Parambikulam Tiger Reserve- - eBird Checklist - Jan 2011

Where we stayed

eBird Checklist - 15 Jan 2011 - Parambikulam Tiger Reserve- HQ-Anappadi - 60 species ( 1 other taxa)

A Nature Trip to Parambikulam & Top Slip was organized by MNS on 14,15,16, January 2011.  Departure was on Thursday, 13th night by T. No. 2671 Nilagiri Express to Coimbatore (CBE).  Stay was in the Forest Dept. Dormitory at Parambikulam.  Return was on Sunday, 16th night from Coimbatore by T. No. 2672 Nilagiri Express to Chennai (MAS).

I chuckled re-reading the Parambikulam Poem.  

Copy pasting my lifer sightings - 

Ten bird species I had never seen before -

1. Pompadour green pigeon - what a lovely, musical call! Now called Gray-fronted green Pigeon!
2. Sri Lanka Frogmouth - I was so looking forward to this, and when I think about them now, it still amazes me. If the guide had not actually told me where to look, I just would not have seen them!
3. Brown capped pygymy woodpecker - there were actually a couple in the trees just outside the dorm, so one morning I had my heart's fill of viewing them zipping from tree to tree.
4. Great black/white-bellied woodpecker - what an amazing, spectacular looking bird!
5. Heart-spotted woodpecker - brought a smile to all of us I remember, as he/she pecked furiously and went round and round the trunk, hanging upside down at some point, but still pecking away.
6. Small minivets - brilliant flashes of colour
7. White-bellied treepie - The white nape and belly, striking when it flew past
8. Velvet-fronted Nuthatch - out in the forest, it kept disappearing around the tree trunk, but I had a good look in the trees outside the dorm as well. When my son first heard the name, he heard it as "natraj", and was amazed that the bird had such an Indian name!!
9. Asian Fairy Bluebird - It posed for us, like some fashion model on the Vogue cover! With the sun falling on it, it was a brilliant view!
10. Chestnut Tailed Starling - there was a tree full of them one evening.

And of course this was the most amusing tree name - 

Pranav wrote a great trip report, which I located from the archives.  Here are some lovely paras from his report:

....a splendid Racket tailed Drongo sighting. Thisextraordinary specimen was quite undeterred by the folks around him, and continued to entertain himself (and us) with an orchestra of repetitive whistles, occasional metallic and nasal noises, and a horde of other delightfully assorted sound effects...

He saw many snakes and Arachnids too - wonder boy of the trip - and I was glad to revisit the report and the list.

....Brahminy kites soared effortlessly above an Indian shag, who contumaciously scoured the expansive waters of the Parambikulam reservoir for a meal, set against the backdrop of exhilaratingtropical forest. This area was also inhabited by quite a few miniscule orb weaving spiders of interest, whose identities could only be confirmed by squinting at them with the greatest difficulty......

....To say that t he drive that followed this rendezvous with this prodigious (Kannimara) teak was extremely eventful is an understatement; sightings of zesty, lively Nilgiri langurs were soon followed by an encounter with a small group of female and juvenile elephants. This was without a doubt one of the major highlights of the day. A Grey headed Fish Eagle, a regal- looking male Sambar, two Southern Birdwings (the largest butterfly in South India!), a rather tentative record of the Malabar Banded Peacock (large swallowtail with a blue upperside), and a fleeting glimpse ofthe Malabar grey hornbill(!!) kick- startedour first day atParambikulam, withthenaturalists’ spirits soaring.....

....Hill mynas, Jungle mynas, white cheeked barbets and Chestnut tailed starlings, among several others, were added with relative ease to our relentlessly growing bird list. And just when the sightings seemed to be incapable of getting any better, an extremely promising forest clearingturned up. It was here that the gravity defying Velvet fronted nuthatch, the brown capped pygmy woodpecker, numerous tits and sunbirds, and a pair of Black headed orioles seemedto grow on the trees that seated them......

....The Sri LankanFrogmouth. This captivating critter was one of the main reasons for our visit to the Sanctuary, and had it not been for our escort’s Selvam's experience, we would have been groping around in the dark for this sighting (especially during the day). A pair was finally (after a two hour walk) pointed out to us on a particularly antiquated tree, showcasing their cryptic camouflage with an unflinching gape of apparent indignation that was quite amusing. Soon enough, the birds had to be left reluctantly to their silent contemplation of the shola. . Minutes later, an active Heart Spotted Woodpecker was almost begging for our attention, as she displayed intentions of leaving her well exposed spot in a hurry, at least for as long as it took for her to unearth the giant insect that she was convinced she would find within a square inch of woodthat had been pecked at for fifteen minutes.....

.....The flamboyant Fairy Bluebird, the Blue faced Malkoha and the White Bellied Treepie were the notable few who seemedto want their positions in our rapidly expanding list morethan we did.

A certain whistling schoolboy who caught us unawares near thetastefully named forest guest house- ‘The Hornibill’, concluded our birding experiences of the day quite effectively, yet there still remained several large gaps in our exposure to animals of other lineages......

LIST OF ANIMALS SPOTTED: VERTEBRATES :

Mammals:

1. Wild boar Sus scrofa

2. Bonnet Macaque Macaca radiata

3. Three Striped Palm Squirrel Funambulus palmaram

4. Asiatic Elephant Elaphas maximus

5. Nilgiri Langur Trachypithecus johnii

6. Sambar Rusa unicolor

7. SpotteddeerAxisaxis

8. Common House Rat Rattus rattus (certainly deserves a special

mention)

9. Unidentified microbat Microchiroptera sp.

Tracks

1. Leopard pugmark

2. Sloth bearpugmarks ,and excrement

Reptiles: (I only saw the second on the list) 

1. Banded racer (The Montane Trinket look- alike)-

Argyrogena fasciolata

2. Oriental garden lizard Calotes versicolor

3. Brahminy Skink Eutropis cf. carinata

4. Spectacled cobra Naja naja (skin)

INVERTEBRATES: (of interest)

Arachnids: Some photos and writing here. 

1. Humpedsilverspider Opadometa fastigiata

2. Garden cross spider Argiope anasuja

3. Cyclosa spider Cyclosa sp.

4. Laglaise’s grey bird dropping spider Eriovixia

laglaizei

5. Common Spiny spider Gasteracantha geminata

6. OrbweaverNeosconasp.

7. FunnelWebWolfspiderHippasacf.holmerae

8. Commonnurserywebspider(moultedexuvium)

Pisaura cf.gitae

9. Unidentified Harvestman Opiliones sp.

Butterflies:

1. Common Fourring Ypthima huebneri

2. Common Sailor Neptis hylas

3. Common Evening Brown Melanitis leda

4. Lemon Pansy Junonia lemonias 

 5. Chocolate Pansy Junonia almanac

6. Yellow Pansy Junonia hierta

7. Gladeye Bushbrown Mycalesis patina

8. Common Jezebel Delias eucharis

9. Glassy tiger Parantica aglae

10. Blue Tiger Tirumala limniace

11. Common Castor Ariadne melione

12. Crow butterfly Euploea sp.

13. Commander Moduza procris (chrysalis)

14. Emigrant Catopsilia sp.

15. Grass yellow Eudema sp.

16. Psych Leptosia nina

17. Common Cerulean Jamides celeno- Both Wet Season and Dry

Season forms

18. Common Wanderer Pareronia valeria

19. Common Pie rrot Castalius rosimon

20. Common Bush Hopper Ampitta dioscorides

21. Common Mormon- Papilio polytes

22. Malabar Banded Peacock Papilio buddha (unconfirmed)

23. Southern Birdwing Troides minos