Andaman Diary Day 1 - Burmanallah beach and beyond

 Continued from here.

Feb 10th 2024

Post lunch, we piled into the cars and picked up our birder guide Jabili Rao.  She is a young birder from the Andaman.  I wonder now, what first impression we made on her.  One group of seniors, all of us perhaps twice her age! Or maybe she's used to it, since many seniors love to bird and love to photograph with their respective bazookas.

Off we went to Burmanullah beach, with Jabili in our car, along with Umesh, Srinivas, Sekar and me.  Umesh was focussed with target species list and locations.  I was busy looking out of the window and exclaiming at the views!

 

 Driving along Burmanullah coast.  Click here.

We stopped, to admire and photograph the Pacific Reef Heron, and oh there was a Collared kingfisher on the line.

Pacific Reef heron - Egretta sacra -  I love their salty grey colours, and how well they camouflaged with the rocks.

Pacific Reef heron - we saw them nesting at the top of the Chidiya Tapu cliffs last time as well.

This Photo by Desigan.  There were several on the beach, here and there, walking around with usual egret slow-motion intent.

In order to confuse matters, there is a "white morph", which looks like the Little Egrets, except they have quite a thick bill, greenish legs and a little squatter.  Why would they display this dimorphism?  And can the two morphs inter-breed - and will you get pied coloured variants then?  Seems not, but why not?

As I pondered these deep "existential" questions, the others were more gainfully occupied.

I found a piece of dead coral in the grasses.

There were crabs and mudskippers in the tidal pools at the edge.  If I am not mistaken this is a Mottled Lightfoot Crab. (Grapsus albolineatus) a coral-dwelling crab.

There were people wandering the shores collecting crabs as well.  A common sandpiper landed on a rock nearby.  

And this Collared Kingfisher also had found a crab.  Photo by Desigan.  

I marvelled at the towering trees and the winding lianas.

A red-collared dove sunbathed.

The hunt for the  Amur Stonechat (Stejneger's Stonechat) Saxicola stejnegeri 

We veered off the tar road and stopped before a little footbridge over a rivulet and entered what looked like  fallow and overgrown agricultural land.  We were tracking the Stejneger's Stonechat - a target species for our trip, I was told.  It is a species seen in east Asia - but not in mainland India, only in Andamans.  It breeds somewhere up in Siberia, and comes down to winter in the Andamans.  (In itself, that fact renders the bird magical!)

It was a subspecies of Common Stonechat, and now it has been separated after genetic testing.  And Stejneger was Nordic Steineger and decided he liked Stejneger better, went off to the Smithsonian and this little stonechat we were trying to see was named after him and now the common name has changed.  

Jabili warned us that it was very shy, and we were to be very quiet.  A farmer passed us in the opposite direction, and airily said oh you should come in the mornings for the birds.  It was close to sunset, and the air was filled with bird call.  Now and then one faint zitting cisticola-like call was heard, which was the Stonechat I believe.  A flash here, a sudden appearance there.  The photographers were frustrated.  "See, near the fence, that pole!", "Which pole, there are so many" - came the retort.  ""Arre, that short one, 12 o'clock." "The one below the tree with green leaves?" "All the trees have green leaves!"  Such was the conversation.  Srinivas' 6ft plus visual perspective quite different from Umesh's did not help matters.  I wonder if they did manage to photograph the bird.

In the midst of all of this, for a change, I actually spotted the said pole and saw the bird quite clearly with my 10x binoculars for about 5 seconds, before it vanished into the undergrowth again! I registered a chestnut brown,  "little brown job", with a little darker tail.  This was the female.  

Desigan took this great picture - how he managed in the midst of all the flitting and the instructions, one never knows!

Anyways, I was happy, kind of thrilled to catch this little messenger from Siberia.  We did not see the male.   I wandered on to see the other sights of the scrub.

There were a whole bunch of goats, feeding quite blissfully and happily, unmindful and uncurious about us. 

