Andaman Islands - Feb/Mar 2015 (1 Viewer)

Following an excellent trip with K.V. Eldhose last year in South India, I teamed up with a couple from South Africa that I had met on that trip, this time to explore the Andaman Islands (26 February to 2 March) and Sri Lanka (2 March to 10 March).

This report is just for the Andamans, Sri Lanka to follow when I get a chance to edit my photos.

25 February 2015
My flight was from Taipei to KL to Chennai where I arrived about 5 hours before the others so decided to book one night’s stay at the Trident Hotel (approx. 3km from the airport).

26 February 2015
I met the others the next morning at the airport and we waited for the arrival of our guide…who never showed up. We boarded the plane to Port Blair hoping he had taken an earlier flight and upon arrival at Port Blair all was revealed….Eldhose had broken his leg while out birding a couple of weeks before and had arranged a replacement, the excellent Darnish who had arrived in Port Blair a couple of days earlier to prepare.

We stayed at the Emerald View Hotel in Port Blair for the duration of our stay.

Our birding got underway with a visit in the afternoon to Chidiya Tapu. During our stay this proved to be the most productive area we visited both in the daytime and for the night birding.

The first day saw us pick up the first of our endemics starting with Andaman Drongo, Andaman Woodpecker, Andaman Bulbul, Andaman Woodpigeon, Andaman Coucal, Andaman Shama, Andaman Green-Pigeon and Andaman Flowerpecker.

Other notable species included Brown-backed Needletail, Freckle-breasted Woodpecker, Asian Fairy-bluebird, Common Hill Myna, Small Minivet and Scarlet Minivet.

As the sun began to set we managed to see our first Oriental Scops-Owl, later followed by our first views of Andaman Hawk-Owl and Hume’s Hawk-Owl.

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S22139387

27 February 2015
Our first full day saw us back at Chidiya Tapu for a 6:00am start. Birds were certainly more active in the early morning and we soon picked up additional endemics including Andaman Serpent-Eagle, Andaman Cuckoo-Dove, brief views of an Andaman Cuckooshrike, Andaman Treepie and White-headed Starling.

Other notable birds included, a pair of Black Baza flying by, Changeable Hawk-Eagle, Indian Cuckoo’s called without being seen for the whole morning, and a pair of Stork-billed Kingfishers. Parrots made an appearance on the list with Alexandrine Parakeet, Red-breasted Parakeet, Long-tailed Parakeet and Vernal Hanging-Parrots. Asian Glossy Starlings were common and an Orange-headed Thrush, while searching unsuccessfully for an Andaman Crake, was a bonus.

We returned to the hotel for lunch before trying our first wetlands not far from Port Blair called Sippighat. Andaman Teal were surprisingly common and mixed in with the Lesser Whistling-Ducks and Cotton Pygmy-Geese. Nothing really unusual at the wetlands but we did add Yellow Bittern, Chinese Pond-Heron, Striated Heron, White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Purple Swamphen, Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Whimbrel, Long-toed Stint, Pin-tailed Snipe and Oriental Pratincole to the list.

As the light started to fade we rushed over to an old building in Port Blair that was home to at least one Andaman Masked-Owl. This is normally a tough endemic to find but we found the bird within 5 minutes.

Reading this with great interest Dave. I went there on the boat 'bunk class' from Madras once, when I was ..er... a lot younger, half the birds you've mentioned weren't split, and I had no gen and missed a fair few. Hope I get a chance to return one day .

Yep lots of endemics there now Larry...certainly worth a re-visit!

28 February 2015
We missed the early ferry to Mount Harriet by about 30 seconds as it left 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. The next ferry arrived about 20 minutes later and we endured a cramped 10 minute crossing in flat calm seas.

A few common birds were picked up on the way, including House Crow, Large-billed Crow, Common Kingfisher, Whimbrel, and Pacific Golden-Plover.
On the way to the top we stopped briefly for Emerald Doves on the road and a Forest Wagtail that paused briefly next to us.

At the top of Mount Harriet activity was slow but constant and walking back down the road we picked up Andaman Wood-Pigeon, Andaman Green-Pigeon, Andaman Coucal, Glossy Swiftlets, nesting Freckle-breasted Woodpeckers, Andaman Woodpecker, Vernal Hanging-Parrot, Brown Shrike, Black-naped Oriole, Andaman Drongo, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Andaman Bulbul, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Orinetal Magpie-Robin, Common Hill Myna, Olive-backed Sunbird, a pair of Large Cuckooshrikes and a single Andaman Cuckooshrike.

Again no sign of the Andaman Crake so we returned to Port Blair for lunch.

A return to Chidiya Tapu in the afternoon resulted in lots of repeats but no new birds. Once the sun had set, we picked up Andaman Nightjar which kept us running around trying to get photos. After that we stopped briefly for a Hume’s Hawk-Owl sat on the wire and then concentrated on Andaman Scops-Owl which was calling but would not come close. Moving 5km up the road into the denser forest we tried again and after hearing a couple of birds calling, one eventually flew in for great views and stayed studying us for the next 5 minutes. This was our fifth Owl species of the trip and all had posed nicely for photos.

Great to see a report about a very little-known area with some cracking shots of the endemics - looking forward to reading more.

Cheers
Mike

MKinHK said:

Great to see a report about a very little-known area with some cracking shots of the endemics - looking forward to reading more.

Click to expand...

Totally agree.

Sorry for the delay in finishing this!

1 March 2015
We started the day off back at Chidiyatapu hoping to photograph Andaman Woodpigeon which we saw flying by but yet again missed the photos. Having already seen all the endemics but one, we concentrated our remaining time searching for the elusive Andaman Crake. One of our party was lucky to see one but the rest of us missed it, as it scuttled off before we could get there. Plenty of birds to keep us interested including repeats of lots of the endemics.

In the afternoon we returned to Sippighat and added Cinnamon Bittern, Gray-headed Lapwing, Chinese Pond-Heron and Pacific Reef-Heron to the trip list.

In the evening we returned to Chidiyatapu for the final time and the night birding was once again good with a cooperative Oriental Scops-Owl and Hume’s Boobook being the highlights.

Some photos...

2 March 2015
As we only had a few hours before our flight we decided to try another area of wetlands at Sippighat rather than try again for the Andaman Crake.

The new wetlands was productive and we added Black-browed Reed-Warbler, Dusky Warbler, Baillon’s Crake, Ruddy-breasted Crake, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Slaty-breasted Rail, Watercock, Curlew Sandpiper and Mangrove Whistler before heading back to the airport for our flight back to the mainland.


Overall a very successful trip with 112 species seen and just the one endemic missed (Andaman Crake) with 2 others seen but not photographed (Andaman Cuckoo-Dove & Andaman Wood-Pigeon) out of the possible endemics available.

For birding the Andamans was excellent, for photography it was difficult as the trees are extremely tall and the birds are shy and tend to stay in the canopy. Wetland birds and the night birding offered the best opportunity for photos.

Next part of the trip was Sri Lanka.

Some more photos here...more to follow as I am still processing them.

Cheers

Dave

Some more pics...

Cheers

Dave

...and some more.

Cheers

Dave

A few more...

Cheers

Dave