A.W.Birder: Always on the lookout for fine birds...: October 2020

Saturday, 10 October 2020

Bali Lockdown Birding - Garden List Hits 50!

There's been another shift in the winds recently in Bali along with several severe thunderstorms and I've had a few garden ticks in the last couple of weeks too (I'm in Ubud) - such as Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Pacific Swift, White-breasted Woodswallow, White-throated Needletail, Common Myna, and Javan Myna.

Today, after a huge storm that lasted most of the night and all morning I got two ticks in two minutes once it stopped - firstly a flock of three Wood Sandpipers, followed by a single Grey Heron, happy days!

Grey Heron actually took my garden list to 50 species! I've been here almost 7 months now.

Olive-backed Sunbird
Yellow-vented Bulbul
Javan Pond Heron
Cave Swiftlet
Plaintive Cuckoo
Collared Kingfisher
Eastern Cattle Egret
Edible-nest Swiftlet
Zebra Dove
Spotted Dove
Javan Munia
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Javan Kingfisher
Large-billed Crow
Striated Swallow
Chinese Sparrowhawk
Scaly-breasted Munia
Pacific Swallow
Intermediate Egret
Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon
Pied Bush Chat
Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
Black-naped Fruit Dove
Black-crowned Night Heron
Savanna Nightjar
Olive-backed Tailorbird
Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon)
White-headed Munia
Rusty-breasted Whistler
Asian Glossy Starling
Pink-necked Green Pigeon
Little Spiderhunter
Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker
House Swift
Common Iora
Java Sparrow
Sunda Scops Owl
Barn Swallow
Short-tailed Starling
Little Egret
White-throated Needletail
Brown-backed Needletail
Zitting Cisticola
Javan Myna
Blue-tailed Bee-eater
White-breasted Woodswallow
Pacific Swift
Common Myna
Wood Sandpiper
Grey Heron

Here are a few photos of some of the birds from the garden, my camera has been packed away for the most part so I've missed some very good photo ops.. such as the only time I've seen the Java Sparrow perched... about 10ft away from me at eye-level - DOH! Happy with the ones below though...

Javan Kingfisher

Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon

Pied Bush Chat

Scaly-breasted Munia

(Eastern) Spotted Dove

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Zebra Dove

Sunday, 4 October 2020

Halmahera Birding Trip Report - September 2020

After a great few days birding in Sulawesi in early September (details here) I took a short flight from Manado to Ternate in the North Moluccas. Ternate is a small island dominated by a huge volcano, it's really impressive, as are the adjacent volcanoes when flying in to the island (the ones around Manado are good to be fair too!). After getting bags I took a short (c10 minute) ride to Ternate Port and boarded a speedboat for c30 minutes to Sofifi on the island of Halhamera. After catching up with my driver and local guide we commenced the c4/5 hour 4x4 drive to our accommodation in Weda Bay (it was a slow ride as we did stop to check out a few birds along the way - the best being a really photogenic pair of Blyth's Hornbills). We didn't stop to bird on the way back a few days later and did the journey in about 3 hours.

I had a few birds I really wanted to see in Halmahera, those being Wallace's Standardwing, a restricted-range bird-of-paradise, Ivory-breasted Pitta, and North Moluccan Pitta. All three dropped into place rather nicely and I had great views of all three and even managed to get some photos.

I only did two morning birding sessions and one one-hour evening session to look for owls (which was very successful before the rain came down). Full sighting details can be found on my eBird profile here.

There were plenty of other great birds around the area too, such as (Halmahera) Paradise-crow (another bird-of-paradise), Goliath Coucal, Invisible Rail, Blue-and-white Kingfisher, Sombre Kingfisher, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Beach Kingfisher, Halmahera Boobook, Moluccan Scops Owl, Moluccan Owlet-nightjar, Cream-throated (Halmahera) White-eye, Gurney's Eagle, Halmahera Flowerpecker, Halmahera Swiftlet, and lots more. Several fruit doves, cuckooshirkes, and other great birds too.

Can't wait to go back and spend longer here on my tour in July next year. Details here.

Here are some photos of the one I managed to get shots of!

Ivory-breasted Pitta

(Wallace's) Standardwing

North Moluccan Pitta

Halmahera Boobook

Beach Kingfisher

Blue-and-white Kingfisher

Blue-capped Fruit Dove

Blyth's Hornbill

Common Paradise Kingfisher

Cream-throated (Halmahera) White-eye

Grey-headed Fruit Dove

Halmahera Flowerpecker

Long-billed Crow

Moluccan Scops Owl

Moluccan Starling

Oriental Dollarbird

Red-flanked Lorikeet

Sombre Kingfisher

Variable Goshawk

Saturday, 3 October 2020

Sulawesi Birding Trip Report - September 2020

In early-September 2020 I took a flight from Denpasar, Bali to Manado, North Sulawesi (via Makassar, South Sulawesi). Nice easy and fairly quick journey of about 4 hours including the stops with a bit of faff for Covid-screening etc.

The plan was for 3 nights at Tangkoko with 1 night at Tomohon (for birding at Mt Mahawu) on the tip on the Minahassa Peninsula. I think I was the first western person to have gone birding around Tangkoko National Park/Nature Reserve since Covid happened and everything shut down, as a result the usual known stakeouts for many of the birds were not currently known as the local guides hadn't been into the park for many months. I had two mornings in Tangkoko Nature Reserve, one afternoon session there and one session at nearby Temboan Hill, and one morning on the mangrove boat ride. Weather at Tangkoko was hot and dry. Over near Tomohon I had one wet morning birding session of a couple of hours at Mt Mahawu. The birding at Tangkoko was really enjoyable. Quiet at times with lots of walking to cover the distance but I got a lot of the targets I was after. Birding at Mt Mahawu was not very successful due to the poor weather conditions. Full sighting details on my eBird profile here. It was a useful trip to go and check out a few spots that we visit on our July Sulawesi and Halmahera tour - details of which can be found here.

Here are a few of the highlight birds that I managed to photograph during the trip: