TWO WEEKS IN THE WESTERN GHATS - February 2006
I was alone. Motionless, I stood for nearly two hours on one side of a small stream cutting across a dense shola, deep inside the Anamalais ( 24 kms drive from Topslip). Dry leaves were falling all around me as the soothing sound of the gently flowing water filled my ears. A couple of Ruddy Mongoose suddenly broke cover and crossed the stream without even glancing at me. Not too far away I heard a Nilgiri Langur jump from one branch to another. I got a fleeting glimpse of a Mouse Deer as it hopped about inside the shola. Many of these forest sounds can alarm you if you are not used to being alone in the forest. For me it was Nirvana!
My single aim this day was to photograph the Wynaad Laughingthrush. This being my fourth visit to the area for the same reason, I knew that they were there inside the shola. They are normally in a group of about twenty individuals, and constantly call to each other if they sense anything alarming. When everything is normal, you can hear them hopping inside the shola as they overturn dry leaves searching for food.
All my previous attempts to photograph the Wynaad Laughingthrush had failed. They are always inside the dense cover of the forest, which is very dark even during the day. It is just not possible to photograph them from inside the dense shola as these birds are so paranoid when disturbed, that they will not sit still for even a second! As I concentrated on their hopping sound, hoping they would break cover for a drink in the stream, I noticed a bird creep to the bank. My heart raced as I slowly pointed my camera in its direction. The first bird broke cover dived into the water and was back into the shola before I could blink! This happened again with the second and third bird and then they vanished into the shola. Perhaps they sensed something? However, I did manage to shoot a few frames in its general direction and I did get my first blur image of this bird!
Thus, began our two weeks journey into the western ghats! Scintillating!!
Topslip, Anamalaia - February 07 to 10th 2006
Pratap Singh, Krishna Narain and Myself reached the Indira
Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary and National Park, previously known as the Anamalai
Wildlife Sanctuary on the 7th of February, 2006. A 100 kms drive
from the Coiambatore Airport via Pollachi. At Pollachi, we confirmed our booking at the warden's
office, Mr. Vardharajan the current Wildlife Warden
was kind enough to offer us a cup of coffee and confirm our bookings at the
Cheetal Lodge at Topslip.
If you wish to stay at Topslip, you need to make your booking at the below office:
The Wildlife Warden,
Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary,
365/1, Meenkarai Raod,
Pollachi - 642 001.
Coimbatore District, Tamilnadu.
Phone :
04259-225356
A stone
throw away from Topslip is the Karian Shola. Here several Sri Lanka Frogmouths
sit motionless during the day and at dusk they set out to get their meal, which
are mainly insects. You can hear their weird calls at dusk.
Topslip is a
great place for birding. You can walk around the forest with a guide provided
by the Tamilnadu Forest Department. Ticks and Leaches are common depending on
the season. So are elephants. Several bird species like the Wynad
Laughingthrush, White-bellied Treepie, Rufous Babbler, Oriental Bay Owl, Brown
Hawk Owl and Great Hornbill live in this area.
After
photographing (click below links to view some of the images) and recording
calls of several species of birds in the Anamalais area, we moved to the
adjoining Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary , which is situated in Kerala on the
10th of February, 2006.
SRI
LANKA FROGMOUTH
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=248&cid=1
LITTLE
SPIDERHUNTER
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=1118&cid=1
THICK-BILLED
WARBLER
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=906&cid=1
DARK-FRONTED
BABBLER
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=1017&cid=1
ASIAN
BROWN FLYCATCHER
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=696&cid=1
WYNAAD
LAUGHINGTHRUSH
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=965&cid=1
*We had a
brief chat with Poornima who is continuing her research work on Orchids in the
Anamalais and wished her well. She stays at Topslip and was just back after
saving a baby elephant that had fallen into a ditch.
