4 Nov 22 - Indonesia - Banda Sea Cruise Day 9 - An Early Start On Leti

We arrived offshore of Leti in the early morning. We were up about two hours before first light for a quick breakfast, before we were ferried ashore to a village to look for the moae subspecies of Southern Boobook. We were keen to see all the various subspecies of the Southern Boobooks in the Banda Sea, as other Boobook species have been split over the last decade or so. After a few minutes walk, we were on the edge of the village & walking along a dirt road to some nearby coconut trees alongside rough fields.

Southern Boobook: This is the moae subspecies that is restricted to Moa, Leti and Romang Islands to the East of Timor in the Lesser Sundas. Several other subspecies are found in the Lesser Sundas, with others in the Kai Islands, New Guinea & Australia

Southern Boobook: Initially, we only had brief views, but then it settled down in & we could see the amount of wear to the wings

It wasn't long before the dawn chorus started. We were looking for Kisar Friarbird which is restricted to Kisar, Leti and Moa Islands in the Banda Sea. There was a reasonable selection of other species, while we were looking for the first Kisar Friarbirds in the trees alongside some fields on the edge of the village. However, like many small islands around the world, the overall number of species that occur on these small Indonesian islands is never that large compared to mainland South East Asia. But the number of range-restricted endemic species in Indonesia is about as high as anywhere in the world.

The habitat looked interesting considering we were still fairly close to the village

Another view of the habitat

Brown Goshawk: This is the wallacii subspecies which occurs on Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores & the Banda Sea Islands as far West as Babar Island

Yellow-throated Golden Whistler: This is the compar subspecies of Yellow-throated Golden Whistler that is restricted to Leti & Moa Islands. Clements and IOC consider it a subspecies of Yellow-throated Golden Whistler. Whereas, the Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago split it as Fawn-breasted Whistler with two other subspecies, on the basis of mDNA and shared colouration where the males look similar to the females. The males are very different to the bright golden-yellow bellied males we saw on Babar & Damar Islands

Snail sp.: These impressive-looking Snails were well over an inch long

The interesting looking habitat continued

Several of us stopped to take some photos of some large Crabs and I hung on after the others left to get some low to the ground photos. When I finished, I could see the others were now the best part of a hundred metres ahead on me. But they weren't looking at anything, so no panic. I started to walk fast to catch them up.

Indonesian Crab sp.: We saw quite a few of these Crabs well over a mile from the sea. They are clearly comfortable living on the land, although like other land Crabs, they will end up having to return to water to spawn

As I caught up with Raja, who had also dropped behind the group, a small Quail ran across the sandy track & into the vegetation at the side of the track. I didn't get the bins on it while it was in the open, but I was surprised at how small it was. I lifted the camera & started to take some photos, as it disappeared further off the track. I mentioned the small size to Raja, who said it was a Brown Quail. But we had seen some Brown Quails on Tanimbar & they were larger & bulkier. I stopped to check the photos & I was pleased to have my thoughts confirmed about the size when I found it was my first Red-backed Buttonquail. It was only my seventh Buttonquail species in a family of seventeen species & a family that I've struggled to see abroad. It was one of my top Birds of the Banda Sea Cruise.

Red-backed Buttonquail: Female. This is the nominate maculosus subspecies which also occurs on Rote, Semau, Timor, Wetar, Moa and Kisar. Other subspecies occur in Sulawesi, other parts of the Lesser Sundas, New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomons and Northern Australia

Red-backed Buttonquail: Female. The bright colouration indicates this is a female. This is one of the few species of Birds where the females are much brighter than the males

I finally caught up with the others & found they had just located the first of the Kisar Friarbirds.

Kisar Friarbird: They are restricted to Kisar, Leti and Moa Islands in the Banda Sea

Kisar Friarbird: An underwhelming Tick

The team relax after seeing the Kisar Friarbirds

We had seen our main target species in a busy hour & a half since dawn and we still had more Birding time left on Leti. But first it was time for a quick coffee break. I will finish off the rest of the morning on Leti in the next Blog Post.

