Lying just east of Wallacea, off the western tip of the Vogelkop Peninsula of New Guinea, is the island of Salawati (known as Salwatty in Wallace’s day). The northern end of Salawati, bordering the Sagewin Strait still retains almost all its forest cover and is a birder’s paradise. Kris Tindige reminded us that, during his epic travels, Wallace had in fact tried to reach Salawati from Seram in 1860 but was thwarted by adverse winds and instead sailed north to Waigeo (or Waigiou as it was known then). Had he made it to Salawati he would surely have visited nearby Batanta too and we could have had the legacy of a few more birds bearing his name. Bonaparte had of course already beaten him to Wilson’s Bird of Paradise 10 years before, naming it in honour of the 18th century American Ornithologist. Wallace is however still commemorated in the common or latin (or both) names of an amazing 12 bird species, although the current trend to remove the early natural historians from common names may mean this eventually shrinks down to the 8 more permanent latin ones. If you have not done so already, try and get hold of a copy of ‘The Malay Archipelago’, Wallace’s account of his travels. It is a great read and a real source of inspiration to follow in his foot steps.

 

Salawati Island is still one of the best places to see several sought-after New Guinea endemics including Western Crowned Pigeon, Northern Cassowary and King Bird of Paradise. Strangely only the Cassowary is present on both Salawati and Batanta despite their close proximity and apparently similar habitats. In addition Twelve-wired, Magnificent and Lesser Birds of Paradise are all to be found on Salawati but not at all on Batanta. Conversely it is surprising that both Red and Wilson’s Birds of Paradise are both present on Batanta but not on Salawati. The reason for these curious distributions is that Salawati was once attached to mainland New Guinea whereas Batanta has always been separate. It puzzles me why any of these birds have not managed to cross such a short stretch of water in all the time they must have existed here as separate species.

sunrise over Salawati Island

 

As we were staying at Kris’s guest house on Batanta Island for five nights we had the luxury of taking it a bit easier than most visitors and spent the day after our initial success with Wilson’s Bird of Paradise, 27 September, following a much easier schedule. We crossed the Sagewin strait, stopping en route to admire some Bottle-nosed Dolphins and then visited a small lake on the shore of Salawati, which held a surprisingly large number of ducks for this part of the world. There were at least 30 Spotted Whistling Ducks and 15 Radjah Shelducks, along with a handful of egrets (one of each Great, Intermediate and Little) and both Little Kingfisher and Azure Kingfishers, the former a new bird for all.

Spotted Whistling Ducks and Radjah Shelducks

Salawati Island (photo by Robert Vanyi)

 

After this brief foray we crossed back to Batanta seeing a total of 4 Bulwer’s Petrels flying west through the strait and then hugged the south coast of the island, looking in vain for the ever-elusive Great-billed Heron. We did manage a few interesting birds: White-bellied Sea Eagle; Red-necked Phalarope & Glossy-mantled Manucode (contender for the title ‘dullest Bird of Paradise’). The remains of the former logging operation jetty could be seen but traces of their activities are quickly being reclaimed by nature.

Homestead on Batanta Island (photo by Robert Vanyi) 

 

In the afternoon we tried the lowland forest behind the village of Wai Lebed however this was quite disturbed and there was a lot of evidence of recent illegal logging with the unpleasant noise of a chainsaw shattering the peace of the afternoon. We retreated back to the remaining forest and garden clearings behind Kris’s guest house, about half a kilometre east along the shore. Our first couple of afternoons, 25 & 26 September, were also been spent in this area and had been quite successful with highlights: Pacific Baza; Long-tailed Buzzard; Grey-headed Goshawk; Pink-spotted Fruit-Dove; Dwarf fruit-Dove; Pinon Imperial Pigeon; Palm Cockatoo; Moustached Tree Swift; Rufous-bellied Kookaburra; Blyth’s Hornbill; Pale-billed Scrubwren; Frilled Monarch; Mimic Meliphaga; Hooded Butcherbird; Red Bird of Paradise (10+ of this excellent endemic of the West Papuan islands of Waigeo & Batanta at a lekking tree, with much activity and display taking place around a couple of visiting females. Sadly their former lekking tree had been cut down to make a dugout canoe and its sorry remains could still be seen lying where they fell) and probably best of all, although seen rather briefly and not by all of us, a White-eared Catbird, which appeared quietly in the canopy below a pair of Wompoo Fruit-Doves but quickly vanished.

