The Andamans Day 3

We caught the 5am ferry to the other side of South Andaman Island and drove to a superb stretch of roadside forest where we literally spent the next four hours trying to find Andaman Crake. Well we certainly heard several, even got quite close to one or two, had one individual sneak up behind us allowing only myself and Vikram views, and tried and tried again at various spots along our walk. It was getting tedious to say the least and I’m pretty sure everyone had had enough and would have been glad to give up but just before 10am we gave it another go and followed a narrow trail inside the forest. This time after a few bursts of tape a stunning vision of bright chestnut and black & white barring walked sedately into view – ANDAMAN CRAKE! What a relief and this bird casually began to feed right in front of us and I daren’t raise my camera to take a photo, it was that close. It was on view for a couple of minutes before slowly making its way into denser vegetation and onto my group’s life lists. So with that done we drove further and walked through another patch of forest, getting nice looks at more White-headed Starlings, Andaman Drongos and plenty of common species, although Large Cuckooshrike was a new bird for the trip. We kept on looking for new birds to no avail and finished the morning session with a large mixed feeding flock that we scanned for Andaman Cuckooshrike without any joy.

Andaman Masked Owl - our 5th species of owl on the Andamans

 After lunch we were picked up at 3pm and drove back to Chidiyatapu Forest and were not surprised to see how quiet it was. But we walked a little along the road before staking out the nightjar and only hearing it call again. However, we finished the day off with a flourish when an Andaman Masked Owl flew right at us and landed just a couple of metres above our heads before flying off to a more reasonable perch to stare balefully at us. What a cracker and a great way to end a rather tough day’s birding.

Andaman Islands Day 2

Left the hotel at 5.30am and drove back to Chidiyatapu Forest, seeing Pacific Golden Plover and Yellow Wagtail along the way and followed the road for several kilometres. We had a great few hours with lots of bird activity, lovely light and a very pleasant temperature. More Andaman Drongos and Andaman Treepies were seen, although not as many as yesterday. Instead we enjoyed our first Andaman Flowerpeckers, followed by cracking views of a fine male Andaman Woodpecker, whilst nearby several Andaman White-headed Starlings were feeding close to the road. The same spot also held Freckle-breasted Woodpecker, Black-naped Oriole, and an Andaman Coucal. 

Andaman Woodpecker

Freckle-breasted Woodpecker

A huge fruiting tree held lots of Green Imperial-Pigeons and as we watched them also saw a few Andaman Green-Pigeons. Further on the often tricky Andaman Cuckoo-Dove posed for a several minutes above the road and there was also several Andaman Bulbuls, another Freckle-breasted Woodpecker and more Andaman Flowerpeckers feeding in the same vicinity. 

Andaman Cuckoo Dove - honest!

A little further along the road we had superb views of a pair of Andaman Shama frolicking beside the road. Breakfast overlooking a patch of water was enlivened by a group of Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters, a female Andaman Woodpecker posing at the top of a dead tree and flyover Changeable Hawk-Eagle and Brahminy Kite. Other species seen this morning include a flock of Brown-backed Needletails, Glossy Swiftlet, Olive-backed Sunbird, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Red-breasted, Long-tailed and Alexandrine Parakeets, Small and Scarlet Minivets, Brown Shrike, Oriental White-eye, and several Asian Glossy Starlings.

Then we drove to a further patch of forest close to the coast and a short walk failed to produce any crakes, but having a splendid Violet Cuckoo teed up in the scope was ample compensation. In fact it gave walk-away views and we ended up at a very nice beach area where we enjoyed a nice cup of coffee before returning to the hotel for lunch.

After lunch at the hotel we returned to the same forest and just as soon as we got out of the cars a pair of Black Bazas were spotted circling overhead and a pair of Black-naped Monarchs showed well. We walked along the road a short distance but things were predictably quiet so drove on to another patch of forest. We walked around a park area and toyed with several calling Andaman Crakes – or were they toying with us? Anyway, we never saw one and left at dusk but did see our first Orange-headed Thrush feeding out on the open. We drove on to the nightjar spot but only heard it again, but the day finished off on a high with an Andaman Scops-Owl posing in the spotlight at our first attempt. Nice!

