Acknowledgements

This might seem over-the-top - after all, it's only a blog - but after writing approximately 12,000 words about a trip with so much going on, there are acknowledgements to make.  In no particular order, all are equally important.

Not a good photo, but an important bird:  Malabar parakeet (Psittacula columboides)

To my doctor, also unnamed, who was so helpful to me during the initial days of my COVID ordeal.  It was her idea to take along Paxlovid.  Just reading her texts with her practical and encouraging advice buoyed my spirits.  In retrospect, I understand why the ATO and WWE would not agree to speak with her.  She would have cleaned their clocks.  She's a great doctor!

To Shaji, my driver for 2-1/2 days.  I wish it could have been more days.  Everyone's life includes a bit of luck.  I don't know how I got so lucky to have Shaji as my driver.  My plan is to return to Bangalore after my friend and her family move into their new apartment.  Hopefully, I will be able to hire Shaji and we will all take a trip to Hampi together.  No binoculars needed!  Thank you Shaji.

To our excellent tour organizer and field guide (IFG).  During my COVID ordeal, he was stuck in the middle (the worst place to be) trying to negotiate for my return to the group.  He did his own research with objective sources and he read each of my doctor's texts.  He may have used this information to win battles for me.  During the coup d'etat he was on the front lines trying to preserve the integrity of the trip.  A real mensch in the unexpected and unenviable position of having to deal with self-absorbed jerks.  I doubt the opportunity to take another trip with him will present itself, but who knows.

The group included a married couple, also unnamed, who advocated for me during the COVID drama.  I didn't know it at the time, but I do now, and I thank them. 

To my friend, Deepa, in Bangalore -  a new friend who feels like an old friend - I hope we are friends for a very long time. 

Following my truncated efforts to document the 2020 north India trip on my blog, I dedicate this trip blog to south India and the Andaman Islands.  It's not what I was expecting to write, but I hope I finally did India justice with these entries.  It's a fantastic country and fingers crossed,  I'll be able to return.   

More Andaman Island birds

Not the typical birding trip one expects to have.  As I have written, there was a lot going on.  We saw a lot of birds, but we missed a lot too. You will never see them all, but it was a lot of fun trying.  To end my south India and Andaman Islands trip report and mostly without additional commentary, here are a few more good birds from the Andamans.

Above and below:  Green Imperial Pigeon (Ducala aenea)

Dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis) - widespread in many countries.

Whimbrel (Nemenius phaeopus) - yes, this is a Whimbrel.  Eurasian Curlew (N. arguata) is also a winter visitor to the Andamans.

Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva)

Given the location of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, I would have thought that (European) Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria) would be more likely to be found when away from its breeding range in northern Scandinavia and Siberia.  But the Princeton field guide Birds of India (2012) shows only Pacific Golden Plover as a possibility.  The European and Pacific Golden plovers have very similar appearances.  The Pacific Golden Plover and the Whimbrel share quite similar winter ranges in Southern India and the Andaman Islands.  

Above and below:  Pacific Reef Egret (Egretta sacra)

Photo series:  Evening silhouette of crow attacking White-bellied Sea Eagle.

Above:  Flyby of the attacked White-bellied Sea Eagle.  I have other photos but none of good quality and I thought the one above was the most interesting.   

Above and below:  Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatas)

Backlit male Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus)

Above and below:  Olive-backed Sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis)

Everywhere you go the Red-whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus) will be there too.

White-headed Starling (Sturnia erythropygia)

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos)

Non-breeding Pheasant-tailed Jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

Long-toed Stint (Calidris subminuta)

True confession:  Now I can't tell which is which.  Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) and Pin-tailed Snipe (Gallinago stenura).  The Princeton guide does not help me feel secure in my guess.  I recall Pin-tailed and Common snipes being in the same field of view being called out. More research needed.  

Above and below:  Chinese Pond Heron (Ardeola bacchus).  I like the photo below because the bird is in completely different habitat.  It also shows how dry everything is.

Above and below:  Freckled-breasted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos macei analis) formerly Spot-breasted Woodpecker.

Juvenile White-bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster)

The ever present Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)

Last morning photo of White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnenis)

The beautiful Emerald Dove (Chalcophaps indica)

I began my trip report with the first entry on April 8th.  Now, on April 24th, and 16 entries in all, I have finally fully reported on my 2023 trip to south India and the Andaman Islands.  In time, I might do another "Can you find the bird?" post of photos taken where it's tricky.  Until then, this is ... 

