Year 3 -12 March 2026- – Marari Beach Resort-Kerala - India

We had a good night’s sleep and a latish breakfast which was good with good coffee for a change. We decided to go to the activity of Owl Parliament at 10.30am.  I thought well how are we going to see owls when they were nocturnal but we would see.

 Did you know - A "parliament of owls" is the correct collective noun for a group of owls, a term originating from ancient Greek mythology where the owl was associated with Athena, the goddess of wisdom. These birds are often depicted as a council in deep, silent, and watchful discussion.

We did not know what to expect but when we arrived there was a group of about 10 people already waiting. The guide had started and was talking about owls and he thought there were about 15-20 on their property.

He set up his large lens he had on a tripod and focused it on a dense tree nearby. He had found an owl in this tree. It was obviously resting and sleeping there until the night arrived. It was a Spotted owlet. You could see it clearly through the lens and once you knew where it was you could see it with the naked eye but not clearly but as a blob in the tree. It was quite small and as small as a large snowball. The spotted owlet is a small owl which breeds in tropical Asia from North Pakistan to Southeast Asia. A common resident of open habitats including farmland and human habitation, it has adapted to living in cities. They roost in small groups in the hollows of trees or in cavities in rocks and buildings. It nests in a hole in a tree or building, laying 3–5 eggs. The species shows great variation including clinal variation in size and forms a superspecies with the very similar little owl.

We moved on round the property and came across another tree which had a Brown Hawk Owl (boobook) in it – see picture of the day which we watched for some time as it would open its eyes from time to time and then go to sleep again. The brown boobook, also known as the brown hawk-owl, is an owl which is a resident breeder in south Asia from India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal east to western Indonesia and south China.

This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae. The brown boobook is a medium-sized owl with a length of 32 cm (13 in). It has a hawk-like shape due to its long tail and lack of a distinct facial disk. The upperparts are dark brown, with a barred tail. The underparts are whitish with reddish-brown streaking. The eyes are large and yellow. Sexes are similar.

This species is very nocturnal but it can often be located by the small birds that mob it while it is roosting in a tree. It feeds mainly on large insects, frogs, lizards, small birds, and mice. The call is a repeated low soft, musical oo-uk ...ooo-uk... which may be heard at dusk and dawn. This owl is quite common in towns and cities like Colombo, Sri Lanka, as well as suburban areas close to buildings.

Finally we went to another tree and he found 2 Indian Scops owls together. The Indian scops owl is a species of owl native to South Asia. The Indian scops owl is a small 23–25 cm (9.1–9.8 in) owl, although it is one of the largest of the scops owls. Like other scops owls, it has small head tufts, or ears. The upperparts are grey or brown, depending on the morph, with faint buff spotting. The underparts are buff with fine darker streaking. The facial disc is whitish or buff, and the eyes are orange or brown. There is a buff neckband. Sexes are similar. The flight is deeply undulating.

This species is very similar to the slightly larger partially migratory collared scops owl and the oriental scops owl. They can be separated on call and eye colour.

The tour ended which was interesting but there are also barn owls here as well.

We returned to our villa and enjoyed our pool and rested and read. I had an introduction from a crew member to someone interested in the Mauritius to Cape Town leg so will make contact with him.

We decided to try and go out for lunch and asked reception for a recommendation. They said that quite a lot of restaurants are closed due to lack of gas due to the Middle East situation. This was surprising. There was one good one 5 miles away but also one within a few hundred yards. We decided to walk and we had heard of a craft shop nearby. We walked out of the gate and along the road and we passed the gift shop and then came to the restaurant which was closed. We therefore walked back and visited the gift shop. There were some interesting Camel bone pieces but luckily there was nothing of interest. There was no transport (we had told the driver we did not need him today) so we decided to back to the hotel and have a snack at the beach café which we did.

We spent the afternoon reading and swimming. The potential crew member contacted me and I will send him some further information.

The holiday company had arranged a special dinner for us which was a private dinner under a cover near the restaurant. We therefore arrived and were shown to the location which had candles all around it. We then had a lovely 4 course meal with calamari to start with, then a fish soup followed by a fish, prawn and calamari main with vegetables and mashed potato. This was followed by a chocolate brownie with ice cream.  It was a lovely meal and we had fun.

It had been a good relaxing day and I will use the driver tomorrow to go and see some sights.  

The picture of the day is a Brown Hawk Owl seen through an optical lens in a tree near our villa.

Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. 

I am looking for one crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town (mid June to end of July). If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com