Birding in The Nilgiris : Masinagudi

The Nilgiris, is a range of mountains that are part of the Western Ghats in South India. It is a popular destination for a lot of holiday goers, especially during the summer, given that it is at a higher elevation. But for me the more important fact is that it plays host to a number of endemic species of flora and fauna 🙂 .

Birding in The Nilgiris had been on my wish list for quite a while. Well, they say things happen only when it is its time. And finally its time came in October of 2018. My buddy Kumar, was going to be my company for the trip. The plan was to cover Masinagudi, Ooty, Kotagiri and Coonoor over a course of 3 days and 2 nights. With so much to cover I am going to do this across two posts; this one dedicated to Masinagudi and the next one covering the rest.

Masinagudi is a town located at the base of the mountains and lies right next to the Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. It is one of the towns that one has to pass through if one were taking the shorter (though more adventurous owing to the 36 hairpin bends) route to Ooty.

Our day 1 started very early. We started from Bangalore at around 2:30AM as we wanted to be at the Bandipur forest checkpost by 6AM when it opens for traffic. Our goal was to be at Masinagudi around 7AM. We just had half a day to bird around Masinagudi as we had to reach our destination in Kotagiri before nightfall. To make most of the time, we had organised for Siddhan to be our birding guide at Masinagudi for the session.

We reached the Bandipur forest checkpost as planned and saw that we were one of first few vehicles to enter the forest road. All through the drive in the forest, we kept our eyes peeled. Just as we were about to exit from Bandipur and enter into Mudumalai, I spotted a Crested Hawk Eagle regally perched on an open branch of a dead tree. Sadly we could not stop and get out of our car to take its photo as the forest guards were peering towards us 😦 .

We finally met Siddhan around 7:30AM. A bit into the conversation we understood that there was some confusion going on between the newly formed local taxi union and the naturalist union. So unfortunately we would need to wait a bit in their bid to sort out the issue and get the necessary permits to enter the forest area. Hmmm…,not something we had expected! It took quite a while for the heated discussions to conclude before we were able to finally head off. Unfortunately we had lost an hour in it. Not entirely wasted though; Kumar and I got down to do birding at the spot where we were expected to wait. There were atleast a couple of Green Warblers calling and going about looking for their breakfast. Several Vernal-hanging Parrots flew in noisily onto the top of the trees in front of us. Soon our attention was drawn to a flock of Yellow-footed Green Pigeons that flew in.

• 

Once on our way, the action picked up. It was birding all through except for the brief snack break we took enroute since none of us had eaten breakfast. One of the first birds that caught our attention once the ride started, was a White-browed Fantail.

• 

A bird high on my wishlist was the White-bellied Minivet. The habitat we were passing through was excellent for it. But there was no sign of it at all 😦 . There were Small Minivets however.

A walk into an area with trees that had shed most of its leaves, had us seeing a nesting White-naped Woodpecker.

• 

It was vocal in its flight across the various trees. We kept a safe distance from its nest. We soon decided to move on as we did not want it to feel threatened. The walk out was almost immediately interrupted by a set of loud calls; Indian Nuthatches! A bird that I had hoped to see. I immediately went looking for it. We found two of them exhibiting its typical behaviour of winding around the trees.

• 

Aaah… What a satisfying sight they were! We then drove off to another spot. It was almost like a bamboo groove but interspersed with trees. And there was plenty of activity. Leading it was a very vocal Indian Scimitar Babbler.

• 

The other birds that we saw in the area included Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Green Warblers, Black-naped Monarch, Indian Paradise-Flycatcher, Puff-throated Babbler and Orange Minivets.

• 

There was a strange looking nest hanging from one of the bamboo tops. It looks very intricate. Siddhan clarified that it was a Flying Ants nest; certainly a first for us.

• 

This was one of the places where Nilgiri Thrush had been sighted previously. But unfortunately we dipped on it.

We moved on to another area nearby; again with good tree cover and bamboo grooves. It also had a stream closeby. Siddhan knew a spot here where it was sometimes possible to see Jerdon’s Nightjar. The area also sometimes had a Brown Fish Owl. The Jerdon’s Nightjar was present in its usual spot. But being able to locate it was no easy task even though it was out in the open; Master of Camouflage!

• 

We tried to approach the Nightjar a bit closer from another side; crossing the stream, almost crawling under thick bamboo shoots. We however did not get a better view. But we got to see a set of roosting Fruit Bats above our heads in the place that we ended up standing 🙂 .

• 

A walk around the area had us getting excellent views of a Rufous Woodpecker. It seemed to be enjoying a few moments in the sun, preening itself.

• 

The walk back to the vehicle lead us through a set of large trees. Here we again got to see a couple of Indian Nuthatch along with a Velvet-fronted Nuthatch. We also flushed a large bird from one of the tree. Siddhan commented that it could have been an Owl. Well we were not to going to get to see it now 🙂 .