Red Birds of Paradise (photo by Robert Vanyi)

Rufous-bellied Kookaburra                                                   Lesser Frigatebird (photo by Robert Vanyi) 

 

We didn’t add much this afternoon but enjoyed some better views and watched the roosting flight of 100+ Eclectus Parrots again, with a few Rainbow Lorikeets and Sulphur-crested Cockatoos joining their noisy parade. Although we were still seeing some good birds we felt a bit restless that we had still not explored the forest on Salawati yet.

 

We returned to another excellent evening meal cooked by Kris’s wife, Shita, who employed some local women from Wai Lebed to help in the kitchen and serve our meals. This provides some much-needed extra income in this quiet corner of the world. Our stay attracted a lot of attention from the local people giving them a chance to observe our strange customs and habits. A good number of them passed by from time to time during our stay pausing to watch whatever we were up to. After we had finished dinner we planned the next day’s birding.

 

The area immediately surrounding the guesthouse proved a good birding location and Shita regularly saw something good while we were out, for instance Palm Cockatoo and Channel-billed Cuckoo. We eventually managed to see the resident Hooded Pitta (of the novaeguineae subspecies with much blue on its shoulders), which called every day and sometimes during the night from the tangle behind the bush-toilet; Black Thicket-fantail; Papuan Frogmouth (1 spotlit after dark one evening) and Large-tailed Nightjar (1 seemed to pass by calling most mornings) in the vicinity of the guest house.

Wai Lebed, Batanta Island

Kris Tindige’s Guest House                                                  View from the dining table 

Juszti snorkeling

 

Without electricity and almost on the equator, where daylight hours are roughly 6 ‘til 6, we found ourselves turning in by 8 each evening, allowing an opportunity for plenty of sleep despite the early starts. That is, as long the chigger bites, sunburn and bee stings did not distract too much. Batanta and especially Salawati are notorious for chiggers (microscopic mites, which burrow unseen into the skin in places where the incresed pressure of clothing brings blood vessels closer to the surface, like the ankles or waist, causing incredibly itchy pimple-like spots that don’t go away for several weeks) however we did not have too much trouble. Maybe a dozen or so bites each and nothing like the 300+ bites possible in places like the Fly River forests of Kiunga in PNG. To ward off chiggers we used pure sulphur powder, used like talcum powder, around our ankles and in our socks and also around the waistline plus some insect repellent as well. There were also hardly any mosquitoes either however there is malaria here so you should take precautions. We had our biggest scare whilst watching the Red Bird of Paradise lek. We were trying to work out the best viewpoint up through the canopy to the open-crowned lekking tree when Stu suddenly called out in pain. I thought he had been bitten by a snake but it was soon clear he was being attacked by a swarm of bees he had just disturbed whilst walking off trail through the under-storey of the forest. Fortunately they did not continue to sting him after he hurried away but he had still been stung numerous times on the head and shoulders. Luckily nothing became of the incident except for some large red lumps.

Stu examines his bee stings, Batanta Island 

 

On each of the next three days we visited Salawati, twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. We concentrated on the lowland forest a couple of kilometres to the east of the settlement and made one afternoon visit to the dry river bed leading south from the settlement. The heavily degraded forest around the latter was quiet although we saw quite a lot of Blyth’s Hornbills (30+, with up to 10 in one fruiting tree, including some juveniles); Black Lory (5 flying over, one pair and a juvenile and another pair – a good West Papuan endemic) & Grey Imperial Pigeon (2) but not much else. The afternoons on the islands seemed nowhere near as good for bird activity as the mornings. This was a former area for Western Crowned Pigeon and King Bird of Paradise but not any more.

 

Both morning visits were very good! We saw both Western Crowned Pigeon and King Bird of Paradise on 28 & 30 September, as well as a Great-billed Heron (at last!), which was spotted by Robi just as it was about to sneak off out of sight around a corner of the coastline. Kris had managed to locate Nalman this time, the local guide, who was very helpful in guiding us along indistinct trails through the forest. He was also great at spotting birds with his hunter’s eyes. Kris has apparently actively discouraged him from hunting the Crowned Pigeons and Cassowaries and they are starting to become more numerous in this area. Nalman now specialises in wild pigs.

 

Western Crowned Pigeon took a little time to locate but eventually, as we walked up an almost dry river bed, we heard the distinctive loud wing claps, like a gun going off, as we disturbed them feeding on the ground. At the back of the group again, I did not see them take flight however Nalman had soon located one high in a tree, looking down at us. It flew again and landed a short distance away out of sight. After some scrambling up a very steep slope, without much to cling onto and with the camera in one hand I reached Kris, who had relocated it perched not far away and much nearer to eye level than before. I took a lot of  photos before the huge dumb pigeon realised what was happening, as ever pushing my luck with slow shutter speeds in the poor forest light, and fortunately a couple of them were OK.

