BirdingBD Tours arranged this Masked Finfoot Trip in sundarbans on February 15-16-17 from Dhaka. Guests were mostly Bangladeshi Birdwatchers and Only International Guest was Mr. Avijit Ganguli from Kolkata, India, he visits all over india and often abroad looking for Mammals and Birds, Masked Finfoot was a long-time dream for him.
We Started from Dhaka on evening of 15th and Boarded Ship by Midnight.
We arrived at the Location at about 8 AM, we’d finished our breakfasts before then and hopped on the Smaller Boat for Canal Cruise. It was Low Tide going on so most side canals were too shallow to access or check. Several Brown-winged Kingfishers and Black-capped Kingfishers kept giving great Views, followed by a Large Saltwater Crocodile. We photographed a nice Short-toed Snake Eagle flying over us which was many of the our Lifer since it’s a National Rarity and very seldom seen.
We kept looking and after about two hours we spotted our first Masked Finfoot, a nice sub-adult female. We stopped at about 200m from the bird and silently kept watch. The Bird initially went in but soon came out and started foraging. We took photos and videos and saw it cross a small creek and then it vanished around the corner. We waited some more then started exploring more. We saw one Small-clawed Otter there also.
After lunch and a brief rest time we went in small channels again looking for the White-eared Night Heron, got intel about it being found in this channel but Low Tide came long after sunset and it was pitch black. We managed to Photograph a nice Streak-breasted Woodpecker male, heard multiple Buffy Fish Owls from distance and few Mangrove Pittas. We looked for the heron in complete silence and using torch lights but no luck, banks were too submerged. After about two hours we returned to Ship for the day.
Next morning we could hear Indian Nightjar and Large-tailed Nightjars calling from nearby forest patches. We entered the main channel before sunrise and kept going. We found one Male Masked Finfoot this time sitting right by a canal, we snapped few quick shots and waited from far. It decided to start swimming and then Ran over water then flew and vanished in mist on the other side. We decided not to chase after it because that might startle it. We found a buffy fish owl here also. Several Spotted Deers, more Saltwater Crocodiles gave great views, one Crested Serpent Eagle with puffed Crest sitting right by the bank was Great and we had fun photographing it.
We then went to check on yesterday’s spot again, waited for about two hours but found no activity there so decided to return to ship.
We then went to a nearby Boardwalk but sun was high up by then so bird activity was very low. Few Greenish Warblers, Greater Flamebacks, Small Minivets were active. We saw few ospreys here and a grey-headed fish eagle flying over us high up.
We checked few more canals around, found few more of the regular Kingfishers, Verditer Flycatchers, Water Monitor Lizards etc then decided to return to ship for Lunch. After lunch we started our return journey. Saw one White-bellied Sea Eagle adult, another Grey-headed Fish Eagle, Black-naped Orioles, Pacific Golden Plovers etc. We arrived at Town around sunset and started our Return Journey to Dhaka, arrived at early morning of 18th. Everyone got at least Two Lifers.
