We had a pre-dawn landing in the Muslim village on Damar to allow us to walk through the village & meet our guides at the far end of the long village at first light. It was about a two & a half miles of walking along a steadily ascending track until we reached the better forest around 300m. This was our site for the main target species: Damar Flycatcher. This is a single island endemic species. We saw a few birds along the walk in the early morning light, but we didn't linger for too long as everybody was keen to push on to look for the Damar Flycatcher, before it got too hot.
The rising track passed through a lot of secondary edge
Little Bronze-cuckoo in the early morning light: This is the rufomerus subspecies that occurs on the Romang, Kisar, Leti, Moa, Sermata and Damar Islands in the Lesser Sundas
Northern Fantail: This is the hoedti subspecies of Northern Fantail that occurs on the Romang, Leti, Moa, Sermata and Damar Islands in the Lesser Sundas. It has been proposed to be split as a monotypic species, Banda Sea Fantail, by the Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago due to pronounced vocal & plumage differences within the Northern Fantail complex. Currently, Clements & IOC haven't split the Northern Fantail complex
The forest looked better by the time we reached an elevation of around 300m. Fairly soon we were watching our first Damar Flycatchers. The males were very active & didn't stay for long in any perch. It was another endemic species with a very limited range for the trip.
Finally, the forest improved
Damar Flycatcher: Male. We saw three Damar Flycatchers in the morning
We also saw a few other forest species on Damar.
Yellow-throated Golden Whistler: This is the dammeriana subspecies which is another potential future split that has been proposed by The Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago field guide, from the Yellow-throated Golden Whistler complex. Currently, Clements and IOC treat it as a subspecies of Yellow-throated Golden Whistler. There is further work required in this group before the taxonomy becomes finalised
Spectacled Monarch: This is the trivirgatus subspecies that occurs in the Lesser Sundas. Other subspecies occur in the Moluccas & Australia
It was time to slowly wander back to the village.
These locals raced past us on the track down the hill carrying heavy-looking sacks of nuts
We took the walk down the hill at a more leisurely pace
As we reached the edge of the village, a damp grassy patch held a Wood Sandpiper & four Eastern Yellow Wagtails.
Wood Sandpiper: Wood Sandpipers breed across Eurasia & winter from South Africa to South Asia & Australia
Eastern Yellow Wagtail: Wilbur confirmed this is the tschutschensis subspecies
Spider sp.: There is a small brown Spider just behind the large Spider's head & I'm assuming this is a male as many species of Spiders have very large females and very small males. The males take their lives into the hands when trying to mate & too often become the next meal for the female
I hadn't expected to see paintings of Father Christmas on a police station wall
We returned to the Lady Denok for lunch. I skipped the early afternoon PADI diving & snorkelling session in favour of catching up with lost sleep. I wanted to be awake for the seawatching in the late afternoon when we left Damar & headed for Leti Island. In hindsight, this was probably a bad decision, as it was a quiet crossing with a Wilson's Storm-petrel, some Brown & Red-footed Boobies and a reasonable numbers of Common Noddies.
Some of the local kids getting used to a local fishing canoe
Raja, our birding Mr Fixit, seawatching
One of the inter-island ferries
We finished the evening with some stunning sunsets.
This was one of the best sunsets I saw in Indonesia
The sunset looking forward
The sunset continued to impress us
