This owl is the Oriental Bay Owl. People thought this bird was extinct in India till 1992 and till date only 2 – 3 birds have been spotted in India. When we actually saw the bird and started shooting, the bird was in a weird angle and we were not getting any good shots. Then the skies opened up and we had to rush to a watch tower. After the rain, Yathin and Vijay wanted to get back, but I stayed back in the forest with the guide to shoot this bird. After spending half an hour, he finally looked at me and I got my shot. Only after coming back that I realised this was the only photographic evidence of the bird till date.
Now how often does that happen ? Another rare bird I got to capture was the Srilankan frogmouth.
Since Yathin did a lovely trip report, I’ll skip mine. My Anamalais pictures are finally up.
Yay
That is very awesome.
Now believe that, I do – uh-hmm… (sorry, just had to say that)
Well, it was the owl’s one chance to become famous, just look at that vain pose
)
I hear a callling!
Ok! Enough with all the talk. Pack your bags and head of to the National Geographic world and personally hand deliver this picture to them. Will ya!!
Do them and yourself a favour lad.
–Zainab tracking you from Dubai–
Awesome!!
Hi Kalyan,
I was in PESIT, in E & C, the same batch as you. I have been an avid follower of your photos for a long time. Just never made a comment. But this time, wow!! The photos are so so beautiful that I just had to
Keep up the good work 
Best wishes,
Deepthi.
Re: More
I have tons on my machine.. will upload one of these days.
Re: I hear a callling!
heh, thanks for the advice big mamma :p
Thanks for the correction. My bad. Made the changes.
Re: Awesome!!
Hi deepthi,
Glad you liked the pictures and amazed to see the link to my site on your blog.
I do remember your face from college
wow! i had never seen an Oriental Bay Owl…cool…lucky you!!! (Again)
Re: Awesome!!
I’m really surprised you remember my face
Yeah I’ve had that link almost since I started blogging 
Wanted all my friends to visit your journal 
The Frogmouths are so sos so sos os cute…
i never knew such a bird existed…
Goodness Kalyan… all the very best to you in life..
and thank you so much for bringing us such wonderful adventures from the Jungle World
Take care
Lavannya
Bay Owls have been photographed before in India
Hi Kalyan, this is Pritam. Nice photos. I just read Yathin’s report too. You sure had an awesome vacation.
Photographic records of the Bay Owl from India have been around for quite a while now. This bird is not the rarest owl in the foothill forests along the Assam-Arunachal border and I have spotted one at Nameri. There is a definite photographic record of an injured Bay Owl from just outside Kaziranga. The bird dropped onto a village courtyard after a nasty crow injured it in flight. It was rescued and photographed (this happened a few years ago). I also know that bay owls have been regularly spotted by quite a few foreign tourist groups in North Bengal. I wouldnt bet that none of those groups photographed it.
While the population of this owl in India is quite fragmented and is found locally in pockets, it has a wide range of distribution outside India (and photographic records are proportionately common outiside India). Nevertheless, spotting it and shooting it in India is rare indeed. However, I think the cooperative sri-lanka frogmouth was an even bigger catch. Frogmouths in general are almost impossible to spot (though afaik, they are not endangered). Same applies to all Nightjars. Not the rarest in terms of population but very rare in terms of spotting records.
~Pritam Baruah.
Prob we should all make a trip to one of these forests
Re: Bay Owls have been photographed before in India
Bay Owls have been photographed earlier in India. But the bird was indeed rediscovered only in 1992 at Top Slip. I think Kalyan made an error there
- Suraj, Tirupur.
Re: Bay Owls have been photographed before in India
Thanks for the clarification guys. I was told this was the 1st by few people, so I went by that.