

	The Dictionary.com definition of serendipity fits this trip so well: “the fact of making fortunate discoveries by accident, the occurrence of such discoveries”. The whole package was a delightful surprise to me, the countries, the people, the food and the birds and other wildlife - all proved to be serendipitous indeed! It is a long, long way from Highlands, NC to Colombo, Sri Lanka, but the trip, beyond LA, was made most comfortable by the diminutive but ever attentive Singapore Air hostesses - the airline has the reputation for being the best one in the world, and I could certainly add my vote to that! The seats, the food, even the headphones were the best I’ve yet encountered, making the hop-scotch journey as pleasant as 22+ hours in the air could be. Our brief stop at Taipei, Taiwan and a long layover in Singapore exposed me to what “good” is when it comes to modern airports - spacious, clean, lots of natural light, quiet, with good signage and attractive shops, indoor and outdoor gardens, plenty of free Internet terminals in the lounges - what a contrast to Los Angeles International, which surely hasn’t changed a bit for the better in far too many years. There the endless baggage screening and security lines, dirt, darkness, noise and general surliness made me shudder to think about my return, so I put that firmly out of my mind for the duration of the trip. It’s a seemingly endless night as you head west across the Pacific, but the warmth and sunshine in Singapore gave me at least a brief bit of fresh air as I sat in the rooftop sunflower garden. There was no need to leave the transit area to get there or to my day room, booked for me as part of my airline ticket. A few hours of sleep in a real bed were most welcome, and then I was off again to Colombo at last, in the dark once again as we headed up the Straits of Malacca, finally landing in Sri Lanka’s capitol shortly after midnight, two days after I’d left home. Our very comfortable hotel in Colombo offered a chance to catch up on some much-needed sleep and to begin the long process of adjusting to 10-11 hours of jet lag. Christmas was still very much in evidence here, with lots of cotton batting in use for “snow” surrounding reindeer (including a Rudolph, naturally) & Santa, and much “gold” adornment for the 3 wise men, if not their camels and other attendant animals which greeted us as we entered. Western Christmas music filled the lobby, as it had at the airports along the way - I think I heard some of the worst in LA, but it all seemed pleasantly absurd in the warm, humid climate here. That evening, our group gathered for the first time over dinner outdoors, with a lovely wine and excellent selection of Sri Lankan and Indian foods which had been ordered by our Victor Emanuel Tour (VENT) leader, Susan Myers. Though she grew up in Australia, Susan is clearly very much at home in Asia, and her knowledge of the culture, foods and customs throughout the trip was to prove invaluable, not to mention her appreciation of a good laugh and a bottle of white wine! Oh yes, best of all, she turned out to be a super birding leader too!
	It soon became apparent that our group of 8 plus Susan was going to be lots of fun and very compatible. This is not always the case on such trips, as often there are widely varying levels of ability, interest and mobility, not to mention “interesting” personalities, which can be challenging for not only the leader, but the rest of the group as well. Yet here was a group which shared a high level of enthusiasm, experience and great good humor right from the start - I could tell it was going to be a really fun and productive trip - and so it was. The island nation of Sri Lanka was labeled “Serendib” on the maps of the early explorers, and so it seemed to me that evening an appropriate word for what promised to be a truly serendipitous birding adventure.
