Timor
Tuesday 24th
An early start as we had to check out at 5.15 in order to
get to the local airport for a 6.00 flight. We’d finished our time on Sumba and
were heading to the next island – Timor. We landed at Kupbung after an hour’s
flight. We had breakfast in the airport then loaded our bags into the car and
were off. We had an hour’s drive to the fields and were looking for Timor
Sparrow but we were unable to find any. Instead we saw Sumba Zebra
Finch, White-breasted Woodswallow, Scaly-breasted Munia, Pied Bushchat and
Barred Dove. There were a few waders on the wetter fields: two Pacific Golden
Plover and three Wood Sandpipers but still we had not seen any herons.
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Pied Bushchat |
At a lunch stop we saw a few Tree Sparrows nesting outside.
Later in the afternoon we went to our next site. Like Sumba, there weren’t many
birds but there were quite a few endemics so we saw birds such as Timor Myzomela,
Flame-breasted Sunbird, Yellow-eared Honeyeater, Timor Fantail and Timor
Gerygone. Timor has a noticeably different look and feel to it compared to Sumba. Being further east it's closer to Australia and is quite similar to the outback around Darwin with its Eucalyptus trees and rocky outcrops.
We stayed out until dusk, this time to try for the only owl on Timor
– Timor Boobook. A pair came in and showed well but kept flying around and only
landing briefly so it wasn’t easy to get any photos. Still, at least we’d
managed to get three out of three owls so far.
We drove into town and had dinner then checked in to our
hotel.
Wednesday 25th
Leave hotel at 5am, drive up into mountains and have
breakfast in field before heading higher up track in new National Park. A pair
of Pied Bushchats were at the start of the track and we gradually encountered a
few more birds as we walked along but as usual they were in short supply.
Probably the commonest bird was Drab Swiftlet. There were singles of Timor
Leaf-Warbler, Warbling White-eye, Yellow-throated Whistler, Sunda Cuckoo, Timor
Blue Flycatcher, Island Thrush and Yellow-eared Honeyeater. Since we’d both
last encountered Island Thrush on Christmas Island it’s been split into many
species so this was another new one for us.
A Timor Flying Lizard decided to climb up a tree rather than
use its airborne super-power.
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Timor Flying Lizard |
One of the main target birds was a new species of
parrotfinch, in fact so new that it’s still known by the moniker ‘Undescribed
Parrotfinch’. We did manage to see one, it’s similar to Tricoloured Parrotbill
but has a red-ear patch. On the way down we saw a few more Timor endemics:
Stubtail, Myzomela and Bushchat.
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Timor Bushchat |
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Timor Myzomela |
Back at the car we ate lunch and had a rest for a while then
birded the lower slope across the road where we had a brief view of Tricoloured
Parrotfinch and a pair of Spotted Kestrels. As it had gone quiet again, we left
mid-afternoon and went back to the hotel.
Thursday 26th
We left hotel at 5am again having checked out and drove to
another patch of forest. We had breakfast in the field then spent the morning
exploring the area. It was a different type of habitat with scattered
trees and open grassland almost like parts of the New Forest.
First new bird of the day was Jonquil Parrot. |
Jonquil Parrot |
We
saw several repeat birds from previous days before the next one, another
parrot: Olive-headed Lorikeet. A pair of Banded Fruit Dove perched up in a tree
giving much better views than we’d had before.
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Banded Fruit-Dove |
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Short-tailed Starling |
A Black-banded Flycatcher that used a low branch as a perch
was probably bird of the day.
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Black-banded Flycatcher |
After hearing several we finally managed to clap
eyes on a Timor Oriole but it wasn’t especially inspiring being one of the
brown orioles rather than the smarter bright yellow ones. We also managed to see the
elusive Thicketbird which had been giving us the runaround for the last couple
of days. There was a selection of other Timor birds seen before we stopped for
lunch.
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Timor (or Blue-cheeked) Flowerpecker |
We had another walk around in the afternoon for a couple of
hours but the only new bird was a Brown Goshawk that I saw which landed for a
second before flying back into cover. We left mid-afternoon and drove to the
coast, arriving at dusk and checked into our beach hotel before heading out
again for dinner.
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View over the sea from our hotel window |