amarbharathy's Journal

Its an Australia day morning and I headed out to Lysterfield park for watching Aussie fav Kangaroos. To my surprise, there were too many people than Kangaroos, which in a normal day would have been opposite. Day was cloudy and luckily I had my jacket on. As I went to Channel track and Bayview track looking for roos, it started raining which ensued that I return quickly. These were taken in the trail.

Trip Report:
Took 902 Chelsea from Ranfurlie Dr/Springvale Road to Hutton Rd/Springvale Road (Kingston,Vic) for Braeside park wetlands. A very promising place for birdwatching. Spring sunny day brought so many birds and birders alike.

Highlights:
https://ebird.org/checklist/S149977880
Reached 400 birds in ebird!! Lucky to find Striated Pardalote, Fantail, Horsefield Bronze cuckoo all around the same tree!

Trip Report:
Areekal falls -> Kochareekal caves -> Muvattupuzha -> Kothamangalam - > Thattekad -> Kuttampuzha - > Pooyamkutty

Observations from 2 different trips are added here. So many tributaries of Periyar is seen and enjoyed these places.
Highlights:
Ramputan fruits and lots of Malabar hornbills. Crested Goshawk looks like a commoner here.

Trip Report:
Stayed at Ramana's place in Kuniyamuthur on Saturday night (14May2022) and started early by 5:30 to SACON. Santhoshini, my friend, is a researcher under Prof.Dr.Jayapal, a well known name in Indian ornithological community. In a drizzling moody day, we birded around the campus in "Eucalyptus trail" and one other near the second gate among much of elephant and dhole spoor.

Highlights:
Nest of Crested Treeswift, its mother and father taking turns in incubating the egg.
Other Comments:

Trip Report:
Started from home by 6:00 AM and to my surprise weather was moody and never did I regret for wearing my blue coat.
Highlights:
A lone Indian Eagle owl was giving us good company perched just in 50 meters. When we realised its presence, it decided to fly off.
Other Comments:
Too many flowers! After discovering this hillock, this is the first time I saw a lot of little flowering plants sprawled up in unexpected places. Summers are for flowers isnt it!

Trip Report:
Started (Friday April 29) in my white Activa from Udumalpet --> Marayoor --> Munnar --> Adimali --> Kothamangalam ---> Perumbavoor. Next day in Kochi (April 30).

Last day (may 01) - Perumbavoor --> Kothamangalam --> Thattekad --> Kuttampuzha --> Urulanthanni --> Mamalakandam --> Adimali (via Irumbupalam)

Went in Salim Ali Trial (50 rs - 3km birding trial) with one Mr.Shibu, very experienced birder and watcher. Heard quite a lot of Chitranghadhan (Heart spotted woodpecker) and Theekakka (Trogon).

Highlights:
Malabar Gray Hornbills in 10s and lots of Trogons. Hill Keelback sighting was unexpected and lovely!

Other Comments:
From Thattekad, Urulanthanni route is must try. Well paved road via dense Sholas along Idamalayar. Absolute delight to drive in that route.

From April 14 to 16, we went on a family trip to Munnar. We stayed in Anachal and went to nearby places. I have added observations from this trip.

Highlight is Cricula moths which were in abundance near the hotel we stayed. Racket tailed Drongo wasn't shy to catch one when I was photographing the moth in close quarters!

One worrying observation about the Idukki district in particular is the abundance of resorts, homestays, hotels and the likes. Already the pristine shola forests are replaced by Tea, Cardamom and Cocoa monocultures, and now these hugely growing tourism industry with no foresight on the ecological issues they pose are only making things worse in Idukki which was one of the main victims in Kerala floods and landslides. I don't think Kerala tourism has a complete control over these "homestays" in the middle of Sholas and cardamom plantations; Do they have proper permits? Do they pay their taxes or are these homestays just a side job for the owners?

Kerala government needs to check these rapidly growing hotel industry in the forests and try to strike a balance between Forests and Tourism.

A pilgrim's walk from Alipiri to Tirumala in Metlu (steps) turned out to be a great mothing session. There were a lot of Callitera thwaitesii moths resting in the steps. Indian giant squirrels were abundant and they sometimes come down to shop keepers to steal fruits. Sambars, Spotted Deers and Indian Boars are other common wild animals to watch out for.

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) is the administrative authority of this eastern ghats range, which does a very good job in pilgrim service. But there is a dire need for TTD to put more boards with accurate descriptions of birds and animals that can be seen in the adjacent forests. Also this can be a transformed into a good place to educate people on wildlife, putting up signs like "Dont feed animals" etc.

As far as I have noticed, AP forest department doesn't care much about wildlife in Tirumala because there are pictures of foreign birds being drawn there to represent birds residing in the forest. They should up their efforts in Tirumala, and bring more initiatives to instill wildlife awareness.

I had the opportunity to participate in bird survey in newly ordained Srivilliputhur-Meghamalai Tiger reserve, which was once Grizzled Squirrel Sanctuary. I covered the Kovilaru Dam near Koomapatti, Watrap Taluk. Vegetation was dry but dense thorny deciduous forests, making the birds only to be heard, rarely seen.

Highlight observation is observing 6 Blue faced Malkohas in the same tree!

I have added my observations from the trip here: