The signature bird of the Western Ghats — massive black-and-white hornbill with a bold yellow casque, flying noisily between fruiting trees in pairs and family groups.
One of India's most colorful birds with nine distinct colors in its plumage — a winter visitor that forages on leaf-litter, best found by its two-note whistle.
A Western Ghats endemic with crimson belly and green back — detected by its deep, resonant call in closed canopy evergreen forest and best seen perching motionlessly.
A tiny endemic flycatcher with vivid orange and jet-black plumage — restricted to the highest shola forests of the Western Ghats above 1,500 m elevation.
A Western Ghats endemic with snow-white underparts and chestnut back — noisy and bold in forest canopy, often the first bird heard at dawn.
Known as the "Whistling Schoolboy" for its human-like whistling — found along every rocky stream in the Western Ghats, territorial males singing from boulders at dawn.
An endemic flycatcher restricted to high-elevation shola forest edges — the male has a striking combination of deep violet-blue upperparts and white outer tail feathers.
A massive owl with horizontal ear tufts and amber eyes — hunts large fish from overhanging branches at forest rivers; the Kabini riverside is a reliable nocturnal site.
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