Parambikulam
Wildlife Sanctuary - February 10th to 13th 2006
Mr. Shrawan
Kumar Verma the Wildlife Warden in-charge of the Parambikulam Wildlife
Sanctuary met us at the Cheetal Lodge at Topslip and took us to his home at
Anappady (a very shot drive form Topslip). We received a warm welcome from him
as we sipped tea at his home. That night we checked into the Thunakkadavu IB
and spent the next three nights there.
You can
contact Mr. Verma here :
Shrawan
Kumar Verma,
DCF &
Wildlife Warden,
Parambikulam
Wildlife Sanctuary,
Anappady,
Thunakkadavu P.O.,
Parambikulam,
Pin: 678 661.
Palallad
District, Kerala State.
Phone :
O4253-244500/277250
Email : shrawanverma@rediffmail.com
There is
this small tree house on a fig tree. If you spend some time in this tree house,
during its fruiting season, you are sure to see these large awe inspiring birds
at close proximity. The Great Hornbill is 105 cms in size and its call when
heard from close distance for the first time can make you jump out of your
skin! Krishna Narain whispered Elephants as I said Tiger, when we heard its
call for the first time, as we spent several quite hours in this tree house
deep inside the Parambikulam Forest.
The road
along the lake, which leads to the IB we stayed in, abounds with birdlife. As
you drive or walk along this road you will see plenty of raptors. The Crested
Serpent Eagle, The Grey-headed Fish eagle, The Osprey, The Jungle Owlet all
live here and can be easily seen. On a morning walk along this road, Krishna
Narain saw a Leopard at close quarters!
Mr Verma is
keen on starting a "Nature Camp" at Parambikulam. He took us to the second
highest peak in the area where he has already started work on the basic
infrastructure. Mr. Verma is an Mtech. from IIT Delhi and an IFS officer who is
quite determined to encourage "Nature Lovers" and told us that he would be most
happy to welcome them to the "Nature Camps".
400 year old
tree!
http://www.indianaturewatch.net/displayimage.php?id=633
Giri Cavale
joined us on the 11th. We spent some time near the Salim Ali Center
and gaped at the 400 year old teak tree nearby. We spent some good time At
Parambikulam, photographing and recording bird calls in the area until the 13th.
Some images
from Parambikulam:
GREAT
HORNBILL
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=137&cid=1
GREY-HEADED
FISH EAGLE
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=446&cid=1
VELVET-FRONTED
NUTHATCH
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=801&cid=1
BLACK-HOODED
ORIOLE
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=623&cid=1
Kerala
Forest Research Institute, Peechi - February 13th to 15th
2006
On the 13th
Morning, after making one more "failed" attempt at photographing the Wynaad
Laughingthrush at Topslip, we drove to Peechi and stayed at "KFRI"
The Kerala
Forest Research Institute (www.kfri.org) is located at Peechi about 20 kms
East of Thrissur. While Pratap Singh attend a conference on "Weed Management" ,
we spent the next day (14th) roaming the forests of Peechi "all
day"! The catch of the day as we
trekked through the winding forest paths and banks of the "Peechi Dam" was the
call of the Mountain Hawk Eagle.
On the 15th
we checked out of KFRI after lunch and reached Thattekkad in the evening.
Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary - February 15th
to 20th 2006
http://www.prd.kerala.gov.in/prd2/forest/thatte.htm
At about
five in the evening, we drove up to the gate of the Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary. Mr. Rajendran (Forester) was there to
greet us. He told us that elephants had surrounded the Watch Tower (about 1 KM
away from the gate) where we were to stay a few days and suggested that we stay
at the Forest Inspection Bungalow (IB) across the road instead. Mr. Vinod our
guide who appeared on the scene was of the same opinion.
No way! Krishna Narain was the first out.
Without another word he started walking towards the tower and then Pratap Singh
followed. Giri took to his heels behind them with Vinod and suddenly I was
alone with the vehicle, all the luggage and a decision to make! The main
problem was that the elephants were not used to vehicles in the area and we had
a lot of luggage.
