6 Nov 22 - Indonesia - Banda Sea Cruise Day 11 - The Final Visit To The Wetar Hills

We had a slightly later start as we had seen the Wetar Nightbirds on the first day: but it was still a dawn landing back in the village on Wetar. It was another slow drive in the knackered lorry & we returned to the site we had been Birding at on the previous evening. After another unsuccessful search for Olive-shouldered Lorikeet there, we tried another roadside stop in drier forest compared to the previous morning. The main highlight of the morning was my first Timor Imperial Pigeon. This species is hard to see in Timor without going to a montane location that we didn't visit in 1991. They are easier to see in East Timor, which wasn't possible to visit at the time.

Bonelli's Eagle: This is the renschi subspecies which is endemic to the Lesser Sundas

Black-backed Fruit-dove: This is the nominate cinctus subspecies which occurs on Timor, Wetar & Romang Islands

Pink-headed Imperial Pigeon: This monotypic species is found on islands in the Java Sea & Flores Sea, as well as, some of the smaller & larger islands in the Lesser Sundas

Red-cheeked Parrot: This is the nominate geoffroyi subspecies which occurs on Timor, Wetar & Samau. This is a widespread species which occurs from the Lesser Sundas to the Moluccas, Tanimbar & Kai Islands, New Guinea, & North Australia

Marigold Lorikeet: This is the flavotectus subspecies which occurs on Wetar. Two other subspecies occur on Timor & Sumba, making this Marigold Lorikeet a Lesser Sundas endemic. Marigold Lorikeet is one of six species that were split from Rainbow Lorikeet a few years ago

Helmeted Friarbird: According to Clements & IOC, this is the buceroides subspecies which occurs in Timor, Wetar, Semau, Sawu & Rote. There is another subspecies in the larger Lesser Sunda Islands, as well as, other subspecies in New Guinea & Northern Australia. The Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago have proposed splitting the two Lesser Sundas subspecies as Tenggara Friarbird from the subspecies in New Guinea & Northern Australia, on the basis of morphological & vocal differences, as well as, a fairly deep genetic divergence

Fawn-breasted Whistler: This is a monotypic species that is restricted to Timor, Semau, Jaco & Wetar

Wetar Figbird: Female. This is a Wetar endemic

Long-tailed Shrike: This is the bentet subspecies which occurs in Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Borneo and Lesser Sundas. Other subspecies occur in Iran, the Indian Subcontinent, East & South China, Taiwan, Burma, Thailand, the Philippines & New Guinea

Long-tailed Shrike

Indonesian Butterfly sp.

Indonesian Butterfly sp.: This would look good if it wasn't so knackered

Cicada sp.: This Cicada joined on the back of the lorry

More roadside Birding on the way back to the village

It was now late morning & time to return to the Lady Denok for lunch. Two distant Jungle Crows were waiting on the beach.

Village Houses

Getting On & Off The Lorry

Jungle Crow: This is the nominate macrorhynchos subspecies which occurs in Southern Indochina, the Malay-Thai Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Bali & the Lesser Sundas. Other subspecies occur in North East Asia, China, Japan, the Indian subcontinent, Burma & the Philippines

5 Nov 22 - Indonesia - Banda Sea Cruise Day 10 - A Plethora Of Pigeons On The First Day On Wetar

The crew had motored overnight so that we were off the island of Wetar: our base for the next three days. Wetar has a good selection of species that overlaps with the neighbouring & larger island of Timor, to its South. This includes the Indonesian West of the island and East Timor at the Eastern end.

We woke early for another well before dawn breakfast on the Lady Denok. One of the great things is the Lady Denok team were good at providing a substantial breakfast regardless of the start time. It helped given how early it was. After eating, we were quickly in the boats & heading to the shore. An open backed lorry arrived just after us in the village. We jumped in the back & were soon on our way up into the hills. It proved to be a slow journey as the lorry ended up going down into first gear on every hill: as the engine was knackered. It was the first of three slow drives across the island, as every lunchtime we returned back to the boat.

The first highlights were a couple of Timor Nightjars a few miles out of town on the road. One was giving its tok-tok-tok call, which didn't too dissimilar to what I remember of Large-tailed Nightjar. Perhaps it's call is more subtly distinctive as the Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago field guide states that while it was previously considered as conspecific with Large-tailed Nightjar, it has been proposed as a new species with a range of Timor & Wetar based up its distinct vocalisations. Perhaps not suprising as Mees's Nightjar, which occurs on Flores, Alor, Pantar & Sumba, was split from Large-tailed Nightjar about a decade ago by Clements & IOC. I think this is a case of the paper being written to formally propose the reasons for Timor Nightjar to be split.

Birding From The Lorry: This shows the high hills on the island

Graham Tebb

Roadside Birding

After watching the Timor Nightjars on the road, we carried on slowly trundling up the hill. It quickly started to get lighter & the light was reasonable by the time we have reached our destination about halfway across the island. This was the first session of roadside Birding. Quite often roadside Birding isn't great as you end up having to keep moving to the edge of the road as traffic passes. But when that is only a couple of times an hour, it's wasn't that bad on this occasion. This morning was a good morning for seeing Pigeons & Doves.

