns: a cool, misty morning; a steamy, hazy afternoon; and then a rumbustous evening. Wow!
For those of you of the ornithological bent, here is an (almost) complete list of birds we saw. Also please don't miss our video which is posted below the list of birds:
Black Hooded Oriole
Golden Fended Leafbird
Common Iora (yellow)
Red Whiskered bulbul (had a crest)
Black-crested Bulbul (black with a crest and tweet tweet)
Black Rumped Flameback Woodpecker (red brown chest)
Malabar Parakeet
Malabar Hornbill
White-Bellied Treepie
Rufous Treepie
White Throated Kingfisher
Racket-tailed Drongo (can match calls of 25 other species)
Bronze-winged Jacana
White-tailed Barbet
Bronze Drongo
Red-wattled Lapwing in a meadow. Good brown camoflage amg mud/grass.
Malabar Trogon Female (brown back and reddish brown as it flew)
Malabar Trogon Male (red chest with some black-white decoration)
Chestnut Headed Bee-eater
Thick-billed Flower pecker (very small)
Rufus treepie (gold and brown stripe y)
Common Kingfisher (agst light - red, blue)
White-Cheeked Barbet
Chestnut Tailed Starling on very top twig of a tree
Ceylonese Frogmouths (pair sitting on a branch together)
Crested Tree Swift
Ashy Woodswallow
Cormorand
Heart Spotted Woodpecker Pair
Green Bee-eater ( green/yellow small)
Yellow brown Bulbul - colour very evident as the bird flew away.
White-browed Wagtail in a meadow.
Large Cuckoo Shrike (greyish blue)
Common Myna
White-breasted Water Hen
Cattle Egret
(http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2008/07/12/stories/2008071252770800.htm). Then we have a host of internet pals to thank, first and foremost, "Synomymous" of IndiaMike.com (http://www.travelpod.com/members/indianature), who was a veritable gold mine of advice on sights, weather, local "gotchas" and every little last detail of anything you could think of! Then there was "Pravman" of Tripadvisor.com and also Peek, Vandy and many others of IndiaMike.com. What a great coterie of people from across the world - thanks guys/gals for all your help in making our trip memorable and as according to plan as any India sojourn could conceivably be!
Pardon the digression! Back to Kothamangalam and August 19. A day of feather and plumage-spotting awaited us at Thattekad, with a mandatory start at the crack of dawn. Surprisingly we awoke on schedule at 5am thanks to our trusty Blackberry Alarm clock. We were quickly dressed, plastering our legs with lime (chunnam) to assuage our leech paranoia (we had probably read more about this subject than almost anything else!) After all this palaver, we finally pulled into Thattekad at 6.45am, not too bad!
Sudheesh was right ther
e as promised and we were ready to discover India's bountiful nature, having taken our fill of the cultural treasures of Kochi and Thrissur. Walking up from the gate we speedily entered what can only be described as a magical river valley. Early morning rays bounced off a distant mountain that was shrouded in clouds and fell on a large natural pond, that was dammed on one side of a bridge (that we were on), and a free flowing river on the other side. The pond was covered in a variety of fresh water plants that glinted g
old-brown-green in the sunlight. On the other side, a lady washed her clothes, slapping them on the water-adjoining rocks to wring out the moisture. The air was gently warm, with a slight breeze that prevented things from getting sticky. We had spent a good deal of time compiling a pictoral bird list. So imagine our joy in spotting the Bronze-winged Jacana (a brownish-rust bird - perfect camoflage in that pond) but distinguishable by its large web-like feet. It literally walked on water, tip-toeing over the pond-covering plants.Over the cou
rse of 4 hours we saw almost 40 varieties of birds, including the Black-hooded Oriole, a particularly fine specimen of the Malabar Parakeet, The Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (photo right) and a Black-Rumped Flameback Woodpec
ker (left photo), along with their more common (yet very pretty) brethren, the Racket-tailed Drongo, Red-wattled Lapwings, and a White-browed Wagtail. We wand
ered down a wooded path trying to outdo Sudheesh in bird identification, but only succeeding in finding the more common varieties. After a while, Sudheesh disappeared while we tried to video-tape an enormous Female Wood spider. He reappeared to lead us to a couple of Ceylonese Frogmouths that were quietly sitting on the branches of a dwarf tree (see photo left).Not to be outdone by the birds, the butterflies came out in a full force as the sun crept up the sky. A wet humidity, solar warmth, and wafting breeze sweetened by mud-flowers-spices made for a heady cocktail so that we enjoyed the Paris Peacock, (photo left) and had a quick vision of the largest butterfly in India, the Yellow Songbird (we had a much better view of it a few days later at the Chinnar Wildlif
e Refuge). Reigning peace, punctuated by bird calls, with a background orchestra of crickets and Ciccada, will remain with us forever. As we trudged further up the path, suddenly Chitra folded her brow, sensing an animal scent. After a second, Sudheesh identified it as the urine of a wild elephant. We promptly turned back - when you are in nature, discretion is always the watchword. As we back-tracked, there then followed a Spanish inquisition from Shobhita and Sarvesh."Is the elephant dangerous?", "will it eat us", "can't we run away", "can the wild elephant hear us really well", "can he smell us?", "Will he trample us down?", "Will they come out of the forest? No? But what if they are stampeding?" This all taxed our minds rather more than anything we had hitherto seen. It's a subtle skill to give a child a meaningful response without scaring the wits out of them!
