In search of Kingfishers and Owls in Sulawesi and Halmahera, Indonesia (1 Viewer)

Off to the area near the Weda Bay Nickle mine.

Early breakfast, even with a start before 4am they offer full selection of pancakes, eggs, etc so Weda Resort is well set up for birders in addition to having some great birds in the local area and very comfortable accommodation.

We headed toward the Weda bay port and stopped to try for Moluccan Scops Owl but again no sign of Bob although we did get another Halmahera Boobook fly in to nearby trees. We persevered for the scops owl and this time when we switched the torches back on and had a scan of the trees there was a couple of Moluccan Scops Owls but quite distant after a little more calling, and hearing Bob.., Bob.., Bob... one of the birds came close enough and perched for a record shot although he wouldn’t show completely out in the open.

It was just getting light as we passed through the last town before the road split and we took the fork towards the Nickle Mine, I don’t think this road is used very much – we certainly didn’t see another car in a full day on the road and only saw a few people near the mining town and then two people late in the day near the start of the road. The road gets to a high enough elevation to get the few tricky birds that only occur at 1200M or above. The first birds we spotted were a small flock of the beautiful Chattering Lory, what a shame that these birds are all being trapped and kept in cages in the local villages. We then added Wallacean Monarch, Cinnamon-bellied Imperial Pigeon and Moluccan Monarch, at the highest point of the road just before the Nickle Mine town we had good views of two Gilolo Fantails flying around with a couple of Halmahera White-eyes. We also found a couple of North Moluccan Leaf Warblers which were quite confiding

We heard a distant Moluccan King Parrot but despite lots of attempts to call it in we could see this target bird but we did add Wallacean and Halmahera Cicadabirds and the Dusky Myzomela.

We heard a Scarlet-breasted Fruit Dove and Bang-bang managed to see it, even though it was well set back in a tangle of vines high up in a tree, fortunately I got on it quickly and even managed a distant record shot of this beautiful dove but Sarah just couldn’t get on it despite three of us giving her directions and me showing her a photo to try to get her to look through the right gap in the vegetation, the scope was in the car a good 30 minute walk away and we had visions of her missing this great bird when fortunately it moved slightly and she was on it, “I don’t believe I couldn’t see it” – doh! To be fair we have all been there where everyone but you is on a bird and you just get frustrated as hell as you are at the wrong height, angle, or bird is hidden by a leaf, branch etc….

We were then walking up and down the hill calling and trying for a Rufous-necked Sparrowhawk which had been seen here a few weeks ago but without luck, we were however lucky to see a fly-over Gurney’s Eagle which we were able to see well by running to the brow of the hill as it initial went out of sight and a Varied Goshawk.

Bird activity had pretty much stopped so we had lunch on a table of banana leaves set out on the road, we then had a siesta just laying on the road, only to be disturbed by a heavy rain shower an hour or so later. While the rain didn’t last long, just 40 minutes with us sheltering under umbrellas, there was little bird activity – then we saw Umbrella Cockatoo, then we heard another King Parrot and there below in the middle of tree was a Moluccan King Parrot. This is now a pretty rare bird in this part of Halmahera.

We walked and birded down the road with Bang-bang driving behind and with Carlos on top of the car, birds added included Dollarbird, Blue and White Kingfisher, Moluccan Cuckooshrike and Long-billed Crow.

The heavy rain had brought a tree down across the road - whilst we had a machete in the car it was going to take ages to get the tree cleared; but our good luck continued - two guys collecting coconuts had good blades and made short work of clearing the tree and were happy to be rewarded with some biscuits and sweets.

In a clearing on the way back just before dark we added Peregrine Falcon, Indonesian Kestrel and Oriental Hobby.

Weda to Ternate and then Makassar

Nice leisurely start just getting up to breakfast before dawn – sods law, having struggled for ages with Moluccan Scops Owl – one was calling and seen outside our room on the way to breakfast; we could also hear Owlet Nightjar but decided not to try for it, but pointed out the call to some divers staying at the resort who were intrigued by the look and sound of this weird bird and were hoping to see it at some point.

