There was some time for seawatching on the relatively short crossing from Tanahjampea Island to Kalao Island. The highlight was a pod of about sixty Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins.
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin: One of the pod surfaces, showing a short & stout beak and uniform-looking body colouration
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin: They are a small & fairly compact Dolphin with a noticeably falcate dorsal fin. There is clearer some variation in the dorsal fin shape, which is likely in a large pod where there will be a variation of ages & sexes
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin: This photos shows the short & stout beak and short body in front of the dorsal fin
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin: Another individual showing a thinner beak: perhaps this is an immature individual
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin: Another profile shot
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin: This photo shows the length of the body behind the dorsal fin
Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin: A final photo of the tail flippers
Lesser Frigatebird: This Lesser Frigatebird was the highlight on the Avian front on the crossing
White-bellied Sea-eagle: This was circling over the beach
We landed by this small village
It was good to see a Malaysian Plover on the beach as we landed. It was nervous & started to walk away from us, before deciding to fly to a nearby point.
Malaysian Plover: This is a monotypic species which occurs on the sandy coasts of South East Asia, the Philippines & Indonesia
Common Sandpiper: This is a widespread species that breeds across the Palearctic & winters to Africa, India, South East Asia & Australia
After greeting the villagers, we headed into the trees behind the small village.
The forest looked in better condition than we saw on Tanahjampea
The villager's Water Buffalos looked happy with this muddy pool
Great-billed Parrot: This is the nominate megalorynchos subspecies which occurs in Sulawesi & its adjacent islands, the Moluccas & the West Papuan islands
Broad-billed Monarch: This is the ruficollis subspecies which occurs on the Lesser Sundas & the Islands in the Flores Sea
Broad-billed Monarch: There are no prizes for guessing how it got its name
The final species is another Blue Flycatcher with contested taxonomy. The one thing that seems to be agreed is it is not the same species/subspecies as the Blue Flycatcher that occurs on neighbouring Tanahjampea. Clements regards it as a monotypic endemic Kalao Blue Flycatcher which is restricted to Kalao. IOC (v12.2) lumped it back into Mangrove Blue Flycatcher as the only remaining Wallacean subspecies, with other subspecies in the Malaysian Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, Borneo & the Phillipines. Historically, other subspecies of Mangrove Blue Flycatcher were split as Sulawesi Blue Flycatcher. However, IOC (v13.1) has split it again as a monotypic endemic Kalao Blue Flycatcher. Eaton et al in the Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago splits it from Mangrove Blue Flycatcher & Sulawesi Blue Flycatcher based upon strong differences in plumage, mtDNA & vocalisations. At the moment, I'm still following Clements taxonomy.
Kalao Blue Flycatcher: This is a monotypic endemic which is restricted to Kalao
Kalao Blue Flycatcher: This was a shy individual & the photos are no better than record shots
Indonesian Robber Fly sp.: I've forwarded a copy to my mate John, who has now retired from the Natural History Museum having spent his life working on Horse Flies & Robber Flies. It will be interesting to see if he can get a name for this species
Returning to the beach through the village
Having seen our main target species, the Kalao Blue Flycatcher, we returned to the Lady Denok for our final voyage to the Flores Island port of Labuan Bajo. The Banda Sea Cruise was nearly over.
The crew always turned out to greet us on our return to the Lady Denok with cold flannels & drinks
Richard (front) & Tony enjoying a Coconut drink
As we sailed from Kalao, we saw this fishing boat signalling to us
My worry was the crew of this fishing boat had a major problem. However, it turned out they only wanted to trade some of their fish to top up their low numbers of cigarettes
We finished the evening with a cracking sunset
