This was a 3 week trip trying to find a few new birds that I have missed before, some of them many times, as well as visiting a few new sites well which are scattered around Sulawesi. I was joined by John Gregory for the Sulawesi leg along with Gerry Richards for the Lompobattang areas.
I would like to thank several people for their help with logistics and their recent sightings – Poli Borneo from Go Indonesia Tour elegantpitta88@gmail.com, mobile: +628125020781, Poli’s help was invaluable especially with finding a taxi driver at very short notice, Irawan Halir at Tangkoko, Carlos Bocos, Joe Kelly, Julien Mazenauer, Arief Rahman, Rina and Pak Hendra on Tagulandang, Dominik on Siao, Chris Ventez, Nick Brickle, Buyung Mangangue, Adun Bahrum, Khaleb Yordan, James Eaton and Rob Hutchinson.
Gunung Gede
Finally after 22 years I managed to see a Javan Scops Owl after having heard them several times in previous years. This particular individual was seen in September at exactly the same spot but strangely it only seemed to appear when it started to get light and hung around for several minutes both mornings I was there.
Some of the regular nocturnal birds were heard like Javan Owlet and Javan Frogmouth and it was also good to see Pygmy Bushtit and Yellow-throated Hanging Parrot again lower down at Cibodas.
Lombok
I had visited Lombok in 2001 but had never tried for Rinjani Scops Owl, it was actually an easy owl to find, I saw 2 and head several others in secondary forest and gardens around a small village. The next morning I visited Kerendangen Forest and saw a very nice Elegant Pitta and a pair of Cinnamon-banded Kingfishers.
Malino, Lompobattang, Sulawesi
We saw our 3 target birds very well here in a couple of days – Lompobattang Flycatcher, Black-ringed White-eye and a very nice flock of 30 Makassar Mynas.
Kendari, Sulawesi
This was a single bird twitch – Sulawesi (Kendari) White-eye, it was seen easily in the morning along with Lemon-bellied White-eye. Sadly we did see a few Sulawesi White-eyes in cages around the village.
Tangkoko, Sulawesi
Minahassa Masked Owl had been a bird that had bothered me for several years now, it seemed like as soon as I left Tangkoko one was found roosting, on my last visit I must have visited 20 hollow trees hoping to find it at roost and on top of that I had it calling late one night but it soon shut up and never called again. Thankfully this time we saw it, not before getting a proper soaking on our first attempt on our first night, we were up at 3am the following morning and finally managed to locate it sitting high above us for a brief few moments.
Tangulandang, Siau and Raung
Our main target bird here was Siao Pitta which we found fairly easily on Tagulandang, we also found a roosting one which gave us a chance to take some excellent photos. We tried several places on Siao and Tagulandang at night hoping to hear the Siao Scops Owl which has not been seen since 1866, looks like it will have to be rediscovered another year.
Trip list
Green Junglefowl
Red Junglefowl
Wedge-tailed Shearwater
Bulwer’s Petrel
Javan Pond Heron
Eastern Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Purple Heron
Sulawesi Serpent Eagle
White-bellied Sea Eagle
Rufous-winged Buzzard
Grey-faced Buzzard
Swinhoe’s Snipe
Wood Sandpiper
Common Emerald Dove
Pink-necked Green Pigeon
Green Imperial Pigeon
Lesser Coucal
Asian Koel
Black-billed Koel
Little Bronze Cuckoo
Banded Bay Cuckoo
Brush Cuckoo
Northern Hawk-Cuckoo
Sunda Cuckoo
Minahassa Masked Owl
Javan Scops Owl
Sulawesi Scops Owl
Javan Owlet
Ochre-bellied Boobook
Javan Frogmouth
Large-tailed Nightjar
House Swift
Green-backed Kingfisher
Lilac Kingfisher
Collared Kingfisher
Cinnamon-banded Kingfisher
Flame-fronted Barbet
Spotted Kestrel
Yellow-throated Hanging Parrot
Elegant Pitta
Siao Pitta
Scaly-crowned Honeyeater
Black-winged Flycatcher-Shrike
Sulphur-vented Whistler
Sulawesi Golden Oriole
White-eyed Spangled Drongo
Lombok Spangled Drongo
Rufous-tailed Fantail
Slender-billed Crow
Sooty-headed Bulbul
Pacific Swallow
Pygmy Wren-Babbler
Mountain Tailorbird
Javan Tesia
Mountain Leaf Warbler
Lompobattang Leaf Warbler
Golden-headed Cisticola
Common Tailorbird
Crescent-chested Babbler
Javan Fulvetta
Eyebrowed Wren-Babbler
Sulawesi Babbler
Oriental White-eye
Javan White-eye
Lemon-bellied White-eye
Pale-bellied (Sulawesi)White-eye
Black-ringed White-eye
Velvet-fronted Nuthatch
Blue Nuthatch
Short-tailed Starling
White-necked Myna
Grosbeak Starling
Javan Myna
Makassar Myna
Horsfield’s Thrush
Grey-streaked Flycatcher
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Sulawesi Streaked Flycatcher
Pale Blue Flycatcher
Lesser Shortwing
Sunda Forktail
Javan Whistling Thrush
Snowy-browed Flycatcher
Lompobattang Flycatcher
Little Pied Flycatcher
Pied Bush Chat
Yellow-sided Flowerpecker
Grey-sided Flowerpecker
Blood-breasted Flowerpecker
Brown-throated Sunbird
Olive-backed Sunbird
White-flanked Sunbird
Crimson Sunbird
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Javan Munia
Black-faced Munia
Scaly-breasted Munia
Eastern Yellow Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Ashley Banwell's Birding 