I went with
Mr. Rajendran to the IB and made dinner arrangements for all of us and then
took a guard with me and as silently as possible drove to the tower. I was
quite nervous, as this was new territory for me. As I drove towards the tower,
I could see the others walking ahead, they had just seen a pair of Baza and
were quite exited. Soon, we all
reached the tower safely. As soon
as our luggage was out of our vehicle, we made sure that the vehicle was safely
parked back at the IB.
It was
almost dusk when we reached the tower. Vinod took Pratap Singh for a walk and
came running back immediately. He had sighted an elephant just behind the
tower. A Malabar Whistling Thrush dashed away, a single Pitta came hopping by
and sat close to us, unafraid. Frogmouths, Nightjars and Owls were beginning to
call from the close by shola making Pratap Singh and Krishna Narain work hard
at recording their calls.
Birdlife
abounds all around this Watch Tower. One side of the tower is a shola and on
the other side water. The tower has three levels. I pitched my tent at the
first level while Giri took the single bed at the middle level. Pratap Singh
and Krishna Narain took the two bed room at the top. At about 8 pm our food
arrived in a small silent canoe. So, that night we all settled down in the
tower and listened to the various birds calling around us along with the
occasional trumpet of the elephants.
The next
morning Vinod came running to me with the news that they had spotted a
Dollorbird and a Blue-bearded Bee-eater nearby. I quickly went there and was
able to photograph them along with a Greenish Warbler. We then cautiously
walked through the forest all around the Tower. Now and then Vinod would
urgently lead us back towards the tower as he would have sighted an elephant
ahead. Just behind the tower, we found three Sri Lanka Frogmouths sitting
motionless in the shola. All of us were able to get good images of them. At one
time as I was focusing on a frogmouth I could actually see an elephant flapping
its ear in the background! The RFO Mr. Vijaykumar was kind enough to come and
meet us at the tower with words of encouragement.
That
afternoon I decided to go with Vinod to another small watchtower in the small
canoe. A mistake, I realized later as I heard the story of a similar canoe overturning
and making the occupants wet!
I spent a
good two hours waiting in the watchtower and all I got was a blur shot of a
snake swimming in the water. King Cobra?
As we were
heading back to the tower late evening, our walky (that Giri had so thoughtfully
provided) crackled- careful elephants the voice whispered .. as we looked
ahead, there it was, a mountain in the water right on our path to the tower!
We quickly
diverted our canoe to the nearest shore and tried to sneak back to the tower by
foot. As we were about to reach the tower we had to run back as the elephant
had reached the shore and stood right on our path to the tower. We ran back to our canoe and watched
six other elephants which included two young cross the water and follow the
first elephants path. The Walky crackled again-where is Pratap Singh? The voice
asked. No one knew. Vinod ran around and finally traced him in a nearby area,
he was quite safe! After a while, we cautiously went back to the tower in our
unstable canoe. A sigh of relief! That whole night the elephants were right
next to our tower and made tremendous noise during the night. Pratap Singh and
myself made a decision to move to the IB the next day as any work near the
tower seemed impossible with the elephants around. Krishna Narain and Giri
decided to stay back and had several stories to tell us later about the
elephants of Thattekkad!
Next
morning (17th) we
slowly sneaked in our vehicle to the tower loaded our luggage and left for the
IB. Just as we felt that we were a safe distance from the elephants, the back
left tyre of our vehicle burst! We
had great fun figuring out how to replace the flat one with the spare one and
then noticed that the front left tyre was also damaged!
Krishna
Narain and Pratap Singh took another vehicle and went off to record bird calls
in another area with Vinod. I then called Yathin who was taking the 2 pm flight
from Bangalore to Cochin to join us and requested him to get two new tyres from
Bangalore as they were not available in Cochin. Giri drove to Cochin with
Maani (our caretaker at the
tower) and they came back with
a "as good as new" vehicle after
getting all problems fixed at Cochin! That day I spent in and around the IB.
