Thattekkad (in the Kerala part of the western ghats) has been on my ‘must-visit’ list for a while and I finally managed to make a trip there a couple of weeks back. Despite a large part of the 2nd day of the trip being rained out, I still managed 18-lifers on this trip and my current tally stands at 487.

There were quite a few highlights of this trip but the ones that stand out are the surreal night-birding experience (which was a first for me), the wonderfully imaginative hide created by Kuttettan in his drawing room at Kallar-Vattiyar (a few kms before Munnar) and a few wonderful lifers like the Little Spiderhunter, the Kerala Laughingthrush and the iconic, SriLanka Frogmouth. 

Eldhose has made some great bird hides around his property and they are a great place to try something different than just simple-straight portraits. This is an image of the Yellow-browed Bulbul splashing out of the bird-bath in one of their hides. I had to make quite a few unsuccessful attempts before nailing this one (or getting it as close to what I had visualised).