Photo courtesy of Linda Beuret	The best overall description I can give for Sri Lanka involves repeating three words - clean, green and peaceful. The contrast with my previous experience of India was striking, as here in the Buddhist countryside the people seemed happy and well educated, if often very poor, and the villages enjoyed the cooling aspect of many trees, both swaying coconut and betelnut palms, and huge ficus religiosa, the Boti Tree under which the Buddha is said to have sat and received enlightenment, as well as many other spreading shade trees. Though Buddhism is the predominant religion, there are areas where Christians, Hindus and Muslims are much in evidence too. All seem to get along amicably in the south, and some even sport stickers which cover all the bases! Rice paddies dotted with grazing cattle and egrets, huge “tanks”, manmade reservoirs dating back a thousand years and still in use, offered the refreshment of water close by the villages and homes, as well as a haven for fish and birds. Yes, there was plenty of evidence of the poverty, and some debris and trash along the roads, yet it was far less evident that what I had seen in Delhi and environs. We traveled throughout southern Sri Lanka in a large, comfortable 20+ passenger bus, and found the roads surprisingly good all along the way. Thus the countryside remains a large part of my memory of the place, and while rides were sometimes long (though always interspersed with birding, as well as “tea and pee” stops), this enabled us to get a real feel for the landscape and the activities of the country. We traveled from the warm, dry Indian Ocean-side beaches to the cool, moist highlands in the course of our 2 weeks here, which gave us a broad view of the country. In the villages and along the roads in between people live in small but sound houses, each seeming to have its bit of garden, perhaps with a calf grazing and chickens about. The smaller towns seemed a series of little roadside shops stocked with lovely arrays of fruits & vegetables, or perhaps packets of exotic-flavored chips (masala & curry), or more pragmatic items, pots and pans, coils of hemp rope, bicycle tires. Life seems to be quiet and peaceful, and it is difficult to imagine the tension and strife we so often hear about, most all of which is confined to the NE portion of the country. This conflict has been visited upon the Sri Lankan people (Buddhists) by a minority (17%) comprised of immigrants from India whose leaders seem to have kidnaped their Hindu culture and waged a devastating civil war in the interest of teaching their native language, Tamil, in the public schools. Though a very poor country without doubt, the well educated populace has suffered from decades of civil war that have almost destroyed its hopes of economic advancement. I can only hope that the external pressure being brought to bear on the Tamil Tigers, and their own people’s exhaustion with the on-going carnage, will eventually force a peaceful solution here. For the moment, at least, a tenuous 2 year cease-fire continues.
	As we also found in southern India, rice, tea and spices are the central economic realities life here. Rice, in particular, is crucial to all. As has been so over the millennia, rice is the easiest way to feed a lot of people, and while its production is very labor intensive, this requires group cooperation and effort, and thus has made the group a central aspect of the culture here. That single factor makes for a striking contrast with our Western way of life. Here in Sri Lanka, the bulk of the rice grown is Basmati, which has a delightfully nutty yet delicate flavor, and which is served at virtually every meal in one form or another. Tea, too, is ubiquitous, and our travels through the highland tea plantations were not only scenic, but gave us the chance to observe the production process, from hand picking to tasting, as we stopped at one of the tea houses along the way. The tea in Sri Lanka was excellent, freshly brewed from leaves, never bags, and plentiful. Spices too are of great importance and are grown extensively in the highlands. A visit to a spice garden gave us the chance to see cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, cardamon, pepper, turmeric, cocoa and vanilla “on the hoof”, as it were, a fascinating mini-tour which gave me a new appreciation for the complexity of the cooking we were enjoying.
	Our accommodations were some of the most comfortable I’d experienced on a birding trip. People often react to the idea of a birding trip to, say, Costa Rica, with visions of up-scale, seaside resorts, drinks with umbrellas at pool-side, and vast buffets under the stars. For the most part, this is indeed not the typical venue for a birding trip! The idea is to put the birders in close proximity to the highest concentration of birds, which is usually in a national park and most easily facilitated by smaller, less extravagant hotels or inns. Happily, however, our Sri Lanka experience began with a lovely resort, on the SE coast and right next door to a huge park. At Yale Village Beach Resort we each had a hugely spacious bungalow, complete with great bedside lights, A/C, fans, mini-bar, and even a hair dryer! This is indeed a rarity, and one I certainly enjoyed, as the grounds were birdy too, with Orange-breasted Green Pigeons and Yellow-fronted Woodpeckers, and plenty of Green Imperial Pigeons and Purple Sunbirds. Our evening walks to and from dinner featured a pair of wild boar which visited nightly at dusk. There was even a pool, and yes, I did manage a quick swim and shared an umbrella-clad drink there with another of our group. There were incredible buffets on offer at lunch and dinner (we had bag breakfasts in the field for the most part), and we soon learned about some of the Sri Lankan specialties. Everyone’s favorite was Buffalo Curd and Treacle, which needless to say, soon became shortened to Buffalo Turd! But wait, it’s really, really good - honest! It is a thick, creamy yoghurt, presented in a shallow pottery dish from which you can scoop all you want, and then top it with a sweet, dark palm syrup. It is simply delicious for breakfast as well as desert at other meals. In addition to various western offerings (leg of lamb, turkey, a pasta station), there were wonderful vegetable and meat curries, and freshly cooked breads - a chef would stand behind a hot griddle, twirling a pizza-like dough for Naan, or ladling out another batter for a different hot bread. One of my favorites was a “Roti”, which turned out to be a sort of chewy bread into which could be wrapped and cooked any number of things, the best being an egg, I thought - thus producing a super fried-egg sandwich! Wonderful platters of fruits were always on offer, and there were also arrays of pastries and mousses - none of us could go hungry here! As proved to be the case throughout our stay, the food was always freshly cooked and amply served, tasty but not necessarily overly “hot”, with complex flavors resulting from the use of many of the spices we saw growing all around us.