The Andamans

After a long night’s sleep we enjoyed a decent breakfast before driving to the airport for our 12.05pm flight to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands. It took just over two hours and upon arrival we found the permit formalities to be a relatively quick affair and we soon had our luggage and met up with our excellent local guide, Vikram. A short drive took us to our hotel in the town and we quickly unpacked and got our birding gear together before driving to Chidiyatapu Forest. Along the way we stopped along the coast to scope Pacific Golden Plover, both Greater and Lesser Sandplovers, Pacific Reef Heron and Collared Kingfisher. A flock of Andaman Drongos was our first endemic tick, quickly followed by several Andaman Treepies accompanying them. There was lots of activity and we followed this flock along the road, seeing Common Emerald Dove, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Red-breasted Parakeet, a few flyover Common Hill-Mynas, brief Andaman Woodpecker, and eventually a couple of us got on Andaman Cuckoo-Dove, possibly the hardest endemic to find. An Andaman Coucal also tried to get itself run over by one of our vehicles, and needless to say it didn’t hang around for good views!

As the light began to fade we drove further, stopping to look at a Stork-billed Kingfisher perched above the road and some Glossy Swiftlets flying over, before continuing on to the Andaman Nightjar site. At dusk one began calling inside the forest and we got really excited, but only Stephen caught a glimpse of it before it disappeared for good, although a Greater Racket-tailed Drongo was quite spectacular as it flew over our heads. A very frustrating experience but we soon put this to the back of our minds as a Hume’s Hawk Owl began calling, it wasn’t responsive at all, but a calling Walden’s Scops-Owl was a lot closer and we managed to track it down after a lengthy battle. Well it was right over our heads and only about 10 feet away – but what a cracker. 

Walden's Scops-Owl

Whether you split this from Oriental Scops-Owl or not, to get such brilliant close views is a real privilege. So we drove a little further and my driver then spotted a Hume’s Hawk-Owl perched on telegraph wires beside the road and we had cracking views of two birds in the spotlight. Wow! Further on it didn’t take long to find an Andaman Hawk-Owl, and although it was a little shyer than his cousin we enjoyed repeated views of it perched in nearby trees as well as flying around us on several occasions. So we were very happy with this and returned to the hotel for dinner. But I couldn’t understand why the restaurant of the hotel wouldn’t serve us beer with our meal, when there was a bar just a few floors below…?

Back in India....

Well it's been a while since my last blog post, but after a nice break I find myself back in India once again, this time at the start of my South India and Andamans tour. So let's get cracking...

Following an overnight flight via Dubai we arrived at Chennai around 8.15am and made our way to the delightful Hotel Pride. Meeting up with Pete & Margaret from Australia we had a little siesta followed by lunch before heading to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, a little over 2 hours drive away. Arriving at 4pm we walked along the bund, shaded from the sun by large trees and thoroughly enjoyed our time watching the activity at the largest breeding rookery I’ve ever seen in Asia…! I mean there are 1000’s of birds nesting on the bushes out in the lake and they are not too far away to get a sensory overload of sound and smell..! The majority of species are made up of Painted Storks and Asian Openbills, with slightly lesser numbers of Black-crowned Night-Herons, Black-headed Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbills, Great, Little and Indian Cormorants, and flocks of Glossy Ibis continually flew over. Masses of locals were also visiting today but it didn’t hamper our short birding session and we also pulled out Striated Heron, a few Oriental Darters, Indian Golden Oriole, Common Hawk Cuckoo at close range, Southern Coucal, Asian Koel, a pair of White-throated Kingfishers positively glowing in the late afternoon sunshine, our first Yellow-billed Babblers and a nice close perched Shikra. In the rice fields were lots of Indian Pond-herons, as well as Grey Francolin, Indian Spot-billed Duck, Indian Roller, White-browed Wagtail, Wood Sandpipers, Red-wattled Lapwings and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters.

Returning to the coach an Oriental Magpie Robin, Indian Robin and an unobtrusive Blyth’s Reed Warbler were seen.  And that was our day so we returned to the hotel and enjoyed a delicious hot buffet dinner.