I think this is Simpleleaf Chaste tree - a Vitex

And this false ironwort, we see in our city undergrowth as well.  

There were very few butterflies for some reason, but many a dragonfly, including this Crimson Marsh Glider

We retraced our steps across the stream, and the sun gave the leaves such a lovely translucence.  I wonder if this is Macaranga peltata - the parasol tree - the leaf arrangement seemed that way.  It could be.

Back into the cars, and we went up along the road to Chidiyatapu.  The scenery changed, as tall trees sped by on either side.

Stop!  was the cry from Jabili - and we saw the Andaman woodpecker! (Dryocopus hodgei) silhouetted by the evening sun, high up on the tree stump.

Photo by Desigan.  It was a beautiful 15-20 minutes, as we watched it make its way up the stump, its red head giving it a crown of fire almost.  

What a stunning bird!  We saw it a couple more times across the week, and each time it was a joy to watch.  The bird is in on the IUCN "Vulnerable" list, threatened by loss of habitat.

"Little is recorded about the behaviour of the Andaman woodpecker. It lives in pairs, but also associates in small flocks. It forages on large trunks and branches, but has also been recorded foraging on the ground for ants. It has been recorded breeding between January and March, and breeds in a nest hole 6–14 m (20–46 ft) off the forest floor, in a dead tree. Two eggs are laid" - Wikipedia

We made our way back to the Chidiyatapu beach shacks for some welcome chai.  We fell upon the vadais and bajjis and ordered strong chai from the Tamil tea-shop owner who did not waste time on small talk, as the tourists ebbed and flowed like the tide through his shop.  

We saw foreigners, backpackers, middle-aged  Indians from the north, scuba divers packing up for the day, and even a group of trainees from NIOT.  

As we finished our tea...the sky was even more magical.

One more surprise by the roadside.  Andaman Coucal!  What a show we had.  Quite bold, and unlike its mainland counterpart.  It didn't seem to be bothered by us at all.  

The fawn brown feathers were displayed, this way and that.  The head is a duller colour.  The Coucal was busy foraging among the leaves.  I did not see any berries, it was probably on the hunt for insects.  The foliage was a mix of short shrubby bushes.  I could not identify from this.

The crickets and other night insects were out as the light  faded.  Some went off with Jabili to search for the owls, whilst some of us just enjoyed the night sounds around.

This cat moved from one side of the road to the next, listening to the night sounds - didn't waste time on me, but seemed intent as though listening for a particular sound.  Maybe he/she was off on a night hunt.  I did not see too many stray cats on our trip, but Port Blair was full of stray dogs, like any other Indian city.

Back to Shreesh for the night, it was good to have a shower and get out of our sweaty clothes - the humidity was high - and come down and wait for our dinner.  It was lovely to meet Madhuri as well - an "Islander", who works at ANET, and was a friend of Umesh.  She spoke about the road to Rangat being bad - and how her sister preferred to go by ferry, a conversation that made more sense when we did embark a couple of days later to Rangat!

These interesting lampshades were in our corridor, and I noticed them as we went off for the night.

It was a 5am start the next day, and I was much excited - we were to take a ferry and cross a strait and go off to Kalatang!

*******

My Ebird checklist here.  

Lifers of the day

• Plume-toed Swiftlets - Andaman special - not in mainland India.  (Supposedly has a tuft of feathers near the rear toe - which I never saw, but shall assume in good faith that it is present)
• Brown-backed Needletail
• Amur Stonechat

Swiftlets and larger Needletails were zooming around above.  The Swiftlets had white bellies and the Needletails - like this one on Umesh's camera display - were dark brown underneath.  

Andaman Diary - Day 1 - Cellular Jail views

10th February 2024

Scrambling to finish work the previous day and a start to the airport at an unholy hour.  Thanks to Srinivas, we travelled in comfort and without the stress of will the cab show up or not.