Western Crowned Pigeon

 

Kris thinks that they are often reluctant to leave a perch due to the huge amount of energy needed for their tail to clear the branch they are standing on!

 

After the pigeon flew another bird nearby broke cover and joined the first in an even taller tree. They are an amazing sight and although I had seen one of the trio, Southern Crowned Pigeon, before it was still a thrilling experience. Our second sighting was different in that Kris managed to spot one on the ground, below the trail we were following, quite near the beach and most importantly before it had seen us. We could watch it walking around in between the small saplings on the forest floor until it eventually spotted us and took flight, allowing some more perched views before it flew off.

 

King Bird of Paradise was one of the highlights of the whole trip. On the first morning we used playback to attract the attention of a female and then a male, which responded and called for a while, sparking off a couple of neighbouring males and although it showed quite well briefly it could hardly be described as extrovert. The performance of the males a little further west towards the settlement on our last morning was something quite different. We heard them calling unprompted this time and soon located a male holding court in a medium-sized tree. It seemed to be using the same perches and we could follow its movements quite easily this time. A lot of calling was again being answered by a couple of neighbours and then things got a bit hotter. A female appeared to inspect him, perching on a branch close to him and he quickly became a fluffed up quivering mass of feathers, fanning his wings infront, raising his two peacock tail streamers above his head, raising the blue and white pectoral fins on his chest and producing a fan-shaped disk which completely encircled his neck. He was quite an incredible spectacle.

King Bird of Paradise

 

I had seen some limited display before in PNG but nothing to match this. We watched him for about an hour during which time he had two visits from females, but sadly it seems he was ultimately rejected, despite a fine performance, well at least we thought so. The grand finale however, was still to come. After we had walked a little further and seen a couple of notorious skulkers nearby, Rusty Mouse Warbler and Black-sided Robin (both very responsive to playback though), another male King BoP started calling and we were able to watch him in the canopy. He was quickly visited by a female and went through a routine similar to the previous male but ended it by hanging upside down on a branch, wings closed and swinging from side to side like a pendulum. I never saw anything like this before!

 

Mike Watson, Clitheroe, Lancashire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are so many fantastic birds to see in the world and now, thanks to the internet, there is also the ability to quickly find a way of seeing them. It can sometimes be difficult to decide where to go next. I am always keen to ask people who have seen a large proportion of the world’s birds, which is their favourite and why. One species which is mentioned time after time, by those who have seen it, is Wilson’s Bird of Paradise. Mark van Beirs has seen more birds than most, at almost 7500 species and it remains his no.1 bird. Having watched the amazing footage of the BBC’s ‘Attenborough in Paradise’ production, now combined with digital sound on DVD, I could easily understand why. I could not ignore this weight of opinion and my next trip was an easy choice.

 

An expedition-style trip is essential to see Wilson’s Bird of Paradise and the vicinity of the small hamlet of Wai Lebed (or ‘Wailebet’) on Batanta Island, off the western end of West Papua is by far the easiest option. You can either join an organized tour group with a bird tour company or, as we did, gather a group of friends to help cover the cost of the now rather expensive trip. We chose Kris Tindige of the Papua Bird Club as he had operated many successful visits to Batanta, including expeditions for the BBC (Sir David Attenborough) and National Geographic. He proved excellent, along with his wife, Shita, who accompanied us to Batanta. It would not be sensible to opt for the cheaper alternative of a spur of the moment, locally-organised trip for reasons of safety and reliability. The companies who are used to running these trips are usually booked far in advance so you may also have to wait a while for your chance. Also the sea between Sorong on the mainland and the entrance to the Sagewin strait, along which Batanta Island is accessed can be quite rough, especially later in the year and a seaworthy boat with 2-3 engines as well as an experienced crew is a good idea. The other island on which Wilson’s Bird of Paradise can be found, Waigeo, is further still and rough seas can make it difficult to land on. It could however be even more rewarding than Batanta with the birds lekking at sea-level and also the mythical Bruijn’s Brush Turkey is lurking there somewhere!

 

Then there is the next hurdle to clear, the steep walk up a muddy trail to the lekking grounds, which are usually found above an elevation of around 350m. This might not sound much but in the heat and humidity beneath the forest canopy we would have traded it for a Scottish mountain three times higher. We were fortunate in having both porters for our camera bags and no rain immediately before nor during our visit as it was obvious that the trail would be many times more difficult when wet and slippery. We also had two practice walks behind us in Gunung Tangkoko in Sulawesi (very hard while still jet-lagged and unacclimatised) and the Standardwing lek at Kali Batu Putih on Halmahera so were pleasantly surprised to find the hike up to the Wilson’s was much easier than we were expecting. However it is still a good idea to strip down to the waist for the walk and save soaking a shirt!

