Dandeli Birdwatching-Part 1 Old Magazine Feb-23

I had an opportunity to explore Western Ghats in Dandeli, Karnataka during Feb-23. I went with a birding group. We took an overnight train from Dadar to Londa Junction which reached a little late but that didn't delay us from Birding. The tour organizer had arranged for cars to pick us up from Londa station. The journey from Londa to our first birding destination was 45 minutes. 

Old Magazine House is a famous birding resort. There is a bird hide in the resort where you can spot most of the common birds of the region for photography. The resort has rooms for stay as well as a large open dining hall which serves all meals.

We got into birding as soon as we reached the resort. I didn't waste any time and went straight to the hide. Immediately, I saw Indian Yellow Tit and Tickell's Blue Flycatcher and a Great Hornbill flying overhead. This shows you the abundance of bird species in this place. Over the next 2 days, we were able to see Spot Bellied Eagle Owl, Asian Emerald Dove, Malabar Giant Squirrel (on the ground). In the night were were also able to spot interesting reptiles like Banded Gecko.

During our stay, we stepped out to other birding places like Timber Depot where we saw Malabar Barbet, Flame Throated Bulbul and Malabar Pied Hornbill. We were there during the time of Hornbill festival and we were lucky to cover all Hornbills found over there. We made an additional trip to the backwaters of Kali Dam. Here we saw Malabar Pied and Gray Hornbills in good numbers. We were able to see the hornbills enjoying thier mud bath.

We then moved to another place nearby for a day. I will write about that in Part-2 of this blog.

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