8 naturalist friends, coordinated by Umesh, on a "birding and photography" sortie to the Andamans.  Six bazookas at check-in, and I had my new 10x binoculars to try out.

5am Air India flight.  We board smartly.  Desigan is in our row, and so we chat, snooze, the breakfast is fine, the coffee is well quite appalling.

The sunrise is spectacular - reminds me of Pink Floyd's album cover - Dark Side of the Moon.

 

I see the first little island - lovely beach, even the coral reef is visible, so clear is the water.  I think this is Boat Island, off the western coast of the main island.

Lower down now, skimming over the main Port Blair island.  I suppose this is Manjeri RV and the bay in the background.  I recalled now all the Tamil and Kerala names for the places - there is a Calicut and a Kamaraj Nagar - besides the Bengali names as well.

Port Blair came into view.  Colourful buildings and water everywhere.

Large signs in the airport accompanied the Air India announcements - "No Photography" of the airport which is also a defence airport I believe.  In this day and age of satellites, seems a pretty pointless restriction, but I complied.

The airport terminal is new - from the time we were here last, in 2017.  And was pretty standard.  Pick up and bags sorted and in 10 minutes we were at our hotel.

Sheesh! thats how I read it first and I wondered why the exclamation - Sheesh, you shouldn't be here, or Sheesh, so good!  Sekar gently said, "It is Shreesh, my dear."  

Shreesh was where we stayed for the first couple of nights. A clean, nondescript place, where the rooms were neat and the food was average.  For some reason, the request for preparing our meals would only start after we came to the dining room despite Umesh having informed them when we would be there.  So we would send an advanced party to go occupy tables and hurry the chef along.  All in due course, what's the hurry.

This was the view at the rear of the hotel past the corridor of rooms.  Next to our room were Desigan  and Srinivas, and I think there's had a tiny window which showed a bit of Junglighat jetty in the rear.  

In the course of the two days, there were many lost in translation moments with a newbie waiter and fresh lime order - we tried English, Hindi and Tamil on him.  The crucial Bengali competency was missing in our group - where is Sagarika when you need her?). Hindi also was a problem for most I hasten to add.  

Srinivas was ready to bird at 9 am - but alas had to wait until post lunch.  So off we went to the Cellular Jail instead. (We birded there too, let it be known.)

We drove around in two Xylos for the trip, comfortable cars that have a real rolling suspension which would be tested to the hilt in our later adventures.  We drove through "Aberdeen bazaar" - do check out Faizabad stores - an interesting set of activities and products!

This is how a proper pavement with a rainwater drain looks like, dear Chennai Corporation.  I was very impressed.

I loved the Andaman Police uniforms

Even the goats were well behaved and walked on the pavements!

Looking down to Marina/Phoenix Bay

Cellular Jail

it was hard for me to imagine this calm and now serene facade as the scene of cruelty and struggle.

Here is a couple of boards:

NATIONAL MEMORIAL

THE CELLULAR JAIL, THE INDIAN BASTILLE, STANDS AS A MUTE WITNESS TO THE UNTOLD SUFFERINGS, VALIANT DEFIANCE AND UNDAUNTED SPIRIT OF THE FIREBRAND REVOLUTIONARIES AGAINST THE BRUTALITIES OF THE BRITISH BARBARISM.

THE NAME CELLULAR IS DERIVED FROM ITS UNIQUE FEATURE OF HAVING 698 CELLS, EACH ONE MEASURING 13.6".

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE JAIL WAS TAKEN UP IN OCT 1896 AND COMPLETED IN 1906 AT AN ESTIMATED COST OF Rs.5,17,352/

AS A MARK OF RESPECT TO THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS, THE CELLULAR JAIL WAS DEDICATED TO THE NATION BY THE THEN PRIME MINISTER, SHRI. MORARJI DESAI ON 11TH  FEB. 1979 AND NOW IT STANDS AS A NATIONAL MEMORIAL OF GREAT HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE.