Chobe National Park

We spent the morning on a jeep safari in Chobe National Park. Following a sandy track down to the River Trail we crested a hill and below us was a vast grassy plain with a large river running through it. It was an incredible sight as there were just so many animals on view, with hundreds of African Elephants, and smaller numbers of Waterbuck, Wildebeest, Hippos and more. We heard about a Leopard sighting and drove for quite some time to get to the correct spot, but unfortunately it had disappeared and I hindsight we wasted several hours waiting in the general vicinity for the beast to show. But we did see quite a lot of birds such as Hooded Vulture, Pallid Harrier, Burchell’s Sandgrouse, Black-crowned Tchagra, Red-billed Firefinch and Shaft-tailed Whydah.

One of my personal highlights of the day was watching a Collared Palm Thrush feeding on the lawn of a hotel at lunchtime, just right there out in the open. Wow! Almost as exciting as the Bronze Mannikins claimed by one of our jeeps!!

Collared Palm Thrush

After lunch the group split up into two, with a few people going with me in the jeep to look for the Leopard again, whilst the rest went with Charly on a boat trip into Chobe National Park. A great time was had by the group on the boat with close views of Elephants and Hippos right beside the boat, and a new mammal in the shape of a rare Puku. New birds included Grey Crowned Crane, the scarce Luapula Cisticola, Red-faced Cisticola, and Black-headed Heron.

Meanwhile the jeep crew followed the River Trail and the amount of wildlife on view was stunning. Pity we didn’t count the African Elephants but I would guesstimate almost a 1,000 animals along the river, as well as Hippos, Sable, Waterbuck, Wild Boar, Warthog and Impala all feeding on the floodplain. Some of the ellies were so close…

Waterbuck

Elephant at Chobe NP

Blue Wildebeest

Moving on we reached the Leopard tree at 5pm and sure enough the Leopard was there just a few metres away from its kill, resting on a thick branch. Over the course of an hour we watched this young female moving around in the tree and finally coming down to its kill to feed. 

It's a Leopard

What a privilege to watch this beautiful animal in its natural environment, but all to soon we had to leave and rejoin the rest of the group back at the Bush Camp where we enjoyed a fine meal and a little relaxing time at the watchpoint, but nothing much was happening so we all retired early to bed. This had been a great day with plenty of great wildlife viewing and some decent birds as well. 

Back into Botswana

We had a nice walk around the area from the lodge this morning and the undoubted highlight was finding a singing Eastern Nicator – a lifer for everyone and a really big surprise. There was also Red-faced Mousebird, Olive and Golden-tailed Woodpecker, Black-collared and Crested Barbet, and tons of previously seen species.

Loved this Orange-breasted Bushshrike

We left this wonderful lodge and drove some 50+ kms to the border and then crossed over into Botswana, where from the overlook at the passport control we saw 3 Southern Ground Hornbills – just a shame the people at the border crossing were such idiots! The drive through Chobe National Park to Kisane produced another 5 groups of Southern Ground Hornbills totalling maybe 20 individuals! 

Southern Ground Hornbill

We also saw Spur-winged Goose, African Openbill, Great White Pelican, Rufous-bellied Heron, Red-crested Korhaan, White-headed Vulture, Tawny Eagle, Wahlberg’s Eagle, Lesser Spotted Eagle, a Gabar Goshawk being chased by a Dark Chanting Goshawk, Lizard Buzzard, Striped Kingfisher, Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling on the drive this morning.

Red-crested Korhaan

Lunch in Kisane was tedious but eventually our jeeps arrived and we drove off into the bush towards our remote lodge seeinga  Black-chested Snake-Eagle along the way.

Our rooms sort of overlooked a waterhole, but there was a viewing platform anyway and we spent the remainder of the day and up to 11.15pm scanning for anything that moved which included numerous Magpie Shrikes, Swainson’s Francolin, Kori Bustard, Tropical Boubou, and both oxpeckers amongst others.

Magpie Shrike

At night the waterhole was floodlit and we saw 2 Verreaux’s Eagle Owls, plus an African Scops Owl was spotlighted in the Acacia behind us, but there was a distinct lack of mammals tonight apart from a brief Spotted Hyena.