Richard: Richard practiced the secretive ancient art of eating boiled eggs with salt, having specially bought a Himalayan rock salt grinder with him as part of the ceremony. I never managed to get a photo of the salt grinder in action

31 Oct 22 - Indonesia - Banda Sea Cruise Day 5 - Bonus Birding On East Babar

Thanks to the midnight or so departure from the Tanimbar Islands on the previous night, we arrived off the coast of the Eastern end of Babar Island in time for some bonus late afternoon Birding. Had we left the Tanimbar Islands as originally planned, we would not have arrived till after dark. We were keen to get ashore for some land Birding. The Tanimbar Islands are not regularly visited by independent Birders visiting Indonesia. However, with an airport they have been visited by a few more adventurous independent Birders in recent years.

The same cannot be said about any of the other islands we were to visit on the Banda Sea Cruise. There are no airfields on any of these islands & the only way to visit them is by boat. It would be time-consuming to try arranging transport on the occasional ships that supply those islands. Chartering a local boat would be an expensive & difficult option for a group of independent Birders. Therefore, the Banda Sea Cruise stands out as a very unique way to access these rarely visited islands.

Bird Tour Asia have over a decade of experience of visiting these islands since their first Banda Sea Cruise in 2011. Any Birder tempted by a Banda Sea Cruise after reading this Blog should be looking to book with Bird Tour Asia: rather than with an alternative company that has managed to work out enough of where Bird Tour Asia visit to start running their own trip. Why travel with a more expensive newcomer, when you can go with the experts on these islands?

Getting the boats ready to take us ashore

There seemed to be a reasonable amount of forest on the island: The big church indicated this was another Christian island

Like most of our Banda Sea landings, it was a beach landing. The trick was to get to the front of the boat & either step off or jump off the boat on a dropping wave, to avoid wet feet. We had to be equally carefully to get the timing right when getting back into the boats at the end of the Birding, but I always managed to keep my feet dry. The one exception was late on in the trip, when we had a fifty metre wade ashore due to one very shallow bay. But we were aware of that & I had my flip-flops for the landing & carried the shoes for the land.

We were quickly ashore to find there was a drivable dirt track just behind the first line of trees. This would allow us to easily see the trees. Sadly, we also found one or two patches of trees that had been cleared to allow for Bananas to be planted in the future. We saw a good selection of Babar's birdlife that afternoon, albeit there wasn't a lot of opportunity to get photos. Some of the highlights included Pacific Emerald Dove, Timor Zebra Dove (AKA Barred Dove), Rose-crowned Fruit-dove, Little Bronze-cuckoo, Banda Honeyeater, White-shouldered Triller, Wallacean Whistler, Cinnamon-tailed Fantail, a potential future split from the Australian Arafura Fantail (which the Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago call Supertramp Fantail), Island Monarch, the lovely Orange-banded Thrush & Red-chested Flowerpecker.

Timor Zebra Dove: This is more commonly known as Barred Dove. I've kept to the name I originally knew it as during my first visit to Indonesia

Little Bronze-cuckoo: This is what Little Bronze-cuckoos normally look like, which looks & sounds different to the distinctive Pied Bronze-cuckoo that we saw on the Tanimbar Islands

The Lady Denok

All too quickly the light started to go. We couldn't leave yet as we wanted to look for the local subspecies of Southern Boobook. Boobook Owls have long been a potential area for splits as studies look at their vocalisations and other differences. The Boobooks on Babar as currently considered to be the cinnamomina subspecies of Southern Boobook. Whether that will still be the case in another decade is something we will have to wait & see. Everybody was keen to look for one, just in case. One was heard calling as it got dark & Wilbur found a small forest track heading in for a couple of hundred metres. After a short wait, it responded to his recording & it was sitting above our heads.

Southern Boobook: This is the cinnamomina subspecies which is endemic to the Babar Islands. Other subspecies occur on Leti & surrounding islands, Sawu Island which lies between Sumba & Timor, the Kai Islands, Southern New Guinea and Australia. Like all my other Owl photos, this was photographed on a high ISO and using torchlight.

We had enjoyed some successful bonus Birding on Babar in the afternoon and evening. We had also avoided having to get up in the wee small hours of the following morning to look for Southern Boobook. Albeit, we still were up before dawn for breakfast prior to a dawn landing.

It was time to signal to the boats to return to the shore to collect us. Once we had eaten, the Lady Denok started sailing to our next destination at the Western end of Babar.