CELLULAR JAIL

The Cellular Jail was constructed to deal effectively with the freedom fighters who revolted against the British Rule during India's First War of Independence. This site, being located just opposite to Ross Island, was found more suitable for construction of the Jail. It was also better suited in terms of security of the jail, as more than half of the outer wall was bounded by sea.

The construction of the Cellular Jail began in 1893 and completed in 1905-06. The Islands were formally occupied on 22nd January, 1858.

Spread as seven spokes of a bicycle wheel, this unique three-storied structure was the first of its kind in India, it was based on Jeremy Bentham's idea of the Panopticon. 693 cells in the jail were specially built for solitary confinement of the Freedom Fighters. The freedom fighters brought to the Cellular Jail rebelled against the jail authorities. Finally, the Government decided to close down the penal settlement and all the political prisoners of the Cellular Jail were repatriated to their respective states in mainland India by January 1938.

Only two spokes are retained as a memorial.  There is a hospital where the rest of the jail probably was.

I wondered if this peepul stood from those days.

Japanese occupation of the islands, Bose's alignment with them has somehow been portrayed as him freeing India from the British...

Andaman Shimbun....2602

The Aberdeen bazaar clock tower now.

One wing had not been touched up and had the old look.  There were sparrows chirping among the undergrowth, several mango trees, banana and coconut too.

11am and the sun was sharp - it felt warmer than Chennai actually.  We decided to walk up the watch tower.  Spiders had made elaborate webs in the archways. Bulbuls flitted in and out as did Mynas and one Oriole flew across from the mango tree.  Swallows dived and swooped.

The names of political prisoners are listed on the walls - a huge contingent from Bengal.

The jail I'm sure has a lot of significance to many Bengali families  - we saw busloads of them.  More about them in a bit, after I share the gorgeous views from above.

I involuntarily gasped when I emerged onto the watchtower platform, from the stairs below.  Out of breath after the steep stairway, this further took my breath away.   (The blue-roofed buildings are a hospital, in parts of the old Jail.)

The wing retained as the Jail - in the distance is Ross Island.

Ross Island.  How could the prison guards have been cruel in the face of this extraordinary beauty, I wondered, as I soaked in the cool breeze, the beautiful waters in different shades of blue, the soaring and gliding White Bellied Sea Eagle up above, and the philosophical discussions among some young people relaxing on the platform. 

As I gazed, they discussed Nietzsche and Bose, Gandhi and Jinnah, Communism and freedom struggle; religion and God as manmade constructs and so much more.  The beauty around made me contented and their words kind of crashed around me, not really registering what they were saying.

It was time to head down.  Umesh and Desigan had also come up, and they clicked away and we took some selfies too. 

We proceeded down one flight when suddenly, there was an upsurge of tourists - they kept streaming up, and the stairway was too narrow to allow for two way traffic.  The platform above seemed to creak and groan, and I hastily moved away from the watchtower stairwell into the safety of the brick and mortar cell corridor!  After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, we saw a break and Sekar and I scampered down, but Umesh was still stuck up there!

We rejoined the doctors and Suresh and Desigan in the chairs put for the sound and light show and waited for Umesh, and this led to the Incident of the Shrike.

Ravi mentioned he saw a shrike with a orangish vent and wondered what it was.  Sekar piped up quite casually oh that must be the red vented bulbul we saw.  Oh the horror, the horror!  The complete dismay in Ravi's voice - his birding competencies being dismissed like this - a bulbul and a shrike...any self respecting birder would know the difference!  It was pretty funny to all onlookers except Sheepish Sekar and Riled Ravi.  

Umesh finally escaped the Bengali busload and joined us and we set out to return to lunch at Shreesh.

We crossed this on the way out - in hindsight, I should've stepped in.  At least picked up a few souvenirs.  We never did enter a shop after this.

The afternoon sortie continued here.