Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 20

Indonesia Trip Day 20 Thursday 10th August 2017

Halmahera with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The third part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Sulawesi again.

On the morning of Thursday 10th August 2017, we had our breakfast st 3 30 am for 4.00 am start to travel from the Elizabeth Hotel in north Halmahera to Keo Airport. We arrived at 5.45 am for our 8.00 am flight to Manado, Sulawesi. However our flight was delayed and in the end we didn't fly out of Keo until 12.00 pm. There was nothing to do here but find  a bit of shade outside.

Once we were in Manado, we had a quick lunch and headed north to Tankoko NP.

We arrived at Tankoko Mangroves at 3.30 pm, to get two local fishing boats into the mangroves where we birded until dark.

We also saw a huge python with something big in its belly.

After boat trip we did some birding just walking around the area.

We then went on to Tankoko Lodge where we were staying for a couple of night. We got there in time to have a late dinner and get to bed ready for an early start.

The best birds of the day were Great-billed Kingfisher, which was a catch up for Mum and Dad that they had missed a few days ago, Great-billed Heron, Pacific Reef Heron, Pied Cuckoo-shrike, Silver-tipped Imperial Pigeon and Banded Rail.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 19

Indonesia Trip Day 19 - Wednesday 9th August 2017

Halmahera with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The second part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Halmahera.

On the morning of Wednesday 9th August 2017, we had to have our bags packed to leave at 5.30 am after breakfast.

The other group had left at 5.00 am as they were going for the Wallace's Standard-wing.

First we birded Weda forest from 6.00 am until 9.30 am.

We managed to get great views of Ivory-breasted  Pitta for everyone, which was a relief.

We then left Weda Lodge to drive up through the mountains where we would stop for some roadside birding. We were heading for a small town in the very north of Halmahera.

We drove over the mountains north and tried for birds of prey that we still hadn't seen, but didn't see anything at all.

The drive north was a really long one. We were heading to a site for Moluccan Scrubfowl. The birds live in the mountains and fly down to a beach at night, where they bury their eggs. 

We arrived at our hotel at 5.00 pm, had a quick dinner in a basic restaurant next door before heading to the local community who look after the Scrub Fowl for 6.00 pm.

We had to get a boat from a tiny community through mangroves to a volcanic beach in the dark which we boarded at 6.00 pm. A local guide walked around until he found a bird, which they don't always manage, spotlight it and then wait for us to run to where they are standing. One of the problems is that the birds dig massive holes and so you have to try not to fall into a hole whilst running in the dark.

We had extended views of one bird which was stunning looking and got back to the little village at 9.45 pm.

This was up there with one of my top birding experiences ever. I highly recommend people visit Halmahera, just to get to this bird. I have the contact details for the community if you would like to visit.

After this we headed to a nearby town to our hotel, The Elizabeth Hotel, for the night.

The best birds of the day were Moluccan Scrubfowl, Scarlet-breasted Fruit Dove, Rainbow Bee-eater, Ivory-breasted Pitta, Golden-breasted Gerygone, Moluccan Whistler, Wallacean Cicadabird, Wallace's Standardwing and Moluccan Starling.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 18

Indonesia Trip Day 18 - Tuesday 8th August 2017

Halmahera with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The second part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Halmahera. Today we were in South East  Hamahera in the mountains near the city of Weda.

We had crossed Weber's Line and so were into the Australasia avifauna region.

On the morning of Tuesday 8th August 2017, we went out at 4.00 am. We drove up to Bucket Limba in the mountains for some higher elevation  species. Unfortunately there was heavy rain and we were only able to do 15 minutes of birding. That was really frustrating and I might have been on for sitting it out up there. 

In the end, we gave up and headed back to the lodge for lunch. It was still raining after lunch but we managed to get out birding between 3pm and 6.30 pm. The day was a complete wash out, which was frustrating.

In the evening, we met another tour group of European birders who had come to the lodge. The group was led by Untu, who guided my Dad in West Papua a few years ago. They were really pleased to be able to catch up. Untu and quite a few of the local guides were from Tankoko in northern Sulawesi.

The best birds of the day were Moustached Treeswift, Blue-and-white Kingfisher, Chattering Lori, Cinnamon-bellied Imperial  Pigeon, Pygmy Hanging Parrot, Purple Needletail and Great-earred Nightjar.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 17

Indonesia Trip Day 17 - Monday 7th August 2017

Halmahera with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The second part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Halmahera. Today we were in South East  Hamahera in the mountains near the city of Weda.

We had crossed Weber's Line and so were into the Australasia avifauna region.

