Lesser Sundas Part 3

Timor

Tuesday 24^th

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.

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 25^th

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.

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.

Timor Bushchat

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 26^th

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.

Banded Fruit-Dove

Short-tailed Starling

A Black-banded Flycatcher that used a low branch as a perch was probably bird of the day. 

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.

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.

View over the sea from our hotel window

Lesser Sundas Part 2

Sumba

Sunday 22^nd

Departure was at 5.30 and we headed straight out to the forest, making a brief stop for a perched roadside Citron-crested Cockatoo. 

Citron-crested Cockatoo

Helmeted Friarbird and Short-tailed Starlings were seen before the next specialities – Cinnamon-banded Kingfisher and Red-naped Fruit Dove, the latter being a very smart pigeon. 

Cinnamon-banded Kingfisher

Red-naped Fruit-Dove

There were also parrots seen with Red-cheeked Parrot being the commonest and a few Marigold Lorikeets (named after a brand of rubber gloves?) which were always flying past at speed. We had a roadside breakfast before carrying on.

Red-cheeked Parrot

We walked through a grassland area looking for buttonquail but couldn’t find any, a recent fire had probably moved them on to another area. We did see Paddyfield Pipit. Back on the forest road we ran into Wallacean Cuckooshrike, Sumba Brown Flycatcher, Ashy-bellied White-eye, Banded Fruit-Dove and a stunning red and black Sumba Myzomela. There seems to be two camps on how to pronounce this bird, either my-zomela or myzo-meela. Both were used so it probably doesn’t matter.

Wallacean Cuckooshrike

Sumba Brown Flycatcher

A recent split from Arufara Fantail was located next: Supertramp Fantail – is this the only bird named after a band? This was quite a productive area and also saw Cinerous Tit (which looks exactly like the more familiar Great Tit), Sumba Green Pigeon, Sumba Flowerpecker and several more widespread birds: Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher, Brahminy Kite and Black-naped Oriole.

Sumba Flowerpecker

Sumba Green Pigeon

Wallacean Drongo

We went to a local restaurant for lunch and a rest then back out in the afternoon. First up was Ashy-bellied White-eye and we heard Lesser Coucal and Green Junglefowl. There weren’t many birds around but we did add a few more endemics: Broad-billed Flycatcher, Sumba Cicadabird and Tengarra Whistler. 

Glider sp

Crow sp

moth sp

We stayed out until dusk again to try for a more difficult Boobook – Least Sumba Owl. It called then after a while flew in and showed briefly but it didn’t hang around for long. We kept trying but being beside a busy road didn’t help and when it came in again it got spooked by a very noisy truck. We persisted a bit longer but had to conceded defeat on the photo front but at least we’d seen it. We headed back to town for dinner.

Monday 23^rd

We checked out of our hotel at 5.30 and went to a new area of forest. The main target was Chestnut-backed Thrush. It took a long while to respond then flew around for a while before we finally got good views of it but it was another bird that refused to pose for a photo.

Praying Mantis

At the next site we saw Sunda Brush Cuckoo, Tawny Grassbird and some distant Long-tailed Macaques up a tree. A Sumba Snake-Eagle flew over to add to the Brahminy and Black Kites we’d seen earlier. Raptors appear to be very thinly distributed on Sumba.

Broad-billed Flycatcher

Sunda Brush Cuckoo

Tenggara Paradise-Flycatcher

We had lunch then checked into the Beach Hotel where a couple of Striated Swallows hung out on the wires out the front to greet us. 

A typical dwelling on Sumba with roof storage

In the afternoon we drove to a forest where a hide had been erected. After a short wait an Elegant Pitta came in and showed brilliantly. 

Elegant Pitta

We went back to the hotel and spent an hour checking out the beach area but saw little apart from a couple of Common Sandpipers and four Whimbrel of a different race which have barred rumps so intermediate between European and Hudsonian. 

Mudflats and mangroves at back of hotel

Lesser Sundas Part 1

This was a private trip arranged by Neil Bowman through Yovie Jehabut (rimbaranaka@gmail.com). Flights from UK & back booked by Sacha Barbato (sacha.barbato@travelcounsellors.com).

Thursday September 19^th

Only a slightly earlier start to the day than usual giving me ample time to take the Tube & Elizabeth Line to Heathrow T4. After a quick check-in I had time for a leisurely coffee and cake before boarding the 11AM Malaysian Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur, a distance of 11,469 Kms.

Friday 20^th

Eleven hours and 21 minutes later we landed at KL. I had a bit of a wait before the next flight at 12.05 to Denpasar on Bali. Three hours later and another 2100 Kms covered we landed in Indonesia. Arrival procedures had changed a lot since my last visit and although I’d saved time by getting the visa on arrival in advance there were two other forms to complete which had to be done online. The first was a health declaration which they wanted to see before they’d even allow you to enter the arrivals hall. The poor wifi made filling this out extremely difficult. Next up was immigration with three separate queues and no one to tell you which to join. I eventually found a sign which enabled me to jump all the queues and use the eticket gates as I had the evisa.

