Andamans Part 2

Thursday 21^st

Our 5.40 pick up had become standard now and we drove to a new area, pausing briefly for a flock of Daurian Starlings. In this patch of forest we added Small Minivet and Black-naped Monarch as well as getting better views of Andaman Shama. In a feeding flock there were plenty of Andaman Drongos and a few Andaman Treepies (Endemic #14) while in the distance there was a perched Andaman Serpent-Eagle (Endemic #15).

Andaman Woodpecker

Andaman Serpent-Eagle

Vernal Hanging-Parrot and Parakeet

The hotel had forgotten to provide packed breakfasts so we stopped for a much nicer hot breakfast in a little roadside café opposite the beach. While we were there a White-bellied Sea-Eagle soared over the bay.

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

We tried another marsh where a regular Amur Stonechat was still present and there was also a Dollarbird and the daily Brown Shrike. On the way back our driver found us a bright green Andaman Day Gecko.

Andaman Day Gecko

Forest flowers

After downtime and lunch we headed back out for the afternoon session, visiting a different wetland area. 

One of the hazards that make driving in India challenging - cows on the road

A mud and rubbish filled swamp held several waders including Wood and Curlew Sandpiper, Pacific Goldies and Pintail Snipe. We managed to find a Red-throated Pipit on the deck with several more Eastern Yellow Wagtails.

Scarlet Skimmer

Pintail Snipe feeding in a rubbish strewn swamp

Blue-tailed Bee-eaters

Grey-headed Swamphen

Both Yellow and Black Bitterns were added to the heron list and we also had our first terns of the trip with a small flock of Whiskered Terns hunting over the back lake. Two Jungle Crows flew over before it was time to go and stake out the next owl.

Black Bittern

White-throated Kingfisher

We parked up at the back of a school and waited for it to get dark and then an Andaman Masked Owl (Endemic #16) appeared on a ledge and remained perched there while we took our photos.

Andaman Masked Owl

Friday 22^nd

Out again at 5.40 to the ferry. While we waited a few Pied Imperial Pigeons flew over the harbour to join a small roosting flock. After the short ferry crossing we stopped at a small lake where a single Eurasian Wigeon had appeared with a flock of Cotton Pygmy-Geese. A flyover raptor turned into our only Oriental Honey-Buzzard of the trip. We visited the same patch of forest as on our first morning.

Apart from a similar selection of birds we also saw a Mangrove Whistler, two Black Bazas and a large mixed flock of Andaman Treepies and Drongos. An obliging Andaman Cuckooshrike that loosely associated with this flock was new for those who missed the one earlier in the week. 

Andaman Cuckooshrike

After our packed breakfast we were whisked back down the road to the mangroves where a Ruddy Kingfisher had been located. Initially it was quite hard getting a view of it but we eventually got a clear view of it.

Ruddy Kingfisher

We drove on to the wetland area we visited on Wednesday. This time our luck was in and there was no human disturbance so we quickly found a group of Andaman Teal (Endemic #17). On the opposite lake a couple of Oriental Pratincoles sat on the mud. In the whole area we also saw Cinnamon and Yellow Bitterns and walking back I found a Dusky Warbler that decided to show itself.

Oriental Pratincoles

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

Andaman Teal

Grey-headed Swamphen

Brown Shrike

At the next wetland spot there was Chinese Pond-Heron, Purple Heron and Pheasant-tailed Jacana. We drove back to the hotel for lunch, seeing an Oriental Garden Lizard, appropriately enough in the hotel garden.

Oriental Garden Lizard

In the afternoon we left at 15.30 and went to the same rubbish-filled swamp as yesterday but there were no additional waders. We made a brief roadside stop for a flock of White-rumped Munias in a garden and stopped for coffee by the beach. Oddly enough there was what looked like a WW2 pillbox there. A few Pacific Reef-Egrets flew past and a Tibetan Sandplover was roosting on a near rock.

White-rumped Munia

2 Little Egrets = 1 Great Egret

Great Egret

Egret Fest: Medium, 2 Littles and Great

We drove a short distance to a scrubby area and barely had to wait for any length of time before an obliging Andaman Nightjar (Endemic #18) was watched perched in a tree. This was the last ‘easy’ endemic to see with only the Woodpigeon remaining so it only taken us four days to mop up. 

