A Rainy Day in Thattekad Bird Sanctuary
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary located around 12 Km from Kothamangalam, Kerala. It is a very small sanctuary with area covering just 25 sq.km but it was the first bird sanctuary in Kerala. Amongst birdwatchers, Thattekad bird sanctuary is a special place because of Ceylon Frogmouth and Owls. The peak birding season is from October-February but as we are biodiversity lovers and not just birders, we went to Thattekad during peak monsoon season to search for frogs, butterflies and orchids.
The Periyar river flowing through the sanctuary might seem calm but when the rains hit their peak it literally rips the banks off. The shoreline was dotted with fallen sand cliffs but the scene does look calm and serene.
In this trip we were joined by our naturalist friend Raghu. He knew a naturalist in Thattekad, so with his help we went to few birding areas in Thattekad. The first stop was to see the famous Ceylon Frogmouth. They don’t move around much, so once you know the location its always safe to say that the birds were sitting there. We had seen this bird 8 years ago and it looked like the birds were sitting in the same location even now (May be a different generation !). We went to the birding hotspots but with the rains we didn’t see many birds. A flock of hill mynas were keeping the forest cheerful otherwise it was a dull birding day. But we three were not just into birds but to everything in nature. So we started enjoying the streams, flowers and the hill mynas. I was keenly searching for Orchids and I quickly found some. I spotted Grass Eulophia on the rocky slopes and Malaxis acuminata on the forest trail.
Eulophia graminea was in spectacular bloom with hundreds of flowers all around. One of the reasons we went in the rainy season was for orchids, as certain species only bloom during this time of the year.
The rain was pouring continuously and we were walking around with our umbrellas to protect the camera from rain. But the umbrellas were proving to be a nightmare while walking inside the forest with dense undergrowth. Another problem during rainy season in these rainforests are the leeches. They literally rise up and start waving on the forest floor to catch anything that moves and there is no escape at all. With all the rain we had no clue where we were going to see inside the forest but we walked on enjoying the view. We saw White-bellied blue flycatcher but he also flew away. The hill mynas also moved away by this time and suddenly the forest was so silent except for the sound of the stream. The stream amidst the tall trees looked magical and then there came a flock of Malabar Grey Hornbill to break the silence. They were playing and eating the berries on the trees. We sat on the banks and watched the hornbills while removing the leeches that were stuck on us.
We have forgotten certain simple pleasures in life because of our urban lifestyles but the moment you get a glimpse into the past , it all comes rushing back to you. I was wet even after holding an umbrella but the moment I stepped into the stream I was taken back to my childhood.
By this time we were soaking wet , so on our way back I was eager to have some warm food. While returning I was telling vinod that if only I could see atleast few mushrooms with all these rains I would be happy. Before I closed my mouth Raghu spotted the Veiled Lady mushroom. All three of us were so excited as we had never seen a mushroom in this shape. We stepped near the mushroom cautiously and saw it closer. The patterns on the mushroom were so intricate and there were tiny flies on the mushroom. It also emitted a strong pungent odor. We were glad that we walked in this rain because of which we spotted this amazing mushroom. In addition to this, we were also treated with the wine cup mushroom in this trail.
Rare Sight Of Veiled Lady Mushroom !!
Fungi are the real backbone of the natural world according to the experts in the field. They play an important role in recycling the biological matter and bring them back to the food chain but that is all on the scientific side of things. I often look at things away from the scientific viewpoint and just enjoy things. Aren’t these beautiful ? Sometimes one has to leave the science and just feel amazed ! – The Veiled Lady Mushroom and the Wine cup mushroom 🙂
Once we came out of the forest the rain seemed to be much more heavy which was probably because the rainforest had acted like an umbrella before. It was so heavy that we could not see clearly at a distance. We decided to go back to our place of stay and get some warmth. The rain never let go for the rest of the day and we ended up spending the rest of the day chatting and going through a snake book. Once it was dark Vinod and Raghu decided to go herping in the dark and they found several frogs , geckos , scorpions but no snakes.
Meanwhile I decided to stay put and enjoy the music of the night life inside a forest. Frogs were croaking everywhere and crickets were chirping . I didn’t want to keep on complaining about rain as there were so many lives enjoying the rain. There was also a light show by the fire flies !
After incessant rains all through the night, water seemed to be everywhere. The roots of this plant seemed to have special root hairs to hold the water.
