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<\/a><\/p>\nNilgiri Laughingthrush – Doddabetta View, Ooty<\/p>\n
Nilgiri Laughingthrush – Doddabetta View, Ooty<\/p>\n Nilgiri Laughingthrush – Doddabetta View, Ooty<\/p>\n Indian Blackbird (male) – Doddabetta View, Ooty<\/p>\n Indian Blackbird (female) – Doddabetta View, Ooty<\/p>\n Indian Blackbird (male) – Doddabetta View, Ooty<\/p>\n Large-billed Leaf-warbler – Cairn Hill Park, Ooty<\/p>\n The journey to Mudumalai took around four hours and we passed through tea and coffee plantations and colourful mountain villages. The weather began to clear and the rain eased and we were hopeful for the afternoons birding. We arrived in Mudumalai at around 15:30 just as the rain began to fall and the fog moved in. We spent the afternoon getting soaked as we wandered the grassland and scattered trees to the south of Masinagudi. It was fairly tough going but evidently a very birdy area highlights were three Malabar Lark, a Brown Fish-owl flushed from its roost and Jerdon\u2019s Leafbird. Other species included Yellow-billed Babbler, Yellow-eyed Babbler, Paradise Flycatcher, Hoopoe, Blyth\u2019s Reed Warbler, Common Hawk-cuckoo, Alpine Swift, Indian Swiftlet, Paddyfield Pipit, Sykes\u2019s Warbler, White-browed Fantail and Spotted Owlet. Come dusk we loitered around for the Nightjar hour and at 18:30 Jijo blasted the Jungle Nightjar recording and within a short while a bird responded from the adjacent hillside so off we went slogging up the wet and muddy hillside until the bird was calling at around 50 metres distant. Jijo soon picked the bird up calling from the track and had it in the spotlight. It was apparent that there were several birds calling in the vicinity and we eventually had good views of a couple of birds. On the descent back to the car we picked up a smaller and browner nightjar in the torches, this was an Indian Nightjar and we eventually had views down to 30cm in the torch light. We were at our lodge, Jungle Hut, by 19:30 and enjoyed a fantastic curry dinner. As we were enjoying a final beer a crash from the hotel grounds and a bull Indian Elephant had strolled in and was busy destroying one of the trees in the lodge grounds. We enjoyed fantastic views of this impressive animal at close range from the balcony of our room.<\/p>\n Malabar Lark – Mudumalai<\/p>\n Sykes’s Warbler – Mudumalai<\/p>\n Spotted Owlet – Mudumalai<\/p>\n Jungle Nightjar – Mudumalai<\/p>\n Indian Nightjar – Mudumalai<\/p>\n Indian Nightjar – Jungle Hut, Mudumalai<\/p>\n Indian Nightjar – Jungle Hut, Mudumalai<\/p>\n <\/p>\n