I collected my bag quickly enough, then it was the customs declaration and there was no manual bypass. The wifi didn’t work at this end of the hall so we queued to use a handful of laptops that were set up. Abso-bloody-lute shambles!

I got a cab to the hotel which had been booked for us and chilled for a while. Towards dusk, thousands of munias streamed over to roost and a couple of Yellow-vented Bulbuls landed on a nearby balcony. After a rest I went down to the restaurant for dinner and a much-needed Bintang.

Later on Neil arrived as his KLM flight landed about four hours later than mine. We organised breakfast and transfer to the airport for the next morning.

Saturday 21^st

The alarm went off at 6.30 and we packed up and headed downstairs for a buffet breakfast. This would be our only leisurely breakfast eaten in a hotel for a while. We went to the airport and checked in for our domestic flight to Tambolaka. The flight was delayed for an hour as the military jets used the runways for taking off on their way to a military air show. This flight and all our domestic flights were booked by Jovie as was the hotel in Bali.

We landed on Sumba island at 12.30 where it was about 35 degrees. Once we’d collected our bags we met up with our guide, Yovie, and driver and loaded up the SUV. We only went a short distance and had lunch in a local restaurant and then went to our hotel. We had time to sort ourselves out for an afternoon’s birding and went out at 3.30 to the forest.

As we’d discover over the next few days, it’s quite slow birding on Sumba with very few birds seen and often they weren’t obliging. Our first Lesser Sundas endemic was a spectacular Tengarra Paradise-Flycatcher – all white apart from a black head and with a really long ribbon-like tail. Rainbow Bee-eaters were more familiar to anyone who’s been to Australia and we would frequently encounter small flocks of them during our trip. Tengarra Swiftlet was a recent split from the Glossy complex and were the commonest bird on the island.

It was time for more endemics and we encountered Ruddy Cuckoo-dove, Apricot-breasted Sunbird (a fruit tick!), Wallacean Drongo and then great views of a bird we kept hearing – Elegant Pitta. It was bouncing around inside the forest and each view added another colour until we could make out the whole bird. A distant Sumba Hornbill sat up in a large tree. 

Sumba Hornbill

We waited around for it to get dark and just before sunset a Sumba Boobook flew in and landed close by. We had superb views of this owl as it hung around, making short flights across the track and back. It could be quite hard to find at times with a thermal imager if it was back on as the added layer of its folded wings meant no heat escaped. However it was very obvious when facing us as it glowed in the dark.

Sumba Boobook

On the walk back to the car we also found a Mees’s Nightjar which showed well, albeit fairly briefly. It was a good introduction to the birds of the Lesser Sundas and we’d successfully connected with many of the Sumba endemics. We drove to a restaurant for dinner and celebrated with a large beer. A powercut didn’t disrail us or the kitchen staff and we enjoyed a nice meal. 

September - autumn migrants

The change from August to September may only take a second as the clock's hand sweeps past midnight but the seasonal change is a lot more tangible. Buses become crowded in the morning as the kids go back to school, a fleece is often required to ward off the early morning chill, blackberries have gone past their palatable best and the ivy blossom means it even smells like autumn.

For the local patch birder there's more of an urgency to get out there and catch up with the migrants you missed in spring before the chance is gone and the last one has winged its way back to Africa for the winter. Flycatchers: Pied, Spotted and their allied chats: Whinchat and Common Redstart could be in any hedgerow and there are bigger prizes to look for such as Wryneck and Red-backed Shrike or even something rarer.

It was the lure of some of these birds that took us to Wanstead Flats early in the month. This has always been a reliable site for a lot of these birds and they'd even had a Wryneck. I met up with John & Janet at Wanstead Park station on the soon-to-be-renamed Goblin Line at 9am and we walked the five minute journey to the southern tip. It didn't take long to find a Whinchat, by the Skylark enclosure then we were treated to several more of them as we explored further.

Whinchat, Wanstead Flats

Another Whinchat at Wanstead Flats

We diverted to Alex Lake for a look around then headed back to Long Wood where the Wryneck had been spending its time. As a tit flock passed through John suddenly announced he'd got the Wryneck. It was facing away showing little more than a cryptically-coloured grey-brown tail. But it was perched motionless along an oak branch. Something didn't add up and as we moved to the side for a lateral view it immediately became apparent why - it was a Nightjar!

We knew there were still a few Wanstead birders on site but didn't have their numbers so we put out a message with a map location and hoped for the best. Within minutes the first group arrived and it was nice to get them all onto the bird as watching a day-roosting Nightjar in London is a rare event. In fact the only other one I'd seen during the day was on its wintering grounds in Mozambique.

