Birding in South Andaman:

This article was originally written and published by Mr. I.J Khanewala in his blog (anotherglobaleater) after his Andaman tour with us. Do visit his blog read about his birding experiences from other parts of India as well.

Port Blair Map- Birding in South Andaman

We did birding in four spots around Port Blair, marked by the green patches in the map here. Chidiyatapu was a mix of forest and shoreline. Since the Andaman Trunk Road passes through the forest, and disturbs the birds, our best viewing here was early in the morning. Sippighat and Ograbranj are wetlands, and yielded very good sightings. Mt. Harriet in Bambooflats is another place where a day can yield good sightings. We visited Sippighat in the afternoon of December 22, Chidiyatapu the same night and again in the morning of December 23. We did birding in Ograbranj in the afternoon of December 23, and went up to Mt. Harriet on December 25.

The Andaman group of Islands is full of endemics (marked with a star in the list below), and also has winter visitors. Even though I had done my reading, I was startled by the variety of visitors. I’d never expected to see Daurian’s starlings here. Andaman is so far from our normal birding grounds that our bird list is full of lifers (marked in bold):

redcollareddove
  1. Alexandrine parakeet: Chidiyatapu
  2. * Andaman drongo: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet
  3. * Andaman bulbul: Chidiyatapu
  4. * Andaman collared kingfisher: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet, Sippighat, Ograbranj, Neil Island
  5. * Andaman (brown) coucal: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet
  6. Andaman Green PigeonAndaman Green Pigeon
  7. * Andaman cuckoo-dove: Chidiyatapu
  8. * Andaman flowerpecker: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet
  9. * Andaman green pigeon: Mt. Harriet
  10. * Andaman shama: Chidiyatapu
  11. * Andaman treepie: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet
  12. Asian brown flycatcher: Mt. Harriet
  13. Asian fairy bluebird: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet
  14. Barn swallow: Mt. Harriet, Sippighat, Ograbranj
  15. Black bittern: Ograbranj
  16. Black drongo: Ograbranj
  17. Blue Tailed Bee EaterBlue Tailed Bee Eater
  18. Black-naped oriole: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet
  19. Blue-tailed bee-eater: Mt. Harriet, Sippighat, Ograbranj
  20. Brahminy kite: Chidiyatapu
  21. Broad-billed sandpiper: Sippighat
  22. Brown hawk owl: Chidiyatapu
  23. Brown shrike: Chidiyatapu, Sippighat, Ograbranj
  24. Brown shrike (Philippine): Mt. Harriet
  25. Brown-backed needletail: Mt. Harriet
  26. Chinese Pond HeronChinese Pond Heron
  27. Cattle egret: Sippighat
  28. Chestnut headed bittern: Ograbranj
  29. Chinese pond heron: Sippighat, Ograbranj
  30. Common coot: Sippighat
  31. Common crow: Sippighat
  32. Common kingfisher: Chidiyatapu, Sippighat, Ograbranj
  33. Common moorhen: Sippighat, Ograbranj
  34. Common myna: Sippighat
  35. Common redshank: Sippighat
  36. Common sandpiper: Chidiyatapu, Sippighat
  37. Common sparrow: Port Blair
  38. Cotton teal: Sippighat
  39. Curlew sandpiper: Sippighat
  40. Daurian starling: Sippighat
  41. Eastern jungle crow: Mt. Harriet, Sippighat
  42. Eurasian WhimbrelEurasian Whimbrel
  43. * Edible-nest swiftlet: Ograbranj
  44. Eurasian curlew: Sippighat
  45. Eurasian Whimbrel: Sippighat
  46. * Glossy swiftlet: Mt. Harriet, Sippighat
  47. Gray heron: Ograbranj
  48. Green imperial-pigeon: Chidiyatapu
  49. Indian cuckoo: Chidiyatapu
  50. Indian pond heron: Ograbranj
  51. Intermediate egret: Sippighat, Ograbranj
  52. Large egret: Sippighat, Ograbranj
  53. Lesser sand plover: Sippighat
  54. Lesser whistling teal: Sippighat, Ograbranj
  55. Little green heron: Sippighat
  56. Little-ringed plover: Sippighat
  57. Long-toed stint: Sippighat
  58. Oriental magpie-robin: Chidiyatapu, Sippighat
  59. Pacific Golden PloverPacific Golden Plover
  60. Pacific golden plover: Mt. Harriet, Sippighat
  61. Pacific reef-egret: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet, Neil Island
  62. Pacific swallow: Chidiyatapu, Sippighat
  63. Pintailed snipe: Sippighat
  64. Purple swamp hen: Sippighat, Ograbranj
  65. Racquet-tailed drongo: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet, Neil Island
  66. Red-breasted parakeet: Chidiyatapu, Ograbranj
  67. Red-cheeked parakeet: Chidiyatapu
  68. Red-collared dove: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet, Sippighat, Ograbranj
  69. Red-necked stint: Sippighat
  70. Red-throated pippit: Sippighat
  71. Red-whiskered bulbul: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet, Sippighat
  72. Scarlet minivet: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet
  73. Small egret: Sippighat, Ograbranj
  74. Small minivet: Chidiyatapu
  75. Stork-billed KingfisherStork-billed Kingfisher
  76. * Spot-breasted woodpecker: Chidiyatapu
  77. * Stork-billed kingfisher: Ograbranj
  78. * Striated heron (Andaman): Mt. Harriet
  79. * Sunda teal: Ograbranj
  80. Vernal hanging parrot: Chidiyatapu
  81. Violet cuckoo: Ograbranj
  82. White-bellied sea-eagle: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet, Ograbranj, Neil Island
  83. White-breasted waterhen: Ograbranj
  84. White-headed starling: Chidiyatapu
  85. White-rumped munia: Chidiyatapu, Ograbranj
  86. White-throated kingfisher: Chidiyatapu, Mt. Harriet, Sippighat, Ograbranj
  87. Wood sandpiper: Sippighat
  88. Yellow bittern: Sippighat, Ograbranj
  89. Yellow wagtail: Chidiyatapu, Sippighat

whiterumpedmuniaWe are amateur birders, and I hardly have a spotter’s eye. The Family spends more time on it. We did our birding in Andaman with Shaktivel, Gokul and Senthil. Shakti guides tours in the Andamans, and his next project is to take a group to Great Nicobar. Gokul is a zoologist, collecting data for a checklist of birds in the Andamans. This will be the core of his Doctoral thesis. During our three days of birding, we met up with Mark Smiles, who is an excellent birder, and guides bird tours in Dubai.

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