A jaunt around Southern India

Once again we decided to take a Riviera trip to India, this time to Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Most of the time in the former was spent looking at temples, joining in festival processions and general tourist stuff - great fun, but not too birdy. Tamil Nadu has also been badly affected by drought, which in turn affected the number of birds. The Kerala leg took us to Periyar National Park and the backwaters, so rather more wildlife. Anyway, it was a great trip and we managed to get a handful of endemics as well as the more common birds. Strangely there weren't nearly the number of passerines around that I expected, which was slightly concerning - possibly an effect of the lack of rain.

Anyway, here's one or two pics for your delectation...

Indian Roller

Common Mynahs

Loten's Sunbird

Yellow-billed Babbler (that was a really good scratch!)

Koel

White-throated Kingfisher

Wild Peacocks

Nilgiri langur

Bath time

Yellow-browed Bulbul

Guar

White-cheeked Barbet

Jungle Mynah

Malabar Grey Hornbill

Asian Openbill

Cattle Egret

Darter

Common Kingfisher

Bronze-winged Jacana

Mongoose

Flying Fox

I'd recommend this holiday if you fancy a mix of culture and wildlife - it was great fun, the food was good, most of the accommodation was too and our tour guides and driver were excellent.

"Let loose the Kraken!"

Great photos! Looks like a great place to visit.

In reply to Debs:

What a fabulous trip and report Stuart, great to see such beautiful and exotic birds and lovely photos of them all; hard to pick a favourite amongst them as they are all rather special but I do love the Indian Roller and the sunbird... oh and the Bulbul, Barbet, ..... in fact, all of them lol Thanks for this post, really lovely to see the birds and wildlife we don't come across.

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Regards, Hazel

Stuart Vine said:
Anyway, here's one or two pics for your delectation...

And very delectable they are too, Stuart. I thought you'd gone you'd gone awol from the forum but now I know where you were.

What gorgeous looking birds.The Sunbird is very beautiful; I guess it's the nearest equivalent to the hummingbirds of the Americas.

The White-throated Kingfisher is a big brute of a bird. Puts our European Kingfisher to shame but it always surprises me what a huge range they've got.

Everything I read about Kerala confirms it one of the best places in India to visit. Too far for me these days I'm afraid.

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Regards,Tony

My Flickr Photostream

In reply to TeeJay:

Beautiful birds (and others). Too many unusual ones too pick anything out in particular! Looks like a great place to go although I'd definitely need a guide just to identify what I was looking at!

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Nige Flickr

In reply to Nigel O:

Some most unusual birds and animals there Stuart, you seemed to have had a lovely time, thanks for sharing.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

In reply to Catlady:

What a treat to follow your experiences in India, it is always so interesting to see the birds in another country and India is one of the many places I would have liked to visit. You did very well Stuart with all the different species and all so colourful, even the mongoose was spruced up. Thanks very much for letting us share a little of your holiday.

Lot to learn

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