 

The walk is immediately inland from Kris’s guest house and takes about 1 1/2 hours at a very easy pace, passing through a couple of garden clearings and then the remaining lowland forest before climbing steeply uphill, along a narrow ridge. It even has some flat sections higher up, allowing a little respite. We set off at 0400 and on the ascent ‘iron-man’ Juszti was at the front, as always, and fluked a  Red-bellied Pitta roosting in a tree right next to the trail in the dark – his second amazing find of the trip (the first being the tame Sombre Kingfisher which sat in the same tree less than 10m from a busy road for 5 days). I had lazily accepted the offer of a porter for my camera bag and they were still way behind us so it was down to Robi to take some photos of the slumbering Pitta.

Red-bellied Pitta (photo by Robert Vanyi)

Be careful where you put your hands when crossing the numerous fallen tree trunks/butresses etc. along the trail. On the descent from our second visit to the lekking ground Stuart was aimlessly knocking chunks off a large rotting tree trunk. After he was attacked and badly stung by a swarm of bees a couple of days earlier I thought he would have been more cautious and I said jokingly ‘you should be careful, there might be something nasty in there that will come out and get you and is there a hospital near here?’ Of course there wasn’t, the nearest hospital is three hours boat ride away in Sorong and that is providing the sea is OK, not to mention the approximately two hours it would take to carry him to the boat. Anyway, within about thirty seconds there was a shout of ‘snake!’ as a large nasty-looking yellow and brown snake, with the girth of a forearm had popped out of the tree trunk. We felt sure it must be a viper due to the diamond head shape and patterning along its back so we kept well clear, although we did gradually venture a little closer to take some photos. I was not 100% convinced as it looked too ‘snouty’ from above and it later transpired to be the viper-mimic – New Guinea Ground Boa (Candoia aspera) but very impressive nevertheless. It slithered back into its log after Juszti poked it a bit with a stick. I bet the porters were back there again with the local wildlife catcher the next day and it is now in a glass tank somewhere in Sorong!

 

New Guinea Ground Boa (Candoia aspera)

Having reached the current lekking court we waited for the porters to arrive with the rest of our gear, took up position behind a screen of rattan palm fronds and sat and waited. Suddenly the combined weight of Juszti, me and especially Stu, of 284kg (we had weighed ourselves earlier on the baggage scales at Manado airport for a laugh) caused the makeshift bench constructed from the poles on which we were sitting to collapse with a huge crash. We were also a little subdued at the verdict from Kris that the lekking court was no longer in use as there was no area perfectly cleared of leaves on the ground. Could it be that we were too late in the season, or that he had started another lek somewhere else? We were however soon relieved to hear that there was still a male in residence when his ear-splitting call rang out from the forest about 20 metres away. Time passed, a Cinnamon Ground Dove walked through the lekking court and eventually we decided to resort to artificial methods and use playback to lure him into view. After several plays of the distinctive call he soon appeared, perched on a horizontal branch about 5 metres away. Fortunately a full adult male complete with tail curls, red and yellow ‘rucksack’ and perfect velvety plumage. He sat in the same position for several minutes, calling and allowed a perfect view, albeit in shady light under the forest canopy. After taking in his amazing array of special features such as his the bare blue skin of his ‘brain’ and his pale lemon gape we took some photos. After a while he ventured lower onto the ground and cleared a few leaves but did not indulge in any display. He was much trickier to follow here due to a matrix of branches and the palm fronds of the viewing screen partially obscuring our view. Also an immature male, with the first vestiges of red on his wings, joined his master briefly.

 

Good images of Wilson’s Bird of Paradise in the wild are uncommon, as you will see from a google image search. This is partly due to the shady conditions in which they are usually seen and their apparent dislike of camera flash. There is however a special edition of National Geographic magazine on the way featuring Wilson’s, amongst other Birds of Paradise, which, I am told by Kris Tindige, will include some stunning photos taken two years ago. I managed only one acceptable record shot, which taken at 1/4 second exposure and hand held at 350mm+ is not 100% sharp. It is however better than the large number of disappointing blurs which accompanied it on my CFcard. The immature male seemed to be accompanying the full adult male and maybe there is some kind of bachelor group system at leks, as in Manakins. My record shot of Mr Wilson’s apprentice is even less sharp! 

