Kochi – Thattekad Bird Sanctuary
05 Days / 04 Nights
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary in Kerala is such a thriving bird habitat that just a few days of birdwatching here bear spectacular sightings of South Indian avian specialties, including several endemic birds of the Western Ghats. India’s most distinguished ornithologist, Salim Ali, once hailed Thattekad Bird Sanctuary More Info
Booked as per
request.
Included except arrival and departure city.
Private guide for complete tour.
Airport to Airport.
2-8PAX
Included
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary in Kerala is such a thriving bird habitat that just a few days of birdwatching here bear spectacular sightings of South Indian avian specialties, including several endemic birds of the Western Ghats.
India’s most distinguished ornithologist, Salim Ali, once hailed Thattekad Bird Sanctuary as ‘the richest bird habitat on peninsular India’. The praise is well deserved. Situated between a fork in Kerala’s longest river, the Periyar, Thattekad is a lowland evergreen forest region with marshy areas and hillocks that are home to around 322 bird species.
Our Thattekad Short Birding Tours targets hundreds of these species and as many as 14 of the Western Ghat endemics. At the top of the pecking order are the winged beauties such as Malabar Grey Hornbill, Wayanad Laughingthrush, Malabar Trogon, Malabar Parakeet, Nilgiri Wood Pigeon, Ceylon Frogmouth, Ceylon Bay owl, White-bellied Treepie, Nilgiri Flycatcher and Grey-headed Bulbul.
Besides this stellar cast, there are scores of rare, elusive, and exotic birds to watch on our 5-day birding tour of Thattekad Bird Sanctuary. The checklist is long enough to leave you spoilt for choice, but some of the usual suspects are Malabar Pied Hornbill, Crested Tree-Swift, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Dollarbird, Common Hoopoe, White-cheeked Barbet, Crimson-throated Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, Speckled Piculet, Rufous Woodpecker, White-bellied Woodpecker, Heart-spotted Woodpecker, Indian Pitta, Richard’s Pipit, Large Cuckoo-Shrike, Black-headed Cuckoo-Shrike, Large Woodshrike, Eurasian Blackbird, Indian Blue Robin, Spotted Babbler, Indian Scimitar-Babbler, Black-headed Babbler, Western Crowned Warbler, Orphean Warbler, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Rusty-tailed Flycatcher, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Pompadour Green-Pigeon, Green Imperial-Pigeon, Large Hawk-Cuckoo, Common Hawk Cuckoo, Banded Bay Cuckoo, Indian Plaintive Cuckoo, and Lesser Coucal.
Thattekad birding trails along the marshes reveal aquatic birds such as Spot-billed Pelican, Great Cormorant, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Malayan Night-Heron, Yellow Bittern, Chestnut Bittern, Black Bittern Dupetor, Slaty-legged Crake, Ruddy-breasted Crake, River Tern, Sooty Tern, Whiskered Tern, and White-winged Black Tern.
The raptor buffs are sure to be enchanted by the likes of Black Baza, Brahminy Kite, Indian White-backed Vulture, Crested Goshawk, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, and Rufous-bellied Eagle. And those tireless enough to continue birding into the night are rewarded with rare sights of Thattekad nocturnal birds such as Oriental Bay-Owl, Oriental Scops-Owl, Collared Scops Owl, Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl, Brown Fish-Owl, Brown Hawk-Owl, Ceylon Frogmouth, Great Eared-Nightjar, Jerdon’s Nightjar, and Savanna Nightjar.
In a nutshell, the Thattekad Short Birding Trip designed by INDIA BIRDING TOURS is chockfull of bird sightings and keeps you on your toes for five days.
Lodging: Being one of the best birding hotspots of South India, Thattekad draws tourists from the world over, and accordingly its accommodation infrastructure has developed over the years. There are resorts, hotels, guest houses, forest lodges, and even homestays offering accommodation to birders with a range of budgets. We have singled out a resort that’s close to the sanctuary and provides great service. Upon request, we may consider other accommodation choices too.
Meals: South Indian food is all the rage across India for its subtle yet pungent aroma. Mostly vegetarian, the dishes are delicious and quite affordable for someone travelling on a budget. We highly recommend that you try out these dishes. Besides, you always have the choice of other Indian and Western cuisine on the menu. Breakfast and dinner are taken at the resort. Lunches are usually picnic during short breaks in birdwatching.
Tour Difficulty: Thattekad literally means ‘flat lowland forest’ and that’s the terrain we cover for most of our birdwatching in this avian paradise. But that’s not to say we don’t hike up and down undulating surfaces. Four consecutive days of birding at Thattekad requires many long walks. You should be fit enough to put in the legwork while carrying your birding equipment and personal backpack.
Tour Extension: Kerala, the God’s Own Country, has much with which to lure a traveller. A tour of Kerala backwaters is bound to be on the wishlist of many vacationers. Or you may opt for excursions to the famous Cardamom Hills of Munnar and visit the spice plantations and tea estates. These extensions also provide added opportunities for birdwatching. Whatever the extension you wish for, just let us know well in advance so that we can make necessary arrangements.
Climate: Summer in Kerala is hot and humid and the monsoon months see too much downpour to do any birdwatching. The best time to do our short birdwatching tour of Kerala is from October to March. This is the winter season when the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary comes alive with large numbers of migratory birds, several of them from the Himalayas and Siberia. The weather is pleasant around this time of year and the temperature hovers in the twenties.
