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BioBlog 100 - The Flashback of a Woodcrawler

February 19, 2015, 11:55 pm
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From a casual visitor to a diehard Woodcrawler; I have come a long way. It has been a decade and a half since I transitioned from 'just another tourist' to someone who is more concerned about the forests of this diverse country. Since this is my100th post of  'A Woodcrawler's Journal'I thought it had to be special. What better than a rewind to the old days! 

It was 10.00 AM on the 13th of February, 2015 when I typed the title of the post. (By the way, it is a Friday the 13th!!) Buckle up your seat belts and strap up your helmets, whichever you prefer. It's going to be a really long journey with me. We'll take a break occasionally but always in the wilderness. Fuel up and let's roll through some 15 years of woodcrawling!

If I were to take you back it would have to start with the Woodcrawler's Den on the Yahoo Groups, a group I started way back in 2001. Over the course of the many years it was a forum for some discussion on environmental issues. I had issues with my Yahoo Id being hacked thrice and now I've given up. There has been no activity in that group for many years now, though the page still exists according to Yahoo!
The original Woodcrawler's Den. The Chital with leg in plastic ice cream ball still adorning the group page!
Many of my initial forays into the forests of India are recorded in pictures there. It was a group for discussion but not a blog where thoughts could flow freely. The Woodcrawler's Den slowly lost it's pre-eminence after The Woodcrawler's Journal got its spot in the blogging firmament.

Remember, as always, 'Pinks are Links', click to go to the relevant page or posts

The early years (1997 - 2004)
Let me confess here that when I started on my first trip to the jungle, way back in 1997(?), I was a complete novice. It so happened that my sister was living in Gurgaon then and it was at her invitation that I packed my bags for a rather memorable trip to Rajasthan. It was not exactly woodcrawling but more of sand crawling in Jodhpur and Jaisalmer. Ranthambore was the last leg of the trip and and passed without even a scent of one of its famous tigers.
Jaisalmer Fort


Chinkara, the Indain gazelle in Ranthambore

Crocs basking

 Those were the days I was collecting Ullas Karanth, Valmik Thapar and Billy Arjan Singh. Ranthambore was all aboutFateh Singh Rathore but I did not have the opportunity to meet him.

The internet was just making its imprint in my part of the world and VSNL with its extremely lethargic 56 kpbs (by today's standards) was my only access. I became the proud owner of  my first desktop PC running the Windows 95 around then. A HP Vectra, that I went all the way to Bengaluru to purchase. Those were the days of Altavista, Infoseek, Lycos, Yahoo Search and Webcrawler. The last of them would figure in my coining of the word Woodcrawler. Google wasn't launched till a few years later. Mind you, I have never created an email ID, till date, by which someone can guess my identity. It has been tigertracker@whatever.com, be it on Rediff, Satyam, AOL, Yahoo or Google. Many like Satyam and AOL closed shop. Yahoo was hacked! Rediff and Google still remain.

I'm getting diverted here. Apologies. I only wanted to tell you that in the days before the internetall the information I gathered came from books. As you can see then I had built up a sizable collection of tiger books and books of tales from India's jungles.

Evidence of my tiger obsession!

The tiger was the nucleus around which my travels were planned and they were planned on information from the very useful Lonely Planet! Perhaps I was gratifying my disappointment of not becoming a marine biologist to keep my parents happy! In any case, my conversion from an armchair tigertracker was completed with that trip to Ranthambore. It is immaterial that I never saw even a pugmark on that trip, but I was hooked! It was more about birds, crocs and ungulates in Ranthambore but the place left a indelible mark on my mind. I had to find my tiger!

Kabini 1999
It was a long lull before my next trip. Setting up my practice in Palakkad and settling in life were priority. Kabini happened in 1999. It was an entirely different experience for two things. The first was, Kabini (or Nagarahole) was elephant country. We had encounters with both elephant and gaur in large numbers. That would be the first time I faced an elephant or gaur in the wild, and at extremely close quarters.
Young tusker in Kabini

Old bull

Robert Plant dropped in on the way to Thiruvanathapuram!
 
The second reason why is was different was a guest at Kabini River Lodge of JLR where we stayed;  Robert Plant. For those whose eyebrows might have curled upward a little, let me tell you, I wouldn't have mentioned that name if he weren't special. Robert Plant was Led Zeppelins's lead singer and lyricist, and the singer of one of the Top 5 songs on 'my list of the best in rock', 'Stairway to Heaven'. There is nothing to beat the feeling of shaking hands with a rock legend, sharing an exclusive safari vehicle and posing for a photograph with them. Those were the days before mobile phones came so I couldn't post a selfie on Whatsapp!!

I don't have too many photos to share because the camera I owned during these early years was a humble Minolta film SLR. Printing costs ensured that the number of exposures were kept at a minimum, usually about 36. I carried four rolls of 35mm ISO400 Fujifilm, one in the camera and three more extra. I learnt to use them judiciously! That way I used expose two rolls completely with the third one still in the camera and one always on standby! Whatever that I have uploaded here are scanned pictures of the prints from those days.

B.R Hills
Bandipur was just another sanctuary on the way to Mysore in those days. JLR had not yet acquired a property there. ( That would happen later, when they took over the erstwhile KSTDC Mayura and turned it into the Bandipur Safari Lodge). The next trip was to BR Hills, or Biligiri Rangan Hills. JLR had a property there; the K Gudi Wilderness camp.

K Gudi Wilderness camp

I still rate that as one of their best because it stands in splendid isolation within the B.R.T Wildlife sanctuary. K.Gudi is not for people used to the trappings of luxury. No electricity except when the generator runs for a few hours in the morning and evening. No television. No proper mobile network, though I think it should have improved now. At the time of my first visit, the the notorious sandalwood smuggler and poacher, Veerappan was at the peak of his activity. His area of operations included the large tracts of forest from Satymangalam to Kollegal, that included B.R Hills. This meant that many areas were off limits to us.

Changeable hawk eagle

In K.Gudi, once darkeness sets in, you are enveloped by the sounds of the wilderness. It is one place where you can hear the denizens of the jungle sitting outside your tent, and even see them if your luck is good. K Gudi, as I also discovered, is a great place if you have birds on your mind.

Corbett National Park
Then Skanda announced his arrival and everything was put on hold till he became old enough to travel. Once he was able to toddle along the first trip was to Corbett National Park! For the record, my first tiger sighting was in Corbett. Just a brief glimpse of a cat that bounded across the forest road and disappeared from sight. The only consolation on that trip was the few pugmarks I got to shoot as a compensation!

Skanda's first elephant charge too happened in Corbett though he was blissfully unaware that the elephant was trying to shoo us off!
"Get away and don't come back", from the back of a Gypsy racing away!

Nearer home were two other places,Parambikulam WLS and  Silent Valley National Park  the former  is now a tiger reserve.

Parambikulam Tiger Reserve
One of the last trips with the Minolta was to Parambikulam. Skanda was just two so it was easier to make a day trip. The first trip to Parambikulam was in 2004 and it was more of a family picnic. The Kannimara teak, like the mother tree in Avatar, was the main attraction. We could take our own cars into Parambikulam in those days, albeit, with a guide accompanying us.

Kannimara Teak

How many hands needed to encircle the base of this giant tree?!
Baby steps into woodcrawling!

 Skanda took his first steps towards becoming a woodcrawler then! Two trips in quick succession would follow in 2005. I had by then shifted to the digital format, and was the proud owner of a Fuji S5500.

The Tigertracking Days (2005 - 2010)

Silent Valley National Park
 Silent Valley is unique because of the singular perceived absence of the cicadas. It forms part of the core area of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and home to the largest population of the Lion tailed macaques. It also has a rich and varied birdlife. It was the first place I saw the Malabar Trogon, Indian Pitta, Emerald dove and a Pardise flycatcher in a span of one hour. It was also the place I learnt that a digital camera had a lot of catching up to do it it were to match the SLRs!

Sairandri

Malabar Giant squirrel
 Bandipur National Park
Jungle Lodges and Resorts Ltd had taken over the KSTDC Mayura just outside Bandipur National Park and converted it into a resort with all facilities like in Kabini and B.R Hills. That was the first time Skanda visited the Bandipur Safari Lodge and that has been his favourite place till today.

Tufted grey langur


The first of the many encounters with dhole was in Bandipur
BR Hills
2005 was the year I went to BR Hills for the second time. By then, Veerapanhad been killed, and the restrictions to some parts during the time he had a free run was lifted. It was an opportunity to explore a little deeper. The Dodda Sampige Mara or big champaka tree was once again accessible. It was reputed to be over 1000 years old (some even say 2000!) and this 35 meters tall tree still flowers in spring.
The Dodda Sampige Mara with is granrled base.
 It is sacred to the Soliga tribe and they worship the Shiva lingas beneath it. The stream flowing next to it is the Bhargavi, a tributary of the Cauvery.

The sacred Shiva lingas and trishuls at the base of the tree.

Just to show you how big the tree is!

Bhadra Tiger Reserve
Late 2005 had brought news that JLR was getting a property ready near Bhadra WLS (now a tiger reserve). Bhadra was not a new place for me. I have been to the area as a part of the ophthalmic screening team from my medical college in Manipal. The team used to be put up in the Government Guest house overlooking the reservoir.
B.R Project dam

B.R Project guest house
The reservoir was one of Karnataka's largest and the banks of the reservoir was a popular nesting site for the   Indian River Tern.
Early birds

Dawn over Bhadra reservoir
That trip, in February of 2006, was something really different. The Bhadra WLS (now a tiger reserve) had not yet been developed with the tourists in mind. The forest was dense and if wildlife sighting was the yardstick used to measure a forest this would rate at 3 out of a possible score of 10. We saw the pug marks of a tiger on the edge of the reservoir but nothing else. It is also the only place I have sighted the Malabar Pied hornbill and got a  'record shot' of!
Malabar Pied Hornbills, a purely record shot!

 There was something unique on that trip which should boost the rating to 8 out of 10; the fresh water jelly fish.The waters of the reservoir were hosting a bloom of jelly fish. ( In case you did not know a group of jellies that appear in a small area during certain seasons is called a bloom! Like the blooming of the neelakurinji!!). It is apparently a very rare phenomenon and the identity of the species is still not confirmed. I was under the impression that it was the Craspedacusta sowerbii because that was the only name popping up when I Google 'fresh water jellyfish'.
Fresh water jelly fish (? Limnocnida indica)
Someone wrote a comment on my Jellyfish blog, that it was actually Limnocnida indica . I am no expert on jellies on anything rare but I had the privilege of being witness to an even which very few people have seen and rarely recorded!

Anyway, after that Bhadra trip, I think changed my views on India's biodiversity. I started looking beyond the tiger and perhaps, unconsciously, transitioned into the Woodcrawler that I am today. Soon after, the first post of 'A Woodcrawler's Journal' was uploaded.

Corbett & my first tiger picture in the wild!
Corbett was beckoning again. In May of 2006 we went back to India's first tiger reserve. Dhikala was our base and what a memorable trip it was. The first safari of the trip was coming to a close and as we were driving up to the rest house our first tiger emerged from the tall grass, crossed the road and disappeared again. At 6.45 PM, with failing light and trembling hands, I got my first tiger. Bad picture but nothing can beat the satisfaction of seeing a tiger in the wild.
My first tiger on camera! 

There was a freak thunderstorm, the power failed and we thought the roof would fly off. All this in the dead of night! The trees were bending so much in the wind that we thought it would keel over and land on our rest house roof! Mercifully it blew over and let us sleep in peace. Morning produced Corbett's famous elephants in large numbers.



After a leisurly bath and breakfast we were exploring the rest house's surroundings and then; TIGER!! In the trickle of water in Ramganga below the rest house was this tiger, having a leisurely soak. It was in the water for almost 30 minutes before it went into the bushes. It reappeared again in the afternoon to soak itself for another 20 minutes!

There are times you regret not having carried your SLR, even if it loaded film!
A month after Corbett we had done Bandipur again but the cats proved elusive. In August of 2006 while returning from Mysore we decided to take detour through the Wayanad road to see a hitherto unseen part of Bandipur. Wayanad has two sanctuaries, both on the border with Karnataka. Tholpetty WLS was on the Mysore-Manathavady road which passed through Nagarahole NP. Muthanga is on the Gundlupet- Sultan Bathery road contigous with Bandipur NP.

We planned to make a U-turn at Muthanga WLS on the Kerala- karnataka border. At Muthanga found that we could drive into the sanctuary with our own vehicle! Not one to pass up an opportunity we decided to do it. Lunch could wait. Our luck was still not with us. Perhaps if we had been there minutes earlier we'd have seen our first tiger in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve! Our car got stuck in some slush and just beside the rut caused by our tyre was a fresh pugmark of a cat!
The cat we missed in Muthanga!
We returned to Bandipur for a late lunch and a drive home. It was on that trip we saw this chital with her rear hoof stuck in an empty ball ice cream container. It has, since then, been the group photo of the Woodcrawler's Den.
Callous tourism!
We went back to K Gudi in September 2009. Skanda was growing into a woodcrawler and every trip into the jungles was a revelation.
"Hello Bathy, Papa's tummy is rumbling. Time for our lunch!!"

"Will you be my pet, little piglet?"

Discovering Chinnar 
Sometime in October of 2006 I made a trip to Munnar through the Udumalapet-Amaravathi-Chinnar route. It was the first time I did that route andChinnar WLS instantly struck me as potential woodcrawling destination. So before the week was out, I was back in Chinnar woodcrawling. It was then I realized the benefits of using my two feet! I even started a new blog in my excitement of having discovered my feet, the Chinnar Chronicles!  


Thoovanam waterfalls. This will need a 3 hour trek

Chinnar

Dung beetles

Pachyderm Garden!

Star turtle

Kabini and Bandipur never cease to amaze me. Every time I visit these places I always return with fond memories. I soon started realizing that I had forgotten about the cats. Just bumping along the forest tracts were a balm for the soul.



In Bandipur it was another crafty predator that had my attention. The dholes, or the Indian wild dogs, maybe small in size but make up for it by their fierce team work.
Dhole antics
If you look at them lolling around you'd think they were your domestic pets. Not very different from your home bred dog in size and demeanor but when it it time to hunt they are extreme pack animals. Their calls are also very different, including some whistling and yapping. No prey is too large for them. Their fierceness is legendary. Even leopards and tigers abandon their kill if the dhole decide to steal it from the larger predators!



Throughout 2008 to 2010 there has never been a trip to Bandipur without a tryst with these enigmatic creatures.Even a huge bull gaur is no threat to a seasoned pack! (The story is here.)
Size of an adversary is not a problem for the dholes.

Back to relaxing once the gaur is out of sight

Kabini has been about large elephant herds, huge crocodiles  cycles of life & death 
Mothers and calves feeding on the succulent grass..........

.........makes for a contented life on the banks of the Kabini.
Sometimes, in other corners of the reservoir's edge there are heart rending scenes. A mother who has lost her child, sometimes refuses to leave the dead offspring's side for days. While we were watching this poignant scene a croc was trying to climb up the bank to drag the dead calf into the water!
Nature's cycle

Some of Kabini's crocs are huge. They fear nothing. Not even the elephants.



