My final birding trip away from Bali in 2021 was to Sulawesi. Over late 2021 I enjoyed several excellent Indonesian birdwatching trips, to Lombok, Flores, Timor, Rote, Sumba, and of course a fair bit of birding from my garden in Ubud, Bali. I had a bit of free time so decided to spend just over a week in Central and Northern Sulawesi. I'd had two great trips to Sulawesi in 2020, which included birding time on Peleng Island, Tangkoko National Park, and into the North Moluccas where I covered Halmahera too, so I was looking forward to getting back. I firmly believe Sulawesi offers some of the best birds and birding in Indonesia. This blog covers the Central Sulawesi portion of my trip.
I flew in to Palu, in Central Sulawesi and headed across to Lore Lindu. I enjoyed a couple of days birding here. Unfortunately it wasn't possible to get up the famed Anaso Track during my visit, but I still saw plenty of excellent birds, including Sulawesi Woodcock. I love birding at 1,000 - 1,800m (3,300 - 6,000ft) anywhere in the world, there's always something special about the habitats found there that always results in amazing birds and beautiful plants.
I'm not going to lie, I was majorly gutted to not be able to get up the Anaso Track but finding a feeding Sulawesi Woodcock on the side of a trail was one great sighting, as were a pair of Purple-bearded Bee-eaters (one of my major targets), along with Hylocitrea, Sulawesi Thrush, Great Shortwing (Heinrichia), Malia, Maroon-backed Whistler, Blue-fronted Blue Flycatcher (Hoevell's Warbling-flycatcher), Red-eared Fruit Dove, Grey-headed Imperial Pigeon, White-bellied Imperial Pigeon, Sulawesi Hawk-Eagle, Cinnabar Boobook, Speckled Boobook, Sulawesi Pygmy Woodpecker, Yellow-cheeked Lorikeet, Dark-eared (Lesser) Myza, Sulawesi Myzomela, Ivory-backed Woodswallow, Cerulean Cuckooshrike, Pygmy Cuckooshrike, Sulawesi Cicadabird, Sulawesi Drongo, Sulawesi Fantail, Sulawesi Leaf Warbler, Sulawesi (Short-crested) Myna, Fiery-browed Starling (Flame-browed Myna), Citrine Canary-flycatcher, Crimson-crowned Flowerpecker, and plenty more! Pictures of many of these below.
As I got one less day up in the mountains than I expected I decided to have a morning birding in some lowland forest near Palu, this proved to be a good choice and I enjoyed seeing Sulawesi Pitta, Sulawesi Pygmy Kingfisher, Spotted Harrier, Great (Sulawesi) Hanging Parrot, Long-tailed Shrike (either a recent arrival into the country or an escaped cage bird), Bay Coucal, Pale-headed Munia, and Sulawesi Streaked (Sulawesi Brown) Flycatcher.
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, you can see that (and get a sneak early peak at what I saw in Northern Sulawesi), here.
