Due to their long isolation from the main Asian landmass, the Andaman Islands are well-known as a hotspot for endemism. For birdwatchers, the endemic birds of the Andamans are a major reason to visit this idyllic archipelago. And visiting birders will be spoilt for choice: there are 21 species of birds that only occur on the Andaman Islands.

Endemic Birds of the Andamans

Come the end of November 2024, the Birdwatching Asia team will be adventuring to the Andamans for birdwatching, among other things. This trip came about primarily because AirAsia recently opened direct air links between Kuala Lumpur and Port Blair. Visiting the Andamans has been a long-standing wish of ours, so naturally, this trip is highly anticipated.

One of the main goals of our trip will be to see as many of the endemic birds of the Andamans as possible. This would be a tall order, but we believe it would be worth the effort. As a preview of our trip, this article will highlight the top five endemic birds we want to see the most in the Andamans and list all the endemic birds occurring there.

Since we have never set foot on the Andamans before, all images are sourced from the Internet. Wikipedia and eBird serve as the main reference materials for this article.

Andaman Islands Geography

First, an introduction to Andaman geography. The Andaman archipelago straddles the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, dividing the bay from the Andaman Sea. Most of these islands are governed by India, but geographically, they are closer to Southeast Asia.

The most prominent islands of the Andaman group are the North Andaman, Middle Andaman, South Andaman, and Little Andaman. The capital, Port Blair (recently renamed Sri Vijaya Puram), is on the South Andaman island.

Then there’s Narcondam Island, a remote volcanic island 250 km northeast of Port Blair. Lastly, the Coco Islands, to the northeast of the North Andaman Island, are the Coco Islands. While the Coco Islands are part of the Andaman group, they are governed by Myanmar instead.

Further south are the Nicobar Islands, which have unique avifauna, although some species occur on both island groups. However, the Nicobars fall outside the scope of this article.

Top 5 Endemic Birds of the Andamans

While all of the endemic birds of the Andamans are noteworthy, several species stand out above the others. These five are the ones that we would like to see the most:

1) Andaman Teal (Anas albogularis)

First on this list is the Andaman Teal, a waterfowl found only on the Andaman islands, including the Coco Islands, part of Myanmar. The Andaman Teal was formerly considered a subspecies of the Sunda Teal, a duck in Indonesia.

This is a rather attractive species. It’s brownish-grey overall, with a greyish-blue bill and white eye-ring. The face is occasionally all-white. There are also bold black-and-white markings on its upper wings, which is visible in flight. Its throat is white, giving it its scientific name since albogularis translates as ‘white throat’.

2) Andaman Crake (Rallina canningi)

Generally speaking, crakes are secretive birds that are challenging to see, even by experienced birdwatchers. Seeing any crake is considered an excellent day’s work. Even in our home country of Malaysia, we’ve only seen crakes a handful of times. Unsurprising, then, that the Andaman Crake is second on this list. It also helps that this crake looks rather attractive.

3) Andaman Serpent-Eagle (Spilornis elgini)

This one would be very tricky for us to identify, as it looks almost identical to the Crested Serpent-Eagle, also found in the Andamans. Based on photos, the Andaman Serpent-Eagle seems smaller and darker overall than its more widespread cousin. We look forward to searching for this species during our trip – expect plenty of identification conundrums!

4) Andaman Woodpecker (Dryocopus hodgei)

Woodpeckers are fascinating birds, and this one certainly piques our interest. It’s one of only three species of woodpecker found on the Andamans, which makes this endemic even more special. The Andaman Woodpecker looks similar to the widespread White-bellied Woodpecker but lacks the latter species’ namesake white belly. The two species are closely related; indeed, they share the same genus name of Dryocopus.

5) Any of the nocturnal Andaman endemics

Ok, so we’re cheating a bit here since there are five endemic night birds in the Andamans. Seeing any night bird is a delight since they’re usually so difficult to see. Nevertheless, if we choose just one, it’ll probably be the Andaman Masked-Owl (Tyto deroepstorffi), since it’s often considered the trickiest to see.

Honourable mention:

Narcondam Hornbill (Rhyticeros narcondami)

This species is the only hornbill that occurs in the Andamans and is a close relative of the familiar Wreathed Hornbill. Unlike that widespread species, the Narcondam Hornbill only occurs on Narcondam Island. 

Hornbills are one of our favourite birds; seeing any species is a joy. But why isn’t this bird in our top five, then? Unfortunately, Narcondam Island is remote and only accessible by government or chartered ships. Due to this impracticality, we definitely won’t see this hornbill during our Andaman adventure. Otherwise, this bird would be number one on our list!

List of Endemic Birds of the Andamans

Below are all the endemic birds of the Andaman Islands. Species with an asterisk (*) also occur on the Nicobar Islands

1. Andaman Teal
2. Andaman Crake
3. Narcondam Hornbill
4. Andaman Serpent-Eagle
5. Andaman Woodpecker
6. Brown Coucal (a.k.a Andaman Coucal)
7. Three types of endemic pigeons:
   • The Andaman Wood-Pigeon* is uncommon and much sought-after.
   • Andaman Cuckoo-Dove*
   • Andaman Green-Pigeon*
8. Five endemic nocturnal birds:
   • Andaman Nightjar
   • Andaman Masked Owl (or Andaman Barn Owl).
   • Hume’s Boobook
   • Andaman Boobook
   • Andaman Scops-Owl
9. Seven species of endemic passerines, or perching birds:
   • Andaman Cuckooshrike
   • Andaman Drongo
   • The Andaman Treepie is a beautiful treepie that missed our top 5.
   • Andaman Bulbul
   • White-headed Starling*
   • Andaman Shama
   • Andaman Flowerpecker

Conclusion 

Ultimately, all of the endemic birds of the Andaman Islands are worth searching for. The Birdwatching Asia team looks forward to exploring the Andamans to search for and hopefully see as many of these special species as we can.

Have you been birding in the Andaman Islands? If you have, we would love to hear about your experience in the comment form below, and also when or how long you spent there.