Birding Tour India: The West – Forest Owlet Extension

On this short (four-day) tour we will look for the enigmatic and highly sought Forest Owlet near Mumbai. Discovered in 1872, with six specimens collected until 1884, the species was then not seen again until 1997, a full 113 years later! Since its rediscovery the bird has since been found in three Indian states: Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra (where we will be looking for it). The population of this endemic bird is considered low and globally threatened with less than 1,000 birds; the species is considered ‘Endangered’ by BirdLife International and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Forest Owlet is the primary target of this special extension (photo G. Adhikari).

The lush deciduous forest in which we will be looking for Forest Owlet is at the northern tip of the Western Ghats mountain range and is therefore also home to many other interesting and localized species. During our stay in the area we also hope to find some of the following species: Malabar Trogon, Blue-winged (Malabar) Parakeet, Indian Grey Hornbill, Jerdon’s Leafbird, White-cheeked Barbet, White-spotted Fantail, Indian Paradise Flycatcher, Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Mottled Wood Owl, Jungle Owlet, Indian Scops Owl, White-bellied Drongo, and Vigor’s Sunbird. However, with our limited time here and with our focus being the owlet, we should not necessarily expect to see all of the above!

This short extension has been designed to run after our exciting Birding Tour India: The Northwest – Lions and Desert Birding in Gujarat. We have several other tours in India, which all combine to give you an incredible range of birding and wildlife-watching options in this wonderful country. See the full range of our Indian tours here.

We can also arrange this trip to fit before or after any of our other India birding tours, though the costs for this may vary from the costs provided for the dates given here.

The colorful Plum-headed Parakeet is one of the few parakeet species we hope to encounter on this tour.