After breakfast we would drive slowly up to Sofili for our private transfer across to Ternate for our flight to Makassar. We would be stopping regularly to try for a few targets we were still looking for and at a possible day roost for Barking Owl but did have much hope as the birds had not been seen recently by Bang-bang or any local guides.

We stopped at every little bridge over a stream looking for Little Kingfisher but didn’t see or hear a single bird, we did see Sombre Kingfisher (much thicker billed on this view), Common Kingfisher and Sacred Kingfisher. We had our last look at some nice endemics such as Rufous-bellied Triller, Halmahera Flowerpecker, Friarbird, Oriole, and Scarlet-breasted Fruit Dove (poor view). Carlos then saw a Purple Needletail when we were looking a Halmahera Goshawk, he is human in his encyclopaedic bird knowledge, he thought it was an Indonesian Endemic but we had seen them in the Philippines and also had one at Dumoga Bone when Carlos wasn’t around so we weren’t too bothered.

We added Halmahera Golden Bulbuls ( first mention here - so shown as lifer here) Umbrella Cockatoo, Hanging Parrot, and Moluccan Cuckooshrike, we had been calling for Rufous-necked Sparrowhawk as we went along, then Carlos went into the forest calling it, we were told to look at open area for birds hopefully flying across. We only saw Brahminy Kite and a couple of Eclectus Parrots which we were looking at when we heard Carlos call and run up the hill, “look” – but we had all missed the Sparrowhawk, which has flown across behind us. A real pity as this is a very rare bird which Bang-bang said he only sees once or twice a year. Unsurprisingly, we didn’t find Barking Owl, I don’t think it is seen very often on Halmahera in the areas we visited.

We arrived at the dock earlier than expected but as we had a private boat transfer we set off immediately, Carlos on top of the little speedboat looking for rare terns. However despite a little detour to a sand spit we only saw Great-Crested Tern. So a pretty disappointing last morning but a successful trip to this lovely spice island (visit soon before all the birds are trapped). As it was now raining torrentially we had no opportunity to try for the any birds on Ternate. Instead we waited for a slightly delayed plane in the small airport and arrived just before dark in Makassar.
So just headed to our airport hotel the Dalton. Carlos did offer us an owling trip tonight but it was a couple of hours driving to the site and as we were off really early the next morning and all pretty tired we sensibly declined.

Visit to the limestone karst forest at Karaenta

Off before the hotel can do breakfast to get up to the karst forest at Kareanta, a place Carlos doesn’t like as most birding is by a busy road and near the Bantimurung-Bulusaraung N.P visitor centre where on a Sunday it gets extremely busy. However despite trying he hasn’t found anywhere else in the vicinity with the same selection of birds.

We arrived before dawn – no owls calling but we could hear one of our top targets the recently split Black-headed Kingfisher, another one of the forest kingfishers which is only really findable early in the morning when we are calling. We had some coffee and peanut butter sandwiches while we waited for some light, overhead there was an Indonesian Kestrel and a Knobbed Hornbill. Then a motorbike suddenly pulled into the forest trail at near full pelt – stop we gestured. The guy got off his bike – he was a local reserve guide. Not a good introduction.

There were two birds calling Carlos went left into the forest, the local guide right and we headed in slowly behind the local guy as it was the easiest trail. Almost immediately the guy was pointing and I was on the Black-headed Kingfisher, but he flew deeper into the forest, we whistled Carlos and started quietly towards where the bird had flown, and there he was sitting on a low branch easily viewable, getting photos was much more difficult with the light really poor and even with a high ISO and monopod getting a sharp shot was difficult, still the bird played ball and flew into a series of nearby branches while Carlos and I got a load of shots that would surely produce a few keepers. After about 20 minutes we left the bird in peace – happy at a very good start to the day.

We then looked for a very range restricted endemic and down a little embankment in a gully we found a couple of Black-ringed White-eyes birds that only occur in this southern area of Sulawesi. While we were sitting watching the white-eyes Carlos called Flycatcher, it was a Sulawesi Streaked Flycatcher, to be honest at the angle we were looking I couldn’t really see line/blobs rather than streaks. However when we got back to the road I saw the Flycatcher totally out in the open and started snapping away, the bird turned face on to Carlos and he whispered pass your camera and he got what he thinks are the best photos ever of this recently described bird. Carlos was really annoyed that he didn’t have his camera, he put it in the car which had driven up the road, so he ran up the hill to get it, the bird meanwhile continued to display and even called and I think I got some better shots albeit not as diagnostic. 15 minutes later Carlos came back with his Camera but the bird although still around was hawking insects further back in the tree. Carlos posted a copy of the photos on an Indonesian Bird site and started a mini twitch including one of the authors of the new field guide.