On the morning of Monday 7th August 2017, we went out at 6.40 am to start birding at 7.00 am.

We were 10 mins late as Dad had forgotten to change the time by an hour. We spent the morning birding Weda Forest, until 2 pm when we went back to the lodge for lunch.

After lunch we had to delay going out because of heavy rain as it was monsoon. Eventually we got out birding at 3.30 pm, going back to the same forest and getting back to the lodge at 7.30 pm. Another amazing day birding.

One big target for the day was Ivory-breasted Pitta. Dad and I saw it ok several times and Mum got some short views. Just before it got dark the three of us had a 6 second clear flight view over our heads when we could see the ivory breast. Amazing. Unfortunately a couple of others saw it really badly. We had a discussion about whether were going tick the bird or not and they said they would rather not.

It's always difficult when someone in the group misses a big bird. I think you have to go back and try and get everyone. It's madness for some people not to bother, as you might miss something else. So we decided to keep trying

The best birds of the day were Australian Brush Cuckoo, Pale-vented Bush-hen, Red-flanked Lorikeet, Red-cheeked Parrot, Pygmy Hanging Parrot, Sultan's Sahul Pitta, Ivory-breasted Pitta, Wallacean Monarch and Dusky Myzomela

Many of these were island or Moluccan endemics.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 16

Indonesia Trip Day 16 - Sunday 6th August 2017

Halmahera with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The second part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Halmahera. Today we were in South East  Hamahera in the mountains near the city of Weda.

We had crossed Weber's Line and so were into the Australasia avifauna region.

On the morning of Sunday 6th August 2017 we had breakfast st 4.30 am before leaving for one of the highlights of our trip. By 6.00 am we were in place deep in the forest hoping to see male Wallace's Standard-wing. These are birds of paradise with the funniest mating dance.  The males perform together in a lek.

We were lucky enough to see two males lekking for a prolonged period as well as seeing another bird from the road. The males danced and jumped on branches hoping to attract a female with their fancy grooves. This was bound to be bird of the trip.

We then spent the rest of the morning birding from the road until 11.30 am. Lunch was back at the lodge (with some sea watching). It rained in the afternoon so we didn't got out until the later time of 4 pm. This was followed by more roadside birding until 9.00 pm as we did some night birding.

When we got back, I had a quick dinner and then went back to our rooms to go to bed. As I opened the door, a huge plate-sized spider came scuttling out of the room, running over my flip-flop cladden foot.   Needless to say I screamed very loudly. A guard who was patrolling the beach ran up to me very quickly but I was too embarrassed to say what had happened. In the knowledge that the spider was outside, I jumped into bed which my mum had helpfully tucked in with a mosquito net, so nothing could get in or out.

The best birds of the day were Wallace's Standard-Wing, Sultan's & Great Cuckoo Doves, Blue-capped Fruit Dove, Common Paradise Kingfisher, Umbrella Cockatoo, Moluccan Hanging Parrot, Lesser Frigatebird, Molluccan Owlet-Nightjar, Large-tailed Nightjar and Halmahera Boobook. Many of these were island or Moluccan endemics.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 14

Indonesia Trip Day 14 - Friday 4th August 2017

Sulawesi with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The first part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Sulawesi. Today we were in northern Sulawesi.

On the morning of Friday  4th August 2017 we left the Patra Jasa Hotel in Kotamobagu at the ridiculously early time of 2.45 am, driving an hour and a half to bird at Gunung Ambang National Park to the north of Kotamobagu so that we could do some pre-dawn owling. By the time we arrived at the mountain forest site, had breakfast (Nutella sandwiches for me again) and started walking the steep trail, it was still only 4.50 am. This is a submontane forest with some good tracks but which have been decimated by deforestation. It had been raining a lot and the main track was dangerously slippy. The track was a  narrow coombe, where the sides of the Hollie come up above our heads. In the dark using only dimmed light it was treacherous.

The first birds to try for and the main reason we had arrived pre-dawn, firstly another subspecies of Cinnabar Boobook which you only get in northern Sulawesi,  Speckled Boobook and the very rare Matinan Warbling-flycatcher. 

We first heard the Cinebar Boobook, which came in to investigate pretty readily.

A highlight was seeing a Spectral Tarsier, moving through the forest.

To get to the forest we walked through agricultural fields where we picked up chiggers. I had a really bad attack all around my ankles, legs and middle.

