10 Best Birding Spots in Coimbatore

Coimbatore is one of the best places for birding in Tamilnadu. The city is surrounded by the beautiful Western Ghats mountain range  and one can reach the reserve forests of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve quite easily. The southern boundary of the city is the Noyyal river, so the wetlands in Coimbatore are also remarkable.  This gives birders in Coimbatore a great chance to see forest birds and wetland birds unlike in Chennai , which is much of a wetland birding area. Because of it’s location near the biodiversity hotspot of the Western Ghats, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city is rich in fauna and flora.

This blog is not about the birding spots in the reserve forest areas like Valaiyaar, Nilgiri foot hills, Siruvani Hills , Anaikatti or Sathyamangalam but about the casual birding spots in Coimbatore. Birders can reach these places within 30 minutes from any location inside Coimbatore, so they can enjoy a casual morning birding in the weekends or any holidays.

I have not ranked the places as each location has it’s own specialty. The list is not exhaustive because there are too many locations to mention in a single blog. I picked these because , when you cover these variety of habitats you will get a good diversity of birds covering almost the entire bird checklist of  Coimbatore.

1. Anuvavi Temple

Temples are human clusters , so we had doubts when we first visited Anuvavi temple. Once we entered the road to Anuvavi temple, we knew it will be a good birding place and it did not disappoint. In Coimbatore there are many temples built on hills and the hills are in control of forest department so the greenery around the temples has remained almost intact. This temple is not very famous among the hindu devotees, so very few people visit here. As the disturbance is less, you can enjoy birding even when climbing the stairs. In this place we had seen few interesting birds like Tawny-bellied babbler, Small Minivet, Grey-headed bulbul etc. We had seen flocks of Indian Silverbill, Coppersmith barbets, Kestrels on the road that lead to the temple. We learned that earlier it used to be a very interesting birding place but with the recent increase in illegal sand mining by the brick manufacturers, the birds have drastically reduced because of habitat destruction.

2. Marudhamalai Temple

Marudhamalai temple attracts lakhs of devotees but still bird activity can be found. Scrub land specialties such as Sirkeer Malkoha and Blue-faced malkoha can be found here.

This is one of the several famous Lord Murugan Temples in Tamil Nadu, so people from various places travel to Coimbatore just to visit this temple. In festival days it can be jam packed, so we didn’t have much hope about birding in this place. It turned out , the road to reach the temple is not disturbed very much by the devotees as they take the steps or use the vehicles. So we usually take a walk along the road from the parking place at the bottom of the hills to the temple and we had seen lots of butterflies like Common Wanderer, Orange-tip, Pioneer etc. Also we had seen wild boars and even monitor lizards on the roadsides. So everytime we visited Marudhamalai temple, there were few surprises. A pair of White-browed bulbuls always welcomes us near the temple. Inside the temple, we enjoyed watching the sparrows and hearing the song of Common Iora. There were few cherry trees near the temple where Pale-billed, Nilgiri and Thick-billed flowerpeckers can be seen. The highlights are of course the scrub land specialties like the Sirkeer Malkoha and Blue-faced Malkoha.

3. Ponnuthu amman hills

We visited this place after just looking it in Google Map as it is located in the foothills. The temple is situated a little inside from the parking lot and the walk to the temple is through the scrub forest. We have seen birds such as the Indian paradise flycatcher and the Indian Pitta near the parking space itself. The sound of Large grey babblers invite us everytime we visit this area for birding. Larks, Pipits and Laughing Doves are commonly seen birds here. Pied Crested Cuckoos also can be seen prior to the monsoon season. The View of the hills are beautiful especially on a rainy day. As we are not strict birders but biodiversity lovers, we were excited to see  plenty of Lycaenidae family butterflies in this region. The trees near the temple are magnets for birds such as Golden fronted leaf Bird and Common Ioras.

4. Narasipuram

This is an excellent place to see dense forest birds as it is located at the edge of the forest in the Siruvani foothills. We had seen Orange Minivet, Rufous-bellied eagle and Black-hooded Oriole in this region.There is a small river at the edge of the forest which is very beautiful. Vaithegi falls is situated near this place but the entry to this falls is restricted now. There are few farmlands and sometimes we can see White-rumped Munias and  Baya Weavers in this area. Along the stream edge there is always some activity with constant flyovers of Malabar and Plum-headed parakeet. One can also see the Stork-billed kingfisher here.

