Birdwatching in Ooty

Having studied in Ooty, I have been there time and again. Initially for school and later for school reunions. Been to the touristy spots all over and have done a lot of hiking in the not so popular spots during school days as well. This time however was a different experience altogether. Spent a day and a half in Ooty looking for the feathered ones.

We got there late in the evening thanks to a white bellied woodpecker in Bandipur on the way, and checked into a youth hostel near Charring cross. It had been quite dark on the way up so not much scenery was visible along the Ghat section. After looking up at all the possible options, we decided to start with Gorishola (near Sinclairs hotel) in the morning and then proceed to Doddabetta. Gorishola looked promising and we found an ashy prinia, grey jungle fowl and a few blackbirds. Doddabetta however had quite a few wood pigeons in the parking lot, which stick around till a vehicle disturbs them. So you can see them almost always very early in the morning. Found a laughing thrush while inside the main entrance and also grey tits nesting (no pun intended), a few warblers and blackbirds. A few others who were there before us told us they had seen a black and orange flycatcher though we could not spot it. We returned  to Doddabetta the next day early morning and found the same birds.

We spent the rest of the day checking out other birding spots, Cairn Hill forest reserve looked like the perfect spot to find some although in the afternoon we were only able to see a grey headed canary flycatcher and a glimpse of a black and orange flycatcher. We did get back to this place the next day first thing in the morning. It had a lot more bird activity and we were able to spot laughingthrushes, warblers, white-eyes, and the 2 flycatchers.

 

During the day we also went to the potato research center near Muthorai and the area around Woodhouse. Both looked interesting but as it was too late in the day, we were not able to spot much. The wooded area around Woodhouse does look quite interesting and there maybe far more than what we were able to see. On the way down, we spotted quite a few chestnut headed bee-eaters and woodpeckers along with a couple of raptors.