Wilson’s Bird of Paradise (adult male)

Wilson’s Bird of Paradise (immature male)

As far as looks were concerned we all agreed he was a new entry at number one however I think that a lot of other factors certainly added to our impression of him. His extreme rarity for a start, the expedition-style nature of the trip, boat journey and all, the hard walk to the lekking ground, the amazing location high in the pristine rainforest and of course months of anticipation. Although we had a good idea of what we were going to see it was still an amazing experience. It also pays to remember that not everyone is successful in their attempts to see him! On our second attempt, a couple of days later, he was not at all co-operative, just coming in to check us out quickly, again together with his apprentice, after which he kept his distance. We saw another male briefly a little further downslope and heard at least 2 others but our first sighting remained the best one.

 

Afterwards we celebrated with a swim in the sea. Kris’s guest house is located on the beach with a beautiful garden of corals only a few metres offshore. An idyllic setting in paradise!

Top – Coral garden and bottom – Brain coral, Batanta Island  (photos by Robert Vanyi)

 Mike Watson, Clitheroe, Lancashire

 

 

Project Halmahera, the beneficiary of the 1994 British Birdwatching Fair, first drew my attention to this amazing place, which boasts some A-list endemic bird species in Wallace’s Standardwing, Ivory-breasted Pitta (Pitta maxima - the largest pitta in the world), Moluccan Owlet-Nightjar and Purple Dollarbird. It forms the majority of Birdlife International’s Endemic Bird Area no. #171, Northern Maluku and holds 38 endemic bird species, many being shared with smaller surrounding islands. The reason for this concentration of endemism is that it has all the factors necessary to encourage evolution – heat, lots of rain, mountains and being an island (separated from other land masses by deep water and not recently joined).

 

Halmahera has had a troubled recent history and has only recently returned to the list of safe places to visit, although it still carries a UK government travel warning. Between 1999 and 2001 around 5000 people were killed and 100,000 left their homes as refugees during ethnic violence. A fair account of the events can be found at http://www.serve.com/inside/edit69/northMaluku.htm

 

Our guide from Manado, Theo, told us about muslim jihadi fighters being shipped to Halmahera from Java, Ambon and neighbouring Ternate during the troubles to attack christian villages, as part of a drawn out tit-for-tat conflict in which both sides committed numerous atrocities. The local men would apparently stay behind to try and defend their homes while the women and children fled to the forest. Well-known local guide, Anu pointed out some of the inaccessible-looking hillsides where they had hidden. Happily the two communities are now trying to put the ‘crisis’, as they euphemistically call it, behind them and build a future living together, although a lot of fear still lies under the surface. For instance our muslim driver from Sidangoli was too scared to stay out after dark at Kali Batu Putih (KBP) and would instead return to pick us up later in the company of a friend. During our stay on Halmahera we found both communities friendly and welcoming, especially in predominantly muslim Sidangoli and in spite of the mural of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein just a stone’s throw from our guest house!

Welcome to Sidangoli!

 

Halmahera has also seen considerable environmental carnage – Birdlife International’s excellent EBA book even features a tree being cut down with a chainsaw and it was clear from travelling through the devastated western part of Halmahera that it has experienced rampant recent logging. Desperately sad news this year is that even the famous Wallace’s Standardwing lekking tree at Labi Labi, on the northeastern limb of Halmahera, which featured in the peerless ‘Attenborough in Paradise’, has been cut down. This now means that the only known accessible lekking area is at KBP, about 3km from Anu’s homestead.

 The pulp mill at Sidangoli

 

We took a flight from Manado in Sulawesi to the mighty volcano island of Ternate, the gateway to Halmahera. The flight left only a little later than scheduled and our aircraft looked in good shape, which came as a nice surprise after the trip reports we had read beforehand. After rescuing our luggage from the scrum of under-employed airport porters we took a taxi to the port, about fifteen minutes away through the busy streets of the rather unattractive main city of the island. It was not easy for all five of us plus gear to fit into the vehicle so Juszti and I went on the back of motorbike taxis. Theo was great at arranging the taxis and boats and we cleared all of these potential stumbling blocks with ease. As well as being good company, he was excellent in arranging all our logistics. Nothing was too much trouble for him and he usually managed to get us a good deal. He is however only beginning to learn the birds and has now got a pair of binoculars as well as a copy of Birds of Wallacea but it was good to have him along purely in the capacity of a fixer/interpreter.

