The Andaman Islands first came to my attention when playing Fantasy Birding. If you want to get a large vitual life list in the game, spending time in the Andamans is a must. Due to their geographic isolation over millions of years, numerous endemic species of flora and fauna have evolved on the islands, including some wonderful birds. Andaman and Nicobar Islands are part of an archipelago consisting of somewhere between 200 and 572 islands (sources vary) located between the Bay of Bengal to the west and the Andaman Sea to the east. Most of the Andaman Islands are a territory of India, but they are geographically much closer to Myanmar. A few of the islands are home to indigenous tribes that live as they have for thousands of years and those particular islands are off-limits to visitors. Birders most often stay in Port Blair on South Andaman, the largest island in the group. Below, Linda’s photo of our arrival in the Andamans.
Linda and I had decided to spend a few days on Havelock Island before meeting our birding guide on South Andaman. Due to flight and ferry schedules, we spent our first night, December 11, in Port Blair. After getting settled in at our hotel, we headed out to a nearby beach, Corbyn’s Cove. We were disappointed to see a lot of trash on the beach, but it also had shells, many occupied by hermit crabs, and we watched the sunset. We also got our first life bird of the trip, Pacific Reef-Heron.
The next morning, we took the ferry to Havelock Island, our home for the next three nights. Almost immediately, we had two more life birds, Ornate Sunbird (male in photo below) and Red-breasted Parakeet.
We spent our first afternoon on Havelock at Radhanagar Beach and we enjoyed the wildlife there – more hermit crabs! One of our favorites below, a Tawny Hermit Crab.
We were fascinated by large areas of the beach covered with intricate designs. Here’s a close up of one small part. After doing a little research, we learned that this beautiful sand art is made by Sand Bubbler Crabs, a family consisting of 29 species of crabs. They range from the coast of Eastern Africa across nearly all of Asia’s coasts to Australia.
If you want to learn more about these fascinating little crabs, watch the informative and cute video below.
Our first full day in the Andaman Islands ended with a beautiful sunset at Radhanagar Beach.
On the 13th, we went to Kalapather Beach in both the morning and evening. We liked it so much that we went back one more time on December 14.
We enjoyed the wildlife on the beach and the trails. A sampling is below, Andaman Viscount and Indian Wanderer butterflies, a bee fly, and a Brown Land Crab. The bee fly is in the genus Ligyra, but we will probably never know the species. If you are a nature nerd, there are some interesting comments from experts on my iNaturalist observation of this little insect.
Our walks on the beach were usually accompanied by dogs. They don’t seem to belong to anyone, but most are sweet and very friendly. They especially loved Linda; the photo of her with the pup in her lap was typical. Linda shared the photo on the right on Facebook with the comment, “I think the one in the tide pool has the right idea! It’s really HOT here!” Oh, I didn’t complain about the heat yet? Well, it was sweltering most of the time, really the only thing that kept this part of our trip from being perfect.
We continued to find our own life birds, adding to our lists with a White-bellied Sea-Eagle and a Collared Kingfisher on Kalapather Beach.
Back at the Park Resort where we stayed, we enjoyed sitting by the little pond. In the photo below, I was trying (unsuccessfully) to photograph the Plume-toed Swiftlets flying over the water. Our three days on Havelock Island had been a great introduction to the Andaman Islands. It was now time to get ready for some serious birding.
On Friday morning, December 15, we took the ferry back to Port Blair. We were met by our driver for the next few days and whisked off to the lovely Rainforest Resort. I had to cool off with a cold coffee with ice cream before meeting our guide, Shakti Vel, and starting the second phase of our Andaman Islands adventure.
Shakti is one of the best guides in Andaman. Watch for my next post to see the fascinating birds that he will find for us.
Birding for Life 