Timor Zebra Dove: This is also known as Barred Dove

Little Cuckoo Dove: This is the orientalis subspecies which occurs on Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores, Sumba, Pantar, Timor & Wetar. This is the most South Eastern subspecies. Other subspecies occur in Burma, Thailand, Yunnan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Java & Bali

Dusky Cuckoo Dove: This is also known as Timor Cuckoo Dove, but I will stick with the name that was used in 1991. This is a monotypic species which occurs on Timor, Wetar Alor, Romang, Kisar, Leti, Moa & Sermata Islands

Black Cuckoo Dove: This species in restricted to Timor, Wetar & Rota. I was glad to see this species well, as my only sighting of this distinctive species back in 1991, was an individual that flew past us

Black-backed Fruit-dove: Another island & another subspecies. This is the nominate cinctus subspecies which occurs on Timor, Wetar & Romang Islands

Pink-headed Imperial Pigeon: This is a small island specialist which is found on islands in the Java Sea & Flores Sea, as well as, some of the smaller & larger islands in the Lesser Sundas

Pink-headed Imperial Pigeon

Pink-headed Imperial Pigeon

Pink-headed Imperial Pigeon

In one of the roadside stops, I picked up two distant Eagles that were over a couple of miles away flying over the distant cliffs. Fortunately, they took pity on our inabilities to identify them at that range & glided over towards the cliffs on our side of the valley. They didn't pass that close, but they were close enough to allow us to confirm they were Bonelli's Eagles.

Bonelli's Eagle: This is the renschi subspecies which is endemic to the Lesser Sundas. The other subspecies occurs from Southern Europe to India, Southern China & Indochina

I will cover the other species seen on Wetar on the first day in the next Blog Post.

27 Jan 14 - Bharatpur Big Foot

Two or three years ago, local birder Shaun Robson introduced Dorset birders to the concept of Big Foot Birding as it became known locally. The rules are simple: to see or hear as many species of birds in one day starting & finishing at your house & only walking. So no use of cars, bikes, buses or boats. As I was walking around Bharatpur, I was remembering the Big Foot idea & decided that as I was seeing a good selection of wetland & woodland birds that I would avoid the temptation of the rickshaw drivers & see how well I did with a Bharatpur Big Foot. So far the morning's walk from the entrance gate to the small temple & drinks stall had been good with a good selection of typical dry country bush species & lots of waterbirds. I had also had a look from both of the nearby tower hides. However, the main target for the day, Brooks's Warbler, was now in walking range. This likes to feed in the trees along the main track from the temple & drinks stall towards Python Point, which is the track on the map that runs alongside the Ghana canal. So now I had the chance to focus on adding more bush & tree species for the Big Foot list. 

Purple Heron

Purple Heron: Coming in to land

Oriental White Ibis: This is also known as Black-headed Ibis. There are also Spoonbill, Lesser Whistling-duck & a Garganey in the photo

Spoonbill

Lesser Whistling-duck: They are so graceful when they landing 

Lesser Whistling-duck

Knob-billed Duck: With a couple of Painted Storks. This is also known as Comb Duck

Tawny Eagle: Similar to Steppe Eagle, but this dark phase Tawny Eagle has darker wing coverts than the flight feathers, lacks the dark trailing edge to the wing, has a small pale flash on the inner primaries, has vaguely barred flight feathers & a dark tail band. The narrower wings & long tail rule out a Spotted Eagle

Bonelli's Eagle: Juvenile. This is identified by the bulking secondaries, dark primary tips, lack of a dark trailing edge to the wing & tail, narrow black band along the secondary coverts, paler inner primaries, compared to the darker (but not too dark) secondaries & buffy brown throat & upper breast

Rock Dove

Ring-necked Parakeet

Plain Prinia

Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler: This is the nominate humei subspecies

Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler

Oriental Magpie Robin

Bank Myna

Brahminy Myna

Three-striped Palm Squirrel: On the Northern edge of its range

Having walked the path once without any success with the Brooks's Warbler, I turned around to return to the temple area. I was almost as far back as the tower hide, when I heard its distinctive monosyllabic call. Fortunately, I quickly located the bird & managed to confirm the identification & get some photos of this subtle Winter visiting Phyllos. The main features are it is a small Phyllos Warbler with pale olive colouration, a pale yellowish-olive crown stripe, a yellowish supercilium, yellow at the base of the lower mandible, 2 pale wingbars & a yellowish rump. This was another case of the usefulness of the OBC images web site for getting my eye on in advance of seeing the bird.

Brooks's Warbler: One of the things I noticed is the yellowish features seem to almost merge into the overall olive colouration, compared to a Yellow-browed Warbler or Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler, where there are generally clear-cut edges. The second wingbar is faint on this individual, but you can see the supercilium, hints of the crown stripe, the wingbars & the bill colouration. Additionally, the overall colouration with the paler olive underaparts

Brooks's Warbler: Showing the crown stripe

Brooks's Warbler: I can just make out the side of the crown stripe on this photo

Brooks's Warbler: The second wingbar is very faint

Brooks's Warbler: Showing the pale yellow base to the lower mandible  

After a celebratory sprite at the drinks stall, there was time for a slow walk back to the entrance. Lots of tempting offers of rickshaw rides, but I had to say I preferred to walk as trying to explain the Big Foot rules would have been too difficult. I lingered on the main track in the park till dark hoping a Nightjar would fly over or an Owl would start calling. But I was also hoping something interesting would cross the track in the fading light. In 91, a local told us where to stand & we saw an Indian Porcupine crossing the main track at dusk. But I had no joy on any of these species, although I did have another couple of Jackals on the track. Finally, I got back to the hotel after dark & I totted up the species list. I hadn't set out till about 09:00 as I wanted a decent breakfast as I knew I wouldn't get any food in the park & didn't have anything to eat other than a small bar of chocolate. I walked in excess of 10 miles at Bharatpur & saw or heard 98 species of birds & 8 species of mammals. The highlight of the day was seeing my first Brooks's Warbler. With a bit more time to sort out some staked out species like Owls & roosting Nightjars & with a full day of birding, it would be easily possible to break the 100 species barrier. Especially, as the following day, I was to be shown stakeouts for 2 Owl species & a Siberian Rubythroat, that I walked right past, but more of that in the next post. Still it was a great days birding & it was a good total considering I had nothing staked out in advance.