Ternate taxi (photo by Robert Vanyi) 

 

The speedboats which operate between Ternate and Sidangoli all looked like a Hoseasons ‘hand-me-downs’ that I would think twice about taking for a cruise on the Norfolk Broads. The fibreglass hull of the boat we chose had several obvious bodged repairs but it looked the best of the dodgy-looking bunch. Once the three large outboard motors on the back were running at full speed and the bow was up and skipping over the waves, we did not feel much like stopping to check any terns or veer off in the direction of some distant Frigatebirds. On the outbound crossing the sea was quite choppy and we saw a lot of Red-necked Phalaropes in flight (not so easy to identify from Grey with the naked eye from a fast-moving boat!) plus a dark-grey-backed tern, which looked good for Aleutian, although we didn’t stop for it as getting to Sidangoli as quickly as possible seemed like the best idea at the time with grey skies and rain ahead. It rained almost every day on Halmahera, usually in the afternoon – typical tropical weather.

Speedboat jetty on Ternate (photo by Robert Vanyi)

Robi, with Ternate in background  (photo by Tibor Juhasz)

 

We headed for KBP immediately after our arrival in Sidangoli, on 16 September, birding the famous logging road from the first bridge onwards. After some playback we managed quite good views of Ivory-breasted Pitta, characteristically calling from high in a tree on the edge of a dry river bed. Whilst waiting for the mega-pitta to show we saw a pair of Paradise Crows, presumably investigating what all the fuss was about. More interesting-looking than the plates in Birds of Wallacea would suggest although still in with a chance in the ‘dullest bird of paradise’ competition.

 

Next morning we headed to Lame at KM 33 on the road from Sidangoli to Tobelo, fully expecting to tick off Purple Dollarbird without any difficulty – a pair had been found there by Danes, Michael Trasborg and Aage Mikkelson and were twitched successfully by Nick Senior the previous week. Hours passed without a sniff and we spread out further, checking the thousands of suitable dead snags. Stu and I even followed the stream that runs under the road bridge at Lame all the way to a couple of impressive waterfalls without any luck, except for close views of a surprised Dusky Scrubfowl. We also saw Blue-and-White Kingfisher here, at the nest – a beehive-shaped mud construction on the side of a palm, with a round entrance hole just above centre. We headed north towards Tobelo feeling a bit deflated that our excellent recent run of success had come to an end, although hoping we would still score on the return journey to Sidangoli, or so we thought.

Blue-and-White Kingfisher (photo by Robert Vanyi) 

 

Tobelo is a dump. We checked in at the only half-decent hotel in town, a crumbling building, the downstairs rooms of which stank of urine but those on the first floor were OK. Being a Sunday most restaurants were closed and the only one we could find open was a fly-infested open-air affair, only a few metres from the noisy main road and full of exhaust fumes. I had my only stomach trouble of the whole trip next day although this did not develop to more than a couple of rushed trips to the toilet. After eating we headed off to a village along the coast near Galela in the hope of Moluccan Scrubfowl coming to lay their eggs on a volcanic black sand beach. In short we badly messed up here. Instead of letting the locals tramp up and down the beach with torches, which probably discouraged the Scrubfowl from landing, we later discovered we should have stayed on the beach and tried to find them ourselves with the naked eye and let them settle into excavating a nesting pit before spotlighting them. We waited from 1930 to 0300 before giving up as we were literally falling asleep on our feet. Unfortunately the locals who arranged the boat to the nesting beach had lied to us in saying that the Birdquest group had seen two birds the previous night. This encouraged us to stay longer than we would have done had we known the truth - they had not seen any. We left with only a Pacific Golden Plover spotlit in the dark and a lot of mosquito bites to show for our efforts, another gruelling exercise in disappointment to add to my catalogue of painful dips.

 

Back at KM33/Lame later in the morning we resumed our search for Purple Dollarbird but failed again. Foli is still the only reliable place to see Purple Dollarbird at the moment, as you will see from www.szimistyle.com. We decided not to go there on the strength of the recent sightings at Lame, however we later learned that Anu was incorrect in saying that the Birdquest group had also seen them, on the basis of which we tried for a third time. We spent a total of eight and a half hours looking for the Dollarbirds in the end but we did at least see some other good birds. The best of these by a clear margin was the tame Sombre Kingfisher, which sat in the same tree within 10m of the road for at least 5 days. Juszti found it after going ahead alone and he ran back at least one kilometre in the heat of midday to get us. Normally a shy lover of dark forest we were able to watch it at point blank range and got some good photos. Sombre Kingfisher doesn’t look or behave much like a Halcyon and has been poorly illustrated so far. Until now we had only seen rather poor record shots of this species. Again, the image below would not have been possible without fitting my 30D to Juszti’s beautiful f4 600mm Canon lens, at least he only had to carry it from the car this time!

