I've just returned from a trip to India. The purpose of the trip was really to meet the family of my sons partner, but it was my first ever visit to the country so many birds were new. I spent several days in and around the city of Kochi in Kerala with the family and then took a 6 day trip alone to the birding hotspot of Thattekad, before returning again to Kochi for the last few days. During my stay at Thattekad I stayed with a birding guide in his homestay and went out with him twice a day for the duration of my stay, avoiding the midday heat which most days reached 37'C. I flew to India with Kuwait airlines and due to a cockup by them, my two hour stop in Kuwait became 19 hours, so I booked into a hotel in the city and hired another birding guide to take me around Kuwait for eight hours before returning me to the airport. I'll discuss that part of the holiday in the Kuwait section of this forum. In total I saw 163 species in India of which about 120 were new for me. A full report with lots of rubbish photos is on my blog, follow the link at the bottom of this post
1 Alpine Swift
2 Ashy Drongo
3 Ashy Prinia
4 Ashy Woodswallow
5 Asian Brown Flycatcher
6 Asian Fairy-bluebird
7 Asian Koel
8 Banded Bay Cuckoo
9 Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike
10 Black Baza
11 Black Drongo
12 Black Eagle
13 Black Kite
14 Black-crested Bulbul
15 Black-headed Ibis
16 Black-hooded Oriole
17 Black-naped Monarch
18 Black-throated Minivet
19 Black-throated Munia
20 Black-winged Stilt
21 Blue-eared Kingfisher
22 Blue-tailed Bee-eater
23 Blue-throated Blue Flycatcher
24 Blyth's Reed Warbler
25 Brahminy Kite
26 Bronzed Drongo
27 Bronze-winged Jacana
28 Brown Shrike
29 Brown-breasted Flycatcher
30 Brown-capped Woodpecker
31 Brown-headed Gull
32 Chestnut-headed Bee-eater
33 Cinereous Tit
34 Clamorous Reed Warbler
35 Common Flame-backed Woodpecker
36 Common Hawk Cuckoo
37 Common Iora
38 Common Myna
39 Common Sandpiper
40 Common Tailorbird
41 Coot
42 Cormorant
43 Cotton Pygmy-goose
44 Crested Goshawk
45 Crested Hawk Eagle
46 Crested Serpent Eagle
47 Dollarbird
48 Drongo Cuckoo
49 Dusky Crag Martin
50 Eastern Cattle Egret
51 Eastern Great Egret
52 Emerald Dove
53 Feral Pigeon
54 Flame-throated Bulbul
55 Garganey
56 Golden-fronted Leafbird
57 Great Eared Nightjar
58 Great Indian Hornbill
59 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
60 Green Bee-eater
61 Green Imperial Pigeon
62 Green Warbler
63 Greenshank
64 Grey Heron
65 Grey Junglefowl
66 Grey Wagtail
67 Grey-fronted Green Pigeon
68 Grey-headed Swamphen
69 Gull-billed Tern
70 Heart-spotted Woodpecker
71 Heuglin's Gull
72 Hill Myna
73 House Crow
74 House Sparrow
75 Indian Golden Oriole
76 Indian Paradise-flycatcher
77 Indian Peafowl
78 Indian Pitta
79 Indian Pond Heron
80 Indian Roller
81 Indian Scops Owl
82 Indian Swiftlet
83 Intermediate Egret
84 Jerdon's Nightjar
85 Jungle Babbler
86 Jungle Myna
87 Jungle Owlet
88 Kingfisher
89 Large Cuckooshrike
90 Large-billed Crow
91 Lesser Crested Tern
92 Lesser Flame-backed Woodpecker
93 Lesser Sand Plover
94 Lesser Whistling Duck
95 Lesser Yellow-naped Woodpecker
96 Little Cormorant
97 Little Egret
98 Little grebe
99 Little Ringed Plover
100 Little Spiderhunter
101 Little Swift
102 Loten's Sunbird
103 Malabar Barbet
104 Malabar Flame-backed Woodpecker
105 Malabar Grey Hornbill
106 Malabar Parakeet
107 Malabar Pied Hornbill
108 Malabar Starling
109 Malabar Trogon
110 Malabar Whistling Thrush
111 Malabar Woodshrike
112 Mountain Imperial Pigeon
113 Nilgiri Flowerpecker
114 Orange Minivet
115 Orange-headed Thrush
116 Oriental Darter
117 Oriental Honey Buzzard
118 Oriental Magpie Robin
119 Osprey
120 Pallas's Gull
121 Pheasant-tailed Jacana
122 Pied Kingfisher
123 Plum-headed Parakeet
124 Purple Heron
125 Purple Sunbird
126 Purple-rumped Sunbird
127 Red Spurfowl
128 Red-vented Bulbul
129 Red-wattled Lapwing
130 Red-whiskered Bulbul
131 River Tern
132 Rose-ringed Parakeet
133 Rufous Treepie
134 Rufous Woodpecker
135 Rusty-tailed Flycatcher
136 Shikra
137 Small Minivet
138 Small Sunbird
140 Southern Coucal
141 Spot-bellied Eagle Owl
142 Spot-billed Pelican
143 Spotted Dove
144 Sri Lanka Bay Owl
145 Sri Lanka Frogmouth
146 Stork-billed Kingfisher
147 Striated Heron
148 Swallow
149 Tailed Jay
150 Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
151 Vernal Hanging Parrot
152 Western Reef Egret
153 Whiskered Tern
154 White-bellied Blue Flycatcher
155 White-bellied Treepie
156 White-bellied Woodpecker
157 White-breasted Waterhen
158 White-browed Wagtail
159 White-cheeked Barbet
160 White-rumped Munia
161 White-throated Kingfisher
162 Wood Sandpiper
163 Yellow-browed Bulbul
-- Edited by colin davies on Sunday 5th of March 2023 08:05:33 AM
My original thought was greater. I was in fact in Mumbai mostly but also Pune and at a hill forest on the West coast. Most of my coucal sightings were in trees (in Pune and at the hill forest), except one sighting of 2 birds in long grass (very obscured) on a roadside 'verge'. From what you say I think that most (if not all) of my sightings were greater and that's the only one I can state with certainty in that case. And it serves me right for getting such a bad book! Certainly can't say anything about the long grass sighting due to the poor view so those birds will remain unidentified!
Greater Coucal is the commonest and widespread throughout India and are the ones found in gardens. Lesser is a real tall grassland specialist with a restricted distribution. I can't even find a mention of Indian Coucal in the OBC checklist, though I'd bet it refers to Greater. From your checklist I'd say you where in the Delhi area ?.
Here's a film of of a Greater Coucal I made in Thailand this year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8bfyxOsHec
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Indian Coucal ? Do you mean Greater (Centropus sinensis) or Lesser (C. bengalensis) Tanmay ?.
With so many taxonomic changes in the Oriental checklist it's hard to keep up to speed.
Cheers
unfortunately the taxonomic changes are the problem. the birdbook i had to use assumed both were races of the same species. given that, i can't be absolutely sure of the species (esp as they are v similar and had only a few brief views of the bird, all of which were in long grass or in trees where they were partially obscured by vegetation)
perhaps it should go down as coucal sp (and for all I know I could have seen more than one species!)
thanks for bringing me up-to-date on this point, wish i had got hold of a better, more recent book!
