Bird watching in Masinagudi
Masinagudi is located at just 10 kms from Mudumalai National Park, so this place is famous amongst wildlife lovers. This is the buffer zone for the core forest in Mudumalai , hence there is always a good chance for the sighting of big mammals. We had visited Masinagudi few years back and we drove on the famous Singara road where we had an amazing bird watching experience. So we decided to visit the place again after the COVID lockdown.
We reached Masinagudi after doing some intense birding on Ooty-Masinagudi road.
We stopped at Bison Valley viewpoint and enjoyed the cacophony of birds. It was migratory season, so we got the opportunity to see Common Rosefinches, Asian Brown flycatcher , Verditer flycatcher, Chestnut-shouldered petronia and Blue-capped rock thrush. We were satiated with bird watching even before reaching Masinagudi. Now we had all our eyes for mammals and we started seeing herds of Spotted deer. Deers are elegant creatures which makes them very pleasant to watch. Few of them stopped to watch us carefully, few didn’t mind us at all and few ran away in high speed. We stopped frequently to get a good look on the Spotted deers.
Moyyar dam road :
At noon we were in Moyyar dam road and there were grey langurs on the roadsides. The tufted grey langurs are my favorite langurs in South India. I love the way the troop leader sits and watches over his troop. A mother langur was carrying her baby so tightly and frolicking the trees very casually. Another two juvenile langurs were in play mode. After watching the troop for few more moments , we drove to the dam. On the way we stopped at a temple on that road and chatted with the caretaker. He allowed us to walk till the water and I inquired him whether he had seen any big birds like vultures inside that place. He excitedly told me, if you come in the morning you can see the big bird sitting on the tree and it catches fish from the water. I understood he was talking about Brahminy kite, so I didn’t press him for additional details. Vinod spotted Great Cormorant, Woolly-necked Stork and Common Sandpipers in that place.
We drove further to the Moyyar dam and I checked the skies only to notice few large birds circling around. I excitedly pointed it to Vinod and like we expected they were vultures.
We were jubilant with the sightings of vultures in Tamilnadu, as vulture’s in this state are almost extinct with Diclofenac poisoning. Currently in Tamilnadu, the vultures can be sighted only in Moyyar valley. Later we identified the vultures we spotted as Red-headed vulture and Indian vulture.
This was our first sighting of vultures inside Tamilnadu, so even though they were flying far away we were happy at the sighting.
With a sense of elation we reached the place of stay. When we enquired about safari rides inside Mudumalai , we were told by the resort people that the safaris are not available, as Mudumalai tiger reserve was closed and the one’s by local people were also stopped by the forest department. The resort person also told that local safaris were stopped because of the behaviour of the jeep guys which ranged from illegal activities to harassment of elephants. The other tourists in the resort were disappointed while we felt elated as no safaris meant less disturbance for animals. At night we thought to take a walk to see Nightjars and owls but we were warned by the resort people that there was an elephant roaming around. They also complained about the elephant which irritated us because these resort people were earning money only because of wildlife. So why to complain about wild animals when you live in buffer zone?
We decided to move out of the resort the next day. Next day we woke up very early and sat at the resort entrance. I noticed some movements on a cherry tree but I knew that birds couldn’t be jumping around at this time. So we took the torchlight and checked closely to see a very cute Asian long tailed climbing mouse. While we were watching the movements of one mouse, another joined !! It was enticing to see these little ones scurrying around.
When we were watching the mice, we saw a Spotted Dove sleeping peacefully on a tree. We didn’t want to disturb this sleeping beauty, so we silently moved away.
Bird watching :
The morning started with the ginger beer call from Red-vented bulbuls, rattling calls from Brown shrikes and cuk-cuk sound from Spotted doves. There was a fig tree nearby and it was covered with ripened fig fruits. Jungle mynas, Coppersmith barbets, Brahminy starlings and Yellow-footed green pigeons were having a field day on the fig tree. There was a Mexican lilac tree in bloom and Spotted doves were eating the petals of those pink flowers which was a lovable sight.
We were engrossed with the bird activities around us and my eyes caught a different bird jumping around the bushes. I rushed behind to identify that as Eurasian wryneck who is a winter visitor. This unique looking bird camouflages well with the surroundings and cannot be easily seen. After a few more interesting sightings we had our breakfast and started off to Ooty but on the way we stopped at multiple places for bird watching. Even before reaching Sigur Ghat bridge (birding hotspot) we saw Indian Thick-knee, Yellow-wattled Lapwing and White-browed Fantail. In Sigur bridge we saw Taiga flycatcher, Racket-tailed drongo and few warblers. Even in gloomy weather, we had good birding in Masinagudi.
Murder of elephants by “eco resorts” :
Few weeks after our trip to Masinagudi, we heard about the terrifying incident that an elephant was set on fire in Masinagudi. It was really heart wrenching to read about frequent deaths of elephants and I am really horrified to know how low human beings can go. In the country where Lord Vinayagar , an elephant faced God is treated with high regards, one would believe elephants also will receive that honor. The recent incidents of Elephant dying on a pineapple bomb, elephant head cut down for tusk, baby elephant set on fire ruthlessly , elephant electrocuted, elephant crushed on railway tracks etc.. are really horrifying.
The elephant population has reduced drastically in India but the complaints about them keeps on increasing. They were said to destroy the crops, attack humans but if you hear the next line of the story, you will know who are the real violent ones. It always starts from us but in the end only those poor big mammals are the losers. The elephant that was set on fire in Masinagudi was 40 years old and this incident is going to haunt me forever. So we had decided that in future we will not visit Masinagudi and feed money to those greedy “eco-friendly” resorts. This is a small step but I fear if we don’t take any stand when these kind of incidents happen, we will lose these gentle giants forever.