Andaman Nightjar

Saturday 23^rd

An even earlier start as we wanted to get to a further forest at dawn so we left the hotel at 4.45. It was light by the time we got there and we slowly walked down the road scanning both sides of the forest for the mythical Andaman Woodpigeon. We saw a few similar looking Green Imperial Pigeons fly over but there was no sign of our quarry.

After another uninspiring packed breakfast there were a few more birds around and we saw Scarlet Minivet, Andaman Cuckoo-Dove, Drongo & Treepie. Flyovers included our first Forest Wagtail of the trip and a handful of Hill Mynas. With no sign of the woodpigeon we went back to some of the wetlands we’d already visited.

On the first lake there was a large flock of Andaman Teal where we’d seen none on previous visits. A quick count got up to 148 – there were a few obvious fairly plain juveniles and a mix of adults from those with just a white eye-ring to some having an almost entire white head.

Andaman Teal

Slender Skimmer

Yellow-striped Flutterer

We were looking for a Red-necked Stint that was known to be in the area but couldn’t find that either, however we did add Broad-billed Sandpiper and Temminck’s Stint to the trip list. There was the usual selection of Pintail & Common Snipe, Redshank, Wood & Curlew Sands and a few Long-toed Stints. We returned to the hotel late morning.

Striated Heron

Wood Sandpiper

Common Redshank

In the afternoon we went out at 2.45pm and headed to some different wetlands. A juvenile Purple Heron was on one marsh and a Yellow Bittern was on another with a massed flock of 78 Grey-headed Swamphens. Three Whiskered Terns hawked over the water and a distant Stork-billed Kingfisher was seen through the scope. 

Grey Pansy

Whiskered Tern

We wandered over some grassland where a drove of pigs was being rounded up by a guy on a motorbike. Unfortunately they flushed a bunting that our guide had just found. We tried to lure a Slaty-breasted Rail out from the marsh but it wasn’t interested.

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

House Crow

As dusk was approaching we drove the short distance to our owl spot. On arrival it was calling but we had other business first and were soon watching a superb Orange-headed Thrush feeding out in the open. 

Orange-headed Thrush

The owl wasn’t so obliging and remained hidden in a dense clump of leaves while calling. It flew over the road but immediately hid again. Luckily one of our eagle-eyed drivers had managed to locate another one and we were soon enjoying great views of an Oriental Scops-Owl. This is the resident race so may be split into a separate species in the future for yet another Andaman endemic.

Oriental Scops-Owl

Andamans Part1

Andamans 2024

This was a custom-built trip to the Andaman Islands of India organised by Neil using local agents The Tribesmen led by Shakti.

Monday 18^th November

I got to Dagenham Heathway for the first District line tube of the day at 5.05 and changed at Whitechapel for the Lizzy line with the intention of taking it to Heathrow. Unfortunately over-running engineering works meant it wasn’t running beyond Paddington and the Heathrow Express was also not running so I had to go the slow way on the Piccadilly line. I arrived at T2 at 7.15 and checked in much later than planned. There was just about time to grab a coffee and hot roll before heading straight to the gate where boarding had started. We took off on time at 8.45 on the Air India flight to Delhi.

We landed on time at around 10.30pm but it took ages for the steps to get connected as all the normal gates were in use. As we walked across the tarmac to a waiting bus we could taste the smog as well as seeing the poor visibility. We had to collect our luggage as they no longer transfer it directly and then we checked in and had a long wait in the terminal before boarding our 05.30 flight to Port Blair in the Andamans.

Tuesday 19^th

It was only a three and a half hour flight and we were bumped up to Premium Economy so had plenty of legroom and caught up on some sleep. On arrival the local immigration officials found us and quickly checked our credentials as the islands are considered a restricted area. We quickly collected our luggage and headed to the exit where we were met by one of our drivers. Our hotel was only over the road and as we weren’t going out until the afternoon there was time to rest, have lunch and get ready for our first excursion.

Lemon Tree Hotel, Port Blair

We went out at 2pm and stopped by a rocky beach where a couple of Collared Kingfishers were perched on rocks. On the beach there was also Tibetan Sandplover, Common Sand, Whimbrel, White-throated Kingfisher (I still prefer its old name of Smyrna) and two Pacific Reef-Herons, one of each colour phase.

