Birding Indonesia 2021 - A Summary

I ended up recording exactly 400 species in Indonesia and 164 species in Bali during 2021 (following eBird/Clements taxonomy) - 82 of those on my local patch in Ubud (Campuhan Ridge). 

The first half of the year was spent entirely within Bali (and didn't really involve that much birding until April). Most of my birding was undertaken from my town center garden, then from my new, much better garden a kilometre or so out of town and then the local area from April onwards. When in my new spot I did a spell of early morning and late afternoon birding sessions from my balcony (mainly during the passage periods) which gave some great species - in fact I got 74 species from my new garden between April-December 2021. See the blog posts here: Bali early 2021 and Bali late 2021 for some of the Bali birding highlights.

During the second half of the year, mainly in the last quarter of the year, I managed to get to a few other islands for some high quality Indonesian birding. I visited the following islands (click the name to see the specific blog/trip report and lots of photos):

1. Lombok
2. Flores
3. Rote
4. Timor
5. Sumba
6. Central Sulawesi
7. Northern Sulawesi

There were loads of birding highlights during the year, I found some great birds, a few rarities in the form of Blue-and-white Flycatcher in Bali, Grey-streaked Flycatcher in Timor, and Pectoral Sandpiper in Sumba as well as witnessing a really pronounced and impressive spring migration of raptors passing over Bali. The off-Bali trips yielded a load of range-restricted and highly prized endemics, some of them rarely seen and/or photographed (see the linked trip reports above for loads more details). 

With a bit of luck I'll get to explore some more areas of Indonesia during 2022 (and hopefully a little further afield too, as I've got loads of amazing tours all lined up if the Covid-19 situation allows...). In Indonesia I'm planning on some birding in Java, Sumatra, Borneo (Kalimantan) and then thinking of Seram, Buru, Tanimbar, Kai Islands, and probably some more in Sulawesi too... still loads of incredible birds to look for! Let's see what happens. 

Indonesia 2021 Totals....

Bali 2021 Totals

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

Indonesia, Flores Birding Trip Report September 2021

In September I made a short birding trip over to Flores, part of the Lesser Sunda region of Indonesia, just an hours flight from Bali. It was an excellent trip, loads of fantastic endemic birds and some really beautiful landscapes. I've put together a brief trip report below, where you can read all about it and see some photos. 

Flores Scops Owl was one of many highlights during the Flores birding trip.

Indoneisa - Flores Birding Trip Report AW20211008 by Andy Walker on Scribd

Indonesia, Lombok Trip Report August 2021

Had an excellent and really enjoyable birding trip to Lombok, Indonesia in August 2021 and I've put together a trip report below, with a couple of photos too, take a look! 

Rinjani Scops Owl was our main target and we got great views of this endemic owl on our first night.

 Indoneisa - Lombok Birding Trip Report 2021 by Andy Walker on Scribd

 

We got some excellent views of Wallacean (Lombok Spangled) Drongo during our trip. 

I do like a pitta! Here we got some fabulous looks at Ornate Pitta.