Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi)

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Tara

The Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) is a medium-sized passerine bird native to Asia. Males have elongated central tail feathers, and in some populations a black and rufous plumage while others have white plumage. Females are short-tailed with rufous wings and a black head. They feed on insects, which they capture in the air often below a densely canopied tree. This one I saw at Gouri Farms in Gudalur is a mature male.

With an extremely large range and a large population that appears to be stable, they have been evaluated as Least Concern by IUCN since 2004. This is great news for birders as we have a lot of opportunites to see this stunning bird. Get your award ticket to Central Asia or South-east Asia and try any of the national parks. Southern India is a great place to start, especially Mudumalai National Park.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS BIRD

Wikipedia

Birdlife

FES

VIDEOS

This bird is poetry in motion!

And a good parent (though I wouldn’t want to eat that bug either)!

Mudumalai National Park, Tamil Nadu, India

Posted on February 1, 2014 by Tara

Mudumalai National Park is located in Tamil Nadu (fly to Bangalore on a Central Asian award, then take a bus) and adjoins Wayanad in Kerala and Bandipur in Karnataka. The very impressive bird list includes (to name a few) Malabar Trogon, Malabar Whistling Thrush, Large Racket-Tailed Drongos, Spotted Babbler, Green Pigeons, Brown Dove, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Parakeets, Bulbuls, Cuckoos, Hornbills, Scops Owl, Tiny-eared Owl, Black Woodpecker, Mynas, Barbets to name a few. Among birds of prey, the Crested Hawk Eagles, Crested Serpent Eagle, Buzzards, Harriers, Falcons and the King Vulture are predominant. The Mudumalai National Park also attracts a considerable number of migratory water birds. Most tourists come here hoping to see a tiger (and usually don’t) but still enjoy watching elephants and monkeys which are easily seen.

The main Ooty-Mysore road runs straight through both Mudumalai and Bandipur so you may be lucky enough to see wildlife from your car, especially monkeys! If you want to really get into the park, you must take a tour from the park headquarters.

Deer are seen everywhere!

And it was pretty cool to see peacocks!

This is where the main park headquarters is.

We had hired a jeep for the afternoon and he parked here while we walked up to where you buy tickets.

Monkeys hoping for a handout.

Book the safari here. It was around 135 rupees, 25 rupees for a camera and the minibus goes when full. We only had to wait about 20 minutes to get enough people.

Off we went and promptly saw more deer and peacocks.

This was my best find, I saw the flash of green in the trees and knew it had to be parakeets. It wasn’t until I zoomed in that I was able to identify Plum-headed Parakeets. I was the only one in the minibus who was excited to see them, the other (Indian) tourists didn’t even lift their cameras!

Monkeys were of greater interest to the other tourists.

After the safari which lasted about an hour, we were led across the street to see the elephant feeding……………and more monkeys! This is included in the cost of the safari.

Lodge Review: Gouri Farms, Gudalur Near Mudumalai National Park, India

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Tara

I knew I wanted to visit Mudumalai as the bird list is very impressive……………….oh yeah, they have tigers too! My search on a reasonably priced place to stay nearby had me searching Google maps for the nearest towns and typing the name of the towns into Trip Advisor. That’s how I found Gouri Farms…………………and what a great find!

The map on the website is pretty good if you just look for the landmarks but our nervous taxi driver kept stopping to ask for directions. We got there just after noon and were greeted by Dr Shyla and her family.

We were only staying one night to visit Mudumalai so we booked the smallest double room but they have rooms of all sizes available and would be a great place for a bird watching group. Breakfast is included and you can also order meals in advance for a good price (less than $5). They only serve vegetarian meals but they will cater to tourists who don’t want spicy food.

The grounds are very birdy and in the morning, Dr Shyla and her family helped me find some gorgeous birds like a Paradise Flycatcher!

Getting From Wayanad To Mudumalai

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Tara

The distances are not that far so getting from Wayanad to Mudumalai can be done in a few hours by public transport if you get the timings right.

Grassroots – Pinangode – Sulthan Bathery – Gudalur – Mudumalai

We took an auto-rickshaw from Grassroots to the bus stand at Pinangode. Some of the buses are very attractively decorated!

Next we caught a bus to Sultan Bathery. These buses can be very crowed and we had to stand at first, then when some people got out enroute we grabbed their seats. The scenery was very nice!

Once we arrived in Sultan Bathery, we found out the next bus to Gudalur wouldn’t be for another 3 hours. Even monkeys playing nearby weren’t going to keep me in a bus station for 3 hours!

