Andaman Islands, Day 9, October 20th, 2011

Jungle Resort, Havelock Island

Another day spent at the resort and another day without working binoculars! Being without binoculars makes the birding all that more difficult, but it does mean that my camera with the zoom-lens gets used a lot.

The day started off in the normal way, with the regular birds feeding in the fruiting trees, and the pigeons feeding along the walkways. When we were sat for breakfast I became aware of two black birds that I had not seen before. A quick shot with the camera into the dark jungle showed that it was a pair of Common Hill Myna (Beostær). They were quickly gone, and I thought that my chance of getting a good picture of them had passed, but later in the day when I tried to get some good photos of the Red-whiskered Bulbuls (Rødørebylbyl) and the Black-naped Orioles (Svartnakkepirol) one of them gave nice views and photo-opportunities at a relatively short distance.

After a short walk on the beach where the birdlife, as usual, was rather dull I became aware of a dark raptor in the sky. An all dark bird without any light-colored parts on the body! This was the bird that I had hoped to see! It was the Andaman Serpent Eagle (Andamansnokørn). The brief sighting I got through the camera lens was of a small eagle, with dark chocolate-brown body and darker feathers on the wings. There is no doubt as to which species it was!

A new sighting of an Andaman Drongo (Andamandrongo) and new sightings of the Brown Shrike (Brunvarsler) and the Asian Brown Flycatcher (Brunfluesnapper) were also nice when thinking of the possibility of seeing them at home at some point.    

Species list of the day

·         Andaman Serpent Eagle (Andamansnokørn)

·         Emerald Dove (Smaragddue)

·         Red-breasted Parakeet (Skjeggparakitt)

·         Long-tailed Parakeet (Langhaleparakitt)

·         Andaman Scops Owl (Andamanugle)

·         Brown-backed Needletail (Brunryggseiler)

·         Asian Fairy Bluebird (Blåalvefugl)

·         Black-naped Oriole (Svartnakkepirol)

·         Andaman Drongo (Andamandrongo)

·         Brown Shrike (Brunvarsler)

·         Common Hill Myna (Beostær)

·         Scarlet Minivet (Skarlagenmønjefugl)

·         Red-whiskered Bulbul (Rødørebylbyl)

·         Black-headed Bulbul (Svarthodebylbyl)

·         Asian Brown Flycatcher (Brunfluesnapper)

·         Oriental Magpie Robin (Orientskjæreskvett)

·         Forest Wagtail (Skogerle)

New species today: 2

Total number of species this far: 38

Feeding Red-whiskered Bulbul

Common Hill Myna

Andaman Drongo

Emerald Dove

Black-naped Oriole

A visiting snake at dinner-time.