We left Gunung Ambang at 10 am driving to Manado where we arrived 6 hours later at 4pm, had lunch on the sea front in a fancy restaurant and then stayed at the Peninsula Hotel which was very luxurious. There was a pool but we didn't have time for that which is a shame. It was good to have a long warm shower, a comfortable bed and AC.

At dinner, most of us ordered pizza which took ages to come but was a lovely change. The food has actually been brilliant on the trip, even for us veggies.

The hotel was the first place with decent broadband and so I downloaded 10 episodes of "Peepshow" from Netflix to watch later. Then it was off to bed, for an early night.

The best birds of the day were Sulawesi and Moluccan Brush-Cuckoos, Sulawesi Honey-buzzard, Sulawesi Babbler, Cinebar Boobook, Specked Boobook, Sulawesi Fantail, Sulawesi Leaf Warbler and Turquoise & Matinan Warbling-flycatchers.

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 15-year-old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent.

Mya-Rose was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer-songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. She is an Ambassador for World Shorebirds Day, See It Her Way and a Charter Champion for The Charter for Woods, Trees and People. She organised a conference, Race Equality in Nature, in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature and plans to run her third Camp Avalon camp in 2017. She has also set up Black2Nature with the aim of working with organisations to increase the access to nature of Black Asian Minority Ethnic people. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change. She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. Please also like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter.

Indonesie Trip 2017 Day 13

Indonesia Trip Day 13 - Thursday 3rd August 2017

Sulawesi with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The first part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Sulawesi. Today we were in northern Sulawesi. 

On the morning of Thursday 3rd August 2017 we left the Patra Jasa Hotel in Kotamobagu at 4.00 am again driving an hour and three-quarters to bird at Max's Trail at Tapakulingtang from 5.45 am to 11.00 am. As well as also birding on the roadside nearby.

It was a quiet morning of birding. The day always goes much more slowly when it's quiet. 

It was great to see the rare and endemic Short-crested Miner close to the road. 

At 11 am it had become really hot so we then drove half an hour for lunch and a rest in a local basic hotel, where we had rooms we could use. Today rather than sleep, I tried to catch up on writing blog posts.

We left the hotel at 3 pm for a half hour drive to go birding.

We birded back at Tarout again from 3.30 pm to 7 pm to try and see birds we had missed.

We also birded in an agricultural area outside the forest where we all picked up bad chiggers. They are the larvae of some spider species that leave really itchy bites.

We looked for birds we had missed the day before. We were back on the raft to get across the river and back which was fun. 

The afternoon had been really good birding, Moluccan Drongo-Cuckoo, Sulawesi Roller, Ornate Lorrikeet and Barred Buttonquail in fields behind.

When we got back to our cars, it was getting pretty dark. Our driver pointed into a tree showing me a bird. He made a movement with his head and arms indicating that the bird was asleep. It took me seconds to get onto the bird in the dimming light. I knew immediately that it was a large Cuckoo species.

I immediately called my Dad, Chris Craig, over and said "I've got a Cuckoo here". Dad couldn't see the bird so thought I was joking and didn't really look for it. 

We had been trying for Sulawesi Cuckoo (a large very shy Cuckoo) here at this site as Carlos, one of the Bird Tour Asia guides had stumbled across one here 2 weeks ago. Would I joke about a thing like this? Mum then appeared and immediately got onto the Cuckoo, saying "It's really big!" which made Dad realise that I was being serious. Suddenly, Dad got into my Cuckoo. "OMG, Sulawesi Cuckoo!". He shouted to get everyone onto the bird, but Tony was missing. 

We were all thinking the same, if Tony missed the bird, he would not be happy. In fact he would be gutted. So gutted that it might ruin his trip. Our happiness would also have to be dampened down in front of him.

At that moment Tony reappeared, Mike grabbed him and Dad got him onto the bird. We could now relax and enjoy watching the bird by torch light for a couple more minutes before it must have sensed the eyes on him and flew into the forest. Unfortunately nobody got more than a blurry record shot of this near-mythical bird.

What an amazing finish to the day.

Once into the car, our guide Mike Nelson, was texting his colleagues at Bird Tour Asia, telling them that he had gripped them off. What an amazing and rare bird. It turns out that the driver had been watching the bird for 20 minutes before we had returned. We didn't manage to see another one. 

We also looked for other birds we had missed the day before. We were back on the raft to get across the river and back which was fun. 

The best bird of the day was obviously the obviously Sulawesi Cuckoo. 

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 15-year-old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent.

