During October 2021 I made an exciting birding trip through Timor, Rote, and Sumba islands, part of the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. Each of these islands has a range of endemic birds (species and subspecies) and seeing as many of these as possible was my aim.
First up was the baking hot island of Rote. I arrived at lunch time and had approximately 24 hours on the island and it was great birding. The top targets seen here included Rote Boobook, Rote Myzomela, Rote Leaf Warbler, and Northern (Rote) Fantail, along with others such as "Timor Nightjar", a currently undescribed species known from Timor and Rote, Wallacean (Timor) Cuckooshrike, Orange-sided (Orange-banded) Thrush, Timor Blue Flycatcher, Green (Timor) Figbird, Timor Oriole, and White-bellied (Timor) Bush Chat.
I concentrated my birding in the northeast of the island in the scrub and woodland for the above birds and here there was also a huge lake that was packed full of waterbirds and shorebirds, such as Australian Pelican, Masked Lapwing, Red-capped Plover, Pied Stilt, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Long-toed Stilt, Hardhead, Wandering Whistling Duck, White-browed Crake, and Tricolored Grebe. Here too were hundreds of egrets, cormorants, and terns.
A few other interesting birds seen included (Lesser Sunda) Zebra Finch, Pied Bush Chat (just for how abundant this species was), Drab Swiftlet, Black Cuckoo-Dove (Timor Black Pigeon), Rose-crowned Fruit Dove, Red-backed Buttonquail, Plain (Timor) Gerygone, Arafura (Supertramp) Fantail, Broad-billed Flycatcher, Ashy-bellied White-eye, and Tricolored Parrotfinch.
Next stop Timor...
No comments:
Post a Comment