Tibetan Sandplover

Collared Kingfisher

We carried on and stopped by some fields where a Chestnut-headed Bee-eater was perched on a roadside wire next to an Ornate Sunbird. In the trees was a flock of Daurian Starling. As we progressed further down the road, new birds kept being seen including Plume-toed Swiftlet, Red-whiskered Bulbul and Oriental Cuckooshrike. A trio of Long-tailed Parakeets were perched up high amid our first endemic – a dozen Andaman Green Pigeons.

Ornate Sunbird

Andaman Green Pigeon

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

Long-tailed Parakeet

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the Chidiyatapu Biological Park. It’s mostly forest with paved trails but there are a number of animal enclosures so it’s quite a popular place for visitors. 

Even so, we saw a good variety of birds here such as Andaman Drongo (Endemic #2), Changeable Hawk-Eagle, Vernal Hanging Parrot, Alexandrine & Red-breasted Parakeets and Andaman Shama (Endemic #3). As we walked back to the entrance an Andaman Crake was found preening just inside the forest (Endemic #4).

Red-breasted Parakeet

Andaman Drongo

GIMP or Green Imperial Pigeon

After a short stop for coffee we went owling. It gets dark very early here as there’s only one time zone in India and the Andamans are a long way to the East of Delhi. 

Dusk across the bay from the coffee stall

A typical roadside shop

At dusk we first tried for Hume’s Boobook. We heard several and got regular brief views but it took a lot longer to find one that sat around in the open (Endemic #5). We moved to another spot and saw Andaman Hawk-Owl (or Boobook) (Endemic #6), making it a very successful night session. 

Hume's Boobook

Andaman Hawk-Owl

We returned to our hotel where they had a buffet laid out for dinner. We finished the evening in the bar over a round of Kingfishers. 

Wednesday 20^th

After a good night’s sleep we met up at 5.40 and took the ferry across the bay to a different part of the island. It was on a small ferry with only room for a few cars but was pretty packed with motorbikes and foot passengers who use it for commuting.

View from the ferry crossing

A roadside stop by a marsh got us several Pacific Golden Plover, some Pintail Snipe, the first of many Brown Shrikes, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Black-naped Oriole and a single White-breasted Woodswallow.

Pacific Golden Plover

Pintail Snipe

We explored a small patch of forest which was very productive. We soon started adding more endemics starting with Andaman Cuckoo-Dove (Endemic #7). Dusky Warbler was heard and a Pacific Swift flew over. A Himalayan Cuckoo was seen well, these winter on the islands. We had a picnic breakfast and then it was time for more endemics with another trio seen: Andaman Flowerpecker (Endemic #8), Andaman Woodpecker (Endemic #9) – a large mostly black woodpecker with a red nape and Andaman Bulbul (Endemic #10).

Himalayan Cuckoo

Andaman Cuckoo-Dove

A couple of Hill Mynas flew over and a Freckle-breasted Woodpecker was also seen. In a fruiting tree there were a few White-headed Starlings (Endemic #11) but they kept inside the canopy so we didn’t see them that well. After a few Small Minivets came in it was time to head back to the hotel for a rest and lunch.

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

We met up again at 14.45 and headed out to a wetland area. A couple of Edible-nest Swiftlet flew past and a Dusky Warbler was heard tacking away in the undergrowth. Out on the marsh were several Grey-headed Swamphens (AKA Purple Chickens) and some Lesser Whistling Ducks while Blue-tailed Bee-eaters hawked for insects. Joining the ubiquitous Smyrnas were Collared Kingfisher, a flypast Stork-billed Kingfisher and a skulking Blue-eared Kingfisher.

The Andaman Teal weren’t on their usual lake as it had a few people in it and we couldn’t locate them on the adjacent ones either. A couple of Cinnamon Bitterns were seen and the muddy edges held good numbers of Pacific Goldies as well as a Redshank.

Cinnamon Bittern

As we drove to the next spot an Andaman Coucal (Endemic #12) was perched briefly by the side of the road. This spot was more marsh and grassland so there were a few Long-toed Stints amid the common waders, plenty of Eastern Yellow Wagtails which sound almost like Zitting Cisticolas and a flyover Red-throated Pipit. In the reeds an Oriental Reed Warbler was heard.

Long-toed Stint

We stopped for coffee then headed off to our next owling site. In one site we had excellent views of an Andaman Scops Owl (Endemic #13) and heard Oriental Scops Owl and Hume’s Boobook.

Andaman Scops-Owl