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September 17, 2015, Thattekad, India — When I woke up this morning, my inbox was full of messages from old college professors, high school teachers, elementary school teachers, ex-girlfriends, extended family, and friends, several of whom I hadn’t heard from in years. Thanks to the many hundreds of people who have left nice comments on Facebook (Noah Strycker), Twitter (@NoahStrycker), this Audubon blog, and elsewhere—it really gave me a boost to read them all!
Our birding posse stopped for breakfast in a small village this morning, and, as we left the restaurant, Eldhose stopped at a newspaper stand to look at the headlines. With a smile, he pointed out my photo and an article on the front page of today’s The Times of India—the world’s largest daily English newspaper. Oh yeah, I broke a world record yesterday!
Meanwhile, it’s back to work: Harsha, Eldhose, Danish, and I spent the day birding through intermittent downpours around Thattekad. Eldhose, who lives here, is a local legend among birders. When David Attenborough was filming his famous television series, The Life of Birds, he came to Thattekad for the Rufous Woodpecker (a species which nests inside active ant mounds), and Eldhose spent ten days guiding Sir David. Eldhose knows the birds around here like the back of his hand, which really came in handy today when we found several species of roosting owls in the thick forest.
He runs a guest house near Thattekad which is a good base from which to explore the area, and, if you’re lucky, Eldhose might even show you around. He can be reached through birdingsouthindia.com.
New birds today: 19
Year list: 4362
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