The Garden and grounds of Bamboo Banks offer some excellent birding. Two hours in the early morning before breakfast should reveal the best part of 50 species.
The small coffee plantation behind the dining area is particularly rewarding, being home to the Indian pitta, paradise flycatcher, orange headed thrush, and Tickell's blue flycatcher. It is regularly visited by roving parties consisting of woodpeckers, minivets, nuthatches, leaf birds, the black headed oriole, the coppersmith and the Southern endemic white cheeked barbet, together with a good variety of other species. Patience and a measure of luck may also reveal other flycatchers such as the Nilgiri and white bellied. The orange headed thrush favors the small fresh water conduit near the office building and can be joined there by the blue capped rock thrush and the Eurasian blackbird. The latter surprises Europeans who are more familiar with it in temperate London.
The flower garden near the Tank, occasionally visited by kingfishers, holds a large population of purple rumped sunbirds with the giant cherry tree in this garden hosting resident koels, with the Indian blue robin, emerald dove and blue bearded bee eater being occasional visitors.
To the North of the Coffee plantation in the field behind the stables it is easy to find two endemics of South India, the green billed malkoha and the white headed babblers. Other babblers are possibilities here, namely the Indian scimitar, the yellow eyed and the tawny bellied.
To the South of the coffee plantation the white browed bulbul and cuckoo shrikes frequent the bushes and are easier to find here than on the field to the North.
If birders find it difficult to reach the 100 mark after a day or so at Bamboo Banks, this can be rectified by a few forays to the adjacent areas such as the Marvakandi Dam, and the Singara Plantations with their large trees. The Dam has a resident population of spot billed duck and others such as cinnamon bittern, marsh harrier, and stork billed kingfisher can be seen. The Singara Road can add spangled and racket tailed drongos, fairy bluebird and crimson fronted barbet. The white bellied woodpecker, another Southern endemic, is easily found here. At the time of writing, the vulture is making a comeback at Bamboo Banks, after nearing extinction in India, a flock of 35 white rumped vultures has recently been circling over Bamboo Banks and its nearby village of Masinagudi.
In the wildlife of mudumalai the following animals are spotted : Elephant, Gaur (Bison), Wild Boar and Sloth Bear Sambar, Chital (Spotted Deer), Black Buck, Mouse Deer (Chevrotain), Four Horned Antelope and Barking Deer (Muntjac),Tiger, Leopard, Jungle Cat and Small Indian Civet Cat, Giant (Malabar) and other Squirrels, Common Langur and Bonnet Macaque, Peacock, Jungle Fowl, Partridge, Quail, Malabar Tragon, Malabar Grey Hornbill, Wodpeckers, Crested Hawk and Crested Serpent Eagles and several varieties of birds, Monitor Lizard and various types of Snakes, Porcupine, Mongoose and Hare, Hyena, Jackal and Dhole (Wild Dog) .
