Summary of the holiday and my full Indian list to date

I've been to Southern India twice now, but neither were birding holidays. The first was to meet the family of my son's future wife and the second was to attend their wedding in Kochi, Kerela. 

However, the first holiday in 2023 was at a good time of year, in February and in the middle of the trip I took off on my own for six days to Thattekad in the Western Ghats and stayed in a homestay with a birding guide. 

For the first eight days of the second holiday in 2024 we were in the city or the nearby suburbs and we were often doing wedding related activities, so birding was very much secondary and often impossible. However, following the three day wedding we spent a week in Munnar in the Western Ghats and then six days in South Goa. Still not full on birding but at least I had a chance. 

Unfortunately from a birding point of view, this holiday was in April and the heat was blistering, usually above 35 degrees celcius and the humidity was very uncomfortable. It was often four changes of clothing per day and multiple showers. However, Munnar is the mountains and as such was 10 degrees cooler than on the coast so that was at least bearable.

In 2023 I saw a total of 162 species whereas this year I managed 153. My India list now stands at 219. 

Below is a full list of all of the species which I have seen in India and the preceding posts go into a bit more detail. 

Above photo: Glossy Ibis.

Species	Locations with number of birds seen in brackets
Alpine Swift	Thattekad, Birds Song Homestay, Kerala (2), Thattekad, River Periyar Bridge, Kerala (2), Munnar, Eravikulam, Kerela (1), Munnar, Flower Valley Homestay, Kerela (5)
Ashy Drongo	Thattekad, Jungle, Kerala (2), Thattekad, Kalappara, Kerala (2), Thattekad, Salim Ali Bird Trail, Kerala (1)
Ashy Prinia	Betalbatim, Goa (2), Betalbatim, Beleza by the beach, Goa (3), Raynandar, Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Goa (1), Changaram Wetlands, Kerala (2), Munnar, Attukad waterfalls area, Kerela (1), Munnar, Eravikulam, Kerela (5), Munnar, Signal Point, Kerela (1)
Ashy Woodswallow	Tembim, Goa (1), Changaram Wetlands, Kerala (5), Thattekad, Birds Song Homestay, Kerala (1), Thattekad, River Periyar Bridge, Kerala (4), Munnar, Tribal village, Kerela (1)
Asian Brown Flycatcher	Thattekad, Urulanthanni, Kerala (1), Munnar, Attukad waterfalls area, Kerela (1)
Asian Fairy-bluebird	Thattekad, Jungle, Kerala (4), Thattekad, Sparrow Vale, Kerala (1), Thattekad, Urulanthanni, Kerala (1)
Asian Koel	Betalbatim, Goa (1), Betalbatim, Beleza by the beach, Goa (2), Colva, Goa (1), Raynandar, Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, Goa (3), Kochi, Fort Kochi, Kerala (5), Mangalavanam bird sanctuary , Kerala (3), Thattekad, Kalappara, Kerala (1)
Asian Openbill	Betalbatim, Goa (1), Betalbatim, Beleza by the beach, Goa (1), Betalbatim, Betalbatim Lake, Goa (1), Anakulam, Kerela (1)
Asian Palm Swift	Kochi, Fort Kochi, Kerala (2)
Banded Bay Cuckoo	Thattekad, Urulanthanni, Kerala (2)
Barn Owl	Utarda, Goa (1)
Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike	Thattekad, Urulanthanni, Kerala (5)
Black Baza	Thattekad, Sparrow Vale, Kerala (4)
Black Bulbul	Munnar, Pothamedu viewpoint, Kerela (2)

Betalbatim Lake, Goa

About 1km from our hotel at Beleza on the Beach there was a small lake known as Betalbatim Lake, which held an interesting array of birds, including especially these bronze-winged jacanas, seen here with a couple of Indian pond herons. Other birds not photographed included various egrets, black-headed ibis, red-wattled lapwings and rufous treepie.

Grey-headed swamphens.

Swallows on the wire

A pair of wire-tailed swallows kept flying around and landing on the wires at Betalbatim Lake. This is a species I really wanted to see, ever since I bought "Swallows and Martins of the world" in the Helm series, way back in 1989.

I was surprised to see this streak-throated swallow on the wires. This is quite a scarce bird in this area so a very decent record. Other swallows seen were red-rumped swallow and barn swallow. Swifts were also well represented within the area, with little swift, Indian swiftlet and best of all, white-rumped spinetail all seen. Like the streaked-throated swallow, the spinetail is a very scarce bird in the area.

Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary boat trip, Goa

I was picked up at 5:30am by a birding guide and taken to the town of Raynandar about a 40 minute drive from the hotel, to meet a ferry at 6:15am which would take us over to Dr. Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary. From there we had another short drive to a small harbour where we took another much smaller boat and spent a couple of hours touring around the mangrove swamps looking for birds. 

