We started from Dhaka just after nightfall and arrived Mongla by Midnight & Started Cruising Right Away. Had our dinner on the ship.
When we woke up in the morning we had already arrived at location. First Morning birdwatching started. It was a glorious bright day full of bird activity. We saw several pairs of foraging Red Junglefowls, few Brown-winged and Black-capped Kingfishers, One Ruddy Kingfisher etc. Several Mangrove Pittas were calling violently from both sides. There were Bawali Boats with workers cutting down Gol Pata Nipa Palm trees which was rather concerning because Masked Finfoot generally forages in and around Golpata groves. After few hours we found our first Masked Finfoot. a Gorgeous male. We spotted it from a distance and we kept our distance. It was foraging gracefully, often coming down for a swim and then walking back up inside the Grove. We took our time and went pretty close to the bird and got several nice foraging photos. We made sure it was not spooked. After almost two hours we called it a day and moved on. We photographed one Lesser Adjutant and few more Red Junglefowls and returned to ship.
There was another session later that started after 4:00 PM. We checked few narrow canals in beautiful golden light, photographed few more birds. We waited for sunset and started checking banks on both sides in receding tide for night dwellers. We found few roosting egrets and One Buffy Fish Owl which gave pretty good photo opportunities. But the White-eared Night Heron was not found.
Next morning was as beautiful as we remembered Sundarban to be. We had breakfast before dawn and started birding super early. Kingfisher & Passerine activity was low compared to yesterday but day started with a nice Small-clawed Otter swim-by. After looking for a bit & checking out few more narrow canals we found one male Masked Finfoot again. Had fun photographing it from a distance but photos were not as good as yesterday. We photographed few Osprey and Lesser Adjutants and returned to ship at noon. Guests suggested they wanted to move on to next location so we started ship and cruising towards Shekhertek Eco Tourism Center located beside mighty Shibsha River. On the way we spotted few gulls and families of Irrawadi Dolphins. Shibsha River was calm and very reflective that day as was the sky clear. This area is known for Tiger sightings so we scanned both sides of canals for any striped individual but no luck.
We anchored at spot and started Birding inside the canal. We checked all sub canals until sunset and had fun photographing few very Bold Black-capped and Brown-winged Kingfishers. We returned to ship near Dusk and waited for receding tide for another session. We went again in the dark looking for Nocturnal mammals and Birds. We found Spotted Deer, another Small-clawed Otter, an unknown species of Mouse and a species of Kukri/Banded snake. We played back some Owl and Nightjar calls but nothing responded. Upon returning to Ship, few members who stayed back told that they confidently heard Brown Wood Owl call nearby. We were super excited to hear this and at least wanted to see this bird. This would be everyone’s Lifer because this is a very Rare bird, even rarer in the Sundarban. We saw a large bird flying above us and it sat nearby. We used some Low Intensity Flashlights and got photos of this Mega Bird. The Bird flew around and above us few times giving us great looks and awesome photos. We took video and recorded calls. Later found out that there was another individual, possibly a pair nearby. Both Birds kept calling back and forth for most of the night.
Next Morning weather was super cloudy and was raining lightly. We decided to go for a walk in the Trails looking for Birds. Also there was an Old Temple located here which is an important Heritage Site inside Sundarban. This is a proof that Humans once inhabited this Part of Bangladesh also. We spotted few Warblers and Woodpeckers. There were Mangrove Pittas calling from Distance. One Ruddy Kingfisher gave a glance only. Few members found another mega bird from trail which was everyones lifer. a Mangrove Whistler. A rather shy and skulker bird that is only found in Sundarban and Adjascent Mangroves but surprisingly very few sightings. There was a pair present there and they were calling and singing frequently but giving us very little time to photograph them. After trying for a bit we all managed to capture it’s photos. We returned to ship, had breakfast and started our return journey via Bhadra Canal. Nothing much interesting was seen except few Kingfishers here and there, Ospreys and one Changeable Hawk Eagle. The Team Decided to skip Karamjal and Finish at Mongla so we can catch an earlier Bus, so we did. We arrived Dhaka right around midnight safely. Few Big Names in Bangladeshi Birding scene were with us specially Mr. Nur E Saud, who joined the Trip with 499 Lifers. We managed to show him his 500th and 03 more so he returned home very happy with 503 Species total.