Photo courtesy of Linda Beuret	Now then, what about the birds??? Yala National Park got us off to a fine start, with plenty of Sri Lanka Junglefowl (more than just another chicken, I promise!), Peacocks, White-bellied Sea Eagles, Blue-faced Malkohas, and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters. Perhaps the highlight for me here was my first look at a Pitta, a family which resembles the Antpittas of S. America in its stature - generally thrush-sized, largely tailless and ground dwelling for the most part. Here we found the Indian Pitta, perhaps one of the easiest pittas to see, but that takes nothing away from the gorgeous array of colors on offer - scarlet red, brilliant blue, black, white, green and buff - there’s a lot of rainbow packed into that one upright bird, and my first one sat up obligingly in a tree at eye level too - another serendipitous experience! (I was later to find Indian Pittas solely within a foot or two of the ground, most often on the ground in fact, and usually deep within the underbrush, requiring considerable stooping and peering for a glimpse.) We were traveling within the park in jeeps, thus able to negotiate the bumpy dirt tracks and to see plenty of wildlife besides the birds too - such as Indian elephants, usually just lone bulls, but a few, very small breeding groups of females with babies; 3 species of mongoose; Bonnet Macaques (definitely absent on the day good looks were handed out!); the delicate Spotted Deer (AKA leopard food); Sambar (a large, elk-like deer); and even a large Python, moving sluggishly through the underbrush alongside the track.	Photo courtesy of Linda Beuret
	We also encountered our first evidence of the tsunami which devastated many of the Indian Ocean coastlines only a year ago. Stopping at what had once been another coastal resort, we found a moving monument to the many who died there, along with the remnants of the lodge, whose snapped concrete pillars lying atop a concrete slab were stark reminders of the incredible power of the monster wave which had swept through. While much of the coast and park here were unaffected, the more open, low-lying stretches of beach (those not protected by offshore rocks, for instance) had been completely scoured by the waves, all vegetation destroyed, with sand and mud left on top of dead vegetation. New, shallow bays were formed, and still contained some water, though most would dry up completely before the rains returned Along creeks and streams the high water line of the surge was well defined by debris tossed high into the surviving trees and brush. It will take years for regrowth to begin to hide the scars, but the memories and stories of that day will not fade so easily. Everyone in the area, indeed in the whole country, was touched in some way or another, and everyone had a story to tell, much as we all do about 9/11. After 4 warm-to-hot and dry days on the SE coast, we headed back inland, through the town of Ratnapura, where men in sarongs and western dress throng the streets as they stand with their flashlights, examining and trading the gemstones, especially star sapphires, for which the area is known. Even the rice paddies in the nearby valleys have tiny thatched diggings in the midst of the seas of green. We arrived just outside the entrance to another large national park, Sinharaja, and our simple accommodations at Blue Magpie Lodge. As the bus was not able to negotiate the last quarter mile of dirt track (which appeared to be under some improvement though stalled at the moment), we walked to and from with our day packs while the local staff carted our duffels in wheelbarrows. In the mornings and afternoons we enjoyed watching the school children in their snow white uniforms, smiling shyly, the youngest ones often clutching a parent’s hand. We marveled at their ability (and that of their mothers!) to keep those white shoes, skirts and shorts so very white! Our rooms at the locally run lodge were indeed basic, though with private facilities and mosquito netting, and electricity for a few hours each evening. However, there were birds all about, and we were able to walk to sites for both the Chestnut-backed Owlet and the super skulky, shy Sri Lankan Spur Fowl. In hopes of seeing this bird, which is usually only heard, we had huddled together in an attempt to appear a part of the rocky background at the far side of the muddy track. In response to a tape of its call, this rather grouse-like but more colorful bird exploded from thick cover and zoomed directly over our heads. As one of our delighted group said, Susan had cleverly placed us “at the apogee of its trajectory”!
