A window to Western ghats - Thattekad

Life lined by the prosperity of Periyar river, this place is a must for every birder from anywhere in the world. Carry any Indian bird book here and you will come back with majority of the birds ticked "spotted" on the book. This is one of the places where your checklist would grow to three figures in just a day or two!

I would say that being one of the most rich western ghat bird habitat- Thattekad is certainly a birding hotspot that offers a wonderful birding experience, but the photography becomes a bit tricky affair here. In other words…your binoculars will be more busy here than the trigger of your camera.

I was delighted to be in the Junglebird home stay run by enthusiastic Gireesh (a lawyer by profession) and the company of his energetic mother Sudha who is an excellent example of how the joy of nature & birding is not restricted to age, education and background. It is the pure joy that anyone can enjoy – if inclined to and involved into it!

I discovered that the new upcoming guides in Thattekad area are comparatively a better company because most of the times - while trying to persuade some of the hyped up names at Thattekad-the interaction ends up in a lot of disappointment and people get cheated while trying to be with these so called "established guides". Some of the upcoming guides are very well conversant with good birding background and they also seem to be reading and watching a lot of reference material from around the world which makes them quite competent.

The trail started with Brown Hawk owls continued to the deeper parts of the jungle with scattered mixed hunting parties. On the two sides of the path appeared Ruby Throated Bulbuls, Malabar and Vernal Hanging Parakeets, Bronze and Racket Tailed Drongos, Both the flamebacks, Barbets, Heartspotted & Rufous Woodpeckers, Grey Junglefowls, Orioles, Thrushes, While Bellied and Rufous Treepies. While we moved toward the bushes with confirmed presence of Ceylon Frogmouths – a family of Elephant with babies in the herd caused a sudden stir and drifted us to the watch tower. In turn- a Malabar Trogon fetched us a wonderful sighting together with its better half. Moving further another stunner- a Black Baza flew across the thick growth of trees and made our day ! The mysterious sunset hours at the “first and second rocks” was another exciting time to witness Indian Pitta, Jungle Owlet, Scops owl and Grey Nightjar.

Next morning started with a hilarious bumpy bus ride …followed later on by pleasing birdcalls on a big rock towards the eastern side of Thattekad and this turned out to be a fantastic location to witness some exclusive sightings like Dollar Bird, Crimson Throated Barbet, White Bellied Woodpecker, Emrald Dove, Nuthatches and Hill Mynas in action.

Munnar is a certainly a place worth a visit while being in Thattekad. With the Scenic Carpets of Tea garden and plenty of water bodies – it’s a famous holiday ( more the honeymoon) destinations and being home to the famous shola areas in the vicinity of western ghats – provides some excellent nature and wildlife opportunities. Taking a car from Thattekad one can easily cover Munnar as a day long excursion and the road to Munnar itself can fetch some good birding.

Overall this area is an interesting window to the western ghats where every birder would surely come back delighted and rewarded with a few new species on every visit.

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