... The End!  

Andaman endemics

When traveling to an island chain of any sort, it is really going to be the endemic birds where the guides will focus.  The Andaman Islands have quite a number of endemics - we saw some and we missed some.

Here's a sampling of some we saw and where I was able to get a photograph.  

Jerdon's Nightjar (Caprimulgus atripennis)

There is an Andaman Nightjar (Caprimulgus andamanicus) which we did not see.  I include the Jerdon's Nightjar here because it's the only nightjar we saw on the whole trip.  This bird was seen our first evening on South Andaman.  Not a great photo but my best.  We disturbed this bird and it flew around quite a bit giving really good views but I was never fast enough with my camera to get a better photo.

Andaman Crake (Rallina canningi)

Tricky bird.  Very shy.  I was the only one lucky enough to get a photo. Seen our first evening on South Andaman.  We tried again on the last morning (our three birder escape), but were unsuccessful.  I'm not sure the cropped image helps much.  I like the full image where I am reminded of how quickly it ran across the road.

Above and below:  Andaman Scops owl (Otis belli)

Andaman Hawk-Owl (Ninox affinis) 

Above and below:  Andaman Bulbul (Pycnonotus triceps fuscoflavescens)

Above and below:  Andaman Shama (Copsychus malabaricus albiventris)

Andaman Coucal (Centopus andamanensis)

Formerly Brown Coucal.  Not uncommon.  Heard everywhere, but when they showed up, they disappeared quickly and did not hang around for photo ops.  This was the best I could do.  The only good thing about this photo is that you can tell it's a coucal.  The Andaman coucal is the only one on the islands.  (The EMC described this bird perched on the windowsill of their hotel room - definitely an under unappreciated sighting.) 

Above and below:  Andaman Teal (Anus albogularis)

Andaman Teal was formerly considered as a subspecies of the Sunda Teal (Anus gibberifrons).

   

Andaman Drongo (Dicrurus andamanensis) vs. mystery bird (Mysterium avis)

Discussion of bird in above photo:  I include this photo because of the questions it raises.  It is such a poor quality photo to illustrate Andaman Drongo.  But the other drongos it could be seem to appear relatively uncommonly on the Andamans, and I don't know how much to trust the range maps in my 2011 Princeton field guide.  Black drongo is also possible as is female or juvenile Greater Racket-tailed drongo.  We saw plenty of the easily recognized male Greater Racket-tailed drongos.  There is also a Bronzed drongo common on the western side of mainland south India. The wing of the bird in this photo is bronze and this could be reflection from the sun, but then why aren't the bird's head and breast feathers also sun-reflected?  The bronze wing color does not show up in the Bronzed drongo's field guide illustration, but I found a few illustrations in the Princeton guide that did not match the real life bird.  However, a Google image search also does not show obvious bronze on the Bronzed drongo.  The bronze color could be a secondary to worn feathers or could be juvenile plumage. 

A more careful look revealed that I took this photo on 3/31/23, the afternoon of our outing for Blue-eared Kingfisher.  It's the last photo I have saved from that afternoon.  The more I look at the photo, it begins to remind me of an Andaman treepie.  The whiteish eye (not found on any drongo that I could tell) and the bronze coloring would be explained. The way the bird is perched on the branch also would explain why the treepie's white patch is obscured.  Neither guide called out Andaman treepie on that afternoon, which they surely would have done because it was a still needed endemic bird.  Take my ID attempts with a grain of salt.  In either case, an Andaman endemic.  

Andaman Masked owl (Tyto alba deroepstorffi)

That's a barn owl you say.  True enough and barn owls are very special, especially when you live where I do because we don't have them.  I copied the very first paragraph from its Wikipedia page: "The Andaman masked owl (Tyto deroepstorffi) is a barn owl endemic to the southern Andaman Islands, an archipelago between India and Myanmar, in the Bay of Bengal. [2] Regarded by some authors as a subspecies of the common barn owl (Tyto alba), it is recognized by others as a species in its own right."

Above and below:  Andaman Woodpecker (Dryocopus hodgei)

Above and two below:  Last official bird seen on the trip!

Andaman treepie (Dendrocitta bayleii) seen early morning on 4/01/23.

The smallest treepie, but still a very long bird.