The next day morning it was again raining but we still set off for more birding. When we visited Thattekad 8 years back it was in heavy rain only, so it was like we were related to this place with rain and more rain. We didn’t get the chance to visit the official entrance of the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary earlier, so we three of us decided to explore the sanctuary and were surprised to know about the butterfly park inside the sanctuary. We paid the entrance fee and went inside the butterfly park. As there was red alert in Kerala, there were no tourists inside the sanctuary. By this time the rains had taken a break and we took the opportunity to quickly check the butterflies that were enjoying the sunshine. There were also many butterfly host plants inside the park. So we got to see many caterpillars also. Vinod’s predilection for nature started with butterflies, so he was thrilled to see Southern Birdwing, Paris Peacock, Blue Mormon, Malabar Rose, Crimson Rose butterflies all in one place. While he was chasing behind butterflies, Raghu and myself were looking at the spiders, fishes on the pond, caterpillars, sunbirds and moths. A Blue Admiral butterfly was so attracted to Raghu and it didn’t want to leave him.
The Blue Admiral is a butterfly of dense forest areas. Sighting them does not happen every other day. When we first saw the butterfly we rushed to get a picture and felt happy that we got the picture but later on something happened that we did not expect. Rather than we chasing him , he came to us. He happily sat on Raghu and literally crawled all over him and then on Vinod and then on me too 🙂
There was also a small bird rescue center and even a small aquarium. It was not well maintained and we were very upset to see an endangered Lion-tailed macaque inside a cage. Inside the park there were murals, an ugly porcupine sculpture and a cute owl sculpture. The aquarium had native fishes in a couple of tanks but for the majority it only had common ornamental fishes that one could buy in a shop. If the forest department had to maintain an aquarium it would have been better to keep the endemic fishes that we could see in our rivers and lakes instead of fancy fishes.
In between all the rains a brief spell of sunshine graced us when we were roaming around the butterfly garden. The plants were all fresh and the butterflies were active. The park had a nice mural on a wall depicting the native wildlife adding more beauty to the area.
By the time we came out, it was already lunch hour but there were no shops nearby. So we decided to munch on some snacks and proceed to the bird trail inside the sanctuary. While munching away the snacks we noticed that the Rhesus macaques were eating Wild jack (Local name Ayani chakka). I am fond of this fruit and I know that the wild ones taste better after tasting one in Meenmutty falls. Ironically after seeing us tasting snacks they threw that tasty fruit and came for our unhealthy snacks. So I was drooling at their food and they were drooling at my food. Seeing them approaching us we settled down inside our car and finished our snacks. We then went to the bird trail and showed the ticket we purchased earlier. The guard advised us about the trail and told us to come back quickly, but little did he know we lose track of time once we start birding. We didn’t see any people inside the sanctuary. We started walking casually and within few minutes we saw Racket-tailed drongo, Flame-throated bulbul, Heart-spotted woodpecker, Orange minivet etc etc. After the initial moments with so many birds we became confident that it was going to be a great birding day. Even the not so common Blue-banded Pierrot butterfly was resting on the ground. We three were joyously having the entire sanctuary for ourselves.
Just before the rains started again, we spotted this tiny fellow on the walking path. Vinod was super excited to see these as it was a first for him – Blue-banded pierrot butterfly
Just as we started to comment on how the rains stopped, suddenly the sky started getting very dark and started pouring like anything. There was loud thunder as well. Raghu and myself were walking cautiously with the umbrella while Vinod put on the poncho to protect the cameras and was dancing and enjoying the downpour. With this downpour, the trail we were walking was now more of a stream and we reached a junction were the trail split in two. Even though it all looked like the route back to the starting point of the trail, we were not sure which one was better to take us back in this downpour. In one of the trails there was already a branch of a tree blocking the pathway. We were not sure whether it was put on purpose or it was a less maintained trail. We also had a strong suspicion that we were walking beyond the allowed trail. So we didn’t want to walk in an unknown trail in the downpour and decided to return in the same route we came.
Pretty much sums up the trip. Take some pics and play in the rain. Life of a nature lover 🙂
By the time we reached back, we were all drenched and shaking but gladly our cameras,phones were protected by poncho and backpack.Before leaving the sanctuary I stole a side glance at the guard and he was grumpy seeing us all drenched and giggling. We were laughing at ourselves for selecting the perfect rainy days for birding and decided to come back in birding season to see more birds. This trip is another feather to our cap for Chasing the monsoons!
In this post we have intentionally left out all the birds and posted other pictures. We wanted to do this to shift the focus of birds in a bird sanctuary to other beauties that were infront of us all the time. For us , nature viewing is not about any specific section of natural world like birds or butterflies, it is about feeling the connection with everything. While we are avid birders we like to call us forest lovers first. The flow of the stream , decomposing leaf litter , penetrating sunlight etc might all look secondary but they are the actual life givers. While birds are indeed beautiful and a joy to watch, it is the forest that is more beautiful than a bird. Having said this we did capture most of the birds we saw and we have provided links to their videos. Happy watching 🙂