Even they have to face the most dangerous beast sometimes, humans. This croc, I did not know if it was dead or alive, was being taken to the river bank. I wasn't sure it was alive as the bank was an area where clothes were being washed and dried.

The KANS Days
I have always been a great fan ofKenneth Anderson and I always rated him a notch above Jim Corbett.Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the jungles in which KA 'ghoomed' was places I could identify with. On one trip to Bandipur I saw a poster on roadkill awareness hanging in the restaurant of Bandipur Safari Lodge. I discovered that there was an NGO, the Kenneth Anderson Nature Society (KANS), doing work on roadkill awareness and promptly signed up! I've never enjoyed a trip to Bandipur like the ones I spent with the volunteers with KANS. Here are a couple links of my experiences. Bandipur Burns& Of Aching Ankes and Dodgy Drivers

Best Moments from Bandipur
Bandipur will always remain my favourite piece of wilderness. Perhaps it has to do with the easy accessibilty that I have from Palakkad or because Skanda spends a few days there, many times every year, whenever he has holidays.  In any case most enduring images etched in my memory have come out of this beautiful place.

Our first tiger sighting in Bandipur happened on 22nd May 2009. Not one but two, mother and a full grown cub!
Mother & ..................

............. her cub
The JLR property in Bandipur has a lot of green cover and more than once we have encountered some snakes, and handled them too! The best one was a green vine snake snacking on a garden lizard!
Green vine snake with its lunch inside of her

Serenity writ on this dholes's face

Alert! For the story click the pink link
Dholes, as I've already mentioned have been my favourite predator in Bandipur and even though they hunt in numbers, they too are wary of humans! Here is a dhole story. Of late, as I type this, the number of dholes have suddenly plumetted in Bandipur. I have see a pack of eighteen years ago. Now I rarely see then and even if I do, they are small packs of two or three. Perhaps the increase in tiger and leopard numbers have something to do with it.


"Who goes there?"


The Leopards of Bandipur
Tigers and their mates maybe the Kings & Queens of the Indian jungles but the leopard has a mystery to it. The first time I  across the leopard in Bandipur was in April of 2010. Again there were two, though in completely different situations. The first was a big male, walking across the track majestically late in the evening.The blog post dedicated to this has received the biggest number of hits (6835 as I type this)! How were we to know that this was only a preview!

Leopard!
The next evening, on 17th April we ran into a pair of dhole and they were literally barking up a tree! What met our gaze on top of the tree left us speechless! It was an acutely embarrassed leopard on the tree, hanging on as best as it could, trying not to fall on top of the two excited dholes below!


This blog has reached unexpected proportions! Perhaps compressing 15 years of woodcrawling into a single post is not a very good idea! In any case, it will be a post that might just be a bit too long to read in one go. I will update the post after a week.

Meanwhile................... Happy Woodcrawling!
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The Aftermath of an Elephant Attack - Post Script

March 1, 2015, 7:59 am
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Almost a month has passed since the Gavi incident and the elephant has suddenly become my current fixation. 25th February was an important day in the Palakkadan calender. It was Manapully Vela, the annual event that falls in late February or early March. The Malayali has an elephantine fixation. Every temple festival is inevitably linked to a parade of decked up elephants, and all of them tuskers of various sizes and hues. The most famous is undoubtedly the Thrissur Pooram, so famous it has a website of its own!

Central Kerala has a tradition of temple festivals that culminate with a display of these decked up tuskers. Even small roadside shrines have nowadays started ostentatiously imitating the big temples. They use is this as an excuse to collect donations for the upkeep and development of the temple but in realty, is shared by the members committees that plan and execute such events. Palakkad has a few such events that involve a large assemblage of tuskers; Nemmara-Vallangi vela in Nemmara, Chinakathoor Pooram near Ottapalam and the Manapully Vela in Palakkad town. All of them involve participation of, on an average, 30 tuskers.

A large assembly of tuskers is a sure recipe for trouble. With smaller temples also vying for a share of the 'grandeur' of an elephant parade the domestic elephants in Kerala are a harried lot. Once the season sets in, typically at the beginning of summer, they are always on the road being take from temple to temple. Hiring out elephants is good money so the owners try to squeeze in the maximum number of rental in every season.

The temple festival season starts in late January and goes on till April, some of the hottest months in Kerala. The elephants used to be walked from temple to temple earlier but now they are carried in trucks with modifications to transport a large pachyderm. By the middle of the season the elephants are stressed out and, at the slightest provocation, misbehave. One prime example of a stressed elephant going on rampage is there in this incredible video. (It contains some graphic scenes so viewer discretion is advised.)



Just a day before the Manapully vela this elephant, Guruvayur Sankaranarayanan, decided to throw a tantrum on the way to Palakkad from another Vela where he was paraded. Eventually, he was not used for the procession and was sent back to Guruvayur.

Guruvayur Sankaranarayanan tethered to a tree for misbehaving!

He was obviously not in a state of  musth


Chains & ropes that is a part the anatomy of Kerala's temple elephants

No water and food, except a few coconut palm leaves
A few years ago the normal number for Manapully Vela was 30 elephants. 15 of the Manapully kavu and 5 each from the other temples. The elephants literally wade through a sea of humanity towards the entrance to the fort where they are lined up.

The elephants from Manapully kavu heading to the Kota maidanam


At the top of the slope they line up facing downwards, towards the east. This time, instead of the usual 15, Manapully Kavu fielded only 9 elephants. Perhaps the fear of another going berserk influenced the decision or the cost of hiring so many elephants. Whatever it was the Vela seemed to have lost its sheen this time. What was instantly obvious was the the reduction in the number of elephants had given the beasts a lot of gap between themselves.

I am happy it happened that way. I always used to wonder how they managed to squeeze fifteen very large tuskers in a 30 meters wide gap between the entrance to the fort and the Kota maidanam. Even if one of the elephants decided to get angry it would also effect the others. There is nowhere to go but forward and the panchavadyam artistes and the crowd form a human wall some 50 layers thick towards the bottom of the slope.


If there is an unfortunate incident where any of the elephants were to run amok it would be a disaster. The crowd would panic and try to run to safety. Children and old people would become victims of the stampede and a few would fall prey to the elephant's temper.

In such a situation the blame has to be placed on the greedy owners and the heartless mahouts. Maintaining an elephant is an expensive proposition. On an average Rs.3000 to 3500 is required for the daily upkeep of the elephants and its mahouts. It roughly translates into an annual expense of Rs.12,50,000/- for an elephant. This has to be recovered in the three months between mid January and mid April. Cost of hiring an elephant ranges from Rs. 50,000 to Rs 4 lakhs daily, depending on the status of the elephant!

There is an excellent article on the state of the temple elephants of Kerala here.

Elephants are wild animals. We tend to forget that they are used to freedom in the forests they are born in. The spend almost two-thirds of a day wandering around feeding on things they fancy. An animal of this size has to migrate from one feeding ground to another. Typically they are always on the move especially in the summer, congregating around areas with water.

Captive elephants, on the other hand spend all their lives tied to some tree or post.  The temple elephants, despite all the tall claims otherwise, spend their lifetime in chains feeding on stuff we humans think they should be eating! During the few weeks in summer where the temple festival
 season is at its peak, they are driven nonstop from one venue to the other without rest. They are denied food and water and the drunken mahouts take out their frustrations on the poor beasts.

During such festivals they are paraded through the street in the heat of the daytime, because the pomp and glory of the festival will be lost in the nights! Now stricter authorities have shifted the time to the evenings and as a preparation the roads are doused with water to cool the hot asphalt before the elephants reach the place.


What most people tend to forget is that there is no such thing as domestic elephant. All elephants are wild but we keep them captive for our own selfish interests. If someone objects, the blame is conveniently placed on the deity of the temple! The fact is, no God will want to torture a gentle creature like an elephant. Therefore will not be surprising if a misbehaving elephant is God's way of telling us, "Enough is enough!"

Guruvayur Sankaranarayanan went back to Punathoor Kota in a truck. Whether his life will change is debatable. This time he was only behaving like a stubborn child but the next time he may not be so forgiving. The sooner we realize that the elephant belongs to the forest the better, for both us and these gentle creatures. I'm praying that the number of elephants paraded next year should be five!

For those who came in late:
This is the final part of the series 'The Aftermath of an Elephant Attack', a three part series on how we should behave in wilderness areas.The third part has a direct connection with this.In case you missed it go back and read that post on how the elephant will behave in the presence of humans. The LINK is the sentence in PINK, as always!
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Hornbill Saga : The Last Post - End of the Turf Wars

May 20, 2014, 9:10 am
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For those who came in late:
This is a tale of Mrs & Mr. Hornbill whom I had the chance of getting to know a couple of years ago. I had been just a casual acquaintance of theirs but things changed over the last six months. I have had the rare privilege of being witness to their courting, mating, confinement & birth of their two chicks. If you are not the impatient type, I suggest, you go back to the last post here. You'll find the links to all other posts in this series on the top of the page in that previous post. I have deliberately avoided putting the links here because this post is unique. I have, over the last six months, shared the joys & sorrows of parenting that these hornbills went through. I want people who have been following this post not to get distracted at this truly important point in time.


The events in this final post, on this pair's activity this season (2013-2014), happened over a period of five days, from the 13th to the 18th of May. This particular post is longer than the previous ones, and rightly so, though this covers only one tenth of the entire breeding season of the hornbills. Please bear with me.

13th May, 2014

It seemed to me that the parents had decided that it was time for the chicks to move into the real world. There was a drop in the frequency of feeding. Though the parents were always in the vicinity of the nest they rarely responded to the cries of the chicks. They were maintaining a certain aloofness that suggested they wanted the chicks to venture out of the protective walls of the nest if they wanted food.


The little ones would poke a beak out and keep looking out for their parents without knowing that they would be sitting on a branch somewhere above them!









14th May, 2014



Children can be stubborn and hornbill my chicks were no different. They were not playing ball. Other than just craning their necks out of the hole they refused to budge out of their cozy nest.





When the exasperated mother once tried prodding them out with a piece of bark, they only became more adamant.


 


Sometimes they seemed to realize that the parents were sitting above them and so every now and then they would make their pleading cry and look up expectantly.




The mother knew that her plan wasn't working so she tried another strategy. She would go and sit at the edge of the hole with a tempting fruit in her beak. She would make no attempt to give it to the chicks. After waiting for a few seconds she'd fly back to her perch on the overhanging branch and wait expectantly.





Even that ploy was a failure. It seemed that the more the parents tried to induce the chicks to get out, the more they refused. Occasionally, the parents would succumb to the pleading cries and give the chicks a small meal. This, however, happened only rarely. The parents seemed to realize that their only chance of success was keeping the chicks hungry!






Both the parent's and the chicks were playing a game. The question was, who would blink first?!






So far the chicks seemed to have an upper hand. The adults went off to roost on a branch a little farther away and perhaps rethink their strategy to get the chicks out of the nest.


15th May, 2014

It was apprent that the curtains were coming down on the hornbill breeding season. The other pair on the casuarina tree that I had seen earlier came for the last goodbye. I haven't seen them since.


The hornbill near my house too came to say farewell for the season!



For my pair, however, it was another day of relentless effort. They seemed to have run out of ideas. The mother hadn't given up the tempt-with-fruit strategy but I wasn't sure it was working.



The mother bird would put her head inside and try to coax her babies out but it seemed they were still acting stubborn, or so I thought.


She repeated this act a few times but the chicks didn't seem to show any interest in moving out of the nest. As a matter of fact, they did not peep out from their nest at all, that morning!


The pensive parents would just sit on their regular perch above the hole and keep calling. I started getting worried. Almost an hour of waiting the chicks hadn't peeked out or cried for food. Had they flown away? I would know tomorrow.



16th May, 2014

I unpacked my camera and trained the lens on the hole. It was my usual habit. The reach of the 600mm would let me know when the chicks were moving inside the darkened tree hole. Today I was in for a shock.

What popped out of the hole was not a hornbill chick's beak but a whole bird; a myna!


Papa hornbill was sitting on the end of a broken branch and after the myna took off he bent down as though to see if he really saw a myna!


It certainly was a myna. It went and perched itself above the hole as if to assert itself.

The female hornbill was on another tree, looking despondent but the male was still hoping that his chicks would come out of the nest.

Just to be sure, he went down to inspect the nest while the mynas cackled angrily from above.


The female kept a safe distance since the mynas were especially rude to her, chasing her away every time she came near the nest. It was the male who was now trying to make the little ones come out.


The attitude of the mynas had changed. They were acting like they had achieved something. Though they were wary of approaching the male hornbill they'd ruffle their feathers and act like Tarzan of the Apes after he succeeded in subduing an animal in a fight...............


.................. complete with the scream and waving of their wings, like Tarzan beat his chest and let out his famous victory yell!




The mynas were now entering and exiting the nest with impunity and I realized that the chicks were not in the nest anymore.My manager, who has by now become an expert in hornbills, told me that he had seen the mynas chase the two chicks away in the morning. They had also thwarted an attempt by one of them to get back inside. According to him the chicks had flow to another tree some 100 meters away.


I was not sure if the parents were waiting for the chicks to return or whether they still thought that the little ones were in the nest.

After a while it became evident that they too realized that the mynas were occupying their nest because their children had been driven out. They were going down to the hole on the broken branch where the mynas had been nesting temporarily and inspecting it.


I couldn't tell if they were searching for their chicks or simply seeking to avenge their loss by destroying whatever was in that nest.

Perhaps it was already too late. The mynas were doing their own cleaning up. They would pop in, pick up something and come up and throw it out.

17th May, 2014

Suddenly there seemed to be a whole horde of bullies. Mynas were gathering together and heckling the hornbills.



The hornbills, on their part, bore everything in dignified silence. The were flying between the trees in the immediate vicinity calling out and searching for their little ones.






There was no sign of the little ones still. I could only pity the parents. After three months of patient vigil I was left wondering who felt the chick's absence harder, the father, mother or I!



I am sure, dear reader, that you too are left a little shaken & shocked by the turn of events like me. I am praying that the chicks are fine somewhere and the parents will be united with them eventually.

I have packed my gear and carried my tripod back home. I've not given up just yet. It is that a long awaited trip to Bandipur is around the corner and I have to get my gear in shape. I'm hoping that during the intervening period my hornbill family will be reunited.

EPILOGUE
Nothing happened on the 19th of May. Literally nothing. I was not greeted by the raucous calls of the hornbills outside my window when I woke up. It was like the hornbills had switched off till the next season. At my post near my hornbill's treehole it was only mynas, drongos and crows now. There were no hornbills to be seen or heard.

On 20th May I carried my camera again hoping something would have turned. Turn it did but not in favour of the big birds but for the little resilient mynas. The hornbills were still there; the male flitting from tree to tree restlessly. I watched the mother sit and wait, hoping her little ones would come back. She made no attempt to go near her former nest.  