5. Krishnampathy Lake

This Lake is situated on the main road but it’s a wonderful place for casual morning birding. Grey herons, Common Moorhens, Black-winged Stilts, Grebes and Cormorants can be seen in good numbers in this lake. During migration season, the plovers also visit this place. There is a government managed agricultural land opposite to this lake. The plovers and munias can be seen in this farmland. This Krishnampathy Lake is highly polluted like all other water bodies in India. In addition to that, there is fishing which disturbs the birds. If you disregard all the smells and other fishy incidents in this lake, you can enjoy birding by watching the Common Kingfisher closely and the beautiful Lesser Whistling Ducks.

6. Kovaipudur

Kovaipudur is huge development site just outside the Coimbatore main area. The location should have a glorious birding area in the yesteryears but rampant destruction of the area is all evident. The few remaining patches of the original scrublands can be found here and there and those places because of their proximity to the hills host some interesting birds. There are resident birds like the Yellow-wattled lapwing as well as the migratory Hume’s white throats. It is also the best place to see the White-eyed buzzard. One could also see Brahminy starlings flying around in small flocks.

7. Perur Lake

Having roamed around in Chennai in search of birds we know the importance of lakes in birding. We visited almost all the lakes in Coimbatore and one of the better  lakes in terms of bird activity would be the Perur lake.  Birds such as Gull-billed Tern , Woolly necked stork  can be seen in this lake. Pelicans can be found too in perur lake. The edges of the lake bring in Pied kingfishers and also Open-billed storks. There is also nesting happening for Indian and Little cormorants.

8. Kalangal grasslands

 Kalangal used to be a grassland and raptor hotspot in Coimbatore. Houses have occupied majority of this region now, so it was like birding in the empty house plots. Still, this place holds great potential for birding and butterflies. Vacant plots are mostly covered with Senna auriculata which is the host plant of Emigrant butterflies. Once during our visit, there were thousands of just emerged Emigrant butterflies fluttering around. Another time we saw Yellow-wattled lapwings in every corner and Black-naped hares were frolicking in the grassland. Ashy-crowned sparrow larks and Zitting Cisticolas are residents in this area, so they will entertain you even on a bad birding day. Almost all the raptor sighting happen in this area.

9. Kovai courtalam

This is our favorite place for birding in Coimbatore as you can walk amongst dense old growth forest. The Cons for this place is it’s a famous tourist spot. So we visit Kovai Courtalam only on weekdays. Other disadvantages are entry is allowed only after 9’o clock which is way past birding time and no entry in monsoon season because of flooding. So we had visited the famous Kovai Courtalam falls which is situated at Siruvani foothills only few times. But those visits are very memorable as we saw Drongo Cuckoo, Malabar Trogon, Black-naped monarch in the trail to the falls. Also we had spotted Malabar Flash butterfly in this region which is the first record for Coimbatore Forest Division.

10. Vellalore lake

Another one of the lakes inside Coimbatore with lots of bird activity. It is surrounded by houses and some farmland so the birds apart from the wetland birds are hard to find. There are cormorants, herons and pelicans nesting here. Birds like the Pheasant tailed jacana  and common moorhens can be found among the water hyacinth that has filled the lake. The migratory time brings in visitors such as Northern pintail , Garganey etc.

Overall, there is big difference between birding in Chennai and Coimbatore from our experience. We started our birding in Chennai, so we had visited all the wetlands and shrub forests in Chennai. All the wetlands in Chennai are polluted, still the water birds can be seen in good numbers. We had seen quite a number of shore birds in Sholinganallur wetlands and Pulicat Lake during migration. But you always have to brave the hot sun in Chennai and you have to do long drive facing traffic which takes off the energy for birding most of the time. On the other hand, in Coimbatore there is always some chance to see forest birds. This is not to compare Chennai and Coimbatore but to point out the importance of protecting different terrains for the birds and other wildbeings. We need Marshlands, Grasslands, Rainforests, Shrub forests, Lakes, Ponds, Rivers, Esturaies, Mountains, Sea shores and other terrains to protect the biodiversity.

The wetlands of Coimbatore are being destroyed in the name of smart city project. The grasslands are gone in the name of real estate. The forests are hanging on because of the forest department. This is the reality.

We have not even mentioned Ukkadam lake because of the rampant destruction it has faced in the hands of bulldozers. If you are a person who supports “Beautification of a  lake”  that involves conversion of the lake edges into commercial walkways then I can only say,  you do not love birds. Birdlife everywhere is hanging on a thin thread in the middle of all these destruction and we as bird lovers have to maintain a respectful distance to watch these beauties.