30 Oct 22 - Indonesia - Banda Sea Cruise Day 4 - The Tanimbar Cockatoo Goffin Lab

It was our final morning on Tanimbar and it was an early start to have a final look for a Lesser Masked Owl. I think we all expected it to be unsuccessful, but we had to give it a final attempt anyway. We were proven right as the dawn broke.

Sunrise over the forest edge: Bang goes the last chance of good views of the Tanimbar subspecies of Lesser Masked Owl. Fortunately, I had at least seen a flypast sighting from the car & I went on to see excellent views of the Seram subspecies on the following Moluccan trip

Sunrise over the forest edge

After a dawn roadside breakfast, we drove onto the nearby Tanimbar Cockatoo centre or Goffin Lab. This is run by an Austrian university team who are studying the Tanimbar Cockatoos, as well as, carrying out a lot of public engagement. The team have been studying the Tanimbar Cockatoos on a neighbouring forest reserve, as well on the farmland adjacent to the centre and reserve. They are also carrying wider studies into the Tanimbar Cockatoo populations on the Tanimbar Islands. An important part of their work is public engagement to spread the word across the islands that the Tanimbar Cockatoos are endemic to the islands, need better protection & working to ensure the trade in wild caught Cockatoos is being stopped. A key part of the work involves a lot of visits to schools to help get this message across to the next generation. It was good to hear about their important work.

The Tanimbar Goffin Lab

Mark O'Hara (on the left) from the Tanimbar Goffin Lab telling us about their work: Steve Kornfeld, Tony Palliser, Peter Marsh, Richard Carden, Arthur Geilvoet & Robin Marsh (left to right)

We had a short walk onto the neighbouring farm as it provided a good viewing position to look for flying over Tanimbar Cockatoos, Pigeons & Starlings. The main target for the morning was the Tanimbar subspecies of Metallic Starling which IOC have now split as Violet-hooded Starling. This will be another armchair Tick when I upgrade my database from Clements to IOC. We saw a number flying over, but I failed to get any photos.

Tanimbar Cockatoo

Tanimbar Cockatoo

Tanimbar Triller

Since I've written the original Blog Post, I've been in touch with Mark O'Hara and he has kindly sent me this photo of the Tanimbar subspecies of Metallic Starling, which he took on the morning of our visit.

Metallic Starling: This photo was taken by Mark O'Hara of the Tanimbar Goffin Lab & the copyright remains with Mark. IOC have now split this as Violet-hooded Starling. I still need to upgrade to IOC taxonomy before I can Tick it: as Clements still regards it as a subspecies of Metallic Starling

By mid-morning, we were heading back to the hotel to complete our packing.

I never found out the significance of this Giant Chicken statue

Another statue on the edge of Saumlaki

This is probably the only dual carriageway on the island in what looked to be the main administration part of Saumlaki

A more typical road scene in the town

A typical small Indonesian shop selling lots of low price, but essential, goods

There was time for a quick final look at the bay from the hotel which added a Great-billed Heron to my trip list.

Great-billed Heron: This is the nominate sumatrana subspecies which occurs in coastal regions of South East Asia, Philippines, Indonesia & New Guinea. Another subspecies occurs in tropical Australia

Great-billed Heron

Locals emptying the fish nets at low tide

The bags were loaded into the vehicles & we were off to the dock to board the Lady Denok: our luxury home for the next two weeks.