On the walk up the road we heard a couple of Piping Crows and managed to obtain a decent view at the top of a tree. Other birds around included Sulawesi Malkoha, White-necked Myna, Lesser Coucal, Grey-rumped Tree-swift, Uniform Swiftlet, and Sulawesi Babbler.

The local guide then heard some macaques and led us into the forest where there was a troop of Moors Macaques including an eye-catching grey male who wanted feeding, although not allowed, the guy from the park did throw the troop the odd banana, obviously his way of ensuring that they come to him when he takes parties into the forest.

We had seen the target birds and the macaques without going into the National Park head quarter and before the road got busy, it was still only 8am. So we decided to head to the airport via some fields where a couple of tricky birds could be found. First we tried for Pale-headed Munia but only Black-headed were around but the other target Lesuere’s Triller was spotted by Sarah flying into a nearby tree and we got good views, only other birds were Wood Sandpiper, Sooty-headed Bulbul, Eastern Cattle Egret, White-breasted Woodswallow, Sahul Sunbird and Pacific Swallow.

On arrival at the airport everything looked OK for our 13.00 flight but then there were delays dues to Operation Issues (this seemed to be code words for problems with planes coming from Bali being impacted by the active Volacano there). A couple of hours later we were called and madness ensued, we were milling around on the tarmac with buses for three different planes all in the same area, we got on a bus that was heading to the Palu plane, and got on the plane but no sign of Carlos, fortunately we had got seats with extra leg-room at the emergency exit and he had been given a seat at the back of the plane and we saw he had also caught the plane. The plane eventually took off a couple of late and we landed in Palu in central Sulawesi, just as it was getting dark; so we met up with our driver for the next few days and headed directly to Sendy’s Guest House in Wuasa near Lore Lindu national park with no stops for birding.

Sulawesi Streak Flycatcher

Recently described flycatcher

Moor's Macaques

Macaques

Lore Lindu N.P near Lake Tambling and Lake Wanga

We were based in lowlands, making daily forays to the mid and higher reaches of the park for some of the really special endemics of Sulawesi.

Our first day started at Lake Tambling where arrived around 4.00 for breakfast and some roadside owling, we tried for the Lore Lindu sub-species of Cinnibar Boobook and managed to see the bird pretty well but then a Minhassa Masked Owl called from very nearby, Carlos had told us that he had once seen the Minhassa at Lore Lindu but I had more or less given up hope after our time trying for this bird in the North of Sulawesi where until recently people thought it was endemic to. The bird flew within 10 meters of Carlos but despite wanting to see the bird the only thing that we saw with any certainty was the Boobook flying and I just couldn’t convince myself I had seen it despite Carlos thinking we must have seen it (certainly not ticked as a lifer so we will try again).

After this we headed back to the car-park for some coffee and very easy birding. We quickly added Sulawesi Helei, Black-crowned White-eye, Golden-bellied Gerygone, Mountain White-eye, Citrine Canary Tit (Flycatcher), Grosbeak Myna, Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Snowy-browed Flycatcher and Sulawesi Cuckoo Dove before had to work a little harder to add two beautiful blue birds, Hoevell’s Warbling Flycatcher and the irruptive and never easy to see Blue-faced Parrotfinch.

We headed behind the new building to some fruiting trees and saw Western Superb Fruit-Dove, Meyers Lorikeet and at the top of the tree a Flame-browed Myna - a great trio of colourful birds.

Of the road and on the various steep trails things got a bird harder we tried without success for Heinrichia and Sulawesi Ground Dove, but then our local guide Indris pointed us a Maroon-backed Whistler – a glorious bird to look down with his maroon colours glowing on back and a very tricky bird to see (it was heard only after that sighting), we also saw Red-eared Fruit Dove and Malia on that trail.