 It was the mynas who were going about their jobs as if nothing had happened. It had come full circle. They had been driven out of their nest in November and for six months they had to make do with a temporary home. Summer is bidding good bye and the monsoon is gathering. It rained today.
To the mynas it is a signal to get their house in order. 

I watched as one dipped inside and came out with an orange thing in its beak. A remnant perhaps, of the succulent looking fruit papa hornbill had got a few days ago. The myna flew out with it, knowing well that its house would belong to her for the monsoon. 





The hornbills would return in late October. That was a very long time away, especially when measured in terms of a bird's life. Turf wars were over for the season. It would start all over again when the rain tree started shedding its leaves. Till then peace would reign on the tree in the old depot. 


I'm only hoping the would still be there next season. The track replacement work has pick up speed again and this tree looks like it is standing in the way of the grand plans of the railways!



DISCLAIMER: 

  1. The entire series of blogs from late October 2013 till mid-May 2014 have been shot with an Olympus E3 DSLR with a 300mm f2.8 + EC20 2x tele-convertor attached & OM-D E-M5 with a M.Zuiko 70-300mm lens.
  2. The shooting was done from the rooftop of a building about 60 meters away. The nest was never accessed or disturbed in anyway. 
  3. No flash photography was done. 
  4. The birds, both adult & chicks were never disturbed or handled at any time during this period. 
  5. No intervention happened to disturb the natural course of events. 
  6. All events have been presented in chronological order.
  7. I don't claim to be an authority on the nesting or breeding habits of the Indian grey hornbill. 
  8. This is only a record of my observations over a single breeding season of a single pair of hornbills as they unfolded before me.



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Season of Change

May 24, 2015, 9:03 am
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First of all, my sincere apologies. It has been nearly three months since I sat down with a blog page open for typing. This time there is a good reason though. I was the organizing secretary for a midterm conference our district ophthalmic association was conducting. Almost four months of brainstorming & planning, it was finally executed rather happily for us a week ago.

Having set aside a major responsibility I am now free to pick up the threads from where I left off. The 100th blog post of the Woodcrawler's Journal came way back on the 20th February. In the final paragraph I had promised to place links to places I have already blogged about as the No.100 was getting unwieldy for a single read. My first task is that.

Then there are two places near here, in Palakkad that deserve a post of their own, Siruvani and Parambikulam. I will finish that before I go start the post recent trips on Bandipur, Kabini (Nagarahole) and BR Hills.

I have also decided that these post, in future will have a common framework around which the blog will be built. It will be on the lines of a travel blog giving information on routes, distance, accommodation (only those that I am familiar with) and any other relevant details. This has been necessitated by mails I get asking for information about these places.

This, then means, my blogs will not be just ramblings of a Woodcrawler but also, hopefully, a source of inspiration for other woodcrawlers in the making. It also means I have to find new places to blog about!

Happy Woodcrawling!!
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Dummies Guide to Creating a Man-eating Tiger!

May 31, 2015, 12:28 am
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Sometimes we see glaring evidences of the imperfections in God's creative skills. The most imperfect creature he created is Man and I'm sure he regrets not going through the blue-prints sufficiently before plunging into his task!


We are perhaps the only one in his countless creations that have an surfeit of evil over goodness, and of all the evils that God planted in us, ego is one of the worst. Ego is like cancer, the more you have the more it grows and eventually it overpowers the person that sometimes they think they are Gods themselves.

I am posting a video here that left many of my sensible friends and me shell shocked. This was uploaded on YouTube by a certain M**u R******t recently and has since been taken off after the uproar it caused. I am re-posting it here not to show how great the gentleman, M R, was but to tell you how not to behave in the jungle. This gent has a Facebook page that says he is a writer and a teacher who does not want to set a bad example for his students by writing on alcohol but for some strange reason has a website that has Rum Road and Ravings in its name! The link to the website, however, is not working but I got to his blog! Perhaps too much of rum and the he forgot to renew the domain!


Anyway, this video is his singular contribution on how to convert an innocent tiger into an alleged man eater, and get the poor creature get lynched by some frenzied mob. I want you to watch the video, look closely at the tiger's expressions before it bounds away into the jungle and also the reaction of the gent in question. While he is setting an bad example for many DSLR swinging wannabe photographers, there is a lesson to be learnt on how not to do things also.


Many of the tiger reserves in Kerala offer trekking packages, sometimes overnight, with armed guides. While, I admit, all guides cannot be viewed alike, there are certainly some bad apples like our guide in the video who will take you for are tiger show, shoot the video and pocket some money for massaging your already inflated ego! This video according to his Facebook album was shot in Parambikulam with the assistance of his guide.





Before the video was taken off there was a lengthy treatise in Malayalam, (wonder who has the patience to go through all that gibberish) on his success story but that is also gone missing now. The hero of this story is very proud of his achievement and rightfully so. After all, how many of us ordinary mortals have the influence in the right places to make an adventurous trip like that! I take pride in the fact that I am a nature photographer but have been very reluctant to use influence to get access to areas that are restricted to us 'ordinary mortals'. A very famous wildlife photographer is credited with saying that wildlife photography is not wildlife photography, unless done on foot! I agree, and I'd love the chance to be close to the ground, but how many wildlife sanctuaries or national parks permit access on foot?

Most, if not all, national parks in Karnataka have safaris on forest department or government vehicles. They are strict about numbers and that tourists should confine themselves to the vehicles at all times. It serves the purpose of protecting the person from unexpected attacks from disturbed wildlife. Most importantly, it works the other way too. I have had many opportunities to photograph wildlife at close quarters from such vehicles and never felt that I was disturbing them because we were always on the designated track.



When you are on foot, you are going off the beaten track, into the territory of the wildlife. However good your forest guide maybe, wildlife should be treated with respect. They are wild animals. Period. Rules and regulations apply on to humans. When we encroach on their rightful territory, they feel threatened and react instinctively. The Gavi incident, 21st January, where a couple of tourists were trampled is a prime example.



In the video above our hero M R, creeps as close a s possible to a resting tiger. He was lucky perhaps that it had eaten and was sleeping off the stupor! It was certainly surprised to see a two legged man thing so close to what it thought, was a safe place to sleep. It growls threateningly but notices that there is another person in the vicinity, so understanding that discretion is the better part of valour, turns and bounds off into the forest.

Let us assume for a moment that it was a tiger feeding or a tigress with very young cubs. The reaction in such a situation would have been very different. The animal would have probably taken the threat head on, in this case a quick leap and a ferocious attack. Our hero would have been badly mauled and perhaps been killed, not as food, but as a perceived threat. The guides can do nothing but stand and watch because things will need only a few seconds to go out of hand!

Then Mr. M R, would be real hero for the media, and the poor animal would be branded a man-eater! Public opinion would influence the forest department decision and in all likelihood the tiger would be trapped or killed.

A few selfish, egoistic folks like Mr. M R here don't realize that more than the risk they undertake on themselves, it is worse for the tiger. Already threatened and confined to increasingly restricted spaces, they sometimes stray into human settlements in the borders of forest areas. Tigers need large areas; 20 square kilometers for a tigress and 60-100 square kilometers for a male tiger.  Increasing tiger population, mind you, not in millions like us humans but hundreds, mean less space for them in their already shrinking habitats. If we invade their privacy, we are forcing them to change their behavior. A man-eater is created in our minds even if it is only a mauling. We would still blame the tiger and not the stimulus that created a man killer.

For God's sake let them live peacefully in their little pockets of peace. Refrain from such acts of foolishness Mr. M R, or anyone else. This is an appeal for the tiger and all other creatures that live in India's forests. Let them be. We humans are over-populating the planet so quickly that the day is not far off when we'll either have to colonize neighbouring planets or kill each other for space! Let these beautiful creatures, untainted by human traits or vices live peacefully in their little confines. I hope there will be some responsible people from the Forest Departments who will read this and ensure that such incidents do not happen in future.

UPDATE: 31st, May 2015, 6.30 PM
It seems that this issue is more murkier that what I thought! Apparently, as is evident from many of the Facebook, entries on Mr. M R's wall, this was part of a grandiose plan. He keeps referring to a 'project' that would keep him busy for a few weeks. It seems he was part of a group of photographers sub-contracted to scour the forests of Kerala on foot to gather photographic footage for a COFFEE TABLE BOOKto be released by a rather famous, or should I say infamous now, self-proclaimed 'Independent Conservation & Travel Photographer' who is Kerala Forest Department's current favourite. More details will follow as I gather them. Watch this space..........
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Siruvani - Secret of Sweet Waters

June 6, 2015, 10:50 am
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This is a trip that happened nearly a year ago, in July 2014. Siruvani was perhaps the nearest wilderness area from Palakkad but one with very restricted access. This was not a trip that was planned early but an idea that sprouted overnight. If you really want to enjoy a trip to Siruvani you'll have to pull strings in the forest department or irrigation department.

Palakkadans envy the people of Coimbatore for many reasons but there is one that really hurts. Can you imagine? You are given the responsibility of storing the sweetest water in the world but have been forbidden to drink it?! Well, that is Siruvani. The dam that is in Kerala, holding water that belongs to Tamilnadu!





Kerala's history is peppered with such dam wars. The most controversial is the Mullaperiyar dam in Idukki district. The dam is in Kerala but maintained by the Tamilnadu Government. The storage levels of this 120 year old dam is a hotly disputed issue between the two governments. Similarly, the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP) is another such project that has not one, but four out of five dams in Kerala, but operated by Tamilnadu!

Siruvani reservoir is the result of a proposal to dam Siruvani river downstream of a preexisting one at Muthikulam by the Tamilnadu government. Since the proposed location was in Kerala but the utilization of the dammed water was by Tamilnadu, the latter funded the project and the Kerala PWD constructed the dam. The agreement can be viewed here. The approach to the dam for ordinary mortals like us is from the Kerala side though there exists a road from Coimbatore. That route is closed for public and used only by TWAD and Tamilnadu Forest Department officials.

(As is usual in my blogs, PINKS ARE LINKS. Click to open the relevant page)



The route:
Since the direct road from Coimbatore is restricted for public, the only access is from the Kerala side. You have to reach NH 966 (formerly NH 213) connecting Palakkad and Kozhikode. If you are coming from Coimbatore, you have to take the Anaikatti-Agali-Mannarkad route through Silent Valley. At Mannarkad you take a left over the Nellipuzha bridge and drive some 12 kilometers towards Palakkad to reach Edakurissi. If you are coming from Palakkad Edakurissi is about 28 kilometers from the city.

(The Route: Palakkad-Edakurissi-Palakkayam-Inchikunnu-Singappara-Siruvani Dam-Keralamedu) 

At Edakurissi, you take left or right turn onto the Siruvani road, depending on which side you come (right for those driving from Palakkad). There is  board showing the way on the highway. As you drive past the rubber estates you feel the terrain gently swing upwards. Five kilometers from Edakurissi you will reach Palakkayam. The Siruvani road crosses a bridge, after the deviation to Kanjirapuzha dam, in the middle of the village. After that the road spilts with the left fork going downhill to a school and eventually also to Kanjirapuzha dam. Take the road going uphill to the right. 

Five kilometers of gentle slopes, and a view like this...........

.............the road ends at the first forest check post. This is the Inchikunnu checkpost, that lies in the Mannarkad range, and you have to park your vehicles here enter your details, before proceeding any further. 


Inchikunnu CP
Private vehicles are not allowed beyond this point and you will have to take the eco-tourism vehicles, a couple of Tata Ace minivans. The problem is that they are usually booked in advance by folks with some influence or they are already out on a three hour drive that you end up waiting for a long time.

We had the permission from the authorities to take our vehicle so after the formalities we started rolling uphill again. After the Inchikunnu CP it is one single road to Siruvani.  Since there is no other road  distances cease to matter. The forest is so verdant and the clouds rolling over the road force you to stop time and again.


Dripping rain forest but surprisingly leech free!






There were some surprises too in between, a pair of Malabar trogons!


Malabar trogon (male)

Malabar trogon (male), a very shy bird

Malabar trogon (female)

You will eventually reach the Singappara checkpost, (Agali range), which is usually open, so don't drive through without stopping! You have to enter details here again before proceeding further.

Singappara CP


You are driving through some of the most virgin rain forests in Kerala. The strict restriction of visitors have ensured that this part of the world is mostly unspoilt. Finally, passing through the quarters of the TWAD, we reach the Siruvani Dam and reservoir, after driving 50 kilometers from Palakkad.

The road goes past the dam to cross a bridge and reach the other side. Vehicles are not permitted over the dam. Once you climb back to the other side you have an unhindered view of the sweet water stored in the reservoir and the many cascades that feed it. 

View from the bridge

View from the bridge


The dam with TWAD buildings in the background


Monsoon clouds kissing the hilltops hide all but the biggest cascades.

When the clouds lift briefly all the cascades can be seen

The reservoir was full


If you look above the dam you'll see the TWAD buildings and on a grassy knoll above that on a sunny day you'll find elephants and gaur grazing. As the cloud lifted for a few minutes we were treated to the sight of a herd of gaur munching on the succulent grass peacefully. This is undisturbed paradise for them.


Gaur on the knoll

The road continues into TN but we are not allowed to proceed beyond the border check post at Keralamedu. We did not have a guide so we were couldn't go on a walk either.  Usually it is the drivers of the mini vans who double up as guides.

Apparently, beyond the checkpost after a short hike you will reach the Keralamedu grasslands from where you can see the Tamilnadu side of Siruvani. Besides, it was mid July and in the middle of a very healthy monsoon. Three people, close to and beyond 70 years do not exactly make a hiking group! 

As we drove away we became acutely conscious of all the dung on the road. This was undisturbed haven for elephants and gaur and the evidence of their presence was everywhere. I was hoping to run across something on our drive but the weather ensured that we would not have any unexpected encounters!


From there we drove to the site of the intake valve but I was reluctant to cross the locked gates. This had been recently, the site of the a major issue regarding water supply to Coimbatore. The Kerala Irrigation Department accusing TWAD of siphoning off water in excess to what was in the agreement. Finally after a lot of saber rattling it was finally resolved with Tamilnadu agreeing to release water from the Parmbikulam-Aliyar project to Chittur area of Palakkad district.

View from the intake valve area
The last program for the day was the visit to Pattiar Bungalow, a 150 years old British built rest house, sitting on the edge of the reservoir. It used to be rented out earlier but now the restrictions are a little hard to overcome. 

Our first view from the Pattiar bungalow

The views were simply breathtaking. I resolved that I'd make a trip in summer. Some day, not too far in the future, I want to sit on the verandah and watch the wildlife come down to drink water.

Pattiar Bungalow

Wild gooseberry in the rest house compound

Flitting sunlight adds to the beauty of the place

Returning reluctantly
 Siruvani is a place to come and see nature in its unspoilt pristine state. Just 50 kilometers from Palakkad we had finished our trip by midday. We drove back to Singappara check post where they have a small area designated for picnickers. We stopped to eat our lunch there before driving back to Palakkad.


 


The drive back, as usual, was very slow with frequent stops to enjoy the monsoon and its attendant shows.





Lovely places to crawl through to look for sweet water!