The star attraction is the collared kingfisher of which there are only about 30 or so left in Goa. We managed to see about five, plus other kingfishers such as stork-billed and the ubiquitous white-throated. Other new birds today included lesser adjutant stork, spot-breasted fantail and orange-breasted green pigeon. Also white-bellied sea eagle.

Lesser adjutant, a major target species for me before the holiday.

Maina-Raia Wetlands, Goa

Following our boat trip around the mangroves of Dr. Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, we next headed for the Maina-Raia wetlands. This was without doubt my favourite birding area of the whole trip, with the possible exception of Eravikulam near Munnar.

It is a magnificent area of wetlands, which reminded me in many ways of the rice paddies of Doñana in Spain. There were large numbers of many species, all of the egrets of course, but also hundreds of lesser whistling ducks, painted storks, black-headed ibis and grey-headed swamphens. Also at least 60 river terns, several lesser adjutants, woolly-necked stork, bronze-winged and pheasant-tailed jacanas, black-tailed godwits plus many other species.

There were also spot-billed ducks with the whistling ducks, but more about these in a separate post.

Indian spot-billed and knob-billed ducks, Maina-Raia wetlands

Being a wildfowl enthusiast, these were a couple of species that I really wanted to see. Neither are particularly uncommon, but still, they need seeing and these today were both new birds for me. Cracking birds! I'm always glad to add a new species of wildfowl to my list.

Asian openbill and the dry rice paddies

When we stopped off at Singapore on our way to Australia and New Zealand in 2020, there were reports of flocks of openbill storks flying over. At the time I'd never even heard of the species and was intrigued and hoped to see them. Unfortunately I didn't see any but today I made up for it! Just one bird but it showed very well feeding in the dry rice paddies behind the hotel, in amongst the myriad of egrets. I was so happy to see this bird, certainly one of the birds of the holiday.

Vigors's sunbird, Betalbatim, Goa

There are several species of sunbird in India and I've already seen a few of them, but this was a new one for me, Vigors's sunbird, which is not found in the areas which I have been to in Kerela. This used to be a race of crimson sunbird but it's another fairly recent split and the two species are separated amongst other things by range. We have a pair just down the road from our hotel, a really beautiful bird. 

White-rumped spinetail, Colva

Photo © Aidan Fonseca www.avocet-peregrine.com

I went for a walk this afternoon in the sweltering heat of Goa. Around 40°C and very humid, it certainly wasn't pleasant. However it did prove productive, especially when I reached what looked like a water tank just outside the village of Colva, where there were plenty of swifts and hirundines flying around most notably red-rumped swallows, wire-tailed swallows, little swifts and Indian swiftlets. 

Suddenly a small swift appeared with a white rump and a strange fluttering flight and it was a slightly odd shape for a swift. I could hardly believe that it was a white-rumped spinetail and tried to talk myself out of it. However, over the next hour or so I saw it again and a couple of times it was close enough to see the spines on the tail. A very exciting bird and a target species before the holiday.

I'm not sure exactly what the building in the centre of the photo is. On the map it's called Colva pump but I wondered if there was water in the top because lots of hirundines and swifts seemed to be flying in and landing briefly as if drinking.

Arrival in Goa

We've arrived in Goa, a place called Betalbatim, and safe to say that it's chalk and cheese to the other places we have been to so far in neighbouring Kerela. Not just the birds, which are just as numerous but different to Kerela, but at least where we are, Goa seems like a different country. For example, tuk tuks (rickshaws) are almost non-existent here whereas in Kerela they're everywhere, and the people seem to dress differently, more western. In fact it's not got a very Indian feel to the place. Perhaps that's just because we're in a tourist area.

The beaches are big and not particularly busy, but there are not a lot of birds in evidence. These greater sandplover were about the best, but there are also small flocks of greenshank. Two little terns were also present briefly.

Greenshank.

Indian yellow tit and goodbye to Munnar

Last morning in Munnar before we head back to Kochi airport later today, but we had just enough time to do our local walk again. Finally I managed a half decent photo of chestnut-headed bee-eater, and also saw a new species for me, a few Indian yellow tits.

Indian yellow tit.

Long-tailed shrike and Attukad waterfall part 2

In the higher regions long-tailed shrike seems to replace brown shrike. I've seen a few but this is about the best I've managed to photograph. 

Today we just stayed local to the hotel and to be honest the scenery is as good as anywhere.

Munnar Top Station

We hired a taxi for the day and followed the typical tourist route from Munnar to Top Station, stopping at all points in between, some of which were worthwhile, others were not. Why do I want to stop at Echo Point just so I can shout and hear an echo? Anyway, stop we did and I didn't complain too much because each stop offered the chance of birds, including this one, grey-headed canary flycatcher, a new species for me.