We asked a taxi driver to take us, he said that there are special taxis that do long distance routes and he would send one over to the bus station. 20 minutes later, one showed up and we paid about $20ish for the ride to Gudalur.

We traveled through Mudumalai Tiger Reserve but didn’t see any tigers. Few people ever do.

The scenery was great!

We arrived in Gudalur and while the taxi driver was asking some locals how to get to Gouri Farm, I bought some snacks that I hoped wouldn’t be too spicy to bring along for lunch.

Finally we arrived at Gouri Farm where the owner, Dr Shyla was there to greet us!

Choosing The Best Lodges For India & Sri Lanka

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Tara

Yesterday, I showed you how I put together an itinerary for a birding adventure in southern India & Sri Lanka. Today, I will show you how I chose the accommodation in each place. In all cases (except Bangalore) I was prioritizing lodges that were located in birdy locations as I love being able to sit on a deck and watch birds any time of day! Oh yeah, and we were on a tight budget being a somewhat impromptu trip!

I will be doing detailed reviews with photos on each individual lodge in subsequent posts.

BANGALORE

The first night, we would be arriving around midnight and getting a bus to Coorg early the next morning. Bangalore has horrible traffic jams so I wanted to stay as close as possible to the Mysore Satellite Bus Stand. I used a Google map to zoom in on the bus stand and found the Transit Hotel Mysore Road right across the street. I Googled the name, saw it bookable on Agoda (unfortunately not on Pointshound) and booked an AC room for a whopping $12!

COORG

On a previous visit, I had accompanied some friends to the wonderful SAI Sanctuary and really wanted to stay there. Unfortunately, their staff had left and they couldn’t accommodate us but they booked us at a guest house just down the road called Jungleside Homestay. We made a day visit to SAI to visit our friends and watch birds.

WAYANAD

I had no idea where to stay so I checked on Expedia since I had a $50 credit in my account. I found a nice-looking place called Grassroots Wayanad, checked the photos & reviews on Trip Advisor and decided it sounded like my kind of place. I booked it on Expedia to use the $50 credit.

MUDUMALAI

I was researching the sanctuary online and wanted to stay in their accommodation. However it seems you can only book it with their office in Ooty or at the facility and they had no email. I resorted to Google mapping the area and found the nearest town was called Gudalur. I searched Gudalur on Trip Advisor and found a place called Gouri Farm which sounded good. They weren’t on any booking sites so I emailed them and booked and they agreed to let me pay on arrival since we were there on a weekday.

BANGALORE

We would be arriving in the evening by bus and I have plenty of Club Carlson points so I booked the Park Plaza.

KITHULGALA

I read a few birding trip reports that highly recommended the Kithulgala Resthouse. I wanted to book and pay on arrival so I used Booking.com which was the only booking agency that allowed for this.

SINHARAJA

Unfortunately this visit fell on a weekend and my first & second choices (Martin’s Simple Lodge & Blue Magpie Lodge) were booked up (according to Sri Lankan travel agency Red Dot) and they tried to get me to book a place for $200 a night that looked lovely but was out of our budget. I did some researching online and stumbled across a place called Rock View Motel Kalawana which had room so I grabbed it.

Flights and accommodation booked…………………..the journey yet to begin!

India & Sri Lanka – Birding “On The Fly”

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Tara

I usually plan trips at least a year in advance and book them when the last segment I need is within the 11 month booking window. So hastily throwing together a trip to India & Sri Lanka was totally out of character for me. I had been planning to do this trip in 2015 but when US Airways announced a major rebate promo, I couldn’t resist bringing it forward!

I knew which parrots I was targeting. I never tire of seeing India’s beautiful Malabar Parakeets, Alexandrines and other psittaculas. I was also dying to see the stunning Layard’s Parakeet, Sri Lanka Hanging Parrot and many other bird species.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

I had enough miles to book us in business class on Thai outbound and Singapore return. This is a Central Asian award.

Since Sri Lankan Airlines hasn’t yet joined One World (only 4500 with Avios) and Air India hasn’t yet joined Star Alliance I had to pay for a bridging flight between Bangalore (via Chennai) and Colombo. The cheapest flight was on Spice Jet which I booked on their website.

I spent a day reading reports of bird sightings and put together the itineraries for both countries based on which locations had my desired parrot species and as many other species. In India, I knew I wanted to visit Coorg, Wayanad and Mudumalai.

In Sri Lanka, I knew I wanted to visit Kithulgala & Sinharaja.

With itineraries chosen, next step was to find accommodation…………………….

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