Sweet Siruvani cascades



The Secret of the Sweetness!
One thing I can surely vouch for is that the water of Siruvani has an out-of-the-world taste, that is attributed to the vegetation and the minerals in the rocks through which the water flows. I also read somewhere that it is also due to the water imbibing the flavour of the wild gooseberrys that fall and get absorbed into the soil as they rot! There are thousands of these trees on either side of the road. 

If you ask me if it is really sweet, to be honest I'm not sure but it certainly is a million times better than some of the packaged water we get to drink these days. We filled our empty water bottles at Pattiar Bungalow at the insistence of the caretakers. I also drank from the little cascades on the hill sides and it is really true; the water is unlike anything I have tasted elsewhere!. Siruvani is Coimbatore's sweet secret. There is no point in a Palakkadan being envious. I was left wondering why the then Kerala Government never thought of having part of the waters diverted with the state itself!

For those contemplating a trip, contact the number or email given in the board below. However if you want to stay in Pattiar Bungalow you will need to know someone in the Forest Department.


That Siruvani is only 50 kilometers from Palakkad, makes for an easy day trip. Carry food with you. The last place you can get anything is in Palakkayam but you have to get out of the forest area. As for water, discard your bottled water and fill all you canteens and water bottles with the sweetness of Siruvani!

Foot note: While the folks in Coimbatore flaunt their pride to all of us, there is some dispute as to where the sweetest natural water in the world comes from, The official entrant in the Guiness Book of World Records for the sweetest water is not Siruvani but waters of a spring in Phillipines. Of course, can you leave the Americans behind in any race? They claim that the waters of Memphis, Tennessee is the sweetest! That dispute will probably, never get resolved taking into consideration that each of us have different tastes in everything and pollution is not going to disappear any time in the foreseeable future!

While scouring the internet for information or blogs on Siruvani I discovered that there is not too much about this place. There are only two more blogs that give any worthwhile information that will be useful to anyone planning a trip to this Secret of Nature, hidden from prying eyes. I hope it remains that way. I feel proud to live close to such a place that is yet unspoilt by man's greed. I am glad that the Kerala Forest Department is very strict in granting access to this hidden stretch of green. 
Please feel free to contact me for more details. Happy woodcrawling!
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Captive Elephants - The Anguish in my Heart

June 28, 2015, 8:44 pm
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30th, June 2015
I've edited this post today because I cried this morning. It is not that I'm prone to emotional upheavals but a video link a friend sent me left me shaken, and I could feel the nausea an hour after I watched it!

Many of my previous post have a link with the elephant. To most of us, our only encounter with these gentle giants are only when we meet them at a temple or parade. We never give a second thought as to how they reached where they are, amongst us; the most callous, cruel and scheming of all God's creations.




In the course of searching for an old set of photographs, I ran into my old friend, the Clay Elephant, as I call him. It seems relevant now considering the number of reports about captive elephants running amok.




Please click the Link in Pink to meet the Clay Elephant of Guruvayur. Strictly speaking this post has no link to Woodcrawling, but the main protagonist should have been roaming free in one of India's forests. Unfortunately, he lives, chained for life, in Punathoor Kota in Guruvayur as one of the Lord's elephants.

Today, I too realized that while I walked around photographing these beautiful pachyderms on my visit to Guruvayur and other temple festivals in Kerala, I have never really thought about how they came to be where they were in the first place. If a self proclaimed Woodcrawler has not applied thought to the fundamental reason as to how & why a temple elephant became a temple elephant, I can imagine the rest of the world.

Ignorance is bliss and when truth hits you hard, it really hurts. I had posted on how elephants think in third part of  my blog series on the Aftermath of an Elephant Attack. After seeing this video by Kalyan Varma, I am left speechless!

If this is the solution to human-elephant conflicts, it disgusts me! It is we, who have encroached on their territories and cramped them for space by blocking their migration corridors. We forget that these gentle creatures have no politics or any vicious agenda. They only want to move freely in what is rightfully their home. It is we who have occupied their space not the other way around. It is we who should be moved out of the traditional homeland of elephants.

This video is only a short bit of the entire story. If a ten minute clip can leave you shattered I can't imagine how it will be to sit through the 20 hours of recording. I can also imagine what turmoils Kalyan Varma would have gone through, seeing this first hand.

Here is the clip. Be prepared for some stomach churning scenes.



My friend the Clay Elephant too would probably have gone through a similar painful experience. Now he spends his life chained up with more than 50 such magnificent tuskers in Punathoor Kota, Guruvayur. He is destined to live, suffer and die in those heavy chains.

If you love these gentle giants don't just view this clip and keep silent. Raise your voice and protest. Let the temple elephants and other captive elephants take a step towards freedom. I know it is wishful thinking but this cruelty has to stop, and unless someone protests elephants in India will suffer this fate!

Please share the post............. for the sake of the elephants!
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Parambikulam - Forest of Teaks & Tigers

July 26, 2015, 7:42 am
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The Western Ghats or Sahyadris, is a stretch of mountains running south along the western edge of the Indian peninsula. Starting somewhere on the border between Gujarat and Maharashtra it runs south through Maharashra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and ends at Kanyakumari in Tamilnadu. 

It is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site and in its 1600 kilometers of nearly unbroken terrain, encompasses within its 160,000 square kilometers, one of the world's 10 most hottest 'biodiversity hotspots'! Along its length it includes 39 major national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests; 20 in Kerala, 10 in Karnataka, 5 in Tamilnadu and 4 in Maharashtra.



I said 'nearly unbroken' because when it reaches the middle of Kerala the Western Ghats suddenly sinks to the ground from an average elevation of nearly 2700 meters to just 140 meters above MSL for about 30 kilometers of its' length. This is the Palghat Gap, a cleavage in this mountain chain allowing an east-west access from the peninsula to the west coast. On the north lies the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the south is flanked by the Anaimalai hills.


On the northern edge of the Anaimalai hills, in Palakkad district is Nelliyampathy and it forms the northern border of Parmbikulam Tiger Reserve. Parambikulam sits in one of the biodiversity rich parts of the Western Ghats. On the west is the Peechi-Vazhani WLS and Sholyar. On the east is the Aliyar RF, Indira Gandhi National Park and Chinnar WLS. On the south is the Sholayar reservoir and Chalakudy river, beyond which lies Idamalayar. At the southern tip of this approximately triangular part of the western ghats is Idukki WLS and Periyar Tiger Reserve. 



This is an area that I could spend wandering around for the rest of my life, if I could!

I have been to Parambikulam only twice before, in an era when you could drive into the forest in your own vehicle accompanied by the mandatory guide deputed by the Forest Department from the local EDC. That was over a decade ago when Parambikulam was a wildlife sanctuary. There were not many restrictions on the route we could drive on and it was an experience that can never be repeated now. With the elevation of the WLS to a Tiger Reserve in 2009 many restrictions have been put in place to ensure the tiger and its prey base are well protected. This trip was done last monsoon though I'm recording it now!

ROUTES & ACCESS: (All distances from Palakkad)
Though Parambikulam is in Kerala the only access, by road, is through Tamilnadu. Most of those traveling from outside Kerala will have to reach Pollachi before joining up with the road from Kerala at Ambarampalayam. Those coming along the west coast highway (NH-17) from Mangalore side will eventually have to reach Palakkad.

Travellers driving up from South Kerala will have to turn off  on the NH 544 (the erstwhile NH 47) to Nemmara from Vadakancherry. That route will pass through Kollengode before eventually reaching Meenakshipuram, the common point for the three routes. For those coming from North Kerala there are two routes from Palakkad. 

You can either drive up the Palakkad-Pollachi road upto Gopalapuram and take a right turn near the check post to Meenakshipuram. The other route, that people like me living in the town can take is the Palakkad-Koduvayur road, turn left at Koduvayur to Thattamangalam (also spelt Tattamangalam) (21 kms). Immediately after Thattamagalam  the road divides into two. Take a right turn towards Vandithavalam and Meenakshipuram (41 kms); the left goes to Chittur. Ambarampalayam (49 kms) is 8 kilometers after Meenakshipuram, where you have to turn right to Anaimalai (55 kms). In the center of Anaimalai town take a right to Vetaikaranpudur (58Kms) and eventually Sethumadai (66 kms).

Sethumadai, where you turn right to Parambikulam
The road swings right at Sethumadai and reaches the first of the many check posts on the road to Parambikulam. The first check post, at the bottom of the ghats, is controlled by the Tamilnadu Forest Department. You have to register your vehicle and passenger details here first. 

The first check post

The second check post is in Top Slip (76 kms) where you again have to get out and sign another register. The TNFD has rest houses and dormitories in Top Slip. There is a basic forest department canteen where food can be obtained by prior order. 

TNFD Forest rest house at Top Slip


The third check post is at the border of the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, manned by the Kerala Forest Department. Your vehicle will be subjected to a thorough check for liquor, plastics and the like before being allowed to go further. The last check post is at Anapaddi, where you have to leave your vehicles if you are a day tripper. Private vehicles are permitted beyond this point only if you have booking at one of the available accommodation facilities run by the department. Once again, a guide is allotted for each vehicle. 

For day trippers the department organizes a three hour bus trip to all the important places in Parambikulam. There is a stop at Thunakadavu dam. The FD has a tree house on the edge of the reservoir. 


Thunakadavu
It is from here the bus takes you on a short drive through the forest up to the Kannimara Teak, reputedly one of the oldest and largest teak trees in the world. 

Kannimara's canopy

Full length view of the Kannimara tree



During this drive you have the best chance of spotting some wildlife. Since our trip was during the monsoon there was not much activity of the larger mammals. 

Chitals


Wild boar relaxing in the slush

Nilgiri langur & Malabar Giant squirrel


Nilgiri langur juvenile

Malabar Giant Squirrel
Once you finish the Kannimara teak visit, the rest of the drive is on asphalted road. The bus halts briefly at a view point from where you can see dam you just left behind. The reservoir is just a small shining patch in the middle of the lush forest that covers all the landscape as far as eyes can see.

Thunakadavu from the view point


The final stop is in Parambikulam (81 kms) dam site and the township. If you are on a day trip you can find small eateries here or you can fix up with the canteen at Anappadi check post. We had carried a packed lunch so that was not required.



The forest department has another tree house and a rest house with rooms here. The best accommodation appears to be their Tented Niche at Anappadi. A small patch of forest fenced off near the  check post. They have tented accommodation that can be booked for overnight trips. I am yet to do a trip there but that is the next on my agenda.

We stopped at the Anapaddi check post and unpacked our lunch in the company of butterflies, peacocks and a rhesus macaque who was trying very hard to appear uninterested in our lunch!







THINGS TO REMEMBER:
  1. Parambikulam is easily accessed from Palakkad or Pollachi so you can have your base in one of these places.
  2. Start early from Palakkad. You can stop at the Sakthi Resorts just outside Ambarampalayam for  breakfast. Be warned, they seem to have a very laid back attitude and we spent an hour waiting for breakfast. Otherwise pack your breakfast and lunch for the trip.
  3. Carry no plastics or liquor. They are very strict about it and will confiscate bottles. They only keep a count of plastic bags and bottles. 
  4. The check posts open at 6.00 AM and close at 6.00 PM. Cross the Top Slip check post on time otherwise the Sethumadai check post will be locked and you will have a little hassle. 
  5. The best option appears to go on an overnight trip or a two night package that the forest department offers. Though you are not allowed to drive around in your own vehicle, the FD has a dusk drive at 6.00 PM. Ideal time when the wildlife are getting active. Leopards are very often seen in the evenings though tigers are rarely seen.

Happy Woodcrawling...................


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Nightmare in Bandipur - Part 1 : Death of the Zuiko 300mm f 2.8

August 7, 2015, 8:56 am
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January 2015

Some times we take many things for granted. Our family, our colleagues, our cars, our gadgets and many more things we use or own.

My photography gear is one such thing that I've gotten used to taking for granted. As the collection of camera bodies and lenses grew, my travels reached a stage where there would be one bag of clothes and three of gear! One of these bags with gear had my E3 body mated to the Zuiko 300mm f 2.8 with a 2x TC. I rarely split the three because my E-M5 would take care of all other requirements. It was about then that I had got my E-M1 and this trip was supposed to be a shoot out between the two Micro Four-third bodies. I had sort of retired the E3 and mounted the  300mm f2.8 on the E-M1.

In January of 2015, we went back to Bandipur for the umpteenth time. After checking in I walked around looking for birds in the resort's trees. I got this one, and never knew that it was the last few pictures I would shoot with my beloved Zuiko 300mm f 2.8.



The evening safari wasn't very eventful in terms of sighting but it was just as well that it happened to be that way. I never knew it would turn out to be safari I wanted to forget, (and so the delay in this post). A family of sambar deer passed us by.


A grey jungle fowl was scratching in the dust just ahead of us. He looked majestic in the evening sun.



The E-M1 was sitting on my lap under a shemagh. It was a dusty day and I wasn't keen on getting my gear more dirtier than necessary. The forest department had been working the fire lines and the track sides were charred. Chital were moving as the sun sank low on the horizon.



I was thinking that everything was brown or black. It wasn't summer yet but it looked like summer. Then I felt something give. The camera on my lap fell off from the lens. For a moment I was shocked. How could I have been so stupid to not have mounted the lens properly? I lifted the shemagh off to see what had happened, and then I froze in horror.

For a few moments, I was too shocked for words and then realization dawned. My best lens was in two pieces on my lap. The mounting ring had split in two. The main part of the lens had fallen off on one side and the mounting ring was still attached to the camera body!




The rest of that safari is a very vague memory. I wasn't interested any more. It was a photographer's nightmare! The Zuiko 300mm f 2.8 was my best lens and it was dead for all practical purposes. None of the lens elements were broken but the AF wiring was torn off. No communication was possible between the camera body and the lens; not even manual focussing was possible.

I returned to the resort a broken man. I was too numb and dinner went down like a lump of tasteless clay! What you see here are the last few pictures I clicked with my favourite lens.

I was not sure if I would find a solution or even a new lens. Olympus has discontinued the Four-thirds series so new lenses they were releasing were only for the Micro Four-third bodies. The rest of my Bandipur trip was something I want to forget!

Oh! Before I forget, the leopards saved my trip! That is in the next post of this series.......!


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Nightmare in Bandipur - Part 2 : E-M1 finds a Leopard!

August 9, 2015, 7:52 am
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25th January, 2015

Link to the previous post here

How I passed the night of the 24th January I will never know, but it was a really long, restless one. A photographic catastrophe is something that cannot be put in a few words. Your best lens is like your girlfriend! You are so smitten by her that you take her for granted and when she leaves you in the lurch rather unexpectedly, it is a truly deflating experience! I'm sure no one will disagree on that count!

My Photographic Journey has been an interesting one and the the high point was the day I got my 'girlfriend', the Zuiko 300mm f2.8. That was sometime in December of 2011. It was the best 300mm f2.8 anywhere by any manufacturer and  Olympus' Zuiko lenses are legendary for their rendition of colours. So when my lens broke, I was shell shocked.