The weather then started to turn and in the heavy rain we decided that today we would head down hill and do some birding near a newly board-walked area (lake Wanga) and then try for Grass owl at a nearby site. It was a good call I think as it was extremely dull and raining quite heavy for most of the afternoon and by night fall the rain was torrential.

From the car we added Pied Bushchat, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Spotted Dove, Barred Rail, and Rufous-winged Buzzard.

Then under some cover on the boardwalk we had Sunda Swamphen, Sunda Teal, Pacific Black Duck, Wandering and Spotted Whistling Ducks, Darter, Spotted Dove, Asian Palm Swift, and Eastern Yellow Wagtail.

Once we got the field for the owl, the rain had eased and we added Buff-banded Rail, Purple Heron, Javan Pond Heron, Scaly Munia, Wood sandpiper, Glossy Ibis, Grey Wagtail before the star of the show Eastern Grass Owl emerged and started quartering the field. It was too dull and distant for any decent photos but Carlos in his shorts and sandals just walked across the flooded paddies to get closer and take some record shots.

The rain then started again and all we saw on the way back to Sendy’s was a Bush-hen running across a field. The rain was torrential but we still made plans for early dinner, up at 01.00 and off at 01.30 so we could be up the Anaso trail before first light.

Awesome stuff. Wonder how easy it is to do independently / on a budget.

Quite possible

simmojunior said:

Awesome stuff. Wonder how easy it is to do independently / on a budget.

Click to expand...

Thanks

I think very possible but probably with a bit more time and you would almost certainly need to get a local guide as some of the parks seem to insist on it even if it isn't completely mandatory.

We are I suppose fortunate in that time is more important to us now than a bit of extra money, but I wouldn't say it is any harder, other than language, than the nearby Philippines which we did on our own /with local guides about 4 years ago.

Anaso trail – with a change of plan

In our guide it says “the higher reaches of the Lore Lindu park are accessible along a famed old logging road, the Anaso Trail, and home to four of the most wanted endemics; Diabolical Nightjar, Geomalia, Great Shortwing and one of the world’s most spectacular bee-eaters; Purple-bearded Bee-eater. The bee-eater breeds in roadside banks and often perches conspicuously”….., so pretty high expectations.

We got up at 1am and things were not looking good as the rain was still pretty heavy, Carlos shouted across the rooms and said lets go back to bed for a couple of hours and leave at 3.30. So a couple of hours later than planned we got up again and the rain was much lighter. By the time we got up to the trail area the rain was pretty much off but we set of in full waterproof gear. No sooner were we about to start and the Minhassa Masked Owl called – this bird was proving a real pain as it once again came close but wouldn’t come to the trail or the road side.

It was clear that we weren’t going to get very far up the trail before daylight and that became more so when we heard the distinctive French horn tuning sound of a Sombre Pigeon, we had been told yesterday that only one other group had seen this bird here, so we had to try and the bird only just flew right above me. Carlos was up the trail a bit and managed a record shot but my camera was in a waterproof cover inside my rucksack, trying to get it out when every sound was magnified was hell but I finally got it out only to find it was switched on with a nearly dead battery, so managed just six shots of the Sombre Pigeon in the gloom before I had to find another battery and with that second movement the bird flow further away.
Still a great start and the shots were Ok - I think.

A couple of people have asked us how hard is the Anaso trail to bird and walk, I think in perfect weather probably no problem, just a few long steep climbs albeit with very little respite in between to take a breather, but taken slowly probably OK but with the 15 hours of heavy rain causing the scree and rocks to be slippy and the muddy areas very wet we found it hard and Sarah even with a walking pole struggled to do any more than look at her feet due to uncertainty and fear of slipping. In fact for an hour after the Pigeon sighting when we were seeing nothing and it was clear that we wouldn’t be up to the mid-point before 7.00am (the thought crossed Carlos’s mind to try again tomorrow and do it early as planned today), I slipped back and raised the subject and Sarah told me in the most un-ladylike language that she was not setting foot on the trail again tomorrow. So I conveyed the news and we agreed that we needed to get everything we could up here today.

