Ganeshgudi Birdwatching Area

Ganeshgudi Birdwatching Area is a renowned birdwatching destination in Ganeshgudi village, Joida Taluk, Uttara Kannada, Karnataka, within the Western Ghats and Kali Tiger Reserve landscape. It is centered around the Old Magazine House area and surrounding evergreen and moist deciduous forests along the Kali River. The area is notable for sightings of Malabar Pied Hornbill, Malabar Trogon and other Western Ghats endemics, attracting birdwatchers and nature photographers.

Visitors can expect dense evergreen and semi-evergreen forest trails, open clearings and viewpoints near the Kali River and Supa Dam reservoir. The area is accessed via forest roads and walking trails around Old Magazine House and nearby lodges. Visitors can observe a wide variety of forest birds, butterflies and occasional mammals, with guided birdwatching walks typically conducted in early morning and late afternoon. Facilities are limited to eco-lodges, homestays and forest guest houses.

The birdwatching area developed around the Supa Dam project on the Kali River in the 1980s. The Old Magazine House was originally a storage facility for explosives used during dam construction and was later converted by Jungle Lodges and Resorts into a nature camp, which established Ganeshgudi as a prominent birdwatching centre within the former Dandeli-Anshi Tiger Reserve, now Kali Tiger Reserve.