08 Day Sundarban + Northeast Birding + Heritage Trip February 2026 - Trip Report
This 08 Day Bangladeshi Heritage & Bird Photography Trip was booked by Ms. Yikun You through our website and she booked the trip with 03 of her teachers who were also world birders with over 4600 species worldwide. Their main Target was the Masked Finfoot, Brown-winged Kingfisher, Buffy Fish Owl in Sundarban. Cachar Bulbul & Mammals in Satchari NP, Pallas’s Fish Eagle & Black-headed Ibis in Baikka Beel etc. We also visited quite a few Old Heritage sites & monuments in Dhaka and along the way. We scored about 180+ species of Birds in 8 days including all our main targets. The Mangrove Pitta was heard only.
February 19th – This was the first day of Ramadan in Bangladesh. The clients arrived at morning and after recieving them from the Airport we went to see a Buddhist monastery in Dhaka followed by Dhaka University Campus where we saw the Black-rumped Flameback, Alexandrine Parakeets on Flame of the Forest tree. Then they checked into their Hotel briefly, had lunch and we got out again, saw few more heritage sites in Dhaka City and dropped them at hotel after sunset for the night. Highlight was the Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, Stork-billed Kingfisher & Lineated Barbet.
February 20th – Picked them up from the Hotel after Breakfast and we visited the Ahsan Manzil Pink Palace and saw Sadarghat Intercity Ship Terminal. It was super busy in the morning. We then went to a Nearby Grassland and picked up the Striated Babbler, Bengal Bushlark and surprisingly a Bay-backed Shrike which was nice. We continued our roadtrip towards Khulna, saw Blue-throated Barbet and Indian Roller on the way. We had a little break at Sixty Dome Mosque, a 500 year old World Heritage Site and boarded our ship right after sunset. Ship started cruising towards Dimer Char, a coastal island of Sundarban overnight.
February 21st – We arrived at Dimer char at around 7AM in the morning. Had breakfast and got off on the Island. We found the Mangrove Whistler fast, then Lesser Coucal in the fields and saw Lesser Adjutants, Eurasian Curlews etc. We saw fresh Bengal TIger pugmarks there possibly from earlier that morning. While returning we saw few Great Thick-knee aswell.
We then went to explore Kochikhali Canal on the opposite side of river and quickly found a lovely Buffy Fish Owl perched which gave great views. We then moved towards Kotka and explored Jamtola Fields in the Afternoon. We saw an Asiatic Golden Jackal there, pretty crazy sighting in the Sundarban. Other highlights were Greater Yellownapes, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch and loads of Spotted Deer. Ship started cruising west and we stopped a bit inside Sundari Canal where we heard several Oriental Scops Owls and few more very upclose perched Buffy Fish Owls using thermal. Ship ran the remaining night.
February 22nd – We arrived at Shekhertek Eco Tourism center at about 10AM that has a boardwalk and an ancient temple. We did some birding here on the boardwalk, saw few old tiger pugmarks and explored the Temple. Then we moved on towards Finfoot Zone of Sundarban. On the Way we had excellent views of the Ganges River Dolphin, Crested Serpent Eagle, Brown-winged Kingfisher etc. In the evening we saw Buffy Fish Owl only.
February 23rd – Early morning we got on the boat and started looking for Finfoot. Soon enough we got our first female Finfoot but it did not allow close views, went inside a very narrow side canal. We waited for it to come out but no luck, we moved towards the male finfoot location and thankfully found the Bird using thermal. It came out in the open soon and allowed us extended views from a distance.
In the evening we went in a nearby Boardwalk for some forest birds. With some looking around we scored the Common Flameback, Ruddy Kingfisher & Velvet-fronted Nuthatch.
February 24th – Next morning we again headed off to try get better views at the finfoot but the Female location did not come out fruitful. And suddenly weather turned dull and storm began. Along with a large cloud of smog that wrapped up the whole area, we almost decided to return to ship as we did not have any preparation for rain. But thankfully weather got better again and we went to check on the Male Finfoot and got some better photos this day. Still it did not allow us to go too close but we all managed better photos than yesterday. Other highlights were a flock of lovely Grey-headed Lapwings that got flown in by the Storm. We started our return journey towards Khulna and started 8 hour drive to Satchari NP where we checked in the Hotel and slept the remaining night.
February 25th – We went to Satchari National Park fairly early, we saw Green-crowned Warbler, Banded Bay Cuckoo, Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo, Violet Cuckoo etc from the Tower. and from the Trails we saw Tickell’s Thrush, Red Junglefowls, Snowy-browed Flycatcher etc and finally excellent views of one Cachar Bulbul. Also We saw several Capped Langurs and a family of Hoolock Gibbons. We heard a Blue-naped Pitta but it remained heard only.
The Small Pond was being visited by Asian Black Bear in the afternoons regularly so park officials advised us not to sit there that day so we sat at the Larger Pond and saw Loads of Pig-tailed Macaques, two Indian Muntjacs that came to drink. Highlight birds were Blue-throated FLycatcher, Verditer FLycatcher and Blue-bearded Bee-eaters. In the evening We returned to hotel again for the night.
February 26th – Early morning we checked out and started for Baikka Beel Wetland Sanctuary and got welcomed by several Oriental Darters, few Black-tailed Godwits, a group of Glossy Ibis etc. Highlight was one Greater Spotted Eagle and while returning we found our main target, a pair of Adult Pallas’s Fish Eagles sitting on top of a Tower. The guests did some shopping at Sreemangal town and we started our return journey to Dhaka. We arrived at the Airport just over 3 hours before their flight and saw them off.
This Trip was during Ramadan and everyone was fasting thus restaurants were closed during much of the day time. We struggled a little to keep our guests fed on the last two days specially for breakfast and lunch. Otherwise this was a nice succesfull trip and got a very positive Review.