Photo courtesy of Susan Myers	At Sinharaja too we piled into jeeps for the steep and very bumpy ride up into the park itself, where we were then able to walk and bird along the track. Fortunately, almost all of our birding was indeed along the track, as Sinharaja proved to be a very leechy place. (However, the leeches are tiny, and regular checks enabled us to pick them off boots and socks before they could grab a meal!) Our first few steps along the way brought us a marvelous mixed flock of foraging birds, including two real prizes, a Red-faced Malkoha and an Ashy-headed Laughingthrush, both Sri Lankan endemics and both quite range restricted even here. Many more Sri Lankan specialties were seen here, including the Blue Magpie for which our lodge was named, a large, long-tailed stunner with brilliant red bill, eye-ring, feet and legs, brown and black wings, and a body and tail of shimmering royal blue shading to turquoise, one of those “oh wow!” birds for sure. Another truly thrilling bird required some night-time walking and a great deal of expertise on Susan’s part, but thanks to her efforts with a tape and her keen eyes, we ended up with superb views of the Serendib Scops Owl, only recently described and a first ever view for a VENT group. Our next venue was the hill town of Nuwara Eliya, the “Little England” of Sri Lanka, formerly the stomping ground of the British tea planters and a lush, moist, cool refuge from the lowlands. En route, we snaked our way up hill through endless tea plantations, the clouds and mist hanging over the hills and waterfalls pouring off their sides. Along the way we saw many “tea ladies”, in colorful dress, picking and weighing huge bags of the most tender leaves. We stopped at a fascinating spice garden, where we could observe cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, pepper, cocoa and many other spices “on the hoof”, as it were. We also stopped at a tea shop, which had more types and grades of tea on offer than I had ever imagined. Finally reaching Nuwara Eliya, we found that the town itself still retains a certain misplaced air of England, with bits of architecture and gardens clearly of British origins. Indeed our lodgings at “The Grand Hotel” were full of high-ceilinged, wood-paneled character, a fireplace in each room, and flowered bed covers and tea cosys. There were white-jacketed and saronged houseboys to greet us and deliver our luggage. While rain sometimes intruded upon our activities here, as in Sinharaja, it still did not deter us from a full day in Horton Plains National Park, where we stalked the Sri Lanka Wood Pigeon, and finally tracked down the “horrible” blue flycatcher - he is actually the Dusky Blue Flycatcher , and rather prettier than the name implies, but he certainly didn’t want to be seen until the sun began to appear, well after our slightly soggy picnic lunch. Our next hill town stop was at Kandy, a bustling tourist destination with gorgeous botanical gardens (loaded with birds!) and a major Buddhist shrine, the Temple of the Tooth. Our visit here happened to coincide with Bill’s painful bout with an infected tooth at home, and on the day we visited the Temple, I certainly thought of him and our dentist back in Greenville! As in most similar venues, we were required to take off our shoes before entering, and since it was raining and I hadn’t another pair of socks handy in the bus for our onward trip, I ended up going barefoot through the fascinating structure, which houses, it is said, the right rear molar (or no, maybe it was the left?) of Buddha. The tooth was recovered from his funeral pyre and eventually found its home here, behind intricately decorated walls, and silver, gold and bejewelled reliquaries, with a constant stream of faithful pilgrims passing through. There is a Buddhist prayer which is said upon entering, “for the health, prosperity and well-being of all living things”. I was definitely directing my prayers not only to Bill’s tooth, but to the well-being of my bare feet too! As it turned out, there was a major harvest festival to be celebrated by the Buddhist priests later on that day, and we were fortunate to be early enough to miss the throngs of thousands, yet to catch a glimpse of the caparisoned elephant on his way to the start of the procession. The evening before we had encountered another bit of serendipity when a traditional Kandyian wedding procession came through the lobby of our elegant hotel, complete with drummers and costumed dancers, the bride and groom and all their guests richly attired in colorful silks and wearing all their fine jewelry. Clearly this was an auspicious time to be in Sri Lanka!	Photo courtesy of Susan Myers
