Trip report to Yana, Shimoga district, Karnataka
Date of visit: 13th-14th November 1999
Sanjay, Anchal and Yash Sondhi

How to get there: We drove to Yana on the Sirsi-Kumta road, through the Janmane 
ghat  (15 km from Sirsi) and the Devimane ghat (another 35 km). Just below 
Devimane ghat, you turn right onto a “kucha” road that leads to Yana village (14 km). 
The road is in pretty bad shape and an appropriate vehicle is recommended, as no bus 
plies to Yana. The Yana temple is another 2-km trek from Yana village. It took us 
about 4 hours to drive from Sirsi to Yana.
Yana is part of reserved forests in the Shimoga district. Yana has a famous temple, 
and hence is visited frequently by pilgrims. We camped at the Yana village, and 
walked to the Yana temple through dense evergreen forest. The trail continues for 
approx. 3 km beyond the temple through dense evergreen forest. The temple is built 
below tall rocky cliffs, which provide a spectacular view.
As per Sunita, legend has it that the rocks constitute part of Bhasmasura. Bhasmasura, 
the legend says, used to supply Lord Shiva with ash. However, everything 
Bhasmasura used to touch would turn to ash. So Lord Shiva disguised himself as 
Mohini, danced in front of Bhasmsura and mesmerized him. During the dance, 
Bhasmasura, in his trance, began copying Mohini. During the course of the dance, 
Lord Shiva placed his hand on his own head, and Bhasmasura followed suit. In doing 
so turned into ash.

List of birds seen
495.	Pompadour				Treron pompadora
516.	Blue Rock Pigeon			Columbia livia
Flocks of Blue Rock Pigeons seen flying at the rock cliff above the Yana temple.
566.	Indian Lorikeet			Loriculus beryllinus
627.	Great Horned Owl			Bubo bubo
712.	Malabar Trogon			Harpactes fasciatus
722.	Small Blue Kingfisher			Alcedo atthis
735.	Whitebreasted Kingfisher		Halcyon smyrnensis
744.	Chestnutheaded Bee-eater		Merops leschenaultii
A small flock of 4-5 birds seen at the Yana village, perched on a tall tree at noon time.
750.	Small Green Bee-eater		Merops orientalis
785.	Small Green Barbet			Megalaima viridis
790.	Crimsonthroated Barbet		Megalaima rubricapilla
856.	Heart Spotted Woodpecker		Hemicircus canente	
The Heartspotted Woodpecker was very common in the forest. Numerous sightings of 
the birds, normally in pairs. The bird’s calls heard very commonly.
Call: a rapidly uttered, shrill “kikikikiki….”, uttered with a flapping of its wings.
914.	Dusky Crag Martin			Hirundo concolor
977.	Greater	Racket-tailed Drongo		Dicrurus paradiseus
1065.	Blackbacked Pied Flycatcher-Shrike	Hemipus picatus picatus
1078.	Blackheaded Cuckoo-Shrike		Coracina melanoptera
Single sighting of a female bird, perched on a tall tree.
1116.	Rubythroated Bulbul			Pycnonotus melanicterus gularis
1169.	Slatyheaded Scimitar Babbler		Pomatorhinus horsfieldi
1224.	Blackheaded Babbler			Rhopocichla atriceps
1435.	Whitebellied Blue Flycatcher		Muscicapa pallipes
1445.	Verditer Flycatcher			Muscicapa thalassina
1601.	Largebilled Leaf Warbler		Phylloscopus magnirostris
I heard the Largebilled Leaf Warbler before actually seeing it, hearing its very 
distinctive call- “see seesee seesee” in descending notes. The leaf warbler was in 
typical terrain, in dense forest close to a torrential stream. I am familiar with the bird’s 
call having heard it in the Himalayas, quite often. In addition to the above call, the 
birds also uttered a 2 syllable call note: “see see”, which is similar sounding. The call 
note can be described as an interrogative “who’s he?”
On finally spotting the birds, I actually saw 2 leaf warblers together on the same bush. 
Field characters: Plumage looked quite worn. Above, olive brown color. Below, a 
uniform dirty buff color. The birds had a whitish colored supercilium which curved 
inwards, a black streak through the eye and a single wingbar. 
The leaf warbler was heard at practically every stream I walked through, indicating 
that it was quite common, given suitable habitat. At least 3 separate identifications.
1606.	Largecrowned leaf Warbler		Phylloscopus occipitalis ?
1728.	Malabar Whistling Thrush		Myiophonus caeruleus
1809.	Yellowcheeked Tit			Parus xanthogenys
1909.	Small Sunbird				Nectarinia minima
Seen commonly. I saw male Small Sunbirds together on more than one occasion. The 
males seem to interact aggressively (?), with a fair amount of calling. I have noticed 
this in other forests in the Western Ghats (eg. Mahabaleshwar, Bhimashankar), too 
and have always wondered why the male sunbirds associate frequently. Could their 
interaction be a territorial clash? There is a fair bit of chasing around by the birds, but 
I have also seen them feeding together on the same flowering bush. Salim Ali’s 
Handbook does not make any special mention on the association of male Small 
Sunbirds in the non-breeding season. This association is unique to the Small Sunbird, 
as I have never witnessed similar behavior in the Loten’s or the Purplerumped or the 
Purple Sunbird. 
1933.	White Eye				Zosterops palpebrosa

List of Butterflies seen 
The Nymphalids
The Redspot Duke			Euthalia evalina 
The Tamil Yeoman			Cirrochroa thais 
The Chocolate Pansy			Precis iphita
The Grey Pansy			Precis atlites
The Clipper				Parthenos sylvia
The Common Map			Cyrestis thyodamas
The Rustic				Cupha erymanthis
The Common Castor			Ariadne merione
The Tawny Rajah			Charaxes bernadus (Charaxes polyxena)
The Common Lascar			Pantoporia hordonia (Neptis hordonia) 
The Papilios
The Common Blue-bottle		Graphium sarpedon (Zetides sarpedon) 
The Common Jay			Graphium doson (Zetides doson)	
The Blue Mormon			Papilio polymnestor	
The Malabar Rose			Tros jophon
The Common Banded Peacock	Papilio crino
The Common Banded Peacock- my first ever sighting, and the only in the entire trip! 
Wynter Blyth mentions its distributions as "curious", stating that it is found patchily 
in "parts of S India", with no specific sighting mentioned in the Shimoga area.
However Talbot mentions its distribution as Peninsular India and  "that the species is 
not rare, being rather common in the plains". Photographed.
Food plant: the Indian Satinwood Tree.
The Common Birdwing		Troides minos (Troides helena)
The Common Mormon		Papilio polytes
The Tailed Jay				Graphium agamemnon (Zetides agamemnon)
The Danaids
The Glassy Tiger			Parantica aglea(Danais aglea)                                  
The Common Crow			Euploea core
The Tree Nymph			Idea malabarica (Hestia lynceus)
The Pale Blue Tiger			

The Pierids
The Large Orangetip			Hebomoia glaucippe
The Common Wanderer		Parernonia valeria

The Lycaenids
Hedge Blue?
The Malayan/The Quaker??

The Hesperidae
The Common Banded Demon	Notocrypta paralysos

Sanjay, Anchal and Yash Sondhi
B 1 Siddeshwar Heights, Sanewadi, ITI Road, 
Aundh, Pune 411007
India
Email: sondhi@yahoo.com
Tel: 020 5885717