Nilgiris! The very name evokes a fantastic feeling in my heart!

Green grass, clean air, fresh green leaves swaying in the wind, giant trees that seem to grow to the sky, amazing landscapes, a stream of water every now and then, curvy roads through the blue mountains, deeply gorged valley on one side and a treat of greenery on the other, ….. I can go on and on. That is Nilgiris. The place where I spent my childhood!

The place is also a birders paradise.

Many people have asked me about the various birding spots in Nilgiris. This post is an attempt to answer that question. This will be a growing post. As of now, I have listed a few spots without enough information. I will gather further information and update the post as time goes.

Given below is a list of birding spots in Nilgiris, ones I have visited myself. And I have also listed ones I haven’t visited too. Hopefully by end of this year, that list should move to the visited list. View  My favorite locns and routes in Nilgiris in a map.

I have mapped these places on the map above. Do click on it and have a look at the larger format.
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Last Saturday, Shreeram, Sushant and I had been to Ragihalli on a birding trip. This is a micro report on it.

Route taken: Bannerghatta road – take left at the circle before Bannerghatta national park (I think the Veeranjaneya temple is there too just around the circle ) – keep going about 6-8 Km.

We stopped for birding at 3 spots, one being an open land en route, second being the rocks overlooking Jigani (I think) and the last one being an almost dry lake. Having experienced birders like Sushant and Shreeram helped me spot more birds this time. Highlights to me were the spottings of peacocks, barred button quail, juvenile yellow wattled lapwing, rufous treepie, etc. Also, when I was walking near a bush, a hare jumped out of nowhere and ran away just near my legs.. almost giving me a scare!

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In an earlier post, I blogged about days 1-3 of my Nilgiris trip. In this post, I will talk about day 4, 5 and 6 of the trip.  All snaps from this trip are uploaded to my my flickr account. If you want information regarding places and routes, please see this post.

Note: This is a lengthy post, but please do not miss the report on day 6 at Kalhatty falls early in the morning. It was the best phase of the trip.

Day 4 report: May 21: Ooty home – Doddabetta – Kotagiri – Longwood shola – Wood house area – cancelled Porthimund dam due to rain – Ooty home

By now, I was so used to the chirps of sparrows that I could hear them inside my head even if I closed my ears tight! They were my close friends. They were always there waiting for me at the window every day in the morning without fail.

Having stayed up late into the previous night trying to get more information on where and how I could spot the Nilgiri laughing thrush, I woke up at 7 am instead of the planned 6 am. I had planned to reach Doddabetta before 7 am, which was not to be. I reached there by 8 am with the sole aim of getting a very nice picture of the laughing thrush.

INWer Vijay Cavale had given me a few clear inputs. “Get the ticket –> Go straight to the tea shop and descend down the ladder –> Cross the fence. Try your luck there before crowd arrives. Or try you luck 5 km below (Kotagiri).”

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I had been to Nilgiris on a birding trip last week.

I had a fantastic time there and it was easily one of the best trips I had done in my life. The trip had a lot of highlights, personally, like sighting the Nilgiri laughing thrush and the various flycatchers (Nilgiri, grey headed canary and the Black and orange). Also, this was my first birding trip outside Bangalore. (For new visitors to my blog, I started bird watching in April, 2009). And I was alone during this trip as all my friends were busy with work and could not join. Being alone had its own advantages and disadvantages. It was a trip that I would remember for long..

All the snaps from this trip are uploaded to my flickr account.

Over a 6 day period, from May 18 to 23, I covered these places

1. Ranganthittu, Mysore
2. Doddabetta, Ooty
3. Cairn hill forest, Ooty (could not enter due to permission, did a peripheral visit)
4. Potato research center, Muthorai
5. Kotagiri
6. Longwood shola, Kotagiri (could not enter due to permission, did a peripheral visit)
7. Botanical garden, Ooty
8. Wood house area, Ooty
9. Kalhatty falls and Kalhatty ghat
10. Masinagudi
11. Naduvattam (could not enter due to permission, did a peripheral visit)
12. Mudumalai, Theppakadu & Bandipur without entering inside

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