Sudheesh succeeded in distracting them (and us, let's be honest), by leading us into a lovely meadow where we had a close up view of the Malabar Hornbill with its distinctive hooked beak (photo right). Vijay also caught on video the light-hearted sparring of 2 Heart spotted woodpeckers flitting between trees in search of a resting place. On we went, with the multi-to
ned melody of the Black-hooded Oriole punctuating our thoughts. Then a beautiful sight, the male Malabar Trogan; black brow and dazzling red colored chest. It flitted around then came into perfect view (photo left). We had a glorious 90 seconds of seeing him up close and personal, courtesy of Sudheesh's telescope.As we left, Sudheesh offered the telescope to Sarvesh who of course eagerly grabbed it and walked off with it over his shoulder. We had a few seconds of heart palpatations. Sudheesh had earlier explained how his favourite binoculars (which had cost a pretty penny) met their demise as his 1 year old daughter had grabbed them and given them to the family dog, who promptly snapped them in half! We did not want to risk a repeat performance so we hastily retrieved the precious tripod!
We had wondered if we might get a glimpse of the Wynaad Laughing Thrush, but Sudheesh opined that this elusive bird would need us to trek into the thick of the jungle about 10 kilometers out, well into Elephant territory, not advisable with little kids. So we bagged that option and instead adjourned for lunch in a tiny office used by the Guides. As usual, Shobhita and Sarvesh quickly made friends with several of the young naturalists, and joined them in a spirited game of chess, while we all ploughed through our dry cheese sandwiches. Sudheesh meanwhile showed us his album of quite awe-inspiring shots. Brilliant colored insects and butterflies up close - so close you could touch or smell them! Raindrops hanging off a wildflower; Two frogs mating. All with a simple handycam! He said he will often walk on his knees for half an hour for the thrill of composing the perfect picture.
The afternoon walk in nearby woodlands (outside the Thattekad Sanctuary) was very different. We were now in the thick of a humid, tropical afternoon with not even a whisker of breeze. The birds were scarcer, but not the raw beauty that accompanied our every step. At one point, Sudheesh suddenly ushered
us through a mud-laden path off the side of the trail. After a few metres, it opened out into a quite idyllic scene with a full view of the somnolent river backgrounded by gentle hills and coconut trees. The terrain underfoot was distinctly soft reflecting recent flooding of the plain. A soporific Cormarand preened itself by the riverside and the forestry behind us resonated with the frog-like croaking of burbits and treepies and the continual and pulsing hiss of the Ciccada. Sudheesh suddenly mixed things up, shifting to his left up a steepish slope. Change of altitude, maybe a change of luck! After hiking up maybe 300-400 feet, we levelled out. The Jungle Owlet we were told is common to this area. We heard its call, but no sighting! We did come through a patch of quite delicious-smelling peppermint plants which warmed our nostrils. By this time the shirt was stuck to our backs and we were bathed in sweat ... a sweet, natural sauna. We could feel life stirring back into the forest, but the children were tired. So we disbanded for an hour's rest.Back at aroun
d 4 pm and we were almost immediately greeted by beautiful green-gold bee-eaters, spotted with Shobhita's help! Then a Lesser Yellow-Naped woodpecker, at first a fleeting glimpse, but then a full shot as he amazingly responded to Sudheesh's knocking mouth-call!A glance skywards revealed clouds settling in and before long, the heavens had opened, just as we strolled into another beautiful valley. After several days of unseasonable near-drought (much to the horror of the native farmers), we were finally to be treated to prime Kerala monsoon. The birds slipped away under cover, but not before we had spied a White-breasted Water Hen with 5 little chicks! We took shelter under a convenient tree and marvelled at the thunde
r and the pelting rain, the mountains and the valleys awash in water and an elderly lady under her umbrella leading her cows away from the fields. Our feathered friends were also at large, with a maroon-chested Kingfisher, a Cattle Egret swooping into the open plain, and a large Cuckoo Shrike. Shobhita and Sarvesh sang and leapt around in a manner that might have turned Gene Kelly's head, although we then had the rather more dubious honour of seeing Sarvesh completely drench his lone pair of hiking boots!What more can we say about this day? A nature paradise amidst three different climactic patterns: a cool, misty morning; a steamy, hazy afternoon; and then a rumbustous evening. Wow!
For those of you of the ornithological bent, here is an (almost) complete list of birds we saw. Also please don't miss our video which is posted below the list of birds:
Black Hooded Oriole
Golden Fended Leafbird
Common Iora (yellow)
Red Whiskered bulbul (had a crest)
Black-crested Bulbul (black with a crest and tweet tweet)
Black Rumped Flameback Woodpecker (red brown chest)
Malabar Parakeet
Malabar Hornbill
White-Bellied Treepie
Rufous Treepie
White Throated Kingfisher
Racket-tailed Drongo (can match calls of 25 other species)
Bronze-winged Jacana
White-tailed Barbet
Bronze Drongo
Red-wattled Lapwing in a meadow. Good brown camoflage amg mud/grass.
Malabar Trogon Female (brown back and reddish brown as it flew)
Malabar Trogon Male (red chest with some black-white decoration)
Chestnut Headed Bee-eater
Thick-billed Flower pecker (very small)
Rufus treepie (gold and brown stripe y)
Common Kingfisher (agst light - red, blue)
White-Cheeked Barbet
Chestnut Tailed Starling on very top twig of a tree
Ceylonese Frogmouths (pair sitting on a branch together)
Crested Tree Swift
Ashy Woodswallow
Cormorand
Heart Spotted Woodpecker Pair
Green Bee-eater ( green/yellow small)
Yellow brown Bulbul - colour very evident as the bird flew away.
White-browed Wagtail in a meadow.
Large Cuckoo Shrike (greyish blue)
Common Myna
White-breasted Water Hen
Cattle Egret
Part 1: Early Morning at Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekad
Part 2: Mid-morning at Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Thattekad
Part 3: Afternoon and Evening showers at the Bird Sanctuary, not to be missed!!
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