We passed the area for the bee-eaters but decided to try later when the day was warmer and birds more active and headed directly to the area near the old Helipad. Here the local guide Indris checked a few places and found a couple of well disguised Diabolical Nightjar’s the birds were only hiding behind a single plant but until very close were well hidden.
A few nice photos, the sun was now out and raingear was off and suddenly we felt much happier. I still don't know the reason for the Diabolical/ Satanic Nightjar name as birds don't look eerie and don't sound evil. Anyway for us they were a great bird.

Just a couple of hundred meters higher we were trying for Heinrichia (Great Shortwing) but the bird showing on a stick was a Snowy-browed Flycatcher, this was to be a pattern; when we heard the Hylocitrea (previously known as Olive-flanked Whistler) and saw two birds on top of a bush with a couple of [COLOR="red"[COLOR="Black"]]Mountain White-eye.[/COLOR][/COLOR] another top target. We then added Red-eared Fruit Dove and got to the next pass area when unexpectedly a Geomalia showed on the path in front and then shot into the undergrowth. No other group this year had seen this bird so despite the dodgy start and the fear that we were too late to see the Geomalia and might struggle with Nightjars (it was now 8.00am) we had been lucky and seen the Geomalia
without even trying to call it in. Funnily enough despite the rarity value neither of had this in our trip top 5 as sighting wasn't brilliant and we didn't photograph it.


We tried a few more places for Heinrichia unsuccessfully and couldn’t find any thrushes and decided not to walk to the second pass for possible Indonesian Serin. Instead we headed back to the helipad area, the Nightjar’s were now well hidden in the vegetation and I struggled to see more than the very edge of the birds now.

We had a snack before going down to the area (clear evidence of recent earthquake with an obvious detour path) and we sat and waited for the bee-eaters. 30 minutes passed (nothing) we didn’t want to come back up as per last discussion so we decide to give it another hour. Fortunately a bird came after about 20 minutes and was then joined by his partner. The birds showed well but the light was for the most part completely wrong to capture the beauty of this colourful Purple-bearded Bee-eater, one of Sarah’s top targets and the last of bee-eater family we needed.

We had some lunch and a rest at the visitor centre before doing some birding round the reserve area. We saw Superb and Red-eared Fruit Doves and a feeding flock comprised several more endemics; Yellow-vented Whistler, Sulawsi Helei (Streak-headed White-eye), Blue-fronted Flycacther, Cerulean Cuckooshrike, Sulawesi (Rusty-bellied) Fantail, and Lesser Myza (Sulawesi Honeyeater).


Just before dark we birded a local town for White-eyes and Flowerpeckers but didn’t find anything unusual and overhead only saw Black eagle before the rain kicked in.

Back at Sendy’s which was very friendly and had good food we confirmed we would not go up the Anaso Trail again tomorrow instead we would try for the remaining target birds on the trails off the road.

Sendy’s guest house is I think the best accommodation in the area but it isn’t luxurious and Sarah found the toilet with limited running water less than comfortable; you fill a plastic bin when there is water from an outlet taps and use that water to fill a bucket that you mix with a hot flask to have a body wash / shower/ and wash hands etc – we were glad we had some little bars of soap, the bin is also used to scoop water to flush the toilet which although western in style had no toilet seat and flushed to a drain that ran behind the room, so a little smelly. That said the room was clean, the bed comfortable and with a seating area to relax on and do our lists and electricity most of the time to charge batteries and read etc. We also had one of the best laundry services we have ever had with clothes returned pristine and fresh smelling despite the day having lots of rain.
However Sarah was pleased that we had changed our plans and had only 4 nights and not 5 nights here.

Purple-bearded Bee-eater

A top target for Sarah

Excellent pictures of the nightjars. The bee-eater is splendid, too! As someone who has never been to Asia, your photos are much-appreciated.

Great report. :t:

Thanks

birdmeister said:

Excellent pictures of the nightjars. The bee-eater is splendid, too! As someone who has never been to Asia, your photos are much-appreciated.

Great report. :t:

Click to expand...

Thanks. I always like to see photos from places I've never been to, they wet my appetite for further travel or let me enjoy places / birds I may never see.

Lore Lindu – mid elevation trails

We were probably only looking for 4 or 5 birds now and the first one we tried for was the Minhassa Masked Owl, but again heard only. I think Carlos now felt it was a failing on his part that we hadn’t seen this bird and we only had two attempts left – with a different strategy in mind.