Luckily, I had carried my Zuiko 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWDanother rugged lens that was doing duty before the 300mm  came. It had itself suffered a breakage on a trip to Nagarahole in the summer of 2012. From that experience I had learned that getting these fine lenses repaired, meant shipping them to Singapore or Japan, because Tatsuno did not trust them in anyone else's hands!

I had somehow managed to remove the broken mount ring of the 300mm from the E-M1 and with a prayer I mounted the Zuiko 50-200mm SWD. It worked! So I was not totally handicapped after all. With the digital 2x teleconvertor in the E-M1 I had a 100-400 f 2.8-3.5 now. It would never replace my favourite 'girlfriend' but at least I had a new mate for the E-M1. My previous trip was in December, just before Christmas and for just a day. That was because I had got my E-M1 and wanted to test it out in the field. There were not many photo opportunities because it was raining and I was on a one day trip.

I never knew God's were kind to sad people! The morning safari was all about birds and a lone tusker. The Zuiko 50-200mm SWD was doing a reasonably good job but it would never replace a 300mm f.2.8.


A hoopoe looking for snacks in burnt grass

Streak throated woodpecker (female)

Brahminy starling

Langur with her little one

Tusker


The evening drive was monotonously uninteresting. Forests have never ceased to amaze me in any season but this was an unusual trip. I had lost my 'girlfriend' and I was in depression. It was around 5.00 PM, half way through the safari and we were waiting outside the anti-poaching camp because someone wanted to answer the call of nature!

Suddenly, behind us, appeared a Duster! We backed up to stop them and ask how they got in and our driver realized that one of then was some forest official.


They seemed to be looking at something to their right and when we looked in that direction this is what we saw! A leopard slinking across the track!



It all happened so fast and in a moving vehicle, I did not have time to react. The leopard disappeared into the lantana.


We raced back to our position in front of the anti-poaching camp. There was a waterhole in front of it and the leopard was obviously making a beeline for it! The adrenaline rush that accompanies the sight of a predator is something that defies description. My fiasco of the previous day was forgotten and I only had eyes for a magnificent creature that would make its appearance any moment now!

A few minutes of anxious waiting and a head popped out of the undergrowth.


 It looked around, up into a tree, at us and at the waterhole.


Then decided that this was not a place to be in and walked off into a nullah and disappeared.





For an evening without even a gaur or elephant, this was a bonus. As the excitement settled and we started on our drive back I was reviewing the photos. I suddenly realized that the leopard appeared too small!

I had completely forgotten that I had a different lens attached to my camera and I had not zoomed in! I had shot at around 125 mm and also failed to use the 2x digital converter! A slight disappointment but something I'd have to get used to till my 300mm was repaired.

That was not the last of the leopards on this trip. Watch this space.....


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Nightmare in Bandipur - Part 3 : Leopards on the prowl

August 9, 2015, 9:06 am
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26th January, 2015

Link to previous post here

The reason I was in Bandipur this trip was Republic Day. Sometimes there is a suspicion about who is more excited about a school holiday that falls outside of the usual vacation seasons. Since my son insists on 100% attendance at school, I make use of every little opportunity to run off into the jungles.

Pic Courtesy: Skandapoorvaja
Handicapped as I was, the morning of 26th January held little interest for me. The damaged 300mm still weighed on me and I was in two minds whether to go on the morning safari. The previous evening's leopard notwithstanding, I was loathe to go with without my favourite lens.

Finally, not wanting to waste an opportunity to just bump around my favourite tiger reserve, I clambered into the vehicle. Morning safaris were usually quiet affairs as the larger mammals and the predators would become active only as the sun came up. It was winter and there was a nip in the air, we pulled our headgears down to cover our ears and hunkered down for what we though would be a cold and uncomfortable drive.

An hour into the drive we saw another vehicle pulled up ahead of us. There was, apparently, a leopard in the bushes and it would probably cross the track! Our driver thought he was a clever bloke and said it would come out on the track that branched off, a little behind where we had stopped. So he backed up to the previous junction to cover both tracks.

Suddenly the folks in the vehicle ahead of us jumped up and started clicking furiously. By the time our driver got us back to the original point the leopard had decided to go deeper into the forest rather than cross the track in front of two vehicle load of crazy humans!

Skanda managed to get a few face on shots, like the one above, but me? I never got anything as nice!







If I had stayed back brooding over my loss I would have missed this. It seems Bandipur was compensating!

I was still not used to the fact that I was holding a zoom instead of a prime. Using the zoom ring and in-body tele-converter was taking a little bit of effort and some jiggling of my memory. I'd have to get used to it unless something totally unexpected happened!






Juvenile crested serpent eagle

White eyed buzzard

White eyed buzzard


The Kabini trip report is pending and hopefully it will be up next weekend. Between this trip and the one to Kabini I was lying low. The damage to my Zuiko 300mm f 2.8 was still not off my mind. Apparently it had to go to the Tatsuno facility in Japan for repairs and the service center in India was having problems sending it. Then something unexpected happened!

My Kabini trip with my new 'girfriend will be up shortly! Watch this space. I will update it before my upcoming trip to Bandipur and Masinagudi later this month.

Happy Woodcrawling.............
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Summer in Kabini - Part 1: Routes

August 16, 2015, 1:41 am
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May 2015,

(Pinks are links)

Kabini River Lodge of JLR, on the banks of Kabini reservoir, is reputedly their best resort. A jewel in the crown of Jungle Lodges & Resorts and a favourite of many of my photographer friends because the forests of the Rajiv Gandhi National Park ( or Nagarahole NP) was prime leopard country. The resort is located on the southern fringes of the park and my first visit was in 1999. An unforgettable trip because, throughout that visit, I shared a vehicle with Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin!






Routes
Kabini was a temptation that I resisted primarily due to one reason, the route and distance.

The first time I took a route that went almost up to Mysore through Sathyamangalam, Chamarajanagar, Najangud then got onto the Mysore-Manathavady road to reach Kharapur. A distance of more than 310 kilometers and a drive of 7- 8 hours.





Later, after Bandipur Safari Lodge came into existence (from what was the erstwhile KSTDC Mayura) I would drive up through Nilambur, Gudalur, Mudumalai, Bandipur, Gundlupet, Begur, Nugu and H.D Kote. This route was shorter by almost 30 kilometers compared to the previous one. From the last mentioned place I'd get on the Mysore Manathavady road again to reach my destination. This route also needed a 7 hour drive to cover the 280 kilometers.




Those were the days when the Mysore-Manathavady road was a nightmare to drive on. The 20 odd kilometers after the national park gates, would take, not less than a couple of hours; that is, if you did not stop to count the potholes and shoot pictures of the wildlife that would be wandering close to the road. On my last trip to Bandipur in January, whenI happened to break my Zuiko 300 mm f2.8, my friend Mohan Thomas told me that this nightmare road was now a pleasure to drive on. That decided me. I had to give in to my long-standing temptation!



Not only was this a better road but it also cuts some 40 kilometers from the Bandipur route!This road goes through Mannarkad, Pandikad, Manjeri, Mukkom, Thamrassery, Kalpetta and Manathavady. That is the route I followed to reach Nagarhole a few years ago. If you want the distances from Palakkad to Manathavady just check the first post of the Nights in Nagarahole series. The Kalpetta bypass mentioned as unmotorable has since been completed and it takes you onto the Manathavady road quickly. If you take the road through the aforementioned places, it is 205 kilometers from Palakkad to Manathavady.

About 10 kilometers after Manathavady, is Kattikulam (215 kms) where the road divides into two. The left goes to Tholpetty, Kutta and thence to Nagarahole. If Kabini River Lodge is your destination, take the right turn to Bavalli (223 kms), the Kerala-Karnataka border. 15 kilometers from Bavalli you reach the Balle check post. About 4 kilometers after that you have to turn right to Kharapur and Kabini River Lodge (249 kms).



To be continued.....................
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Summer in Kabini - Part 2: Leopards in the Rain

August 16, 2015, 1:42 am
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25th May, 2015

Link to Part 1 of this series is here

Summer vacation was the excuse for us to be in Kabini this year. Unfortunately for us, the summer showers were showing no respite. We were once again allotted seats in a mini bus, which in hindsight was a good thing. There were a lot of photographers with heavy gear and that would pose a problem if you wanted to move about and get a vantage shot. The mini bus was not full and I could move around wherever I wanted.

We were one vehicles getting out for the morning because the family that was to share the bus were completely ignorant about the importance of being the first out of the lodge. Anyway a steady drizzle wasn't an encouraging sign and we drove in at the rear of the early birds. It was early bird time too. Our first encounter for the morning was a stripe necked mongoose who was licking his lips after his breakfast.

Stripe necked mongoose

Add caption
The crested serpent eagle, one of the many we would encounter, gave a contemptuous look and turned away, as was passed by.

A jungle crow was busy coaxing the gaur to allow it to give them a pest control session!

"See, you have a lot of ticks on you"

"Shall I give you a cleaning job? Absolutely free!"

"Your mother told me to have a look at you too."
It was a quiet morning and looked like nothing would be stirring in the wet weather. As we drove slowly forward we saw a couple of jeeps parked and the driver of one trying to point at something in the trees. We were jolted out of our lethargy. It could only mean one thing; a leopard! And yonder, on a tree, was a spotted cat blissfully sleeping off the exertions of the previous night!


It suddenly lifted itself up as if to climb off and turned to look in the other direction. We thought it would climb off the tree and disappear after whatever disturbed its slumber.

It seemed that whatever caused it to wake up wasn't very interesting because it promptly dropped back in its old position and proceeded to catch up with its sleep!

One satisfied leopard, of the many that Nagarahole is so famous for.

We drove on thinking that it was a bonus for weather like that. A leopard in the rain was truly unexpected! More so, when a friend had just spent the previous three days bumping around without any luck, that he skipped the final day's morning safari and went off to Bandipur!

Despite the occasional bouts of rain we met more of the denizens of the forest attending their morning duties.

Another crested serpent eagle

Orange headed ground thrush

Malabar giant squirrel


Brown fish owl

It was a quarter to 9 and the last 15 minutes of our safari. Our driver said he'd just go back and check on our sleeping leopard. As we turned past a small tree our driver braked suddenly. There, not 20 meters from bus, at a salt lick was a magnificent male leopard.

He was lapping up the muddy water without a care in the world. It was his kingdom; we were the intruders.


Occasionally, he would lift up his head and give a sidelong glance to see what we were upto....

....... and revert back to his business of slaking his thirst.




Then something put him on alert. He sat upright and looked behind him......

.....then back at us, to see if we were also disturbed by what he heard.

He decided that he had had enough and turned to move off......


 ......then, perhaps realizing that he had admirers, looked up again!

We weren't moving. We were so transfixed by the beautiful creature in front of us, we were not thinking of moving and did not want the leopard to go away either!

He looked long and hard and after a moment's hesitation, wheeled to his left and walked off, avoiding any close encounter with us. He was a leopard and instinct made him distrust humans.


As he crossed the track in front of us he gave one final look as if to say, "Keep off my turf!"

 Without another glance he walked unhurriedly into the safety of his forest.



My knees were shaking and my heart was racing. This was as close as I would get to a leopard in the wild. 

I had my new lens the Zuiko 90-250 mm  f2.8 that Olympus had given to me as a replacement for the damaged 300mm f2.8! It seemed that my new girlfriend was proving lucky, even if the weather was all gloomy.

Wait for the next post on the dholes......


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Summer in Kabini - Part 3: Dholes in the drizzle

August 16, 2015, 11:39 pm
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25th May, 2015

Link to Part 2 of the series is here

Kabini is famous for its leopards and tigers. They are the apex predators in Nagarahole but there is one more predator, much smaller but no less fearsome; at least for the prey species. The dhole, or Indian wild dog. What it lacks in size, it makes up in cunning and ferociousness.

Dhole
After the excitement of the morning we were looking forward to something more interesting in the evening. We had planned to take a boat safari instead of going in the bus again but a thunderstorm forced a change of mind.

A few years ago, on sunny summer evening, we were caught unaware by a freak thunderstorm in the Kabini reservoir. The storm lasted a good 45 minutes and we had to beach that boat for  safety. After it blew over we made our way back in pitch darkness. It was the light of a few torches and the experience of the boatman that got us back to the resort safely.

Flashback 2011. Trying to outrun the storm

Flashback 2011. The storm hitting us from behind

The flashback is still not very memorable but that made us jump into our bus for the evening safari. After all the worst thing that could happen was that we'd get stuck in the mud and the bus had headlights!

The thunderstorm that started after lunch had settled into a steady downpour as we got off for the safari. The bus had shades on the sides but the rexine on the canopy was torn in many places and it was dripping onto the seats. There would be small breaks in the rain and when we passed under some big trees but it was drizzling all through. It was highly unlikely that we'd be seeing anything worthwhile, or so we though.

Black naped hare & stripe necked mongoose

One of the magnificent tuskers Nagarahole is famous for
We were in a different zone and the smaller jeeps had sped off quickly. We were in a bus that trundled along trying to avoid all the slush and waterlogged potholes. More than the reduced chances for  wildlife sighting we were worried about getting stuck in the mud!

Then, a flash of brown up ahead on the track in front of us! Dholes! Not one, but a family of two adults and seven pups. They were in a hurry. The parents loped off ahead quickly, with the pups following in a line behind them.




A little further up the track we found the parents standing on a fallen tree looking at something in the distance. They were in the hunting mode and we could sense the thrill of a live hunt. Dholes are pack hunters and I was wondering what two adults would bring down.

Without warning, they leapt off the tree and went racing after something which we could not see. We couldn't keep up with a bus and abandoned any thought of giving chase and parked at a junction waiting for the adults to return.

They would return because the pups were still behind us. They were not running like their parents but were following more slowly.

They all gathered around another fallen tree and were calling in their peculiar whistling way to their parents. A few minutes later we heard the parents return their call and soon enough they were came back to where the pups were waiting for them. No successful kill today.

The rain was picking up and standing at a place was making the torn canopy sag with the accumulated water and it was cascading into the bus. At least if we moved the water would flow off backward, so we left the pack to reunite and drove off.


The wet elephants look like they were made of black clay!

The rain had made the grass grow fresh and the were twisting the green shoots and feasting on it.

A little further on, pair of sambar bolted across the grass giving alarm calls. A predator was on the move but none that appeared in front of our waiting eyes.

We were on the way to a forest rest house and elephant camp inside the forest and then we encountered the second dhole pack of the morning, five adults and four pups.




The wild dogs are pack hunters. They run down their prey and attack from all around. Once selected and cornered the victim doesn't stand a chance. What is more gruesome is that they don't wait for the victim to die. They start feeding even before death overcomes their unfortunate prey.


Perhaps they don't want to take chances. A tiger or leopard in the vicinity might get interested, though it is highly unlikely the bigger predators will try to steal from these fierce creatures!I have seen a leopard run for its life, chased by two dholes, in Bandipur.That was another stormy day in the summer of 2010. If it were a full strength pack even a tiger will not stand a chance. A leopard can scramble up a tree, (see the link in pink), but a tiger will be hard pressed to escape!










