The morning was another well before dawn start as we had a walk of over two miles to get to the start of the Naumatong Gorge. This was to look for the last endemic Wetar species: Wetar Ground Dove. We landed in the neighbouring village & met the local guides. The walk took us through the cultivated areas beyond the village until we finally reached the fairly strong flowing river, just after first light.
This was where the fun started, as we kept crossing & walking up the river bed. We were well aware that we would be wading as deep as our knees at times on slippery rocks. As a result, I decided to not take the camera or mobile. Although I had a dry bag, I didn't want to run the risk of slipping & banging the camera on a rock, when I was only about two weeks into the seven week trip. In the end, I had probably over worried about the risks to the camera.
It was a pretty gorge with small patches of trees in the mile or so walk as we walked up the river & floodplain. Various Pigeons flew across during the morning including Black Cuckoo Doves, Pacific Emerald Doves, Black-backed Fruit-doves & Pink-headed Imperial Pigeons. But we didn't see any Wetar Ground Doves. We finally reached one of the better spots in the gorge & walked into the wood. This is where we had good views of a male and two female Wetar Ground Doves. Having the camera at this point wouldn't have been a big asset, as the light was very poor in the wood for photography. The photos from the others who took their cameras were very grainy & I'm confident I wouldn't have got any better photos if I had taken the camera. Having seen the last endemic Tick on Wetar, we slowly walked back to the village & caught the boats back to the Lady Denok.
The plan for the rest of the day was to head out to sea and motor onto our next location, Alor Island. It was a fairly quiet afternoon with the avian highlight being the first of the Red-necked Phalaropes that we were to see on the Band Sea Cruise: we had good numbers with 41 seen. There were Risso's Dolphins and Spinner Dolphins: sadly, all were distant.
