26 Dec 13 - New Day, Same Stuff

After Santa failed to deliver the hoped for Andaman Crake, then it was back to Chiriya Tapu to try to again. We spent some time in the area where Dave Willis had seen a pair the previous week. While we had no joy with the Crake, there was an very showy Orange-headed Ground Thrush in the same area.

Orange-headed Ground Thrush: Whilst not uncommon in Indian forests, they can be hard to see well

Orange-headed Ground Thrush: A great forest Thrush to see

Long-tailed Parakeet

Vernal Hanging-parrot: Infernal Hanging-parrots are commonly seen in flight, once the call is learnt. But they generally live up to their nickname as they are usually high up in tall trees & difficult to photograph. So it was a surprise when this curious bird came to check us out & pose for the camera

What I've enjoyed about having the camera is seeing fine details I would never have noticed in the field. Here are a few examples.

White-bellied Swiftlet: Showing the darker patch around the eye

White-bellied Swiftlet: Showing the pale rump

Andaman Woodpecker: Look at that yellow eye ring

Andaman Treepie: Another yellow eye ring

Finally, it was time to knock the Andaman Crake search on the head, until another failed attempt in the afternoon (when we briefly heard a different individual, but again which would show itself). But before we headed off to Port Blair for lunch, there was time for a quick drink stop near the coast.

Coastal mangroves: Guess this was another area devastated by the tsunami

Stork-billed Kingfisher: Nearby in better mangroves was this great Kingfisher

Seaplane: This looks like a practical way to move around the islands

23 Dec 13 - The Early Birder Catches The Boat

The alarm went off at 04:00 (& this is supposed to be a holiday). Just time for a strong coffee before getting to the hotel door for 04:30. The driver showed up 10 minutes late, but we still caught the 05:00 ferry in the half light of dawn. A few minutes later we were driving through lagoons & mangroves, before entering some decent forest at a site called Jirgatna, on the opposite side of the bay to Port Blair. For the rest of the morning, we were birding along a road with lots of birds & a car every 15 minutes or so. Can't think of many places where forest birding from a road has been so pleasant. By the end of the morning we had seen 2/3rds of endemic Andaman birds.

Vikram showing how high this forest is

Long-tailed Parakeet

Andaman Coucal: For once not in a dense tangle of vegetation

Spot-breasted Pied Woodpecker: As with Great Spotted Woodpeckers, this is sexed based upon the extent of red on the head. This is a male

Spot-breasted Pied Woodpecker: The female has no red on the head

Andaman Cuckoo-shrike: Surprisingly the only one we saw. Good job this bird performed well for the camera. The rusty throat indicates this is a 1st Winter bird

Andaman Cuckoo-shrike: Not a sharp picture, but shows the size of prey it eats. This lizard was dispatched pretty fast

Scarlet Minivet: Male. The females have yellow replacing the orange

Andaman Bulbul: Until fairly recently this was lumped with the widespread Black-headed Bulbul. Perhaps the lack of a black head gave them a clue about splitting it

Black-naped Oriole

Andaman Drongo: This is smaller than the superficially similar looking Black Drongo & is strictly a forest species, whereas the larger Black Drongos prefer open & degraded habitats

Andaman Treepie: They seemed to go around in parties with Andaman Drongos. Perhaps they enjoy watching the Andaman Drongos squabbling like these 2 birds

Andaman Butterfly: Saw similar looking Butterflies on other days so presume it's a fairly common species

 

The Port Blair Bay Ferry: Very like a Scottish ferry on the face of it, but when loading/unloading it's a free for all of motorbikes & people trying to get on & off, with only the cars being organised by the crew

The Port Blair Bay Ferry: The jetty was sharply angled making it more tricky to get the car on

Indian House Crow: Ready to steal away on the next boat to Ireland!!!

House Sparrow: No prizes for identifying this one. This is the indicus subspecies