The drizzle was steady, without let up and the light was fading. It was better to start our return rather than risk getting stuck so late in the evening. As we were driving back we passed a herd of sambar. They seemed unperturbed, perhaps the weather offered them protection against the predators.


Nagarahole's had put on display its two famous predators in one day, despite the inclement weather. Not only that, both encounters were within touching distance of the beautiful creatures. 

For once, an aborted boat trip was proving to be a blessing!
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Hornbill Saga - A Lesson in Faithfulness

May 11, 2014, 7:30 pm
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The link to the last Hornbill post, Incarcerated, is here

It is said that hornbills mate for life and, between the time the female was incarcerated, sometime in early February (10th or 11th) and through the subsequent two months till the female broke out of her confines in early April (? 8th), I was witness to one such saga of faith. The male hornbill after sealing his beloved into a dark and musty hole in the tree hung around for the rest of the period ensuring that his beloved would remain in good health during her enforced confinement.

11th February, 2014

He had to ensure that she was fed and her nest was ready to receive the chicks. The pair had been practicing how to take things from each other's beaks before the female entered it for the last time in the season. Hornbill beaks are not short and round like most birds. They have long beaks that are flattened from side to side and are gently curved. It seemed perfectly designed for the job at hand. Passing of food and building material through the narrow slit in the closed tree hole. At any given time only one bird's beak could go through it. It remained to be seen how that would work.



During the courting period the male practiced passing things to the female for many weeks before the confinement. (See the previous posts). That was done, sitting next to each other on an open branch. Now it was a different situation. He would only have access to her protruding beak and he would have to hold his beak perfectly angled to allow the female to grab what he had brought to her, without dropping it 20 feet below to the ground.

14th February, 2014


He had perfected his technique. He would fly in, grab the edge of the tree hole with his talons and hang on. Clinging on to the nest's edge precariously, he'd pass on the stuff he gathered to the waiting beak of his mate.

In the initial few days it was often pieces of wood or clods of mud that he gathered. Despite her confinement, the female seemed to take her housekeeping duties very seriously.



 The male would fly off in search of food and building materials. Wood was always at hand. A dried tree branch provided plenty of rotting bark. For lumps of mud, he flew elsewhere.



If the pieces were large, he'd break them into smaller pieces before offering it to his mate.

Food was a variety of berries and fruit. Mostly sourced from the fig trees found within a short distance of the nesting tree.

In each trip he would gather a number of the fruit or berry and sitting on the edge of the tree hole he'd regurgitate them one after the other with a peculiar bobbing of his head. A vigorous up-down, backward-forward movement of the head and a fruit or berry would appear in its throat.


 The most  amazing thing about this process is that only one fruit or berry would be brought up each time.



 The fruit, thus regurgitated, would then be presented to his hungry mate through the narrow slit.

After a session of feeding he would go up into the branches of the tree and wait till it was time to go foraging again.

He would spend time preening himself and probably also contemplate on the world outside. He had to kill time. 60 days is a long time in a hornbill's life!




On a few occasions I also observed a smaller bird, which appeared to be a juvenile male, join the male in feeding the confined female. Perhaps it their own child was from a previous season.



The male would fly off in the mornings and return with something for his beloved prisoner. He had, by now perfected his feeding position. Perhaps, realizing that grabbing the lower edge of the hole and trying to give stuff to the female was more risky, he was now coming in from above the nest.

17th February, 2014




23rd February, 2014

Sometimes he'd fly from the side and wedge himself in the groove between the two main branches and then hop onto the ledge formed by the upper part of the bole. This was the most effective way of getting things to his mate.


His weight would be borne by his legs and the tree against which he'd press his body. Then he just had to swing his neck down to align his beak with the opening in the hole.



He could sit like that and regurgitate each fruit or berry without the fear of slipping off. Brilliant!



There would be two main sessions in day, early morning and evening. In the mid-morning and afternoon he;d be away a little longer but always returning to check on his mate. He would sit at some vantage point and survey the scene below. The mynas were still around and he'd have to shoo them away occasionally. More worrisome were the humans. There was a constant flow of people through the abandoned depot. It appeared that there was something going on like illicit arrack or dope sale. This activity was usually in the mornings and it disturbed the birds very often.

Occasionally the male would come back with large pieces of bark. It appeared they were readying for the arrival of the chicks.

26th March, 2014

Most other times it would sit just above the hole. The broken end of the branch housed the nest of a pair of mynas. One one occasion the male seemed to get very irritated by the mynas and was trying to reach inside their nest and destroy whatever was inside.

Fortunately, he never got at whatever was inside and seemed content with the discomfiture he was putting the mynas into.

Summer this year has been harsh. Even the normal thunder showers failed to put up a show. I was wondering how the female was coping in its hole. The male would unfailingly bring her things to eat or line the nest with but it is a wonder how she was surviving in a hot and confined tree hole surrounded by her shed feathers and waste materials. 


It seemed the the female was also playing her part in housekeeping and making herself comfortable. On more than one occasion I have seen her clear the hole by taking out some stuff that seemed like the seeds from the berries she ate or residual mud and feathers. Some she'd throw out and other she'd line the edge of her tree hole which she or the male would knock down later.




All through February and March these daily events continued. The male would always ensure his mate had her fill so that she and her chicks would be healthy. 


Towards the end of March I was tied up with a wedding in the family and the camera remained at home because I could not spend much time watching the nest. Then it happened. I had calculated her confinement period to be about 60-65 days. Since February had only 28 days this year my estimated date for her break out was between the 12th and 20th of April. I had miscalculated and almost missed the day.

8th April, 2014

The wedding was over and I was free, so I had carried my camera after a short break. I saw the male come to feed but to my utter surprise the hole had been enlarged. Till the previous day the opening of the nest was a slit now it was a wide oval opening. It could only mean one thing. The female had broken out and the male was bringing food for the little ones!



He had carried his torch for his beloved for two months and now he was taking over the responsibility of being a good father. The female was not to be seen anywhere. She'd be exhausted and feeling like a dirty rag after so many weeks of confinement in a cramped space. Till she recovered father hornbill's work was not over.

That story will follow. Watch this space...................
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Hornbill Saga - The End of the Days

May 17, 2014, 8:11 pm
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The hornbill blogs in series are here. Click the links for the previous posts

  1. Hornbill Heights - Part 1
  2. Hornbill Heights - Part 2
  3. Hornbill Heights - Part 3
  4. Hornbill Saga - Faithfulness
8th April, 2014


I looked, and looked again. The opening of the nest was larger than it was the previous day. It only meant one thing. The female had let herself out! The male, obviously, with the fruit in its beak was going to feed the chicks. A doting and dutiful father, considering that the female was nowhere to be seen! I was about to have my first look at the little ones but that would be another day.




He was hovering around protectively. Not flying too far away or for too long. The mother, obviously, would have gone elsewhere to recover her strength and get her plumage back in order after two long months of confinement.


11th April, 2014

I did not get my look at the chicks for another three days. Then on the 11th of April I saw a tiny head reach out with the beak wide open to get it's share of fruit from papa bird.


He would regurgitate the fruit one after another, and place them lovingly into the waiting beaks of his little chicks.



Immediately after each short session of feeding the male would leave to look for more food. In his absence I was given a reminder that the turf wars were not over. Mynas, the old occupants of the hole, seemed to have been waiting for the right opportunity. The minute the father hornbill flew off the waiting myna descended to the opening.


It would peep and go away unsure of what to do. Perhaps the hornbill's formidable beak was a deterrent.

12th - 14th April, 2014

The male was suddenly very busy. He had two mouths to feed and so had to go out more frequently. The mother bird had still not made a return or I was not seeing it during the times I was there. It was always the male arriving with food and nest material. 



Even a wasp in the mud below the tree was a potential source of nutrition for his chicks. I had never seen him come to ground level when the mother bird was incarcerated.

16th - 19th April, 2014

It seemed the air was full of hornbills. There were other pair in the vicinity of my hornbill's tree and it seemed that their chicks were also growing. The pair was sitting on a casuarina tree and going through some ritual dance moves!




As I wondered where the female was, she suddenly appeared on a branch with her mate. He feathers had grown back but she looked still worn out from her experience. It had been a full week since she broke out and I hadn't seen her.


The male still was doing what he did best, feed the hungry inmates......................

........... the female was just perched above and observing him. She just did not seem to have built up her strength yet.


However, it was evident that she had passed on some of her skills in confinement to her chicks. They too were adept at shooting out their poo out of the nest with unerring accuracy!

The first few days after her reappearance she made no attempt to feed the chicks.

It was the male who was feeding the chicks who always appeared very hungry.

On occasions the male attempted to coax the female to feed the chicks by passing the stuff in his beak to the female. Perhaps he realized that she was lacking in confidence to deliver the food to the waiting beaks of her little ones.



20th April, 2014

The growing chicks and their ever hungry cries was testing the male's perseverance. 




He not only had to feed them but also had to ensure that the nest was maintained for their comfort. He was now collecting mud from directly under the tree from a track frequented by vehicles and humans.


The father bird was now ferrying clods of dry mud from the heap below the tree. There was some serious renovation going on inside. Now that the female was out the chicks would have a little more space. That would soon become uncomfortable as they started growing bigger.



It seemed that the danger he was putting himself into jolted the female out of her lethargy. She first went and tested her ability to cling at the edge of the nest.

It seemed that the mother bird had finally made up her mind about her role in bringing up her babies. She flew to a nearby tree and returned with what appeared to be some fruit. Her first attempt was very comical. It was obvious that she was woefully out of practice and she just couldn't get it right.



I wasn't sure what the problem was but after a few attempts at passing the fruit to her chicks she gave up and flew to the end of the broken branch above the nest to catch her breath. Maybe the fruit was too large or too smooth that she wasn't able to grip it properly. Perhaps she was afraid of dropping it.


After a few seconds she flew back again to  make another futile attempt.

Back again to the perch to rework her strategy. She was obviously out of practice, more used to receiving stuff than giving it. I though it should have been instinctive!

Attempt after failed attempt occurred over the next four and a half minutes. Somehow, she wasn't able to get it right. Maybe the chicks weren't ready to take something from her because they were so used to getting it from their father. He would have had time to give 20 fruits if he had 4 minutes!



The last time she tried it, I thought I saw the fruit slip out to the ground below. In any case she never made another attempt that morning!

The chicks were growing and their needs were increasing each passing day. Two hungry mouths meant that the father had to take over feeding duties again while mother did other things. 



Nest maintenance was a constant affair so the mother took over the easier chore, bringing mud and nesting material. She would bring a clog of mud and place it on the edge of the hole for the chicks to take inside.




So much more easier than trying to put a fruit in the little beak! I guess the male wasn't very confident in her abilities. He'd sit over her and fix her with a sharp look while she was at it!





2nd - 6th May, 2014

Each time I saw the beaks of the chicks through the slit the seemed to have grown slightly bigger than on the previous day. The frequency of feeding too had increased though the mother still confined her duties to nest maintenance and the father to feeding. 






It seemed that the father shared a special bond with his children. Sometimes I would see him bend over as if to listen to something that the chicks had to tell him.


9th & 10th May, 2014

By my calculation the time had come for the chicks to leave the nest and when I reached the nest on the 9th May I realized I had been been right. The opening was wider.


Initially I thought the chicks had already left but the presence of the mother on the branch above the nest reassured me that they were inside

The chicks were very much there and as hungry as ever. Now the two beaks, when they projected from the nest's opening, looked almost adult width. 



Both the parents were busy running around and there seemed to have been an exchange of duties too. I saw the male flying down to the papaya tree below to pluck leaves for lining the nest. 




That left me wondering. According to my recordings the female had exited the nest on the 57th day after incarceration. I was expecting the chicks to make their move some 30-35 days after that. It was the perfect time but the parents seemed to have other intentions.

11th May, 2014

I had my first real look at the chick(s). The hole was bigger and the chicks had started putting their heads out while begging for food.




It also seemed that the mother bird had regained her confidence. She was also feeding her children now, with assurance!



Papa bird, though, was the children's favourite. They always seemed to look forward to his arrival than their mother's!




The tidbits he carried were more colourful and interesting! Even to me, an observer! He had even carried a garden lizard to his beloved when she was in confinement. A visual, I had missed recording.



Meanwhile the little ones were now always peeking out to survey the world they had to move out into. They would learn how tough it would be to survive sooner than later! A lesson I also was to learn shortly.


The final post will come in the next few days. Things have developed, that was totally unexpected. I will update once I'm sure that the End of the Days has really come!

Watch this space..............


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Hornbill Saga : The Last Post - End of the Turf Wars

May 20, 2014, 9:10 am
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For those who came in late:
This is a tale of Mrs & Mr. Hornbill whom I had the chance of getting to know a couple of years ago. I had been just a casual acquaintance of theirs but things changed over the last six months. I have had the rare privilege of being witness to their courting, mating, confinement & birth of their two chicks. If you are not the impatient type, I suggest, you go back to the last post here. You'll find the links to all other posts in this series on the top of the page in that previous post. I have deliberately avoided putting the links here because this post is unique. I have, over the last six months, shared the joys & sorrows of parenting that these hornbills went through. I want people who have been following this post not to get distracted at this truly important point in time.


The events in this final post, on this pair's activity this season (2013-2014), happened over a period of five days, from the 13th to the 18th of May. This particular post is longer than the previous ones, and rightly so, though this covers only one tenth of the entire breeding season of the hornbills. Please bear with me.

13th May, 2014

It seemed to me that the parents had decided that it was time for the chicks to move into the real world. There was a drop in the frequency of feeding. Though the parents were always in the vicinity of the nest they rarely responded to the cries of the chicks. They were maintaining a certain aloofness that suggested they wanted the chicks to venture out of the protective walls of the nest if they wanted food.


The little ones would poke a beak out and keep looking out for their parents without knowing that they would be sitting on a branch somewhere above them!









14th May, 2014



Children can be stubborn and hornbill my chicks were no different. They were not playing ball. Other than just craning their necks out of the hole they refused to budge out of their cozy nest.





When the exasperated mother once tried prodding them out with a piece of bark, they only became more adamant.


 


Sometimes they seemed to realize that the parents were sitting above them and so every now and then they would make their pleading cry and look up expectantly.




The mother knew that her plan wasn't working so she tried another strategy. She would go and sit at the edge of the hole with a tempting fruit in her beak. She would make no attempt to give it to the chicks. After waiting for a few seconds she'd fly back to her perch on the overhanging branch and wait expectantly.





Even that ploy was a failure. It seemed that the more the parents tried to induce the chicks to get out, the more they refused. Occasionally, the parents would succumb to the pleading cries and give the chicks a small meal. This, however, happened only rarely. The parents seemed to realize that their only chance of success was keeping the chicks hungry!






Both the parent's and the chicks were playing a game. The question was, who would blink first?!






So far the chicks seemed to have an upper hand. The adults went off to roost on a branch a little farther away and perhaps rethink their strategy to get the chicks out of the nest.


