*****WARNING********
***If you are bored by extreme bird nerdiness, read at your own risk******

Emily and I just went to a place called Thattekad Bird Sanctuary. While there we stayed at a homestay inside the park. The family there spanned 4 generations living in the house. The husband was a crack birdwatcher and know all the places to go to spot the coolest birdies. We went out in the mornings to a sweet spot on top of a big rocky plateau that had a great view all around and at night we'd go looking for owls, nightjars, and other nocturnal goodies. Some of the highlights were: Sri Lankan frogmouth (definitely the coolest of everything), malabar trogon, indian pitta, malabar grey hornbill, little spiderhunter, Loten's sunbird, greater racket-tailed drongo, scarlet minivet, crimson-fronted barbet, stork-billed kingfisher, asian fairy bluebird, common iora, black baza, ruby-throated bulbul, white-rumped needletail, indian swiflet, jerdon's nightjar, great tit, lots of orioles, red-wattled lapwing, etc. I could go on and on but I'm sure everyone's eyes are starting to glaze over at this point. The mother of our guide was a schoolteacher and today we got to meet all the kids at the school she works at and they were VERY cute. Next we're going to a sweet wildlife place with a bunch of temples, a peak we can summit and a bunch of Hindu and Jain temples. Tata...

Our stellar guide Gireesh

scary

Sri Lankan Frogmouth above. next pictures: the pair, white-bellied woodpecker, hornbill, India's largest butterfly, and Emily with the cuties.