	The most northerly and final stop of our tour was at Sigiriya, best known for its “Lion Fortress”, built over 1500 years ago, upon a 650' natural, sharp-sided mesa erupting out of the greenery. It is surrounded by a huge area of ruins and water gardens, and is very “birdy”. There is a uniquely dark sub-species of Peregrine Falcon here, and we were also treated to a quick but definitive look at a Watercock, yet another serendipitous event, as these birds (sort of large water-chickens), while enjoying a wide range in SE Asia, are seldom seen in their realms deep within the reeds and tall marsh grasses. A long day’s drive brought us back to the busy, modern streets of Colombo. En route we passed through an area of logging depots, where we witnessed the impressive, yet non-chalant strength of a working elephant as it lifted and position huge tree trunk-logs in the back of a truck. Finally reaching Colombo, we enjoyed a final, excellent Sri Lankan dinner before departing the following day for Bangalore. Two of our group left us here, unfortunately, while 6 of us and Susan traveled on. Sri Lanka had been a wonderful surprise to me, so now I would see what contrasts southern India might offer. After an hour’s flight to Bangalore, and smooth passage through the usual airport formalities, we drove through the morning traffic to our comfortable hotel. Bangalore is said to be the tech center of India, and the city does seem quite modern in contrast with most others, and enjoys the benefit of many shade trees too. However, there was still the incredible mix and mayhem of largely undisciplined traffic and diverse vehicles - even here, the odd bullock cart and wandering cow mixed with bicycles, tons of motorbikes and motorcycles, buses and 3 wheeled taxis making mad dashes - i.e., still a constant source of entertainment. (After a few more days observing the vehicular chaos, I decided that Driving-In-India should be a summer Olympic sport, though clearly one which the Indian team would always win!) A day spent in regrouping was welcome, before our departure for Mysore the following morning. We welcomed four new group members, along with David Bishop, our VENT lead guide for this portion of the trip (in partnership with Susan as 2nd guide).
	The highlight of this first day was a very back-road visit to a small, simple Indian village which appears not to have changed much in recent centuries, quite a contrast to Bangalore! Here we found women threshing grain by piling it in the dirt track, so that passing bullock carts could crush the stalks and break the grain from the chaff, which the women then winnowed in baskets. Painted Storks and Spot-billed Pelicans find a peaceful roosting and nesting haven here, and we found several other birds of interest flitting through the bush in and around the simple mud brick shacks. We stopped for lunch at a roadside, open-air restaurant along the way, where “thali” is the speciality: a large, round tray with a bowl of rice in the center, surrounded by 7 small bowls, each with a different curry, one soup, one “raita” (a sort of yoghurt-cucumber mix which acts as a needed foil to some of the hotter curries), and one with gulab jamun (a desert, not my favorite, I must add, but sort of a squishy, spongy donut hole soaked in too-sweet syrup). Poppadoms are served in quantity - they are crunchy and yummy! The total cost for this very good, filling, vegetarian meal was about 60¢, and we were the only Westerners eating there. In the late afternoon we arrived, to oohs and aahs, at the Lalitha Mahal Hotel, formerly the “guest palace” of the Maharaja of Mysore. It was suitably impressive, complete with sweet-smelling stephanotis necklaces given in greeting as we entered, and though the interiors might best be described as faded glory, still the vast marble floored halls and cavernous public rooms gave a glimpse of days long gone. The grounds offered a bit of birding and then we enjoyed another thali for dinner, but this time accompanied by the best, tender Tandoori chicken we were to have on the whole trip, a hit with one and all. A flutist and sitar-player sat cross-legged on a small stage, serenading our delicious dinner. The following day was a nice mix of birds and culture, as we spent the early morning in rowboats at Ranganthitoo Bird Sanctuary, with up-close encounters with Asian Openbill and Painted Storks, Eurasian Spoonbills displaying their flamboyant breeding plumage, and masses of Streak-throated Swallows. Next up was a guided tour of the Maharaja’s main palace, which certainly lived up to my imagined ideal of a splendiferous Indian royal residence! In addition to its massive footprint, the opulence with which it was endowed was awesome - silver doors, marble everywhere, carved teak ceilings, golden artifacts, immense crystal chandeliers, elaborate wall paintings. The juxtaposition of such incredible extravagance with the abject poverty and starvation of the people (at least at the time of its building) was unavoidably startling. Still, the palace is now open to and very popular with the public, as evidenced by the pressing throngs throughout. My stockinged feet and I were a bit relieved to be back out in the fresh air but it was a truly amazing experience!