15th May, 2014

It was apprent that the curtains were coming down on the hornbill breeding season. The other pair on the casuarina tree that I had seen earlier came for the last goodbye. I haven't seen them since.


The hornbill near my house too came to say farewell for the season!



For my pair, however, it was another day of relentless effort. They seemed to have run out of ideas. The mother hadn't given up the tempt-with-fruit strategy but I wasn't sure it was working.



The mother bird would put her head inside and try to coax her babies out but it seemed they were still acting stubborn, or so I thought.


She repeated this act a few times but the chicks didn't seem to show any interest in moving out of the nest. As a matter of fact, they did not peep out from their nest at all, that morning!


The pensive parents would just sit on their regular perch above the hole and keep calling. I started getting worried. Almost an hour of waiting the chicks hadn't peeked out or cried for food. Had they flown away? I would know tomorrow.



16th May, 2014

I unpacked my camera and trained the lens on the hole. It was my usual habit. The reach of the 600mm would let me know when the chicks were moving inside the darkened tree hole. Today I was in for a shock.

What popped out of the hole was not a hornbill chick's beak but a whole bird; a myna!


Papa hornbill was sitting on the end of a broken branch and after the myna took off he bent down as though to see if he really saw a myna!


It certainly was a myna. It went and perched itself above the hole as if to assert itself.

The female hornbill was on another tree, looking despondent but the male was still hoping that his chicks would come out of the nest.

Just to be sure, he went down to inspect the nest while the mynas cackled angrily from above.


The female kept a safe distance since the mynas were especially rude to her, chasing her away every time she came near the nest. It was the male who was now trying to make the little ones come out.


The attitude of the mynas had changed. They were acting like they had achieved something. Though they were wary of approaching the male hornbill they'd ruffle their feathers and act like Tarzan of the Apes after he succeeded in subduing an animal in a fight...............


.................. complete with the scream and waving of their wings, like Tarzan beat his chest and let out his famous victory yell!




The mynas were now entering and exiting the nest with impunity and I realized that the chicks were not in the nest anymore.My manager, who has by now become an expert in hornbills, told me that he had seen the mynas chase the two chicks away in the morning. They had also thwarted an attempt by one of them to get back inside. According to him the chicks had flow to another tree some 100 meters away.


I was not sure if the parents were waiting for the chicks to return or whether they still thought that the little ones were in the nest.

After a while it became evident that they too realized that the mynas were occupying their nest because their children had been driven out. They were going down to the hole on the broken branch where the mynas had been nesting temporarily and inspecting it.


I couldn't tell if they were searching for their chicks or simply seeking to avenge their loss by destroying whatever was in that nest.

Perhaps it was already too late. The mynas were doing their own cleaning up. They would pop in, pick up something and come up and throw it out.

17th May, 2014

Suddenly there seemed to be a whole horde of bullies. Mynas were gathering together and heckling the hornbills.



The hornbills, on their part, bore everything in dignified silence. The were flying between the trees in the immediate vicinity calling out and searching for their little ones.






There was no sign of the little ones still. I could only pity the parents. After three months of patient vigil I was left wondering who felt the chick's absence harder, the father, mother or I!



I am sure, dear reader, that you too are left a little shaken & shocked by the turn of events like me. I am praying that the chicks are fine somewhere and the parents will be united with them eventually.

I have packed my gear and carried my tripod back home. I've not given up just yet. It is that a long awaited trip to Bandipur is around the corner and I have to get my gear in shape. I'm hoping that during the intervening period my hornbill family will be reunited.

EPILOGUE
Nothing happened on the 19th of May. Literally nothing. I was not greeted by the raucous calls of the hornbills outside my window when I woke up. It was like the hornbills had switched off till the next season. At my post near my hornbill's treehole it was only mynas, drongos and crows now. There were no hornbills to be seen or heard.

On 20th May I carried my camera again hoping something would have turned. Turn it did but not in favour of the big birds but for the little resilient mynas. The hornbills were still there; the male flitting from tree to tree restlessly. I watched the mother sit and wait, hoping her little ones would come back. She made no attempt to go near her former nest.  


 It was the mynas who were going about their jobs as if nothing had happened. It had come full circle. They had been driven out of their nest in November and for six months they had to make do with a temporary home. Summer is bidding good bye and the monsoon is gathering. It rained today.
To the mynas it is a signal to get their house in order. 

I watched as one dipped inside and came out with an orange thing in its beak. A remnant perhaps, of the succulent looking fruit papa hornbill had got a few days ago. The myna flew out with it, knowing well that its house would belong to her for the monsoon. 





The hornbills would return in late October. That was a very long time away, especially when measured in terms of a bird's life. Turf wars were over for the season. It would start all over again when the rain tree started shedding its leaves. Till then peace would reign on the tree in the old depot. 


I'm only hoping the would still be there next season. The track replacement work has pick up speed again and this tree looks like it is standing in the way of the grand plans of the railways!



DISCLAIMER: 

  1. The entire series of blogs from late October 2013 till mid-May 2014 have been shot with an Olympus E3 DSLR with a 300mm f2.8 + EC20 2x tele-convertor attached & OM-D E-M5 with a M.Zuiko 70-300mm lens.
  2. The shooting was done from the rooftop of a building about 60 meters away. The nest was never accessed or disturbed in anyway. 
  3. No flash photography was done. 
  4. The birds, both adult & chicks were never disturbed or handled at any time during this period. 
  5. No intervention happened to disturb the natural course of events. 
  6. All events have been presented in chronological order.
  7. I don't claim to be an authority on the nesting or breeding habits of the Indian grey hornbill. 
  8. This is only a record of my observations over a single breeding season of a single pair of hornbills as they unfolded before me.



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Thattekad (Part 1) - Of Birds, Snakes and Rainforests

August 24, 2014, 7:46 am
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I don't know if I am an inherently lazy chap or someone who suffers from some form of amnesia.

Sometime earlier this year I made a trip to Thattekad, the best birding destination in Kerala. It was a long pending desire to spend a few days but circumstances weren't giving me the right chance. Then, Skanda's school announced a week of holidays courtesy the Kerala School Kalolsavam! January was right in the middle of the birding season and so we hastily put together a three day trip to Thattekad. Since Valparai was another place on the 'must go birding' places we thought we'd return home through a rather circuitous route. This is the record of the first part of that trip, Palakkad to Thattekad.

Coming back to the first sentence again. This post was supposed to have gone up immediately after we returned but sheer laziness and distraction by an interesting Hornbill Saga delayed it. Then I completely forgot about it till I saw the Malabar trogon in Siruvani, but that is another tale for later, which I hopefully will not forget!

(Please note. Pink is a Link! Click to open the related pages.) 

So finally, here it is; the Thattekad story. Forgive my laziness!

Thattekad shot into fame after Dr. Salim Ali called it the "richest bird habitat in peninsular India". The first designated bird sanctuary in Kerala is home to an extraordinary number of birds confined to a small (25 sq km) triangular area between the Periyar river and it's tributary the Idamalayar. The Salim Ali Bird Trial is only a small portion that lies at the apex of this triangle.

To reach the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary you have to reach Kothamangalam first. My plan was to drive up to Thattekad directly and on my return, take a detour through Athirappalli and Valparai.

The Route

Reaching Thattekad from Palakkad is not a problem. (All distances from Palakkad.) The route takes the NH-47 bypassing Trichur at Mannuthy (63 kms) to reach Angamaly (105 kms) through Chalakudy. From Angamaly you have to turn left onto the Main Central Road (on the Kottayam route). You will reach Kalady (112 kms), then Perumbavoor (119 kms) where you have to take a small deviation within the town before getting back onto the M.C road. Kothamangalam (137 kms) is 18 kilometers from Perumbavoor. A the Thankalam junction (land mark: TVJ Eye Hospital) you have to take a left turn for Thattekad. From the junction it is 12 kilometers to the Salim Ali Bird sanctuary. Once you cross the Periyar river, you reach Sivakshetrapadi (149 kms) the entrance to the sanctuary and the ticket counter. The Salim Ali bird trial is a few hundred meters further down the road from the ticket counter. The entire journey takes around three and a half hours depending on the traffic.

Accommodation

Thattekad itself has little to offer in terms of accommodation. There are a few resorts but they are a few kilometers before you even reach the Periyar. Cloud 9 Hotel in Kothamangalam is an option if you don't mind the 12 kilometer drive. It has an excellent restaurant and good rooms for those of you who insist on the luxuries! For the serious birder, who isn't unduly concerned about where you sleep or what you eat, there are two lovely homestays within the sanctuary area. You have to get past the ticket counter to reach both of them. We stayed in theBirds Song Homestaywhich is slightly deeper (some 200 mts from the main gate) and abuts the forest. The other one, Jungle Bird Homestay is just adjacent to the forest department's dormitories.

What to carry

Once you reach Thattekad there is nothing else to do; well, except scouring the trees for the birds! It is a place for serious birders and if you are one you can skip the rest of the paragraph!. If you came for a walk in the park, make a three point turn and drive right back. The entire day, from 6.00 AM to 6.00 PM, is spent in the pursuit of the feathered kind. When you pack your bags, don't forget the customary binocular and bird books. Wear a shoe or sandal that can last the rigours of an  8 hour walk in the forest (spilt in two trips) and carry a satchel that will hold a few fruits, energy bars and a bottle of water. I promise you, it will be a sweaty, tiring experience but well worth the trouble.

What to do

Bird activity peaks in the early mornings and evenings but that is not saying that they go to sleep the rest of the day. You have to be up at the crack of dawn, down your morning's brew and walk off into the crisp air  that greets you early in the morning. Unlike in Bandipur and Silent Valley, in Thattekad, you don't have to look for birds. They'll come to you! Just keep your eyes and ears open.

19th January, 2014

We reached Birds Song at half past one because we stopped for an early lunch at Cloud 9, which has a lovely afternoon buffet. Our host Vinod's father was in hospital in Kottayam and he was on his way back. It wouldn't make sense to land in his place without him around. We settled in and waited for him. Birds Song has only two rooms with attached bathrooms on the first floor. The ground floor is the residence of Vinod and his family. Food is served in the family dining hall unless you are very picky.
After tea Vinod will lead us on a walk to explore the neighbouring forests.

Darter
As was always the case, when we crossed the Periyar,  the cables adjacent to the bridge were occupied by the terns.

Whiskered terns

Once you leave the road and step into the forest you realize why the experience of a person like Vinod is useful. His eyes and ears are always alert. A flash of colour, the slightest movement in the canopy or a call that comes from some vague direction he will lead you to the bird unerringly.

Chestnut tailed starling

Southern hill mynas

Lesser yellow naped woodpecker

Plum headed parakeet

White belled tree pie

And as we walked back across the bridge again in the fading light the cable was getting crowded. A flock of ashy wood swallows were also huddling up against each other for the night.
Ashy wood swallows
20th January, 2014

We were woken up with a hot cup of coffee before the sun was up. The birds were already active and as we moved towards the sanctuary gates Vinod stopped near the ticket counter and asked us to get out of the car. There was a pair of Brown Hawk owls that lived in the clump of bamboo and we were just in time to see them settle down.


It was stretching its wings before settling for the day.



Noticing us peering through the fencing it widened its eyes to glare at us before deciding the there was no point wasting time over a few curious homo sapiens!



As we drove out to the first stop for the morning, the Kinacherry (or Knacherry as it is pronounced) Tribal Colony, the Periyar flowed languorously on our left.





The mist was just lifting and the river looked inviting for a morning dip. However, our plan for the morning did not include that indulgence!









The tribal colony, if you could call it that, was on a hillock. There were a few ramshackle huts scattered over its top. The folks were going about their morning chores when we reached there.


Vinod asked them about the morning's bird life. The gent laying out something to dry said the birds had already moved on as the sun had come out a little early.

Not a nice thing to hear after a rather stiff walk in the early morning with all the gear. Timing does matter and if you could wake up with the birds and reach there before the sun came up you would be feasting your eyes on a large choice of birds!

Flame throated bulbul

Malabar grey hornbill

Malabar grey hornbill

Black rumped flameback woodpecker

Malabar parakeet (male)

Oriental honey buzzard

Malabar parakeet (male)

Small minivet


Blyth's starling

Orange minivet (male) back view
Orange minivet female
White cheeked barbet

Malabar giant squirrel

Orange minivet (male) front view

Ashy drongo
Thattekad won't disappoint you. The birds are there at any time of the day. You just have to keep your eyes open, and really wide if you want a glimpse of Thattekad's most famous residents the Srilanka Frogmouth and the Malabar trogons.

If you are an avid trekker and don't mind a few slimy, loving leeches having breakfast at your expense, without hurting you like a mosquito, then Thattekad is for you! Vinod took us through the forest to another clearing.



The first of our frogmouths for the day (and the first time in our lives) was encountered on the way to this place. I will put a separate post for the frogmouths we encountered.

Sri Lanka frogmouth roosting
 So were our first Malabar trogons. Vinod has sharp ears and he asked us to move in a direction where we heard the calls and the pair was there as if waiting for us.
Malabar trogon (male)

Malabar trogon (female)
 We were following them deeper into the forest and as the ground underfoot started getting more and more soggy I felt a thrill go up my spine.

Vinod had told us this was prime King cobra country and I was hoping I'd meet up with one!

The fallen trees were rotting along with the leaf litter and every time I passed a mound I was hoping it would be a nest.


Then something came crashing down from the canopy and Vinod hissed, "Snake!" I was thinking my day was made but it was not to be. It was a humble rat snake, the King's breakfast, that had probably slipped of a branch and nearly landed on top of us. I only had a fraction of a second to whip around and click this shot of a very frightened snake!


 That was enough excitement for the morning. After a small break for bananas and biscuits we were off to Urulanthanni for the day of frogmouths!



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Thattekad (Part 2) - 5 Frogmouths & a Bird bath

August 26, 2014, 8:37 pm
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Let me confess. Our trip to Thattekad had one very important agenda. A tryst with the Srilanka Frogmouth. It would be patently untrue if anyone said they went to Thattekad "just to see some birds". The truth is that Thattekad is now synonymous with the frogmouth and everybody who goes there has the Srilanka Frogmouth on the top of their bird list!

More about these birds here from Wiki

Most of the guides in Thattekad, if not all of them, know one or two places where these singular birds roost. Being nocturnal in their habits they need to conserve energy during the day and they roost on low shrubs till dusk. Which means that after your birding in the early hours you can devote a leisurely hour or two, after the sun has climbed up, in pursuit of these lovely birds!

Frogmouth Fotography For Dummies!!

I never thought I'd add this section in a trip report but after seeing some photographers describe their experience in Thattekad and elsewhere I thought it I had to put my thoughts on record. Unfortunately, with the sudden upsurge of wannabe wildlife photographers, these birds have to face a lot of unwanted attention. The Srilanka frogmouths have a bad habit. They roost in the same branch of the same tree for months unless they get disturbed too much. It would have been alright if they were high up in the canopy but they prefer branches closer to the ground, perhaps a couple of meters from ground level.

