Our priority for the day was the Sri Lanka Bay Owl. We had nothing else on the agenda, and had dedicated the whole morning to finding an individual. With Gireesh we walked through as much habitat as we could, but very quickly our early morning optimism started to fade away as we continued to search without reward. There were a few birds on offer that we were able to pick up, including our first male Malabar Trogons, another Indian Pitta and only my second Indian Blue Robin.
It was our very last
stop which seemed to be checking just for the sake of it, when I wandered off
and spotted a brown lump obscured behind the foliage. At first I thought it
must be another Frogmouth, but the shape was strange and began to ponder if
Great-eared Nightjars can roost upright. Then the penny dropped! Sri Lanka Bay
Owl! The bird we had dedicated the last two mornings to! I called over the
others, but the bird didn’t care at all, it never moved for the entire time
that we were watching it, sleeping tightly clutching the branch. There was not
a window to get a clear shot of the bird facing us, but we got pretty close.
And since many people have poor obscured views, this was an absolutely
excellent encounter.
Since it was already
10:30 we headed back for breakfast, and then spent the afternoon relaxing and
doing our laundry. I had a bit of time checking out the dragonflies on the edge
of the lake, with some stunning species on offer.
In the afternoon we
decided to bird by ourselves, walking along the road to The Nest Resort, which
we could bird without a guide. This turned into an excellent decision as we
were able to find one of my outstanding targets with Blue-faced Malkoha. They were
extremely elusive and never really showed well, but since it was looking like a
species that we might miss we were pretty thrilled to see. Other trip ticks
included Barn Swallow and River Tern, but overall the birding was excellent and
there were a lot of different species to enjoy.
At night we went out to look for owls and night birds but sadly for the first time we were not alone with another two groups of Indian birders also in the area. Although we saw the Spot-bellied Eagle Owl and Jerdons Nightjar again, overall it became something of a circus, not helped by the fact that nothing responded to playback once again. A very disappointing evening.
Thatekkad Bird Sanctuary: Lesser Whistling Duck, Grey Junglefowl, Feral Pigeon, Common Emerald Dove, Grey-fronted Green Pigeon, Green Imperial Pigeon, Greater Coucal, Blue-faced Malkoha, Jerdon's Nightjar, White-rumped Spinetail, Little Swift, Whiskered Tern, River Tern, Oriental Darter, Little Cormorant, Indian Pond Heron, Eastern Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Purple Heron, Brahminy Kite, Sri Lanka Bay Owl, Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl, Malabar Trogon, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Common Kingfisher, White-throated Kingfisher, Oriental Dollarbird, White-cheeked Barbet, Heart-spotted Woodpecker, Black-rumped Flameback, Lesser Yellownape, Blue-winged Parakeet, Vernal Hanging Parrot, Indian Pitta, Orange Minivet, Indian Golden Oriole, Black-hooded Oriole, Malabar Woodshrike, Ashy Drongo, Bronzed Drongo, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Indian Paradise Flycatcher, Rufous Treepie, Large-billed Crow, Barn Swallow, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Flame-throated Bulbul, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Dark-fronted Babbler, Southern Hill Myna, Malabar Starling, Common Myna, Orange-headed Thrush, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Oriental Magpie-Robin, White-bellied Blue Flycatcher, Indian Blue Robin, Golden-fronted Leafbird, Grey Wagtail, White-browed Wagtail,
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