Two slow hours in Havelock's forest with a naturalist, following calls and movement through the canopy. The Andaman Islands have birds found nowhere else on earth. Beginners welcome, no birding experience needed.
Want more details?The Andaman Islands broke away from the mainland long enough ago that the birds here went their own way. The result is a list of species that exist on these islands and nowhere else on earth, sitting in forest that starts a few minutes inland from the beach most visitors never leave.
This is a slow two hours in that forest with a naturalist. You follow calls, watch for movement in the canopy, and stop a lot. It is the opposite of a scuba dive in pace and it suits a different mood. You do not need to be a birder, and you do not need to own binoculars. Most people who book this have never deliberately looked at a bird in their life, and they leave able to recognise five or six.
You will not be marching. A good birding walk covers a short distance slowly, with long pauses. Your guide will usually hear a bird before anybody sees it, work out roughly where it is, and get the group looking in the right part of the canopy before it moves. A lot of birding is standing still and being quiet, which sounds dull and is not.
Bird activity varies with weather, season and time of day, and no walk can promise a particular species. What we can promise is the right hours, the right habitat and a guide who knows the calls. If weather makes the walk pointless we move it or refund it in full.
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have well over two hundred recorded bird species, and an unusually high share of them are endemic, meaning they occur here and nowhere else. That is a direct consequence of geography. These islands sit far out in the Bay of Bengal and were never joined to the Asian mainland in a way that let birds move freely back and forth, so populations that arrived here evolved in isolation and became their own species.
For a visitor this means something simple and quite rare: on a two hour walk in Havelock you have a real chance of seeing birds that a lifelong birder from Delhi or Bengaluru has never seen.
Olive and yellow-green with a darker head, common along forest edges and clearings. Often the first endemic people get a clean look at, because bulbuls are less shy than most forest birds.
Glossy black with a forked tail, usually perched in the open watching for insects. An accomplished mimic, so a call you have already identified as another bird may turn out to be this.
Rufous and grey with a long tail, moving through the canopy in twos and threes and calling to each other as they go. Noisy, which helps.
A large all-black woodpecker with a red crest, endemic to these islands and not common. Listen for drumming and for heavy wingbeats between trunks.
A dark, thickset raptor of the forest interior. More often heard than seen, with a distinctive whistling call from a perch inside the canopy.
Green and well camouflaged, feeding quietly in fruiting trees. Easy to walk under without noticing until the whole group bursts out.
Others on the endemic list include the Andaman Cuckoo-Dove, Andaman Coucal, Andaman Flowerpecker and Andaman Shama. Which ones turn up depends on the day, the season and a fair amount of luck.
The first couple of hours after first light are far and away the most active period. Birds feed after the night, calls carry, and the light is on your side. If you only do one walk, do this one.
Activity picks up again as the heat drops, roughly the last two hours before sunset. Quieter than dawn but still productive, and easier if you are not a morning person.
Resident endemics are around all year, but the winter months add migratory waders and raptors, and the weather is at its most settled. April onwards is hotter and the middle of the day goes very quiet.
Forest birding is a skill and most of it is unlearning habits. What works:
Someone who knows the calls, which is the entire difference between a walk in the woods and a birding walk.
Kept small because a large, noisy group empties the forest ahead of it.
In the productive hours, either early morning or late afternoon, at a deliberately slow pace.
By appearance, by behaviour and by call, so you can start recognising birds yourself by the end.
How the endemics came to be here, what each bird does, and how it fits into the forest.
Sent on WhatsApp along with your start time.
This pairs naturally with the forest trail, which covers the same woodland from the plants-and-insects side, and with the mangrove walk, where kingfishers and herons work the root edges.
No to both. The guide finds and identifies the birds, and plenty of people book this having never deliberately looked at a bird before. If you do own binoculars, bring them, because they change how much detail you get. If you do not, the walk still works.
Well over two hundred species have been recorded across the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and an unusually high proportion of them are endemic, meaning they exist here and nowhere else in the world. On a single two hour walk you would typically encounter a much smaller number, somewhere in the range of fifteen to thirty species depending on conditions.
Endemic means a species is found in one place only. Because these islands were never connected to the mainland, birds that arrived here evolved separately into their own species. Andaman endemics include the Andaman Bulbul, Andaman Drongo, Andaman Treepie, Andaman Woodpecker, Andaman Serpent Eagle, Andaman Green Pigeon, Andaman Cuckoo-Dove and Andaman Coucal, among others.
The first two hours after first light, comfortably. Birds are most active and vocal then, and the light is behind you rather than above you. Late afternoon, roughly the last two hours before sunset, is the second best window. The middle of the day is quiet and not worth walking in.
Resident endemics are present all year, so any month works. November to March is the strongest period, because settled weather makes for comfortable walking and migratory waders and raptors add to the resident list.
No, and any operator who promises you a specific bird is not being straight with you. Wild birds do not take bookings. What the walk gives you is the right habitat, the right hours and a guide who knows the calls, which is what actually moves the odds. Most walks produce several endemics.
It depends on the child. The walk is easy underfoot and short, but it involves standing still and being quiet, which some children take to and others do not. Children who like looking for things usually enjoy it. If yours would rather be finding crabs, the intertidal walk is a better fit.
Muted colours, greens, browns and greys, since bright clothing is visible to birds at a distance and clears the forest ahead of you. Comfortable closed walking shoes, long sleeves if mosquitoes bother you, and a hat. Insect repellent is worth having.
₹1,500 per person plus 18% GST, which comes to ₹1,770 per person. That covers the naturalist for a walk of around two hours in a small group. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
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