Sombre Kingfisher

 

We had heard one at Kali Batu Putih earlier and I am pretty sure I glimpsed another on our first afternoon there but after Lame we decided that better views were unlikely, so we concentrated on other birds instead. The Lame Sombre Kingfisher was also successfully twitched by the Hungarian team of Husi (Tamas Zalai), Szimi (Szimuly Gyorgy) and Brad Pitt (Peter Borbat) and Szimi has some good photos showing its underparts on his szimistyle website. In fact it was still in the same place when Theo returned to Halmahera a month later. Stu also saw a Common Paradise Kingfisher but ultimately we did not find the Purple Dolly.

 

There is a lot of adverse comment about Anu on the internet and we were a little apprehensive about taking up his services. He is been said to be expensive at $50 per day but this seems a bit harsh given that he charges a flat rate and not per person. It was quite amusing when another Hungarian birder, Husi (Tamas Zalai) joined us for a day and it took Anu ages to notice there was someone new with us. We told him he was part of our group and had been to Foli for a few days and he said nothing more. I realise that $50 is a king’s ransom in these parts but he is still years behind the rates charged in Sulawesi and West Papua. Apart from a few porkies we found him to be fine. He let himself down by telling us that Birdquest had seen both Moluccan Scrubfowl near Galela and Purple Dollarbird at Lame a few days previously, although this may have been a misunderstanding. Another slight disappointment was that when it comes to vehicles 1M rupiahs seems to be the only figure that Anu knows and Theo found us a car and driver for the day for less than half this sum. On the plus side his new homestead allows excellent access to the forest and we saw both Moluccan Owlet-Nightjar and Moluccan Scops Owl in his garden. The three girls he lives with, his wife and her two sisters, made us some very nice food indeed in basic conditions. His place became something of a haven, within easy walking distance of the logging road and the girls demonstrated one million different ways to cook a banana as well as always having a flask of hot water ready for tea, a welcome sight.

A break from birding at Anu’s place (photo by Robert Vanyi)

 

The much-hoped-for Moluccan Owlet-Nightjar has a maniacal laughing call and was quite easily tracked down and spotlit, even with a mini-maglite (we had not expected to try for it that evening). It is not always straightforward though as the Husi team discovered, fluffing it a couple of days later, hearing the noise of its wingbeats as it made off into the forest before they had spotted it. Sulawesi Scops-Owl, is quite common in the area and has adopted a deep growling call, very similar to its larger endemic cousin, Moluccan Boobook. We tried four known areas for the latter at KBP without so much as a response.

Moluccan Owlet-Nightjar

 

The big morning of the Wallace’s Standardwing lek finally arrived on 19 September. After an early start from Sidangoli we reached the KBP logging road at 0330 to find Anu riding his motorbike in front of us. He didn’t stop and when we got to his homestead, he said he had been to visit a sick relative and was too tired to guide us and instead his wife took us to the Standardwing lek. This was absolutely fine by us as we knew we only had to be guided to the lekking trees and the Standardwings would do the rest. The 3km trail was quite steep in places but had no long drags uphill and quite a few downhill sections were a nice surprise. There are three stream crossings but we only needed to take our boots off for one of them. This can change after rain and the usually innocuous ankle-deep stream can rise to a dangerous thigh-deep torrent very quickly. It was very hot and sticky under the forest canopy and it is worth taking your shirt off for the walk. The lek itself was excellent, the birds started calling just before dawn from inside the canopy of two or three tall trees but as you stand on quite a steep slope to watch them they are not too far above eye level. There were up to five birds present at any one time and we saw a lot of wing fanning and standard-raising however no females visited and the calling petered out by around 0700. Another incredible experience though! Robi managed some photos in the half-light of the forest canopy.

Wallace’s Standardwing (photos by Robert Vanyi)                 Montane Forest at Kali Batu Putih 

Juszti and Mike at the Standardwing lek with Anu’s wife in the background (photo by Stuart Warren)   

                                               

Other notable birds seen at KBP during our stay included: the resident pair of Gurney’s Eagles (on two occasions, once near the pass and another time from the logging road, both in mid-afternoon, they apparently nest on the highest peak on the right as you approach the pass); Spotted Kestrel; Dusky Scrubfowl; Blue-capped & Grey-headed Fruit-Doves; Violet-necked Lory; White Cockatoo; Moluccan Hanging-Parrot; Goliath Coucal; Blue-and-white Kingfisher; Azure Kingfisher; Common Paradise Kingfisher; Moluccan Cuckoo-Shrike; Rufous-bellied Triller; Golden Bulbul; Dark-grey Flycatcher; Flame-breasted Flowerpecker & Cream-throated White-eye. There were also a lot of interesting dragonflies along the almost dry river beds at KBP and we also saw a large snake on the third bridge along the logging road, which slipped away quickly and evaded the camera lenses.

