Vedanthangal, 24.9.2011

Indian Treepie

Return  to the Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary!!!

Place : Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary

Access : 21G to Chromepet, 500B / 577 to Chenglepet followed by 129V / T3 / T8 to Vedanthangal

The birds are rather easier to spot - and a wide range too. This wasn't the best season but spotting the Baya Weaver made up for it!

Birds Spotted:

Baya Weavers

1. Baya Weaver
2. Indian Treepie
3. Little Cormorant
4. Little Grebe
5. Sand Plover
6. Indian Roller
7. Black Drongo
8. Asian Open-Billed Stork
9. Indian Pond Heron
10. Black-Crowned Night Heron
11. Cinnamon Bittern
12. White-Breasted Kingfisher
13. Little Blue Kingfisher
14. Grey Heron

Asian Open-Billed Stork

15. Little Egret
16. Great Egret
17. Cattle Egret
18. House Crow
19. Common Myna
20. Laughing Dove
21. House Sparrow
22. Ashy Prinia

Indian Roller

Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, 17.9.2011

This weekend was the big one - a long road trip to Kerala into the wilderness of Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.

So, we rented a Hyundai i10 and drove straight down from Chennai via Trichy and Dindigul into Periyar.

Place : Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kumily, Kerala

Access : NH45 from Chennai till Dindigul, then State Highway to Theni, then straight down to Kumily.

Exhaustive List of Species Spotted:

Rana Frog?

1. Spotted Dove
2. Blue Rock Dove
3. Laughing Dove
4. Common Myna
5. Loten's Sunbird
6. Purple Sunbird
7. Purple-Rumped Sunbird
8. Crimson-Backed Sunbird
9. Asian Koel
10. Greater Coucal
11. Black Drongo
12. Malabar Pied Hornbill
13. Indian Treepie
14. Brahminy Kite

Snakebird  / Oriental Darter

15. Shikra
16. Black Eagle
17. Black-Winged Kite
18. Snakebird
19. Little Cormorant
20. Great Cormorant
21. Red-Vented Bulbul
22. Red-Whiskered Bulbul
23. Little Grebe
24. Garganey
25. Blossom-Headed Parakeet
26. Rose-Ringed Parakeet
27. Spot-Billed Duck
28.White-Bellied Treepie

Malabar Grey Hornbill

29. White-Cheeked Barbet
30. Crimson-Breasted Barbet
31. Little Egret
32. Common Coot
33. Intermediate Egret
34. Cattle Egret
35. Great Egret
36. Cinnamon Bittern
37. Grey Heron
38. Painted Stork
39. Lesser Yellownape
40. Blue-Tailed Bee-eater
41. Little Green Bee-Eater
42. Indian Roller

Nilgiri Langur

43. Yellow-Billed Babbler
44. Jungle Babbler
45. House Crow
46. Thick-Billed Crow
47. Brown Crake
48. Red-Wattled Lapwing
49. Indian Blue Robin
50. Oriental Magpie Robin

51. Hanuman Langur
52. Nilgiri Langur
53. Bonnet Macaque
54. Malabar Red Squirrel
55. Indian Palm Squirrel
56. Gaur
57. Spotted Deer

And a lot of other insects . . .

Adyar Estuary

We didn't even leave that one-off holiday for Id. A warm Wednesday and we (Saikia and me) cycled straight to Besantnagar Beach and the adjpining Adyar Estuary. Also called Broken Bridge because of a bridge broken in the center which hangs pendulously. . .

Little Cormorant

It was a tepid morning and the winds were gentle - a perfect day for birdwatching. But it was the beauty and picturesque scenery that caught our attention.

Place : Adyar Estuary from Broken Bridge (better to do this from inside the Theosophical Society)

Date : 31 August 2011 (6:00 am)

Access is easy and not far from the beach. So a good birdwatching day can be followed up with a nice swim :)

Now let the pics speak for themselves :

It took us half an hour to get our concentration back onto the birds . . . What a scenery!!!

And once we concentrated it was easy. The 36X camera and the 50X binocs helped us spot a horde of birds. It was not that typical waterbirds day either. . .

We got to see the entire range - right from the Egrets to Drongos and Shikras.

A list of the birds spotted at the Adyar Estuary:

Loten's Sunbird

1. Purple Sunbird (2 male)

2. Loten's Sunbird (1)

3. Little Green Bee-Eater (8)

4. Black Drongo (plenty)

5. Pied Kingfisher (2)

6. White-Breasted Kingfisher (plenty)

7. Little Egret (twenty+)

8. Shikra (1)

9. Little Blue Kingfisher (1)

10. Green Sandpiper (fifty+)

11. Red-Wattled Lapwing (5)

12. Cattle Egret (2)

13. Little Cormorant (3)

14. Rose-Ringed Parakeet (2)

15. Greater Coucal (1)

16. Common Myna (plenty)

17. House Sparrow (plenty)

Little Cormorant

18. Ashy Wren-Warbler (3)

19. Jungle Myna (2)

20. White-Breasted Waterhen (1)

21. Purple Moorhen (1)

22. Black-Crowned Night Heron (2)

23. Pond Heron (3)

24. Grey Heron (1)

25. Chestnut Bittern (2)

26. Plains Prinia (4)

27. Common Moorhen (1)

28. Blue Rock Dove (plenty)

29. House Crow (too many)

30. Thick-Billed Crow (many, but relatively less)

31. Little Grebe (5)

32. Spot-Billed Duck (2)

33. Grey Pelican (1 flying overhead)

34. Indian Treepie (1)

35. Jungle Babbler (5)

36. Golden-Backed Woodpecker (2 on the way back to IITM)

37. Yellow-Billed Babbler (plenty)

38. Cliff Swallow (plenty)

White-Breasted Kingfisher

White-Breasted Waterhen

Little Egret

Ashy Wren-Warbler