Birding with Ram Gopalakrishnan: Birding in the Nilgiris: Sholakilis and Chilappans

You live in Chennai and you've never birded in the Nilgiris? Somewhat shame-facedly I admitted yes (some casual birding in Kodaikanal in the Palni Hills doesn't count) and promptly decided to remedy matters with a trip to Kothagiri, Coonoor and Ooty (all in Nilgiris District, Tamilnadu) in November, a time of the year ideal for seeing both migrants and endemics.

We drove up from Coimbatore to Kodanad, where you can get a panoramic view of the plains: we were more preoccupied with viewing a pair of Black Eagles wheeling away adjacent to the mountain slope, their broad wings and long "fingers" a dead give away. The head of the Chestnut-headed Bee-eater glinted in the afternoon sun, and we spent a while admiring a Lesser Yellownape Woodpecker. A long range glimpse of some Nilgiri Laughingthrushes promised much for the next day. By the way, the former Black-chinned Laughingthrush that you see above the Palghat gap has been split into the common Nilgiri seen here and the Banasura Laughingthrush seen further north. Perhaps they may be named Chilappan in the future: so keep up with your bird nomenclature!

We woke up in Coonoor to the sight of sunlight illuminating the turquoise patch on the throat of a male Vernal Hanging Parrot and headed to Sims Park, a veritable treasure trove of birds. A mixed hunting party of Indian White-eyes, Cinereous Tits, Yellow-cheeked Tits, Orange Minivets and Gray-headed Canary Flycatchers made for rapid fire birding. A Blue-capped Rock Thrush showed off its dorsal white spots and two long distance migrants, the Indian Blue Robin and the Brown-breasted Flycatcher marked their arrival. We spent a while searching for the Black-and-Orange Flycatcher and were finally rewarded by photos of this eye catching endemic. A pair of Indian Scimitar-babblers announced their arrival with their typical call. A detailed photo op with a group of Rufous Babblers rounded off the day.

We headed off early next morning to Doddabetta, which at 2600 m is the second highest point in South India. We were in single minded pursuit of three endemics: the first, the Nilgiri Laughingthrush was seen and gleefully photographed at a rubbish dump just behind the row of roadside shops! Amazing how garbage attracts the prettiest of birds. Our guide Satheesh Kumaran Nair somehow located our second target, the Nilgiri Sholakili (formerly Nilgiri Blue Robin) sitting quietly a short distance from the track, behind the chaos of hawkers and tourists. The icing on the cake was a flock of Nilgiri Wood-pigeons seen loitering on the ground behind the roadside shops! These regal birds generally don't call and are not easy to spot. A second sighting of the Black-and-orange Flycatcher topped off a productive morning. None among us complained about the swirling mist which masked the magnificent panoramas you can get from the top on a clear day.

A trek through the lush Cairn Hill Forest in search of the elusive Kashmir Flycatcher yielded only a Crested Goshawk, but the well maintained and informative interpretation center there was well worth visiting. We rounded off the day with a pleasant stroll through Ooty's Botanical Gardens: plenty of commoners but none of the "royals" we were after . We came down to Kothagiri and started off the day with a Streak-throated Woodpecker opportunistically getting its morning drink from a pipe right in the town center. Five Nilgiri Flycatchers in one area made quite a spectacle, as did a flock of noisy Southern Hill Mynas on a tree at eye level. We did miss out on a few much desired species such as the Nilgiri Thrush, the Painted Bush Quail and the Nilgiri Thrush. Can't really complain, especially as the weather gods were mercifully cooperative.

Nilgiri birding is defined as: whatever moves slowly enough to be seen is a bulbul, whatever moves too fast to follow is a warbler or a white-eye and all other birds are the ones we want to see but don't get to, quipped my cousin tongue-in-cheek, drawing a glare from our group leader Adesh Shivkar of Nature India!

Not at all true, as you can see!