Birding in Masinagudi

I was in Masinagudi a few days ago and went on a birding trip with Atul, the manager of Club Mahindra Zest property - Casa Deep Woods. My first visit to Casa was almost a decade ago, when it was not a Club Mahindra property .Incidentally it was my first ever trip to Masinagudi. It was sheer serendipity as we drove towards Mudhumalai forest after being told that we had no accommodation in Bandipur. The property was very new and Masinagudi was still very much not a tourist destination. I have visited Masinagudi several times, but this trip was sheer nostalgia.

And what a birding haven it turned out to be -the iora, the sunbird, the white eye, the warbler, the flycatchers, the thrushes - we sighted almost 50 species of birds in just one session and the best sightings were that of the pitta and the paradise flycatcher .While the pitta was hanging around for more than half an hour, walking around the dry stream , barely a few feet from me and at eye level, the paradise fly catchers were rather elusive. An entire family was high up in the leaves , right above us and we watched them fly with our binoculars.

The pitta chased the orange headed ground thrush that landed finally up in the branches of the trees.

My favourite of course was the poser tickell's blue flycatcher. For more birds and photographs, do see my album on my travel page on Facebook. For the entire story, please read here

Birding in Coorg

I was in Coorg last week on an assignment for Club Mahindra and we spotted more than 30 species of birds. We would have probably seen more but for the rains that came tumbling down. However, my bird for the day is the malabar whistling thrush. The school boy was the first to wake up me with his song but he vanished into the dark shadows of a sunless dusk when I went to greet him. However I spotted him later and we spent a good 20 minutes together as he went foraging in the grass for his breakfast.

Some of the other birds that posed for me was the blue capped rock thrush and a pied wagtail among others. To see more photographs , visit my Travel Page on Facebook. To read the entire story, visit CLAY, the travel blog from Club Mahindra

A morning in Shimla

 

 

 

 

 

For more skies across the world click here

Say it with flowers - Happy Deepavali

" I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs..."

- John Keats

Wish you all a very Happy Deepavali. Enjoy the beauty of these Himalayan flowers which filled the landscape with a lot of colour and cheer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunrise at Mashobra - SWF

 

I was at the Club Mahindra resort at Mashobra as a part of the Blogger's meet , when my room-mate Radha, who was one of the winners of the Trip of a Lifetime travelogue contest woke me up to see the sunrise. I was too lazy and sleepy to rush down, but I took the picture from my room, though the looking glass though.

If you want to do sky gazing, do visit Skywatch

Colours of dawn at Mashobra

My Trip of a Lifetime

When I come back from every trip, I think that this has been it - the trip of my lifetime , but then I start planning for the next and wish someone could just sponsor it. Ive been dying to go to Himachal Pradesh and soak in the Himalayas and my trip of a lifetime is just going to happen.And this is made possible by Club Mahindra .



CLAY has just announced a contest which could make you win your trip of a lifetime. Just pen your thoughts on the best travelogue and email it to clay@clubmahindra.com and you could join us on a trip to Mashobra in September. For more details, visit CLAY or become a fan of CLUB Mahindra on FACEBOOK.

Last date : August 19, 2009..Dont miss it !