The next targets were Heinrichia and Sulawesi Ground Dove, we tried two sites for the Shortwing with no success although in both cases we saw Snowy-browed Flycatcher respond to the call and one perched on the log with the speaker on it. On the third attempt I even stayed quiet when I was stung twice; but no bird, we then heard a Ground Dove and set up the speaker on a trail behind some logs, the Ground Dove played cat and mouse with us for over an hour – calling, coming close, moving away, coming back but no matter how we positioned ourselves we couldn’t see the bird. We did see Golden-bellied Gerygone, and the first real target of the morning Pygmy (Mountain) Cicadabird, then Piping Crow, Citrine Canary Flycatcher and finally before a rest and lunch Sulawesi Leaf Warbler and Mountain Leaftoiler.

After a nice lunch and a nap in the ranger office, they gave up the sofa and chair, we tried for and got the tricky Crimson-crowned Flowerpecker near the car park. We added Sulawesi Babbler drinking by the leaking taps, probably the same Blue-faced Parrotfinch as before, Hoevell’s Warbling Flycatcher and Black-naped oriole before trying again on various territories for the Shortwing. It was actually or 6th attempt of the day up a very steep track, climbing up in some areas where we finally got great views of the female Heinrichia (it used to be known as Great Shortwing but is now known to be closer to Bornean Shade-dweller, the old Eye-browed Jungle Flycatcher) as she ran around mouse like responding to our calls, of course we had left our cameras behind due to the difficulty of the short climb, so no shots of this rare bird where the female is more striking than the male with the blue showing well, rusty chin and throat and white eye patch and then for good measure a male then started calling to the female, that was our cue to get back down to the road in a happy frame of mind.

We tried calling some Malia in the hope that some Thrushes would be a mixed flock, but today it was just Malia and Lemon-bellied White-eyes with them.

Our new strategy for the owl was to get to a high spot in the forest where the Minhassa had been calling just before dark, sit quietly with no lights until the owl calls and then try to call him in and spotlight him. We got up there and found a likely spot sat and waited but wouldn’t you know it the rain just started and got heavy as it got dark, we gave up and went slithering back down to the road. Just one more chance for the Owl that Carlos was pretty bullish about getting right from day one. I had probably given up when we left Sulawesi for Halmahera so it was with hope but no great expectation that we had tried.

Final Morning at Lore Lindu and search for Buttonquail

So up and off at 3.30am for the last time. We were planning to walk into the forest if we heard the Minhassa Owl call and then put out torches and wait for a bit. However birds don’t play by the rules and this owl certainly didn’t he was calling by the road as we got out the car and then called from the lake side of the road where we couldn’t access the forest, also calling was the Cinnibar Boobook. We tried a little half-heartedly to call the Minhassa but with no success – but if we were told in advance that we would have had 8 new owls and an Owlet-Nightjar all seen really well I would have taken that.

The main target for today was the Thrush and I think we had called Malia’s for the third time before a mixed flock got going and amongst them at the top a tree was a Sulawesi Thrush which we both got on OK but couldn’t manage a decent photo, come to think of it all the Malia shots were also of bits of birds not a whole bird so the tail and legs of a thrush wasn’t too bad. In the air we had Sulawesi Swiftlet, Grey-rumped Treeswift and Glossy Swiftlet and finished with Short-tailed Starling and Lesser Myza.

We spent the rest of the morning just trying to get better photos of things like Turquoise Warbling Flycatcher, Sulphur-bellied Whistler, Sulawesi Leaf Warbler, Flame-browed Myna, Golden-bellied Gerygone, Myer’s Lorikeet and Sulawesi Cuckoo Dove.


After lunch at Sendy’s we were returning to Palu in the afternoon, stopping along the way at Biramaru to try for Red-backed Buttonquail, Savanna Nightjar and the scarce Pale-headed Munia.
Just before Biramaru we stopped at some rice field to look for the munia, there we saw Black-headed, Scaly-breasted and Black-faced before a little group of Pale-headed Munia – flew over us and towards the very furthest field. Of course we walked all the way around the fields to see the birds – OK views and then when we got back to where we started there was 6 birds sitting nearby in good light.

