Birding North Sulawesi, Indonesia - November 2021

Following on from my previous post on Central Sulawesi, which you can read all about here (feat. Purple-bearded Bee-eater, Sulawesi Woodcock, Hylocitrea etc.), this post covers my couple of days birding in North Sulawesi, or more specifically, at the incredible Tangkoko National Park. I'd covered this site last year, but since I was so close with my trip to Palu and Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi I couldn't resist another trip north...

The always spectacular Knobbed Hornbill put on a great show, as too did their smaller cousins, the Sulawesi Hornbill. Parrots were very obvious with Yellow-breasted (Minahassa) Racket-tail, Blue-backed (Azure-rumped) Parrot, Ornate Lorikeet, and Pygmy (Small Sulawesi) Hanging Parrot all seen. The area is full of kingfishers and I enjoyed close views of Green-backed Kingfisher, (Sulawesi) Lilac Kingfisher, and Ruddy Kingfisher, along with excellent looks at Purple-winged (Sulawesi) Roller, Ashy Woodpecker, and Sulawesi Pitta, (Sulawesi) Crimson Sunbird, and excellent Spot-tailed Sparrowhawk.

Philippine Megapode (Tabon Scrubfowl), Bay Coucal, Hair-crested (White-eyed Spangled) Drongo, Slender-billed (Sulawesi) Crow, Red-backed Thrush, Yellow-billed (Sulawesi) Malkoha, Black-billed Koel, and Grosbeak Starling (Finch-billed Myna) were all seen too, as were a pair of Pied Cuckooshrike. Doves and pigeons are always plentiful here and I enjoyed watching Sultan's (Sulawesi) Cuckoo-Dove, White-faced Cuckoo-Dove (Sulawesi Black Pigeon), Black-naped Fruit Dove, Green (Paulina's) Imperial Pigeon, and Silver-tipped Imperial Pigeon. One of the highlights was how well Isabelline (Sulawesi) Bush-hen showed as it called out in the open.

A bit of birding at night yielded Minahassa Masked Owl, Sulaswesi Scops Owl, and Great Eared Nightjar, while during the day Ochre-bellied Boobook and Sulawesi Nightjar were both seen.

Interestingly while driving in towards Tangkoko from Manado in the evening, a random stop for a bakery resulted in the finding of a roost or probably 5,000 Barn Swallows right in a town center along the main road, all on the power lines, a pretty spectacular sight!

You can see more specifics about this trip on my eBird account where I've used the new "Trip Report" tool to put some details together,  see that here. 

Knobbed Hornbill

Knobbed Hornbill

Ashy Woodpecker

Green-backed Kingfisher

Hair-crested (White-eyed Spangled) Drongo

Isabelline (Sulawesi) Bush-hen

(Sulawesi) Lilac Kingfisher

Ochre-bellied Boobook

Pied Cuckooshrike

Purple-winged (Sulawesi) Roller

Spot-tailed Sparrowhawk

Spot-tailed Sparrowhawk

Sulawesi Hornbill (male)

Sulawesi Hornbill (female)

(Sulawesi) Crimson Sunbird

Birding Rote, Indonesia - October 2021

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... 

Rote Boobook

Rote Leaf Warbler

Rote Myzomela

Northern (Rote) Fantail

Orange-sided  (Orange-banded) Thrush

White-bellied (Timor) Bush Chat

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:

Green-backed Kingfisher - front view!

Green-backed Kingfisher - back view!

Lilac Kingfisher

Great-billed Kingfisher (Black-billed Kingfisher)

Knobbed Hornbill

Knobbed Hornbill

Ochre-bellied Boobook

Ashy Woodpecker

Yellow-billed Malkoha

Bay Coucal

Isabelline Bush-hen

Red-backed Thrush

Sacred Kingfisher

Snowy-browed Flycatcher

Sulawesi Blue Flycatcher

Citrine Canary-flycatcher

Uniform Swiftlet

Warbling (Mountain) White-eye

White-faced Cuckoo-Dove

White-necked Myna

Yellow-sided Flowerpecker

Lesser Frigatebird

Sulawesi Black Macaque

Spectral Tarsier

Sulawesi Bear Cuscus

Sulawesi Lined Gliding Lizard

After these few days in North Sulawesi I flew across to Halmahera where I had some amazing birds. I will post details of that trip soon...

Fiji Birds

It was great to be able to go birding in Fiji as part of the Birding Ecotours Pacific Tour. My Trip Report can be found here: http://birdingecotours.com/trip-reports/fiji-2

Fiji was a real treat in terms of Fruit Doves, we enjoyed Golden Fruit Dove, Orange Fruit Dove (my personal favourite), Whistling Fruit Dove, and Many-coloured Fruit Dove, along with a wide range of other really great birds, including Silktail and some smart parrots, like Masked, Maroon and Crimson Shining Parrots, and Collared Lory. So many great Myzomela, Flycatchers and Whistlers too.

I'll do a separate post on the Fiji Whistlers and some other species (e.g. Streaked Fantail and Fiji Bush-Warblers) soon as I think these warrant some discussion.

Some photos:

Orange Fruit Dove - simply spectacular 

Fiji White-eye - fairly common

Fiji Woodswallow - fairly common on some islands we visited

Kadavu Fantail - single island endemic (Kadavu)

Kikau - a recent split from the Wattled Honeyeater complex

Many-coloured Fruit Dove - another spectacular Fruit Dove

Masked Shining Parrot -  nice bird but woeful photo in appalling light!

 

Pacific Kingfisher - common

Pacific Robin - friendly little Robin

Silktail - the taxonomic puzzle!

Silktail - showing the tail

Slaty Monarch - common across all islands we visited

Sulphur-breasted Myzomela - very nice bird

Vanikoro Flycatcher - common

Whistling Fruit Dove - single island endemic (Kadavu)

Chestnut-throated Flycatcher - a very recent (October 2016) split from Azure-crested Flycatcher 

Barking Imperial Pigeon - common

Collared Lory - fairly common but timid

Fiji Parrotfinch - seemed common but tricky to get close enough for a decent photo

The details of the 2017 tour can be found here: http://birdingecotours.com/tours/destination/country/fiji-2