Tuesday, 3 March 2015

Birds and Mammals - Ooty 2015

Birds at Ooty sighted during end of Feb and beginning of Mar 2015

We drove from Bangalore to Ooty via Mudumalai, and returned through Gudalur. Both route were amazing to sight animals and birds. The forests were dry; some trees were ready to flaunt tender leaves. While I was wondering if summer will be a dry one, rain showered!

As we drove, we sighted birds but couldn't stop to click photos. Beautiful peacock welcomed us at Mudumalai forest reserve. We saw deers, samba deers, Hanuman langurs, Nilgiri langurs, giant squirrels, and wild boars. We stopped at Pug Mark for lunch, and found out that they had sighted a tiger and a leopard during the morning safari. We were tempted to take the evening safari but then our destination was calling us.

At Ooty, we saw Common Mynas, Spotted Doves, and Red-Whiskered Bulbuls everywhere. The Mynas population seems to out-beat the population of Crows. The Bulbuls weren't shy to be near humans; they happily sang and socialized with their own kind.

The Botanical Garden, Fernhill, Cairn Hill, and a drive around Ooty are good places for birding. We didn't visit Doddabetta, which is excellent to see Nilgiri Pigeons. Cairn Hill has a lot of birds. We were happy to see the Nilgiri Pigeon in flight. We heard and saw several birds, but couldn't photograph them as they perched high and, at ground level, the thicket wasn't favorable to get clear photos of the birds. We watched mating pair of Giant Squirrels. Nilgiri Langurs sat high above the trees, and observed us keenly. Was a pleasant visit to Cairn Hill!

The list of birds that we saw/heard:

  1. Ashy Prinia
  2. Blackbird
  3. Black-Orange Flycatcher
  4. Pied Bushchat
  5. Hoopoe
  6. Lesser Yellow Nape
  7. Common Myna
  8. Nilgiri Robin
  9. Flowerpecker
  10. Canary Flycatcher
  11. Bushchat
  12. Heron
  13. Common Kestrel
  14. Red-Whiskered Bulbul
  15. Red-Vented Bulbul
  16. Peacock
  17. Bird of Prey (yet to ID)
  18. Cormorant
  19. Egret
  20. Common Crow
  21. White-Throated Fantail
  22. Oriental White Eye
  23. Greenish Warbler
  24. Sunbird
  25. Shrike
  26. Sparrow
  27. Drongo
  28. Indian Roller (Bandipur)
  29. White-Breasted Kingfisher
  30. Common Kingfisher
  31. Grey Francolin (Bandipur)
  32. Jungle Fowl (heard calls)
  33. Brahminy Kite (on Bandipur to Mysore road)
  34. Wagtail
  35. Jungle Babbler
  36. Spot-Billed Pelicans (Nanjangud-Mysore road)
  37. Black Kites (Mysore road)
  38. Laughing Dove
  39. Parakeet

Birds
List of mammals that we saw:

  1. Hanuman Langurs
  2. Nilgiri Langurs
  3. Wild Boars
  4. Spotted Deers
  5. Samba Deer
  6. Giant Squirrels
  7. Bonnet Macaque 

Mammals
For photos of flowers, see Colorful Flowers of Ooty.

Regards,
Asha

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