My belief is that most  travelers to Thattekad are serious bird watchers. They know how to behave in the presence of these beautiful creatures. However there are people who would do anything to get 'the perfect shot', which means a little bit of clearing of leaves and twigs to get a better access for their cameras. Some even use flash in broad daylight.

If you want to photograph the Frogmouth just follow some basic rules.
  1. If you have been brought to the presence of a frogmouth, especially with a chick, DON'T GO TOO CLOSE. 
  2. DON'T poke your camera in the face of the bird. Use a telephoto lens to 'reach' it instead.
  3. DO NOT try to move any branches or leaves to gain access. Once disturbed they may abandon the branch.
  4. AVOID FLASH photography. If you have a fast lens use its widest aperture and hike up the ISO. 
  5. If you have a monopod or tripod set it without knocking on the branches.
  6. If needed lie down on the ground or kneel in any odd position but don't shake the perch!

20th January, 2014 (10 am - 11 am)





 
After our mornings sojourn at the Kinacherry area we packed up to move to Urulanthanni. We took a small detour thorough the forest just to enjoy the sounds of nature.






I was hoping we'd run into another snake but the reptiles were not willing to play ball. I guess the sun wasn't beating down strongly enough for them to consider leaving their hiding places for a warm up!
















On the way we said hello to the first Frogmouth of the day again. It was there in the exact same spot where we left it. It was like a frozen toy, only the big eyes giving away the fact that it was aware of our presence.

Lugging heavy gear on a humid morning is not a very pleasant experience especially if your stomach was grumbling something about breakfast!


Urulanthanni is some 10 kilometers from Sivakshetrapadi along the Kuttampuzha- Pooyamkutti road. You have to report at the checkpost for permission to drive into the forest. Right where we parked the Duster, on the edge of the track, a white gentleman and his partner were peering into a bush. There was, apparently, a  frogmouth in it. We moved off without disturbing them. The Duster was parked there and we'd be returning to the same place later anyway. 

After a circutous walk in the forest we reached a temple and Vinod took us to a bush just a few meters from the track. He asked us to bend down and look inside it. A first we did not see it. All we could see was dried leaves swinging gently in the breeze. Then we saw them, a pair of Srlanka Frogmouths, Nos 2 & 3 of the morning!




It was tricky trying to get a good shot of the pair but I managed to get off a few from an awkward position without causing much disturbance. The one looking at me must have thought that I was off my rocker!


To give you a fair idea of how difficult it is to spot a pair in the wild, look at this next photo.   If they had not been where they were, right in the center, I guess most of us would not have picked them up at all! We would have walked past, without even giving a glance at what looks like some dried leaves!


It was past almost a quarter to 11 in the morning and our stomachs were really protesting. We decided to go back to the home stay and grab a well deserved breakfast. When we reached the Duster there was nobody around and we peered into the bush where we had seen the old man looking. It was there, our 4th Frogmouth of the day!

 
Not the best lighting despite being so late in the morning but we did get some records shots.


On the way back we stopped to check on some owls but it was so well camouflaged that I wasn't really sure if I had got the owl at all! This Indian Scops Owl could take the prize for the best blended bird on this trip! This was a blind shot and I'm lucky that anyone can spot  the bird in it!


Back at the home stay we tucked into some late breakfast and went off to rest our weary legs. The best part was yet to come. 

20th January, 2014 (4 pm to 6 pm)

After a late lunch and a small siesta we got ready for the evening's bird walk. Vinod had told us about a natural 'bird bath' that attracted many small birds exactly between 5.30 and 6.00 pm. Before that, he said, he'd take us to see another frogmouth en route. We drove half way along the same road we had taken in the morning. After parking the car on the side we walked up through a rubber estate to the edge of the sanctuary. The first bird that greeted us was a Malabar trogon.


Then we walked on past the 'bird bath', about which Vinod had told us. Some 100 meters from the bird bath Vinod stopped us and pointed to a small tree not 10 feet away from where we were standing. At first we did not know what he was pointing at and then a few seconds later realization dawned. Here is 'nearly' what we looked at. I say 'nearly' because the field of view that our eyes could take in was much more wider than what is seen on this photograph.



It is one of the two wide angle shots Skanda took before switching lenses! What looked like a broken branch with moss on it was another frogmouth. It was on its nest, incubating an egg. Our 5th Frogmouth of the day!

I count myself as fortunate to have witnessed this unique scene. Nesting frogmouths are rare and not easily seen. Records of nesting behaviour are sketchy and based on the limited observations of these birds, mostly from Srilanka. The one we had the fortune to behold was a male, characterized by its grey brown plumage.  




During the day it is the male who takes it's turn at incubating a single egg. It is assumed that the female takes over at night with intermittent exchanges of place with the male.










When disturbed at the nest the bird apparently just stretches upward and positions itself at an angle of 45 degrees to the branch. It blends remarkably with the rest of the tree that a casual glance will give the appearance of a broken branch covered with lichen!




The nest itself is a circular pad constructed with down feathers and moss gathered from around the site. A single egg is laid in it and once the chick hatches the nest is destroyed by the male.







It was time to go. Our presence was making the bird restless. When it dropped its nearly immobile chin, it was the signal for us to move!








We moved back up the track to the 'bird bath'. The 'bird bath' itself has an interesting story. It is nothing more than a shallow depression on a rock. During the rains it would fill up with water but in the dry months it would be filled with nothing more than fallen leaves. One gentleman, who worked in the rubber estate adjacent to the forest started filling the depression with water. Now he has taken it as a daily duty and fills the little depression with water everyday. This daily practice ensured that the birds came in small groups to the same spot in the evenings. It goes to show the lengths the people of Thattekad go to care for their feathered friends.

Red whiskered bulbul

Orange headed thrush & Yellow throated bulbul

Orange headed thrush

Flame throated bulbul

Flame throated bulbul & blue throated flycatcher

Dark fronted babbler & blue throated flycatchers

Blue throated flycatchers


It was a long tiring day but every minute we spent wandering around the forest was like a never ending treasure hunt. I'm not sure how many people have had the privilege to see five frogmouths on a single day, but I count myself as one of the fortunate few. When we planned a trip to Thattekad I had told Skanda I'd show him a bird he'll rarely ever see again but I had not expected that we'd see so many, that too in under 12 hours!!

The Srilanka Frogmouth and the Malabar trogon will remain the enduring attraction of Thattekad but to any genuine bird lover it will the best place for  tryst with the feathered folk. With people like Vinod and the unnamed rubber tapper of the 'bird bath' the birds were in safe hands. 


We would be returning to Thattekad very often. That was for sure. We were so entangled in it's beauty!


(There are not many articles on the nesting of the Srilanka Frogmouth but I thought this one was one of the best.)

We returned to the home stay to retire early. We had a long drive the next day. Not that we were in any hurry to get back home, but Athirapalli and Valparai were beckoning. 


Watch this space


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Thattekad (Part 3) - The Long Road Home (Thattekad-Athirapalli-Valparai-Pollachi)

October 11, 2014, 7:42 am
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I admit now, I've become really lazy these days. It is more than a month since I promised to upload this post but somewhere along the way I lost the plot. I'm afraid I'm losing my touch!

In my last post on the frogmouths of Thattekad I mentioned that we were planning to return through a rather long route. For both of us, Skanda and I, when we want to go somewhere we are always in a hurry. We pick the shortest and easiest route to reach our destination. Once it becomes time to return home the entire thing changes. We always have to drag ourselves away very reluctantly. After a wonderful time in some beautiful green jungle we loathe returning to the concrete jungle where our home is situated in. Consequently, return journeys are always long and slow! We choose, wherever and whenever possible, the longest and most unfamiliar route. Just so, that we can dawdle and enjoy new places.

Palakkad to Thattekad is perhaps one of the most uninspiring roads to drive on. Town after town are located within few kilometers of each other, unlike in Tamilnadu or Karnataka where vast empty spaces have to be traversed before the hint of civilization hits you again. Kerala with its heavy traffic and narrow roads is not something for sedate drivers like me. Therefore, there was little hesitation in making a decision to take the long road home!

Vinod had left very early in the morning to Kottayam to be at his father's bedside and we were left to fend for ourselves. Bags were packed and loaded early and having said goodbye to Vinod's family we drove out to the Salim Ali bird trial for one last round of birding. Thattekad will rarely disappoint and in the half hour we wandered around we returned with these.







We wanted to be in Kothamangalam for breakfast. There is an excellent Udupi Hotel in the heart of the town. The early morning walk had made us hungry and we tucked in. We were also unsure if we would get any decent lunch on our chosen route!

The Route(all distances from Kothamangalam)

The first part of route is the same as the one going to Thattekad till Kalady.  Once in Kalady the fun starts. After crossing the bridge over the Periyar you have to look for the right turn to Neeleswaram in the heart of Kalady town (26 kms from Kothamagalam). It is the Kalady Malayatoor road you get onto. Six kilometers from Kalady you reach Neeleswaram (32 kms), where you have to take a left turn near a church. When we were traveling there was some repair work going on so the next stretch was through some interior roads.

From Neelesawram the next way point is Manjpara (36 kms). There is road from Kalady to Manjapara but we were directed to go through Neeleswaram. From Manjapara it is a fairly good road through Chulli and Marygiri upto Edalakkad (47 kms). At Edalakad take a right turn onto the Munoorpilly- Ezhatumugham road. Two kilometers after Edalakad is Munoorpilly (49 kms) and the right turn to the Ezhatumugham is hidden behind a twist that you might miss it if you are not looking for it.

Once you reach Ezhatumugham (51 kms) you will enter Plantation Corporation of Kerala Ltd's oil palm plantation. The Planatation road, as it is called, runs almost parallel to the Chalakudy river. Once you reach the Vettilapara bridge (58 kms) take a left turn, cross the bridge and then immediately turn right onto the Athirapalli- Anamalai road.

From this junction it is another 11 kilometers to Athirapalli (69 kms). After leaving Thattekad at 7.45 AM  we reached Athirapalli at 12 Noon. It had been a journey of more than 4 hours with many breaks in between. We still had more than three-fourths of the journey to complete before we would reach home but we were in no hurry to there!





We spent more than an hour at Athirapalli, going down to the bottom of the falls and exploring the place. The crowd was slowly building up and our stomachs were reminding us that lunch was overdue.







We did not stop to visit Vazhachal (74 kms). That would have to wait for another trip. Lunch was the priority now. If you have not, by chance, carried a packed lunch and if you happen to be one of those discerning travelers it might be difficult to find a place to eat after Athirapalli. The better hotels are all located between Athirapalli and the the Vettilapara bridge. We would have had to go back 10 or 15 kilometers so we settled for a simple lunch in a  roadside eatery near the Vazhachal check post.

At the check post you have to declare the list of plastic in your vehicle. There will be an inspection by the forest officers at the check post but if you look to be an honest chap with a kid in tow they will take your word for it! The slip they issue has to be produced at the Malakapara check post for verification. The road after Vazhachal is narrow but good. There is hardly any oncoming traffic and if you drive leisurely you can take in the beautiful sights that come one after another.




A little further on the road turns right over the Vazhachal bridge. We had crossed the Chalakudy river at Vettilapara bridge from south to north and now crossed again to the southern banks. If you look at the river flowing serenely below the bridge you'll never suspect the a kilometer down downstream it would transform into a frothing avatar that would eventually culminate at Athirapalli.



Here on the forest gets wilder and more exciting. You expect an elephant or gaur to cross your path at every turn. Unfortunately, for us, it did not happen. The road leaves the Chalakudy river to swing around the end of the catchment area of the Poringalkuthu (or Peringalkuthu as it is called in some places) reservoir. We did not explore that part as it was past 2.00 PM and we had a long way to travel. In any case, I have heard that we need permission to get to the dam as it is deep inside the forest.


17 kilometers from Vazhachal is Anakkayam (91 kms). The Anakkayam bridge is worth a stop. The narrow bridge looks so rickety you wonder if it will hold the weight of some bus or truck. If one came from the opposite side we'll have no option but to reverse all the way.


The river below meandered between sculpted rock formations. It was a place where, I had heard, you could take a dip but Skanda was fast asleep after a heavy lunch so I just stopped to click  a few pics of the bridge and the river.


 I was warily looking out for elephants. This was a spot where they gathered to drink and bathe but it was mid-afternoon and the rocks would be hot enough to fry an egg. Elephants would know better than to get their sensitive soles blistered! A noise above my head made me look up with the hope I was going to be greeted by the lion tailed macaques but it was only group of langurs feeding on the flowers of the red silk-cotton tree, with an expression of studied disinterest.



Crossing the Anakkayam bridge meant that we had now gone back to the northern bank. It was as I got into the car that I suddenly discovered that the batteries of my camera were all dying on me. This, despite carrying three for my OM-D! I had forgotten to charge it the previous night. The cell phone charging had been priority because of the route we had planned to take. Now I only had the E3 attached to a 600mm equivalent.

As we climbed again towards Valparai the sights became more mesmerizing. Somewhere along the road we cross the penstock pipes going from the Sholayar reservoir to the power house.


 
The Sholayar was full as we drove further and I had to stop for a photo. I managed to squeeze out the last bit of energy from my dying battery before it finally gave up.


Panoramic view of Sholayar reservoir
The last few kilometers past Sholayar upto Malakapara was unpaved and going was slow. It would be foolhardy to risk a puncture on this road. I hadn't crossed many vehicles  going down and help, in the event of a break down, would not come immediately. So we drove slowly enjoying the avian life  in the forests around us.




We reached Malakapara check post (124 kms) ten minutes before 4 PM and handed over the list given from the Vazhachal check post. The forest officer there looked at Skanda and I, decided we were not the littering type, and let us through!







About 4 kilometers from Malakapara is the Sholayar dam check post of the Tamilnadu forest dept. You have to take the left fork going downhill. It goes past the spillway of Upper Sholayar Dam bypassing Valparai town. It joins the Valparai-Pollachi highway at Iyerpadi (146 kms). It was 4.45 PM.

The road from Iyerpadi is superb. It is downhill all the way to Aliyar dam and swinging around the 40 hairpin bends is a real pleasure. My only regret is that I did not have a camera to record this part of the trip. The Anaimudi Tiger Reserve gate at Aliyar (184 kms) told us that the best part of the journey had ended, at 6.10 PM. Now the only thought was to reach home for dinner! We bypassed Pollachi town and reached Palakkad (267 kms) at 7.45 PM, exactly 12 hours after we left Birds Song Home Stay in Thattekad that morning.

The drive from Palakkad to Thattekad was only about a 150 kilometers and was completed in three and a half hours excluding stops for food. The return journey was almost double the distance.  It is not a route you'd want to hurry through, but one on which you want to stay and soak in the beauty of nature. We had done a total of 280 kilometer over 11 hours, excluding stops for food, through some of the best forest areas in Kerala and Tamilnadu. Now we want to do it in the reverse direction! After all there are some pending photographs to be clicked!

This route is much longer and more demanding on both driver and the car but it is journey I would have no hesitation repeating any number of times. Next time I'll base myself at Valparai and travel from there. In any case it will happen, in the not too distant future. I'll update on the photographs after that!

Till then enjoy the drive with me on the Long Road Home!



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