Once in the vehicle, we headed back to where we had started. The plan was to bird in another area. Again we keenly kept a look out for any signs of the White-bellied Minivet as we passed the route from the morning. No sign of it nor were there any calls. I had mentally given into the thought that we were not going to get to see it. It was not to be. Five minutes later our driver suddenly pulled over the vehicle to the side and exclaimed; White-bellied Minivet! He immediately drove the vehicle in reverse. And indeed there it was; a male on the shrub besides the road!

• 

It gave us only around 10 seconds before it flew off to a shrub further away. Both Kumar and I happily peered through our binoculars, cherishing the sighting.

The next area was a flat-ish land with hardly any trees. But there were plenty of shrubs around. A Pied Bushchat was in a very cooperative mood; it “modelled” for us very nicely.

• 

But the star was the Indian Nightjar. It was found sleeping on a rock under some bushes. There was no way we would have seen it had it not been for the local knowledge of Siddhan.

• 

It was so sure of its camouflage that it hardly moved even though we were literally a few feet away. Of course we had been very cautious when approaching it. Well, it did move a bit once when we were watching it. I think it was because of some ants (see the virtual tour below to see it happening). Both Kumar and I had seen Indian Nightjars before but only when they were flushed when driving on a dirt road. So seeing one as clearly as this one was exceptional.

We wanted to do a quick birding at the Botanical Gardens in Ooty before our drive to Kotagiri, our final destination the day. So we called it a wrap for birding in Masinagudi and bid our goodbyes to Siddhan.

You can read about the second leg of the trip covering Ooty, Kotagiri and Coonoor here.

Recommendations

To sum up the experience, Masinagudi being on the periphery of a wildlife sanctuary, is a great place for birding. We understand that the safari trip that can be booked at the Masinagudi town, takes you on a standard route (seemingly to some waterfall or something like that). And the drivers are not necessarily knowledgeable of birds and may not be patient as well. So having a naturalist with knowledge of the local spots will be a great asset. Hiring Siddhan certainly proved beneficial for us. So I would recommend hiring a local naturalist.

In general try and know the call of birds that you are hoping to see. It is usually their call that alerts us of its presence. It becomes an even more important tool if trying to see birds like the White-bellied Minivet, since they are very few in number.

A lot of the resorts in the Masinagudi area have been shut owing to government action. So I would advise that you need to check and book in advance before traveling.

To do proper justice to the place, one should plan for atleast a stay of one night if not two. So go ahead and plan a trip there, if you have not been there already.

Virtual Tour

Here is a short video that I made of the birding sessions there.

Bird Checklist

Here is the list of birds that we got to see during the sessions

1	Spotted Dove
2	Jerdon’s Nightjar
3	Spotted Owlet
4	Eurasian Hoopoe
5	White-throated Kingfisher
6	White-cheeked Barbet (Small Green Barbet)
7	White-naped Woodpecker
8	Rufous Woodpecker
9	Plum-headed Parakeet
10	Vernal Hanging-Parrot (Indian Lorikeet)
11	Small Minivet
12	Orange Minivet
13	Large Cuckooshrike
14	Bay-backed Shrike
15	Black-hooded Oriole
16	White-bellied Drongo
17	Bronzed Drongo
18	Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
19	White-browed Fantail
20	Black-naped Monarch
21	Indian Paradise-Flycatcher
22	Cinereous Tit (Great Tit)
23	Indian Nuthatch
24	Velvet-fronted Nuthatch
25	Red-vented Bulbul
26	Red-whiskered Bulbul
27	Green Warbler
28	Green/Greenish Warbler
29	Grey-breasted Prinia
30	Oriental White-eye
31	Indian Scimitar-Babbler
32	Puff-throated Babbler
33	Brown-cheeked Fulvetta
34	Yellow-billed Babbler
35	Indian Robin
36	Oriental Magpie-Robin
37	White-rumped Shama
38	Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher
39	Brahminy Starling
40	Common Myna
41	Purple Sunbird
42	Long-billed Sunbird (Loten’s Sunbird)
43	Grey Wagtail
44	Chestnut-shouldered Petronia (Yellow-throated Sparrow)
45	Scaly-breasted Munia (Spotted Munia)
46	Laughing Dove (Little Brown Dove)
47	White-bellied Minivet
48	Grey Francolin
49	Pied Cuckoo (Jacobin Cuckoo)
50	Indian Nightjar
51	Green Bee-eater
52	Black-rumped Flameback (Lesser Goldenbacked Woodpecker)
53	Jerdon’s Bushlark
54	Hume’s Whitethroat
55	Yellow-eyed Babbler
56	Pied Bushchat
57	Rosy Starling
58	Paddyfield Pipit
59	Yellow-footed Green Pigeon

If you liked the post then click on the “Like” button below and do consider following my blog. I would also love to hear  your thoughts. Maybe you have been to Masinagudi or have visited other nature rich spots that you loved. Do leave comments below to let me know.