Mya-Rose was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer-songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. She is an Ambassador for World Shorebirds Day, See It Her Way and a Charter Champion for The Charter for Woods, Trees and People. She organised a conference, Race Equality in Nature, in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature and plans to run her third Camp Avalon camp in 2017. She has also set up Black2Nature with the aim of working with organisations to increase the access to nature of Black Asian Minority Ethnic people. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change. She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. Please also like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 12

Indonesia Trip Day 12 - Wednesday 2nd August 2017

Sulawesi with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The first part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Sulawesi. Today we were in northern Sulawesi.

On the morning of Wednesday 2nd August 2017 we left the Patra Jasa Hotel in Kotamobagu at 4.00 am driving an hour and a half to bird at Tarout from 5.30 am to 10.30 am. Here we had to get a raft over the the river to the birding site. The raft was on the other side of a river, so our local guides stripped down to their underpants to go and retrieve it. I had to look the other way! The forest habitat at the site has been reduced, so much that if it continues within a year or two nothing will be left. There was a large research station here that has fallen into disrepair which was a shame. 

Our best birds from the morning were Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher, Pied Cuckoo-Shrike, Minhasa Racket-tail, Blue-backed Parrot, White-faced Cuckoo Dove, Grey-cheeked and Pinked. Necked Green Pigeons and I saw a Great-billed Kingfisher that Mum and Dad missed.

We then drove half an hour for lunch and a rest in a local basic hotel again, where we had rooms we could use. I got a good hour of sleep. On trips like this, I survive from one nap to another.

In the afternoon we left our lunch spot at 3 on before driving the hour to bird Tower Marsh 4.00 pm to 5.30 pm.  It is a small area of water and paddy field. The habitat here has been destroyed so again there also won't be any decent birding here within a short time. The target here was White-browed Crake.

Mum was feeling sick after lunch and ended up being sick from the car on the way to the birding site but still insisted on carrying on birding so she didn't miss any birds. It must have been too much sun as she perked up pretty quickly.

We managed to get really great views of White-Browed Crake and Dusky Scrubfowl, Dusky Moorhen and White-breasted Waterhen.

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 15-year-old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent.

Mya-Rose was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer-songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. She is an Ambassador for World Shorebirds Day, See It Her Way and a Charter Champion for The Charter for Woods, Trees and People. She organised a conference, Race Equality in Nature, in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature and plans to run her third Camp Avalon camp in 2017. She has also set up Black2Nature with the aim of working with organisations to increase the access to nature of Black Asian Minority Ethnic people. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change. She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. Please also like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 11

Indonesia Trip Day 11 - Tuesday 1st August 2017

Sulawesi with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The first part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Sulawesi. 

On the morning of Tuesday 1st August 2017 we left the Patra Jasa Hotel in Kotamobagu at 4.30 am driving an hour and a half to Tambon to visit the Maleo Conservation  Centre. We arrived at 6.00 am, to gave a good chance of seeing Maleo.

Maleo is the national bird of Sulawesi and is a Megapode (a turkey). The centre was set up by a local conservationist called Max about 20 years ago. There is a natural hot spring at the site which the Maleo use to incubate their eggs.

The male and female dig a hole and bury their egg in the sand. The biggest predators are Monitor  Lizards and humans. So the centre dig up the eggs, incubate them in a safe place, look after the chicks before releasing them. As well as seeing a male in a tree, I held a egg that was being incubated, watched Max find a new egg and then got to release a chick back into the wild. It was a fantastic experience, and another example of eco-tourism saving birds.

We birded until 11 am and then drove half an hour for lunch and a rest in a local basic hotel, where we had rooms we could use.

In the afternoon we left our lunch spot at 2.30 pm and then birded a trail that Max had found in Tapakolingtang from 3.00 pm until 5.30 pm. It was an hour and a half drive back to our hotel, where we arrived at 7 pm. It's a long day as dinner isn't until 7.30 pm, then we do the bird list and get sorted for getting up early the next day again.

The best birds of the day were Maleo, White-faced Cuckoo Dove, Oberholser's Fruit Dove, Black-billed Koel, Sulawesi Serpent Eagle, Ruddy Kingfisher, Pygmy Hanging Parrot, Sulawesi Serpent Eagle, Sulawesi Dwarf Hornbill, Ruddy Kingfisher and ivory-backed Wood-Swallow.

An amazing day that I will never forget.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 9 & 10

Indonesia Trip Day 9 & 10 - Sunday 30th July 2017 and Monday 31st July 2017

Sulawesi with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The first part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Sulawesi. 

On the morning of Sunday 30th July we left Sendy Guesthouse at 5.00 am to bird Lore Lindu National Park again. We birded until 10.30 am and then went back to the guest house for our bags and then head off for our flight after and early lunch at 12 pm.