We had a
brief meeting with Mr. Charynkunje, Wildlife Warden, Idduki who is incharge of Thattekkad. Thanks
to him we had a trouble free stay there. In the evening Krishna Narain, Giri
and Yathin left for the Watch Tower to enjoy the company of the elephants while
Pratap Singh and Myself stayed at the IB.
Next morning
(18th) Pratap Singh, Vinod and Myself left for a place called
Edamalayar (25 kms drive from the IB) and spent the whole day there. I was able
to photograph many species in the area including a Blyth's Pipit that we
encountered on our way just outside Thattekkad. Pratap Singh continued to
record birdcalls all day.
Next morning
(19th) Yathin joined the three of us early and we left to a place
called Pooyankutty (25 kms from the IB, along the old Munar road), while
Krishna Narain and Giri stayed back at the tower. They did manage to record
several birdcalls and spotted several birds including Bazas. Again we spent the
whole day out, the highlight being close encounters with a group of Wynad
Laughingthrushes! No photograph again!!
That
afternoon we made a brief drive to a place called Urulanthanny and were able to
photograph the Dollorbird in good light.
Please click
on the below links to view some images from Thattekkad :
DOLLARBIRD
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=149&cid=1
BLUE-BEARDED
BEE-EATER
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=162&cid=1
LARGE
HAWK CUCKOO
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=170&cid=1
LARGE
WOODSHRIKE
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=655&cid=1
HEART-SPOTTED
WOODPECKER
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=101&cid=1
GREENISH
WARBLER
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=939&cid=1
BLYTH'S
PIPIT
http://www.indiabirds.com/content/fullimagepage.asp?Bird_SortID=1140&cid=1
All of us
regrouped and stayed that night at the IB, our last night on this trip! We
exchanged several stories, the major one being an elephant charge at Giri.
Vinod and
Maani were extremely helpful like all the others we met at Thattekkad and made
our stay very comfortable.
The entire
Watch Tower can be booked at Rs. 600/ night. Three beds are available. Food
will be supplied there at extre cost.
Contact
: Asst. Wildlife Warden,
Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, Ph: 04852588302
You can also
contact Vinod Narayanan for help at 0485 2588332 or 9846703732.
On 20th
we left for home! Krishna Narain, Pratap Singh and Myself flew out of the
Cochin Airport as Yathin and Giri drove all the way back to Bangalore. That
brings us to the end of an extremely memorable two weeks in the western ghats!
Many thanks
to Partap Singh for making all the arrangements for all our accommodations. I
must add that everyday of the trip Pratap Singh would wake up at the first call
of any bird and sleep only after the last bird stopped calling-I wonder if he
slept at all! He is obviously the only human on earth to have recorded calls of
over 700 species of birds found in India.
Many thanks
to Krishna Narain, Giri Cavale and Yathin for making the trip comfortable in
many ways!
Krishna
Narain will be uploading calls of several birds that he and Giri recorded
during the trip on to Indiabirds soon. Here is the list:
Great Hornbill, Malabar Whistling Thrush, Yellow-browed Bulbul,
Black-crested Bulbul, White-bellied Treepie, Asian Fairy Bluebird,
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Oriental Scops Owl, Sri Lanka
Frogmouth,
Scarlet Minivet, Ashy Drongo, Little Spiderhunter,
White-bellied Woodpecker, Vernal Hanging Parrot, Indian Pond
Heron,
Large Woodshrike, Rofous Babbler, Brown Hawk Owl.
You can view
Yathin's journal here: http://yathin.livejournal.com/115880.html
Grateful thanks to all
the Forest Officers and guides who helped us along, giving us this opportunity
to share the joy! I do hope you enjoy the images. All the images were shot on
the run! I do have a few more, which I will continue to post on
INP - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/India-nature-pixs/
and
INW - http://www.indianaturewatch.net
regards,
Vijay Cavale
February,
2006