However, first stop was Top Station. Our driver recommended that we stop just before the viewpoint which was very busy and take a walk which he claimed was only known to the locals. To be fair, it was very good, a beautiful location and very quiet, just ourselves and the tea pickers.

Attukad Waterfalls

We've moved accommodation again and are now in the Blanket hotel near Attukad waterfall just outside Munnar. It's a totally different habitat to the last place, much more mountainous, with tree plantations and eucalyptus forests, neither of which are native of course, with both being introduced for different reasons during the British rule of India, but they do at least offer a different suite of birds. One of the commonest birds here is the chestnut-headed bee-eater.

Black-and-orange flycatchers and Nilgiri tahrs, Erivakulam National Park

Black-and-orange flycatcher is the iconic Western Ghats endemic that is high on the most wanted list of any birder who visits Munnar. It's not that rare within it's range but it can be quite elusive and difficult to see. Today we hired a birding guide who took us first to the magnificent Erivakulam National Park just north of the town of Munnar and then around various other nearby hotspots. 

Pretty soon we found the star bird, initially the female above and then later a couple of males. 

This is a male with a black head rather than the grey head of the female.

Indian Scimitar Babblers

After we left Erivakulam National Park, we called in at a good spot for scimitar babblers, a bird which is so good that it deserves a post of its own. I couldn't just tag them on at the end of the Erivakulam post!

Anakulam

Anakulam is about 40km west of Munnar and is renowned as an elephant watchpoint. Asian elephants come down to the river in the evenings to drink. It's almost as guaranteed as it gets with wild elephants. The problem is though, it can be anytime from about 4pm to 10pm so you may get lucky and see them in daylight, or you may have a long wait and see them by floodlight. 

We made two visits, the first today and then another on Saturday and despite waiting for a combined total of about eight hours, on neither day did they come to the river. All was not lost though, because at about 5pm today this juvenile male elephant wandered into the clearing. We held our breath, would it's mother and the rest of the herd follow? Unfortunately no, it disappeared back into the jungle and this was the last we saw of any elephant. Slightly disappointing but still a tremendous experience.

Asian elephants differ from their African cousins in several respects, including smaller ears, four toes not three and in the fact that only the males have tusks. Therefore I'm assuming that this must be a young male.

Bits and pieces from Flower Valley Plantation homestay

This crested serpent eagle flew over mid-morning. 

Our resident brown shrike continues to show well.

Arrival at Munnar, Western Ghats

I think I'm going to like it here..... arrived at Flower Valley Plantation homestay near Munnar in the Western Ghats at 3.30pm, by 6pm my from the balcony list contained Malabar parakeet, Loten's sunbird, dollarbird, brown shrike, Malabar grey hornbill, red-whiskered bulbul, India swiftlet, alpine swift, hill myna, jungle babbler, rufous treepie, racket-tailed drongo and red-whiskered bulbul as well as blue pansy butterfly and stream ruby, the latter a small damselfly very similar to our demoiselles.

Hotel Seagull

The Hotel Seagull is one of our favourite restaurants in Fort Kochi, partly because it's right on the river and has a nice breeze, good ale, good food and from my point of view some decent birding. 

Several species of herons and egrets can be seen from the hotel, including intermediate egret as shown in the photo above. It's easy to see 50 of these birds on a single visit to Fort Kochi.

Eastern great egret are less common but still it would be a bad day if you saw less than 10.

Little egrets are also regularly seen.

Western reef herons are usually around in low single figures, and usually around the Chinese nets.

Watching Indian Ocean humpbacked dolphins at the Hotel Seagull

India is renowned as a great place for all kinds of wildlife and there are plenty of tours and trips available to give you the opportunity of seeing it for yourself. However if there is one area which I think is poorly provided for, it's pelagic trips. 

It's true that I've only been to Goa and Kerela, so perhaps the situation is better elsewhere, but I've found it very difficult to find anything that remotely resembles a dolphin or whale watching trip, let alone a pelagic birding trip and it's exceedingly difficult to even find out much information about which species are out there. 

I mean this is the Arabian Sea, the north western part of the Indian Ocean, so surely there must be something good out there? I'm sure that there is, but it's like getting blood out of a stone to find out anything about it, and trying to get to the edge of the continental shelf here seems to be as unlikely as getting into space.

However, from a previous visit last year, I do know that there are Indian Ocean humpbacked dolphins in the Fort Kochi area, and today we enjoyed watching them with a couple of pints at the Hotel Seagull, right on the waterfront.

In my previous post about these animals I discussed the uncertainty surrounding the range of the different species of humpbacked dolphins in the Indian Ocean, but these are most likely Indian Ocean rather than Indo-Pacific humpbacked dolphins, based on range and colour. Nice to see from the hotel bar!