We assembled at 6.45 am to don our leech socks (not very attractive) and join another couple and our young guide to go bird-watching. It was very misty with no sun, and we should have realised that it might have been better to leave it for a day.
Instead, off we embarked on a treacherous walk, with part of the very narrow, steep and slippy path having been broken by elephants. The sprightly guide in her wellington boots didn’t seem to realise that some of the rest of us – particularly those who had worn all the tread off their shoes – would find this a bit challenging and forged ahead through the damp elephant grass, just pausing to tell us that we might get cut by it.
The most interesting bit of the walk was the lecture about funnel spider webs – but not up Sue’s street, I am afraid:
As I have described before, my usual experience is to miss all the interesting birds. This time, there were barely any birds to miss. An hour and a quarter’s effort was repaid with this – and this alone – right at the end of the walk when we were practically back at the property:
But we were much more successful sitting on our balcony or behind our room with little sunbirds and a variety of other birds which we can’t identify:
The birds really loved this yellow flower growing underneath our balcony:
The place is full of butterflies, some as big as birds. But they don’t usually settle so it’s hard to photograph them:
We spent some time hoping to bump into the langurs again when we spotted one from the balcony enjoying a good lunch of flowers:
We met another on one of our walks who looked to be a bit cross with us for staring. But one of the wondrous things about langurs is their tail, sometimes twice as long as their bodies, so I ran the risk of being peed on to get the photo:
And here’s the view from higher up the property, with the sun shining later in the day:
Tomorrow, away from the forest to the busy city of Calicut and the beach!
Sorry about the lack of birds on your guided tour. Sounds like a walk at the RSPB at Sandy. ( the bird on the roof is a Grey Wagtail I believe. Nice to see they are so widely spread) x
I’m so impressed you remember the comment – I would have done too ( very cherishable). Our guide on this beautiful but bird less walk was driven to exclaiming : ‘ it’s a barbet’ at every bird cry – she was right of course but by then even we could recognise the barbet (white cheeked or not)..
Intrigued by the darkness of the langurs. Am used to the very pale almost white ones in Goa and Madhya Pradesh dancing along the road or, alternatively throwing tiles off the roof. The birds all look familiar but too hard to remember from Cambodia where there are slightly more birds than Laos but not exactly heaving.
I loved these languors – no tiles to throw off the roof but serious thumps as they landed and leaped off again. In my experience, the birds all look a bit familiar – one of them, I’m sure was called small brownish warbler ( I may be misremembering this). I’m glad your bird count, whilst not heaving, has gone up….
Wonderful. You’re so intrepid!
Well, more intrepid in this case than we’d actually intended – if we’d known the state of the paths, we’d definitely have been trepid ( yes, I know that probably isn’t a word). Leech socks do make you feel like an explorer though…