Andaman Day 4: Dhaninullah morning in verse

Continued from here. 

Feb 13th 2024

Long-tailed parakeets looked red-faced and angry

The Pigeons plump meditating serenely 

The sunrise just gorgeous

Mexican sunflowers enormous

So began our morning, early and sleepy.

530 am and the sun was already creating its special effects.

Long-tailed Parakeet (Psittacula longicauda)- we dont find them in the Indian subcontinent.  

The Green Imperial Pigeons and the Andaman Green-Pigeon sharing perches on a Winged Boot Tree - Pterocymbium tinctorium.   and is that a Minivet as well?

Rangat Dhani Nullah did we go

What we would see I did not know

Along the coast, 

I made the most

And will narrate this blow by blow.

In Sundarbans we walked at Dobanki

Tigers around, so no hanky panki

Garjan, Khalsi, Avicennia

Peyara Bain, trees of Kankra

Mudskippers, kingfishers!  Oh so grandee!

Wandered in Wandoor, in the grey mud squelching

But here on dry boards, happily airily mangroving

I did malinger

The roots were a zinger

We birders - the Ruddy KF were seeking, searching.

Click here for Sundarbans Dobanki Walk pictures

Click here for Dhaninullah mangrove pictures

At the other end of the walk was the beach 

Which I did eventually somehow reach

And what a surprise - a hatchery!

Leatherbacks, greens, Ridleys  in batcheries

The FD workers quietly dedicated to each.

The ruddy kingfisher (Halcyon coromanda) 

After breakfast, Ruddy showed up!

And magically, all the bazookas lined up, 

Rusty beauty, oh so quiet

Sturdy bill,  bright red riot

And did I enjoy that? yup yup, yup!

The mangroves teemed with life

The squelchy mud filled with action and strife

Fiddler, shore and marsh crab galore

Mudskippers and frogs - camouflage they wore

A little spider in the web of his much larger wife. 

A whole family of Chestnut headed bee eaters

Such a cheerful, flamboyant bunch of treaters 

Swooping, chattering, twittering 

Swinging, singing, familial bonding

Mine was the privilege to meet these hims and hers. 

Black-Naped tern at the jetty,  What a beauty!

And then we went off to the Rangat fishing jetty

Where soon we were all very hot and sweaty

The terns were many

But crocs, Phew, no not any!

Just doggies crunching fish a plenty!

Mishti - the Bengali hotel

Anandi - south Indian meals.  it was a good choice.  Mrs Anandi ran the place, her mother helped with serving and baby care, her husband ran the grocery store across the aisle.  The restaurant was in the aisle.  The sambar was sambar, there was fish curry, Desigan got us buttermilk too

Cooled off, back to Eden’s Garden’s splendour

Lunch?  Some of us refused the Bengali pretender!

We took to our heels

Went to Anandi Meals

And emerged feeling definitely contenter!

Afternoon at Sabari reserve follows here!