We travelled to Palu, stopping by a bridge where we saw lots of Savannah Nightjar roosting as well as Red-Backed Buttonquail which we had seen before in Queensland Australia. It was ridiculously hot and so it wasn't a long stop.

It was Dad's birthday today as he's 2 days younger than Mum.

The best birds of the morning at Lore Lindu NP were Ashy Woodpecker, Rufous-winged Buzzard, Makassar Miner and Black-faced Munia.

We stayed at a very upmarket hotel in Palu, with a fancy glass surrounded shower. Mike arranged for a birthday cake for Mum and Dad, which was lovely of him.

The next day, Monday 31st July was a travel day. We met at 3.45 am with our bags, to catch a flight from Palu back down to Makassar, then another flight to Manado in the north of the Island.  We spent our time at Makassar Airport sitting in Starbucks, using their wifi with a big box of Dunkin' Donuts for me!

As we flew into Manado airport, it was shocking to see how much of the land was destroyed and now Covered in palm oil.

Once in Manado, we had a 5 hour drive to Kotamobagu, where we're were staying for four nights at the Patra Jasa Hotel. Its main benefits were western toilet, warm shower, air conditioning and most importantly working (sort of) wifi.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 8

Indonesia Trip Day 8 - Saturday 29th July 2017

Sulawesi with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The first part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Sulawesi. 

On the morning of Saturday 29th July we left Sendy Guesthouse at 5.00 am to bird Lore Lindu National Park again. We birded until 11.30 am and the went back to the guest house for lunch and a rest during the heat of the day. We were meant to go out again at 3.30 pm but couldn't go out because of a torrential downpour until 4.30 pm.

We stayed out to see Great-eared Nightjar and go back for 6.00 pm.

The best birds of the day were Sulawesi and Spot-tailed Goshawk, Maroon-Backed Whistler, Scaly-Kingfisher and Crimson-crowned Flowerpecker.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 7

Indonesia Trip Day 7 - Friday 28th July 2017

Sulawesi with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The first part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Sulawesi. 

In the morning of Friday 28th July we left Sendy Guesthouse to bird the world famous Lora Lindu National Park in the mountains. 

It was Mum's birthday. We were up at 3.15 am to meet at 4 am. We were at the Anasso Trail. We hiked up the mountainside to try and be in place for the endemic G, but things were stacked up against us. Firstly, a couple of guys went past on a motorbike (probably up to no good), then there was a lot of water around, meaning it would not need  to come to the path to grub for worms. We had an amazing days birding with loads of new birds including a whopping 7 Satanic Nightjar, what a fantastic name. 

We birded from the road and saw the stunning Purple-bearded Bee-eater, my 4500th bird in the world. 

We then did more owling seeing Sulawesi Masked Owl, Speckled and Cinnebar Boobok.

Next day and a half we carried on birding Lori Lindu NP, seeing 

On 30th July, it was Dad's birthday with a few new birds for Dad.  We birder the mountain in the morning and stopped enroute on the way back to  Palu including Makassar Miner and Savannah Nightjar. Palu is the biggest city in Central Sulawesi and is right on the sea with a population of 200,000.

Tomorrow we fly via Makassar to Milando, with no birding planned.

Indonesia Trip 2017 Day 6

Indonesia Trip Day 6 - Thursday 27th July 2017

Sulawesi with Mike Nelson from Bird Tour Asia.

The first part of our 6 week Indonesian trip was birding the island of Sulawesi. 

In the morning of Thursday 27th July we left Sendy Guesthouse to bird the world famous Lora Lindu National Park in the mountains. 

It was our first morning at Lore Lindu and we had a late 5am start. It was a 40 minute drive, for some extra sleep. We had breakfast (of Nutella chocolate sandwiches for me) in the car park of the national park centre before walking in the area of a lake. Here there were a couple of Indonesian young birders camping with their wives, who Idris, our local guide, gave some gen to. That was encouraging to see.

We spent the day birding the roads and trails before night birding at the lodge. seeing a Sulawesi Scops Owl which had kept us awake the previous night.

Some of the birds of the day were Red-eared Fruit Dove, Small Sparrowhawk, Black Eagle, Meyer's Lorikeets and Hoevell's Warbling-Flycatcher.

After dinner and the bird list, we were in bed by 9.30 pm, as we had a long day the next day.

There had been an earthquake in that part of Indonesia just 2 weeks before. The school and village centre was destroyed and the lodge restaurant went from being on stilts to being a ground floor building.