Frogmouths, leech socks, rain and puttu.

The north-east monsoon is well and active over the Bay of Bengal, but one would think that that is no reason for Kerala on our western coast to get rain, isn't it?

But rain it did, poured according to all accounts, and the MNS group that went to Thattekad and the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary had their full share of leeches, spiders, birds, lush green trees, flowing rivers and butterflies.

No, I did not go, (Boo hoo!) was attempting to be a responsible parent, you see. Anyways, Mr Ramanan has taken some fabulous (as always) pictures, and Vijay has written this most entertaining and thorough account. (Please note how each meal has been detailed to add to my envy, and leech inconveniences happily glossed over!)

(Actually, the group went well armed with "leech socks" - a kind of canvas covering for the legs all the way up to the knees.)

Click on any of the photos for a larger view.
View of the valleys - Photo by Mr Ramanan
White cheeked barbet - Photo by Mr Ramanan

Vijay's report:

"16 of us boarded the Thiruvananthapuram Mail amidst pouring rain on the evening of Friday, Nov. 6, 2009. ABEL - a spacious bus - piloted by Unni awaited us at Aluva Station on Saturday morning. In about 90 minutes we were at the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary at Thattekkad. After dumping our stuff in the dormitory and downing a quick breakfast of Idli and Kadalakkuutan, we trekked off into the Sanctuary upto the Watchtower with our very knowledgeable guides Sudheesh and Mani (pronounced Maa-ni).
Racket tailed drongo - Photo by Mr Ramanan

The trees are gigantic...the cheeni (tetramulus nudiflora) towering nearly a 100 feet in height with a base, to encircle which would need atleast 5 persons to link hands. We parked ourselves atop a broad rocky surface and our binocs began chasing the numerous birds which flew hither and thither gleefully beckoning us to play 'catch'. Butterflies too flitted around gaily. The morning ended with the sighting of a pair of Sri Lankan Frogmouths.

Sri Lanka Frogmouth. The male is more grey and the female more rufous - Photo by Mr Ramanan
The female frogmouth. Their call is supposed to sound like chuckles! - Photo by Mr Ramanan

After a sumptuous lunch and rest we were off again early evening to another part of the Sanctuary that led us to a view-point that gave us a splendid vista of the Western Ghats. We could not spend much time here as it began raining quite heavily and so we were back sooner than planned to the dormitory. Dinner was Rice Kanji, Kappa, Cheru Payaru, Pickles and Pappadam. We retired early as we had planned an early morning trip to Kallippara - 6 Kms. away. Around 11 pm the rains became harder, and continued to be so till 8 am Sunday morning.

The dormitory had a tin roof and so we experienced 'thundering rain'. The din however completely drowned the loud sounds of the inevitable snores. Fortified by a breakfast of Aapam and Veg Curry, we set off by bus to Kallippara, so called because of its rectangular shape. We were rewarded with the sighting of the Crimson-backed Sunbird. Sunday evening, we trekked across the Periyar River to the other side of the Sanctuary looking for the Barred Jungle Owlet and ended up seeing one fly overhead (we did see a couple more though very clearly the next morning).

Little blue kingfisher - Photo by Mr Ramanan
Monday morning was bright and sunny and so we caught a bus and went off 14 Kms. away and trekked to a place called Knacheri. The canopy here was awesome. On our return we saw the Malabar Trogon and the reconstructed Bhagavathy Temple. The reconstruction has been done atop the old Temple remains. We came back famished and the Nool Puttu and Veg Stew awaiting us vanished in no time.
Indian Pitta from below! - Photo by Mr Ramanan
Mid-day saw all of us in various attire scrambling to sight the Indian Pitta, and to our good fortune we also saw the Orange-headed Groundthrush. Kuttikkal was our destination for the evening - the place is so named because it is at this spot that the Periyar and the Edamalayar meet. Further downstream is the old Boothathankettu - a Dam of just big rocks - our destination for Tuesday morning.
Male Asian Fairy Bluebird - Photo by Mr Ramanan

The overnight rain ruled out Boothathankettu and instead, on a very cloudy Tuesday (Nov. 10) morning we trekked 10 Kms. inside the Sanctuary right upto its boundary called Ovungal/Kolumbu. We birded from atop Anachathappara, so called because an elephant is known to have died here. The remains of a Shiva Temple, several centuries old and the watchers' home on the banks of the Periyar were the stops on the trek. Before we began the trek, we were lucky to see the pair of Brown Hawk Owls back at their usual roosting place. They had been chased away by the Bonnet Macaques on Sunday morning. After a late breakfast, we hung around the dormitory and at the bottom of the steps to the Periyar River, rested a bit and began desultorily packing.
The River Periyar flows through the sanctuary - Photo by Mr Ramanan
Soon after lunch, the rains came down in torrents and barely let up to allow us board ABEL to go to Aluva to board the Chennai Mail back.

A rock agama - Photo by Mr Ramanan
Dr. Sugathan, the resident Ornithologist, who was also a close aide of Dr.Salim Ali, said that since the lake inside the Sanctuary had no water this year, the migratory water birds came, stayed for 2 days and went away.

Despite losing around 10 hours of good birding time over 2 days, we still recorded 110 species of birds and around 40 species of butterflies."

A wood spider - - Photo by Mr Ramanan

Aren't the spiders grand?

Looks like they had a great cook as well! (For those unfamiliar with Kerala cuisine, puttu, aapam, etc are all local staples, and highly recommended!)

And the frogmouths do have strange-looking mouths!