We were again up early at 04:00 and caught the 05:30 ferry from Port Blair across to Bamboo Flat. We birded the mangrove area at Kalathang and onto the same forested track that we birded yesterday. We saw much the same as yesterday with a good range of endemics, the highlight being seeing a large flock of around 60 Andaman Treepie mixed with Andaman Drongo and Andaman Cuckoo-shrike. This large roving flock was quite a site and we followed the birds for some time before they disappeared into the forest. Also here was an Indian Cuckoo while a Pacific Swift overhead was debated as Blyth’s Swift until we realised that this sub-species of Pacific Swift is not known to occur on the Andaman Islands. We then headed to an area of forest at Ferrgungh on the main road from Bamboo Flat back to Port Blair, by now it was very hot. The birding was fairly productive and we saw two stunning Andaman Crake which came into tape, Orange-headed Thrush, Oriental Dollarbird, Asian Fairybluebird, Long-tailed Parakeet and Andaman Shama. We caught the crowded 11:30 ferry back to Port Blair and had lunch and siesta in the hotel before heading back to the ferry to Bamboo Flats.
Andaman Treepie - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
White-breasted Kingfisher - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
White-breasted Kingfisher - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Grey-fronted Green-pigeon - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Chestnut-headed Bee-eater - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Indian Cuckoo - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Andaman Drongo - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Andaman Crake - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Andaman Drongo - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Oriental Dollarbird - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
By now the only diurnal bird species we needed were Andaman Teal, Andaman Wood-pigeon and Andaman Serpent-eagle and so our attention was focused on locating these species. In the afternoon we once again caught the Port Blair to Bamboo Flats ferry and birded at Kalathang. We again birded the roadside and mangroves and to the forested track with no luck with the wood-pigeon or serpent eagle seeing only Green Imperial-pigeon, Andaman Bulbul and Andaman Shama. We birded here until dusk and then loitered around waiting for darkness to fall and time for night birding. At 18:30 Jijo played an Andaman Scop’s-owl recording and almost immediately a bird responded close-by, after a little bit of to’ing and fro’ing we eventually had great views of the bird perched above our heads ‘mantling’ the branch. Then a Brown Boobook began calling and after a short while we found this bird perched over the track while two other birds called nearby. Finally, Jijo played the Hume’s Boobook tape and after a very short period a pair appeared in the trees over the track and showed their dark plumage in the torch light. Andy then called us, he had an Andaman Scop’s-owl beneath the canopy and no more than five metres away at head height. We had birded a stretch of no more than 100m and had recorded three owl species and with around seven individual owls present. We headed back to the hotel via the ferry in good spirits for an Indian buffet and beers.
Andaman Scop's-owl - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Andaman Scop's-owl - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Brown Boobook - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Hume's Boobook - Kalathang, Andaman Islands
Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)
- Day 1 – International flight from London Heathrow.
- Day 2 – Landed Chennai then flight to Port Blair. Birding on Andaman Islands PM.
- Day 3 – Andaman Islands.
- Day 5 – Andaman Islands.
- Day 6 – Travel day from Port Blair (Andaman Islands) to Ooty (Western Ghats).
- Day 7 – Birding Ooty then on to Mudumalai.
- Day 8 – Birding Mudumalai then drive back to Ooty.
- Day 9 – Birding Ooty and then drive to Munnar.
- Day 10 – Birding Munnar area.
- Day 11 – Drive from Munnar to Periyar Tiger Reserve.
- Day 12 – Periyar Tiger Reserve.
- Day 13 – Drive from Kumily to Thattekkad.
- Day 14 – Thattekkad area.
- Day 15 – Thattekkad area then travel to Chennai.
- Day 16 - International flight.
