A 4am start for a Sri Lankan Airlines flight to Chennai that was delayed an hour due to heavy rain in Chennai. Our onward lunchtime SpiceJet flight was then delayed by an hour for the same reason. Having crossed the Bay of Bengal we then overflew North Sentinel Island that had recently sprung to fame when the Sentinelese tribe that lives there killed an american missionary. Onto South Andaman it was good to overfly plenty of untouched primary forest before landing in Port Blair. As we exited the airport we were met by Jijo Mathew being our Nest India Birding Tours guide for the next 17 days. We were swiftly transferred to the comfortable Andaman Galley Resort where Jijo asked whether we wanted to take it easy or take a look for our first endemics at nearby Sippighat. No contest, so we were off to Sippighat and soon watching Andman Brown Coucal, and as dusk fell, a large mixed roost of Alexandrine and Red-breasted Parakeets and an Andaman Large-tailed Nightjar that was briefly seen calling whilst perched on the edge of some mangroves.
Great Egret 20
Eastern Cattle Egret 20
Striated Heron 1
Lesser Whistling-Duck 12
Cotton Teal 4
White-bellied Sea-Eagle 1
Grey-headed Purple Swamphen 40
Moorhen 10
Pacific Golden Plover 4
Eurasian Curlew 1
Green Sandpiper 1
Rock Dove 6
Alexandrine Parakeet 20
Red-breasted Parakeet 150
ANDAMAN BROWN COUCAL 1
ANDAMAN LARGE-TAILED NIGHTJAR 1
Plume-toed (White-bellied) Swiftlet 10
Collared Kingfisher 1
Blue-tailed Bee-eater 40
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo 1
Circling awaiting Chennai airport to reopen after rainstorm
North Sentinel Island
South Andaman Island
Arrival at Port Blair
Sippighat
Alexandrine and Red-breasted Parakeet roost at Sippighat