Getting There: Kochi is the starting point of our Thattekad short birding trip. Getting to Kochi shouldn’t be a problem. Guests from abroad can fly in straight or via Chennai. Guests from India can arrive by flight, train or road. From Kochi to Thattekad is a drive of 2 hours, which shall be our responsibility once our representative meets you at Kochi airport.
The coastal town of Kochi in Kerala is ideally placed to begin our tour. You arrive in Kochi and our driver or tour guide picks you up at the airport and drives you to Thattekad. It’s a 70-km journey and takes no longer than 2 hours by cab.
We check into a pre-booked resort at Thattekad around noon and, after a short lunch and rest break, we commence birding for the day. Thattekad easily tops among the best birding hotspots of South India. We begin the afternoon birding by exploring the areas around the resort, and, if time permits, we may even venture deeper into the Thattekad Bird Sanctuary, which is home to about 322 species of birds.
The good thing about Thattekad is that it has plenty of opportunity for night birding as well. So, the birders greedy for more hours in the field can actually squeeze in some nocturnal birding at the day’s tail end. Dinner and overnight at the resort.
Thattekad Bird Sanctuary is a low-land forest spread out over an area of 25 square kilometres between two branches of Kerala’s longest river, the Periyar. It is the oldest bird sanctuary in Kerala and to this day it remains the best place to see several endemic and migratory birds of the Western Ghats. That’s the reason for three back-to-back full days of birdwatching at Thattekad Bird Sanctuary.
On the first day, we explore the best birding trails of Thattekad to look for the most sought-after avian specialties. Our target for the day includes Malabar Trogon, Spot-billed Pelican, Great Cormorant, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Malayan Night-Heron, Yellow Bittern, Chestnut Bittern, Black Bittern Dupetor, Black Baza, Brahminy Kite, Indian White-backed Vulture, Crested Goshawk, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Rufous-bellied Eagle, Red Spurfowl, Grey Junglefowl, Slaty-legged Crake, Ruddy-breasted Crake, River Tern, Sooty Tern, Whiskered Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Nilgiri Wood-Pigeon, Pompadour Green-Pigeon, Green Imperial-Pigeon, Blue-winged (Malabar) Parakeet, Large Hawk-Cuckoo, Common Hawk Cuckoo, Banded Bay Cuckoo, Indian Plaintive Cuckoo, and Lesser Coucal, among others.
Birding continues well after sundown, as we look for nocturnal birds such as Oriental Bay-Owl, Oriental Scops-Owl, Collared Scops Owl, Spot-bellied Eagle-Owl, Brown Fish-Owl, Brown Hawk-Owl, Ceylon Frogmouth, Great Eared-Nightjar, Jerdon’s Nightjar, and Savanna Nightjar. Dinner and overnight at the Thattekad Resort.
On each of the three days of birdwatching at Thattekad, we explore different birding trails. For instance, birds like Grey-headed Bulbul and Wayanad Laughing Thrush can be hard to come by, but the trails at Urulanthanni at the far end of the bird sanctuary throws up a few prized sightings of these two beauties.
Our targets for the day’s birding includes more avian specialties of Thattekad, such as Malabar Grey Hornbill, Malabar Pied Hornbill, Crested Tree-Swift, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Dollarbird, Common Hoopoe, White-cheeked Barbet, Crimson-throated Barbet, Coppersmith Barbet, Speckled Piculet, Rufous Woodpecker, White-bellied Woodpecker, Heart-spotted Woodpecker, Indian Pitta, Richard’s Pipit, Large Cuckoo-Shrike, Black-headed Cuckoo-Shrike, Large Woodshrike, Black-crested Bulbul, White-browed Bulbul, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Black Bulbul, Blue-winged Leafbird, Golden-fronted Leafbird, Asian Fairy-Bluebird, Blue-headed Rock-Thrush, Blue Rock-Thrush, Malabar Whistling-Thrush, and Scaly Thrush.
At night, we again probe the woods for nightjars, frogmouths and owls, who are not few in number, before returning to our resort for dinner and overnight.
The third consecutive day of birding at Thattekad targets new trails and revisits the old ones that yielded maximum sightings. We may spot again several birds previously seen. But we also come upon newer sightings to mark off more birds in the Thattekad checklist.
The new sightings includes those of Eurasian Blackbird, Indian Blue Robin, Spotted Babbler, Indian Scimitar-Babbler, Black-headed Babbler, Western Crowned Warbler, Orphean Warbler, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Rusty-tailed Flycatcher, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Nilgiri Flycatcher, White-bellied Blue-Flycatcher, Blue-throated Flycatcher, Black-naped Monarch-Flycatcher, Black-lored Yellow Tit, Thick-billed Flowerpecker, Tickell’s Flowerpecker, Purple-rumped Sunbird, Crimson-backed Sunbird, Loten’s Sunbird, White-rumped Munia, Black-throated Munia, Baya Weaver, Chestnut-tailed Starling, Blyth's Starling, Southern Hill-Myna, and White-bellied Treepie.
One more evening excursion for nocturnal birding rounds up our day. At night, we return to the resort for dinner and overnight.
After breakfast, we pack up and drive you for two hours to Kochi. We drop you at the airport for your onward journey. The Kerala birding holiday comes to an end.
