Black-and-orange flycatchers and Nilgiri tahrs, Erivakulam National Park

Black-and-orange flycatcher is the iconic Western Ghats endemic that is high on the most wanted list of any birder who visits Munnar. It's not that rare within it's range but it can be quite elusive and difficult to see. Today we hired a birding guide who took us first to the magnificent Erivakulam Nation Park just north of the town of Munnar and then around various other nearby hotspots. 

Pretty soon we found the star bird, initially the female above and then later a couple of males. 

This is a male with a black head rather than the grey head of the female.

Indian Scimitar Babblers

After we left Erivakulam National Park, we called in at a good spot for scimitar babblers, a bird which is so good that it deserves a post of its own. I couldn't just tag them on at the end of the Erivakulam post!

Anakulam

Anakulam is about 40km west of Munnar and is renowned as an elephant watchpoint. Asian elephants come down to the river in the evenings to drink. It's almost as guaranteed as it gets with wild elephants. The problem is though, it can be anytime from about 4pm to 10pm so you may get lucky and see them in daylight, or you may have a long wait and see them by floodlight. 

We made two visits, the first today and then another on Saturday and despite waiting for a combined total of about eight hours, on neither day did they come to the river. All was not lost though, because at about 5pm today this juvenile male elephant wandered into the clearing. We held our breath, would it's mother and the rest of the herd follow? Unfortunately no, it disappeared back into the jungle and this was the last we saw of any elephant. Slightly disappointing but still a tremendous experience.

Asian elephants differ from their African cousins in several respects, including smaller ears, four toes not three and in the fact that only the males have tusks. Therefore I'm assuming that this must be a young male.

Bits and pieces from Flower Valley Plantation homestay

This crested serpent eagle flew over mid-morning. 

Our resident brown shrike continues to show well.

Arrival at Munnar, Western Ghats

I think I'm going to like it here..... arrived at Flower Valley Plantation homestay near Munnar in the Western Ghats at 3.30pm, by 6pm my from the balcony list contained Malabar parakeet, Loten's sunbird, dollarbird, brown shrike, Malabar grey hornbill, red-whiskered bulbul, India swiftlet, alpine swift, hill myna, jungle babbler, rufous treepie, racket-tailed drongo and red-whiskered bulbul as well as blue pansy butterfly and stream ruby, the latter a small damselfly very similar to our demoiselles.

Hotel Seagull

The Hotel Seagull is one of our favourite restaurants in Fort Kochi, partly because it's right on the river and has a nice breeze, good ale, good food and from my point of view some decent birding. 

Several species of herons and egrets can be seen from the hotel, including intermediate egret as shown in the photo above. It's easy to see 50 of these birds on a single visit to Fort Kochi.

Eastern great egret are less common but still it would be a bad day if you saw less than 10.

Little egrets are also regularly seen.

Western reef herons are usually around in low single figures, and usually around the Chinese nets.

They have an exceptionally long bill for an egret.

Chinese pond herons are one of the smallest herons, but quite numerous. This bird is in non-breeding plumage.

Whereas this bird is in full breeding plumage.

Little cormorants are quite numerous. 

At this time of year, whiskered terns are the commonest tern, with perhaps 20 seen from the hotel at any one time. Other terns include occasional gull-billed and lesser crested. 

Brown-headed gull is the only species of gull I have seen so far on this trip, and in fact this is the only individual. 

Indian Ocean humpbacked dolphins are resident. 

Chinese nets at Fort Kochi. 

Chinese nets Vypin.

Traditional fishing boats in the harbour. 

From the hotel roof - Fort Kochi, India

I'm currently in Kerela, India for three weeks, mainly to attend my sons three day wedding which starts on Friday. Most of my birding so far has been either from the rooftop area of our hotel in Fort Kochi, or while having a beer at the wonderful Hotel Seagull which is just down the road. So limited birding so far but still plenty of great birds to see.

Probably the most unexpected birds from the rooftop were two southern coucals, a type of large cuckoo.

By far the most obvious bird in Fort Kochi and the commonest raptor is the Brahminy kite with often 300 birds in the sky at any one time.

Yellow wagtail, Newton-le-Willows

A yellow wagtail in a field adjacent to M6 Haydock Island today, was my earliest ever by one day.

Rainford Loop

I was delighted to find this little owl on the roof of a barn on the Old Coach Road at 3pm today. It's the first I've seen here for a few years.

Also today this brambling captured in this incredibly lucky photograph. It shows well the sharp demarcation between the breast and the white underparts, and even the yellowy orange lesser underwing coverts, or "armpits".

A single curlew was in a field from Dairy Farm Road.

Migrants flood in

Three little ringed plover were on the spit at Pennington Flash this morning and were my first this year, though a whopping 18 days later than my earliest ever. Also this morning 150 sand martins over the flash but I couldn't find any other hirundines with them.

I didn't have long to wait though, at lunchtime I was working near Newburgh, Parbold, when I came across a flock of 50 sand martins which also contained one swallow (my second earliest ever) and one house martin (my joint earliest ever and only my third ever in March).

Marshside and Martin Mere

At Martin Mere today there were about 200 black-tailed godwits of which about 40 were right in front of the hide feeding and being generally aggressive towards each other. They're starting to look really good now. 

On the Mere two cracking Mediterranean gulls were on the rafts. Perhaps they'll stay to breed. Also on the Mere about 30 avocets.

Earlier at least 180 avocets were at Marshside, with a couple of spoonbills there also. I remember the excitement of going to Minsmere with my Dad in 1981 to see my first avocets and while we were watching a spoonbill dropped in. It seem like the stuff of dreams back then, who could have imagined scenes like this on the Sefton Coast today?