	That day our final destination was Kabini River Lodge, at Nagarhole National Park, where we enjoyed several days discovering the wonderful wildlife of this beautiful refuge. There were Indian elephants, Gaur (sort of buffalo-sized wild cattle), wild boar, spotted deer, mongoose, and even, for a lucky few of us, a great view of a gorgeous leopard! There were tigers here too, as evidenced by paw prints, though they remained unseen by our group. And there were, of course, lots of birds - woodpeckers (6 different species on one morning), barbets, hornbills, plenty of Gray Junglefowl, the males sporting tail plumes of radiant purple-blue. We were up and out of our rooms in the cool of early morning, back for brunch and mid-day siesta time, and out again in the late afternoons, making the most of the active times of day for the birds and critters. I think we were all sad to leave this lovely park, but more adventures in different habitats awaited us.	Photo courtesy of Daphne Gemmill
Photo courtesy of SriVenkateswara Zoological Park	Our next stop brought us to the base of the Nilgiri hills, and Mudumalai National Park. This area was much drier, though heavy rains earlier in the season had caused the bush to grow to unusual heights and thickness. Our Jungle Retreat lodgings were delightful, once again amidst very birdy grounds. A Blue-bearded Bee-eater seen as I relaxed on my covered porch was a special sighting for me. A covey of 6 Jungle Bush-Quail was another fun find - we had seen them in the late afternoon when we arrived, and I found them the following day as I birded along an overgrown track on the lodge property, scratching and pecking under the deep shade of a dense bush in the midday heat. Of course, as always, I would perhaps have been wiser to take advantage of a short nap during our break, but I find that I can’t resist the lure of searching out birds when the habitat is so rich and right outside my door!
	The following days would prove to be a considerable contrast, as we climbed via endless hairpin turns through the cool, moist highland tea plantations to the sprawling town of Ootacamund, better known as “Ooty”, at about 7500'. This former British hill station retains some vestiges of the Raj, such as our spacious accommodations at the Savoy Hotel, once the area’s regimental headquarters. My rooms (notice the plural!) featured 20' ceilings, with a fireplace in the sitting room, king-sized bedroom, large dressing room and large modern bathroom. The fire was especially nice in the evening, as it warmed my return from dinner in the wood-paneled diningroom. The frosty early mornings found us searching out the few remaining “sholas”, woodlands which still survive in the ravines, untouched by tea plantations and vegetable plots. There are some very special birds here, whose entire world range is confined to these islands of habitat, such as the Nilgiri (Black-chinned) Laughingthrush and Nilgiri Flycatcher, both of which we found. Our only complaint with Ooty was that it is in the state of Tamil Nadu, which apparently levies exceptionally heavy taxes on wines and liquors, of which there was a limited selection in any case!
	As we descended the north face of the Nilgiris on a long bus-ride the following day, I finally caught sight of one of my targets for this trip, the Asian Fairy Bluebird. Now this is not a rare bird at all, as it has quite a wide range in southern India and southeast Asia, and it is also not, as the name would suggest, a petite little flitter. It is, in all its 10-11", simply one of the most stunning birds I’ve seen - the male is basically jet black, but with blue, oh-so-blue cap, shoulders, wing bars and upper tail, and a ruby-red eye too. His perch, against a deep green magnolia-like tree, surely a classic bird-print scene, was another example of the serendipitous moments with which the trip was filled, and one which brought tears to my eyes. I can only say that I hope to encounter this lovely bird many more times, and I was happy to do so on at least two more occasions on this trip.