In the fields we added Zebra Dove, Buff-banded Rail, Greater Painted Snipe, Javan Pond Heron, Common Sandpiper, Purple Heron and Black-faced Munia to the daily list.

After another short drive at the roost area for Savannah Nightjar I sort of embarrassed myself, Carlos was pointing ahead; a Nightjar flew and I shouted to Sarah “Savannah” and tried to grab a photo, although not a lifer it was a bird we had only seen a couple of times and nightjars are always a bit special, especially in daylight but Carlos was pointing at the ground and we missed the Buttonquail, we saw loads of Nightjars after that, they were active despite it being an hour before dark, we also saw a couple of Stephan’s Dove a bird that we hadn’t ticked at Tangkoko as views were too fleeting to discount Emerald Doves. Also around was a Little Bronze Cuckoo (gould’s), Sulewesi Pygmy Woodpecker, Sulawesi Fantail and Sulawesi Babbler.

We had been going for 4 or 5 hours since our early lunch, the males had managed toilet stops in the bushes as we went but Sarah needed to find a more secluded spot, of course as soon as she went for a comfort break a Red-backed Buttonquail, ran across the track right in front of us, it took an another 20 minutes and with darkness almost upon us before we saw two birds very well in the scrub and the birds ran in and out for a few minutes to end the day and the birding part of the trip on a high note with a lifer the third of the afternoon.

We found that we were now staying in the Mercure Hotel a lovely hotel with relatively luxurious rooms after Sendy’s and great views over the harbour and the iconic Palu Bridge an ideal way to end our stay on Sulawesi.

And finally

Departures to Jakarta from Palu airport

We had a flight to Jakarta at 7.15 whilst Carlos was heading back to Manado on an indirect flight at 07.05. It meant we could travel to the airport together; only about a 25 minute drive at 5.30 in the morning; after a nice breakfast that started at 5am as a few flight crews also seemed to use this hotel. So it could be used as a birding base if you want a bit of luxury when birding the Palu area.

Check-ins were easy and we said our goodbyes in the lounge just before we boarded at nearby gates.

Even with the time difference we were back and reunited with our luggage and in a cab to the Shangri-La hotel by 11.00. We had booked this 5 star hotel on Expedia on one of the regular email offers that come through with various discounts to be selected – I got lucky on this one with over 50% off the best price and an upgrade to a Horizon Room (free snacks and drinks). The hotel also has pretty good grounds and a nearby river which offered some birding.

Last Days

Although we had a possible sight for Javan Coucal, it meant an early start and after a few drinks and a nice couple of meals we decided to relax on both our days in Jakarta and only did a little birding around the hotel grounds. There was nothing too exciting to see just doves, munias, bulbuls, kites, etc. but we did add a lifer in Red-breasted Parakeet, we saw small flocks of these each day looking as though they were flying to a roost in the trees near the river. We decided will bird Java properly in our next trip to Indonesia.

Summary

A great trip with all logistics handled really well by Birdtour Asia. Carlos as he promised was really hard working and really did go the extra mile to try to find us a bird. He was also very personable and easy to talk to.
While I mentioned Owls, Kingfishers, Doves and Pitta in the title of this trip report that was only because we were looking at various books and couldn’t believe we had the chance of so many excellent birds. In fact for Owls (8 new birds seen), Kingfishers (13 seen – 9 of them new), Pigeons and Doves (25 seen 18 new) and 3 new Pittas it was excellent but it could have been about Honeyeaters, Parrots and Hornbills or just the Wallace’s Standard-wing and the Owlet Nightjar. There were so many excellent birds which hopefully this report wets your appetite for trying to see.

PDF version of report

PDF version of full report, hopefully with with less typos

Kingfishers

Best Kingfishers

Great-billed, Green-backed, Scaly, Sombre and Black-headed

Best Owls

Well maybe not the best - but photos of

Ochre-bellied Boobook, Halmahera Boobook, Cinnibar Boobook, Moluccan Scops Owl and Speckled Boobook.

Really enjoyed reading this report, David - thank you. I am definitely NOT looking forward to tackling the Anaso Trail though!!

A terrific collection of photos from what looks like a terrific trip-great stuff!

Cheers
Mike