 

It was great meeting the Husi team later in Sidangoli. Hungarian birders now outnumbering Brits by 5 to 2 – the locals may never see so many Hungarians in the same place again in their lives! The Birdquest brochure describes Ternate as a crumbling backwater and Sidangoli is similar but even less attractive. Its muddy rubbish-strewn streets, scattered, burnt out and deserted homesteads are however brightened by the happy smiling inhabitants. The tiny bell-boy at our guest house was a really nice guy but he did try to gas me and Stu one night by filling our small room with an industrial strength insecticide. This was a complete waste of time as the mosquitoes were not bad here anyway. We both almost lost our voices for a couple of days after this.

140kg, 106kg & 40(?)kg – Szimi, Stu & the bell-boy               Quiet fishing village on the east coast

 

While opting out of a morning’s forest birding on the logging road at KBP, Szimi and Brad Pitt found a superb Beach Kingfisher behind the shanty town, which backs onto the foreshore at Sidangoli. Not much of a beach, next to a long drop toilet and washing line, but a very smart kingfisher! There were also several Grey-tailed Tattlers, a Pacific Golden Plover and a Striated Heron here. Next day we counted six Beach Kingfishers together on the edge of the mangroves from this point but the excursion downtown by one of them the previous day may have been a one-off.

Beach Kingfisher

Nice beach habitat at Sidangoli

Striated Heron (photo by Robert Vanyi)

Juszti at Sidangoli, with Ternate in the background

Whilst on Halmahera we met a surly Korean mining surveyor several times at KBP who said he was surveying the area for kaolin mining. He could hardly look us in the eye. Kali Batu Putih means ‘river of white stone’ in Indonesian and maybe this gave away its potential. Anu told us that the area to be mined stretched from the road almost to his new homestead. If this is true it will wipe out a large chunk of recovering secondary forest with birds such as Dusky Scrubfowl, Ivory-breasted Pitta and Sombre Kingfisher. The remaining forest at Kali Batu Putih did look really good and still harbours most of the endemics, although the parrots and Purple Dollarbird are getting harder and harder to find. A notable exception to this rule however was a wonderful flock of 13 Chattering Lories from a trail near the pass on our last morning there, adorning a tree like Christmas decorations. We also saw a Wallace’s Standardwing on this trail and it is apparently a regular site for this species. Best of all here though were the great views of Ivory-breasted Pitta, looking bigger than ever with its whole body pulsating as it called. I managed a couple of record shots.

Ivory-breasted Pitta

 

Typical limestone streambed Ivory-breasted Pitta habitat at Kali Batu Putih

 

On our final evening on Halmahera we tried one last time for Moluccan Boobook from the logging road and were instead offered an Ivory-breasted Pitta by some boys who were living in the forest there. It was in a pitiful state having been kept on a tether by them for three days. Theo persuaded them to release it without any cash changing hands and took it to Anu’s place hoping he would rehabilitate it. The bird couldn’t grip anything with the right claw of its foot, which had been tethered and it allowed us to pick it up again after we tried to release it. Close up it is a big bird!

 

Theo negotiates the release

Ivory-breasted Pitta

 

We also saw quite a few Chattering Lories tethered to perches on porches all over Halmahera. Apparently 250K rupiahs is the going rate (about GBP14). Depressing stuff, but plenty of opportunity to learn the call!

Chattering Lory

 

We did not see all the endemics, mainly because we were not trying for numbers but instead concentrating on the key experiences of Wallace’s Standardwings lekking, good views of Ivory-breasted Pitta, the two endemic Kingfishers – Sombre and Blue-and-White, Moluccan Owlet-Nightjar, Purple Dollarbird and Moluccan Scrubfowl. Sadly we screwed up the last two but the other highlights made these misses seem rather insignificant. The pigeons, fruit-doves and other endemic variations on a theme were somewhat lower down the order of priority, much to Stu’s frustration!

 

Another rainy day on Halmahera – Juszti, Mike and Stu at Lame (photo by Robert Vanyi) 

 

Next stop West Papua.

 

Mike Watson, Clitheroe, Lancashire