29 Oct 22 - Indonesia - Banda Sea Cruise Day 3 - Back To The Airport Lake

We spent an hour at the airport lake having another look at the Herons and Whistling-ducks at the dead tree end of the airport lake. It was nice to have a bit more time trying to get some photos of some of the species present.

Australasian Grebe: These Grebes caused some discussion over their identification, as Dabchicks (Little Grebe) also occur in Eastern Indonesia. The white eye is diagnostic for Australasian Grebe with Dabchick have a dark red-brown eye

Australasian Grebe: Juvenile or Immature. This is the nominate novaehollandiae subspecies which occurs in the Tanimbar Islands, New Guinea, Australia & New Zealand. Other subspecies occur in Wallacea, the Solomons & New Caledonia

Intermediate Egret: It would be easy to write this Egret off as a Great White Egret in flight. But a closer inspection of the bill and the gape, confirms it is actually the smaller Intermediate Egret

Intermediate Egret: This is the plumifera subspecies which occurs from Eastern Indonesia to New Guinea & Australia. Other subspecies occur from Japan to India & Sub-Saharan Africa

Intermediate Egret: Note, the shorter, proportionally thicker bill and the gape line which doesn't extend behind the eye

Great White Egret: A headshot for comparison purposes taken in Brands Bay. Note, the longer, proportionally thinner bill and the gape line which extends behind the eye (16 Sep 14)

Pied Herons: They are at the most North Westerly end of their range in Eastern Indonesia. The main range is New Guinea & Australia

Pied Herons with an Intermediate Egret: This shows how small these Cattle Egret sized Pied Herons are. Note, again the Intermediate Egret's bill shape & gape line

Pied Heron: Subadult

Wandering Whistling-ducks

Wandering Whistling-ducks

Azure Kingfisher: This was the only Azure Kingfisher we saw on the Banda Sea cruise. Surprisingly, it managed to eat this large fish in the end

Whiskered Tern: The pale leading edge is one of the features that rules out this Tern being a White-winged Black Tern

Whiskered Tern

It was now late morning and we headed back to the hotel for lunch.

23 Dec 13 - Out For A Duck

After some lunch in the hotel it was time to head out again. This was going to be different birding as the main target was Andaman Duck. This is a small endemic Duck that likes pools around mangroves. The first stop were some pools a few miles outside of the capital with a selection of wetland species including Great White Egret, the tiny Cotton Pygmy-geese, Lesser Whistling-ducks, Grey-headed Swamphen & Moorhen.

Intermediate Egret: Note, the more rounded head, straighter neck, shorter, thicker bill & gape line not extending past the centre of the eye 

Great White Egret: Note, the kinked neck, longer bill & gape line extending to the rear of the eye

Lesser Whistling-duck: Looking very elegant as it came into land

Lesser Whistling-duck: The reason for the elegant landing becomes clear when you see how crowded the water it is trying to land in

Cotton Pygmy-goose: This cracking Duck is even smaller than a Teal

Grey-headed Swamphen: This is the poliocephalus subspecies

Moorhen: This is the widespread orientalis subspecies which occurs from Seychelles, the Malaysian Peninsula, Indonesia & the Philippines

Carrying on along the road, we came to one of several areas of new low lying pools created by the 2004 tsunami which flooded a lot of coastal land. This created a lot of new habitat for Herons, Waders & Andaman Teal. Talking to Vikram, despite the high impact of the flooding on these low lying areas, there was little loss of life in the Andamans, but there was a significantly higher loss of life in the neighbouring Nicobar islands.

Andaman Teal: This is a small nocturnal Duck which feeds in rice fields, but can be seen during the day. The bumps in the mud are because this was a coconut plantation before the tsunami

Andaman Teal: The adults have the most white in the face

Carrying on along the road finally brought us to the same forest patch we had been birding in during the morning, just in time for another spell of searching for Owls. First up was Walden's Scops Owl. In the past it has been generally treated as a subspecies of Oriental Scops Owl, but given its distinctive calls, it is probably best considered as a separate species from Oriental Scops Owl.

Oriental (Walden's) Scops Owl

Andaman Scops Owl: This small Scops Owl is much darker than Oriental (Walden's) Scops Owl

Andaman Scops Owl: I can only assume this odd posture was due to the Owl trying to shield its eyes. It did allow a nice view of the open wing