	Our hotel near the airport at Cochin was pleasant, modern and very clean, though Muslim-owned and run, so evening libations were definitely curtailed. However, we were well placed for a productive visit to the Thattakad Bird Sanctuary, where our local guides were able to show us two pairs of Sri Lankan Frogmouths on their day roosts. These birds seem to be all mouth and whiskers, and comprise a fairly small family, with only a dozen species. They sit silently in the under storey by day, usually with bill turned upwards and eyes closed, “looking uncannily like wilted foliage or a dead snag; at night, insects are caught by gleaning and sallying in flight”. To me they look like cartoon characters! Our local hosts for the day were a delightful Keralan family just outside the entrance to the sanctuary, who welcomed us into their home for a wonderful meal, served on freshly picked banana leaves, and featuring rice, curries, chutneys, grilled fish, and fresh pineapples and bananas for dessert. What a treat! The gracious woman who cooked our meal spoke English and was proud to introduce us to her son and her mother, both of whom assisted her in serving.
	One further stop in the cool highlands gave us the opportunity to visit Eravikulum National Park. Here we enjoyed watching the Nilgiri Tahrs bound up and down the rock faces, while Nilgiri Pipits seemed to pop up everywhere we looked. Nilgiri Langurs perched in the trees of a nearby shola, as David Bishop rounded up an Indian Broad-tailed Grass Warbler, a lifer for all of us, including him! Our onward journey included a visit to the very steep East side of the hills, where the hoped-for Yellow-throated Bulbul obligingly popped up into a sparsely leafed tree right next to me. This is yet another severely range-restricted bird, seen virtually only in this one spot. Later on in the day, we descended through gorgeous tree-shaded cardamon plantations, finally reaching Periyar National Park. The long weekend celebrating India’s Republic Day meant hordes of holiday visitors, though we were able to spend a quiet morning on the park trails, finding a few more specialties such as the Wynaad Laughingthrush and Rusty-tailed Flycatcher, along with the help of two fine local guides. The native tribes here have realized the value of eco-tourism, and several are learning and training as park guides, which will surely help preserve the park in the long run. In the afternoon we trolled the main street of Periyar, known as the spice capitol of the world, where shop after shop was stocked with every imaginable type of spice - cardamon, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, saffron, peppercorns of every color, and many more. We all stocked up on packets of varying sizes, but certainly made no dent in the overall supply there!	Photo courtesy of Susan Myers
Photo courtesy of SmartTravelAsia.com	One more long bus trip back to Cochin positioned us for a flight to Chennai (AKA Madras), on the east coast, followed by an early flight the next day to the Andaman Islands and our final few days of birding. These islands, though belonging to India, actually lie much closer to the west coast of Myanmar than to India, and have developed an interesting variety of species as well as attracting many from the mainland. There are plenty of palm trees, beaches, aqua blue waters and reefs, though the islands were severely impacted by the tsunami a year ago. In fact, it amazed me that things were functioning here at all, as we passed along hugely pot-holed dirt tracks which barely served to replace washed-out roads, and observed villages half-blasted away by the waves. Clearly the limited infrastructure had been badly hit. Still, the Fortune Bay Resort Hotel was delightful, overlooking a beautiful blue bay and with cooling breezes through the open-air lounge and dining area. We didn’t waste much time in getting out for our first afternoon of birding, and spent the following day and a half covering as much habitat as possible to seek out the Andaman Woodpecker (all black with a brilliant red crest, about Pileated Woodpecker-sized), Andaman Cuckoo-Dove, Andaman Coucal, and many others. The owling was quite good too, with two species of Hawk-owl (Andaman and Hume’s) being the highlight for me. Our final morning began at 4:30, with a last bit of birding before heading to the airport and back across the Indian Ocean to Chennai. Day rooms at our lovely hotel here enabled us all to repack and refresh before the long, long trip home. One last, farewell dinner and I headed to the airport for an 11:30PM departure to Tokyo, and then on to L.A. Despite having managed some sleep en route, I was happy to break my trip with an overnight at the airport Marriott, which caught me up a bit for the final leg of my trip and the drive up from Atlanta. I arrived home about 48 hours after getting out of bed in the Andaman Islands, almost half a world away from Highlands. Nothing to it? Well, no, not exactly, but it was a wonderful trip, filled with unexpected wonders and many serendipitous moments, and well worth the long journey across the globe. It was all the more special because of great traveling companions, excellent logistics and fine leadership by Susan and David. Thanks to one and all, it was a trip to be fondly remembered, and to whet my appetite for still more awesome Asian birds!	Photo courtesy of Susan Myers