South India & the Andamans Day 2

After a short transfer to the airport we took off pretty much on time on the flight to Port Blair in the Andamans, passing over numerous forested islands on the way. Upon arrival we headed straight to our accommodation, at the rather wonderfully named Megapode Nest Resort where we found all of the rooms to contain just the one double bed. A bit of a problem if you have two guys sharing! After a bit of creative logistics it all worked out in the end though! So after a nice lunch we set off at 2.30pm to a nearby forest where we walked along the road and notched up our first endemics in the shape of Andaman Drongo and Andaman Green-pigeon, to add to the Andaman Coucal a few of the group saw in the gardens of the lodge. Flocks of Alexandrine and Red-breasted Parakeets were flying over the canopy, and we also had several pale-headed Brown Shrikes of the Lucionensis race and a Dollarbird. But the birding was rather slow, that was until the sun set and we managed to see an Andaman Nightjar flying overhead. 

Andaman Hawk-owl - record shot

Walden's (Oriental) Scops-owl

Andaman Hawk-owl

Then we called in a Hume’s Hawk-owl which didn’t stay very long, totally opposite to the Andaman Hawk-owls we had perched on telegraph wires at a couple of places. We finished with a Walden’s Scops-owl (one of these Rasmussen splits from Oriental Scops-owl) accidently picked up in the spotlight when searching for another hawk-owl. What luck! So a great end to our first day on the Andaman Islands indeed.