Nightjar, Wanstead Flats

 After I left to get some lunch one of the vermin Grey Squirrels decided that the Nightjar's branch was its highway and flushed the bird deep into the wood where it wasn't seen again that day. And I missed at least one flycatcher as well. It didn't really matter as the views of the Nightjar were more than adequate compensation.

I visited Rainham Marshes several times during the first half of September. The female Merlin was still hanging around the tip but generally being quite elusive, however I did run into it twice more. Once it was perched out in the Enclosed Bay and on another day it flew past the tip and was hunting over Aveley Bay.

Merlin, Rainham Marshes

I also made several visits to Beam Parklands and Dagenham Chase. The latter site was more productive with an uncooperative Spotted Crake showing briefly for three of us who were there at the time. On another visit I heard a Nuthatch which is just as rare here as the crake. 

It's not been a great month for vismig - identifying birds flying over on passage. The best has been Tree Pipit as I recorded several over Rainham and one over The Chase unlike last autumn when I didn't get any.

It was a short month for me as I went off to Indonesia and didn't return until October. I'll post a few blogs on that at a later date.

Photographs

In addition to the ones posted above, I still managed a few new ones and the odd upgrade.

Water Rail, Dagenham Chase

Lapwing, Rainham Marshes (upgrade)

Ruff, Rainham Marshes

Sparrowhawk, Rainham Marshes (upgrade)

These took me up to 133 species photographed in London this year and I still haven't managed to get a Chaffinch yet. I need to find some at feeders.

August birding

It's been quite a slow start to autumn birding in London this year but it's started to pick up this month, especially since the August Bank Holiday. Willow Warblers have been particularly thin on the ground and there hasn't been a good passage of flycatchers and chats so far.

Continuing spells of hot and sunny weather with very little rain has also had an effect on the wader passage with most of them heading straight over rather than stopping off. At my local patch of Dagenham Chase we had a good two day purple patch with four Avocets and a Black-tailed Godwit on the 12th and four Greenshank the following day.

Avocets

Greenshanks

Having missed a single Avocet there in spring, I was fortunately close by this time round as I was at Beam Valley CP when the news broke so I only had to cross over the railway line and dash up to The Slack to connect. By the time I'd walked around to the far side just ten minutes later they had disappeared along with the godwit.

It was almost a similar story the next day when I found the flock of Greenshanks. Within a couple of minutes three of them flew off but fortunately for all the other patch year listers the fourth bird stayed. And then some as it remained in situ for the rest of the month.

Greenshank

On the Bank Holiday Monday I decided to head out early to Rainham Marshes to vismig from the top of the tip, specifically for Tree Pipit. The plan paid off and I got the first of four 'Tripits' flying over within 20 minutes of arriving. Even better was to come when Samuel Levy and I saw a Merlin flying the tip carrying prey. I usually don't think about this falcon until October but there are a few late August records.

Another wader that I caught up with later in the month was a Golden Plover at Rainham. They used to winter in large numbers at several sites in London but they've declined so much that there's now just one small flock left, at Fairlop which can be hard to find and I missed them twice in winter so it was good to get one on the autumn passage. 

I wasn't so lucky with the Osprey which appeared several times over the reserve when my back was turned! And I also managed to miss a large flock of Cattle Egrets that flew east along the river. Even without these I still managed to get up to 146 species at Rainham by the end of August.

One of other interesting birds to turn up at Rainham this month was the flock of four juvenile Ruddy Shelducks. They spent most of their time in Aveley Bay, feeding on the mud at low tide and behaving very much like wild birds. They're most probably from the German/Swiss population which regularly fly to the Netherlands to moult and overshoot, regularly arriving on the East Coast of England every autumn. Although this European population isn't truly wild, it is a self-sustaining population so if this can be verified then these birds would be deemed countable when they turn up in the UK.

Ruddy Shelducks

On a few occasions the Ruddy Shelducks were joined by a fifth bird but it wasn't another Ruddy Shelduck but a similar looking Cape Shelduck which has been seen further west along the Thames since July. 

Cape Shelduck at Barking Riverside in July - note the grey head.

The final day of August was forecast to have early showers and an easterly breeze, combined with an incoming tide these were perfect conditions for a river-watch so I decided on an early start and arrived at Purfleet station just after 6am. By the time I walked down to the river wall it just started to rain. I didn't have long to wait until the tern passage started as a Sandwich Tern squawked over the Thames.

I was soon joined by more keen river watchers and during the morning we recorded a strong passage of four species of tern - Arctic, Common, Sandwich and Black. News from further down river kept us going but the skuas failed to come up to our stretch of the Thames. After a break for coffee and a much deserved bacon bap, we abandoned plans to scour the woodland for migrants and just stayed on the river wall until after high tide. A trio of Spoonbills landed on Purfleet scrape and after a short feed they flew south over the river towards Dartford. It ended up being a really good day and a fine way to wrap up the month.

Spoonbills feeding on Purfleet Scrape

Photographs

A good month with 7 new species photo'd and one upgrade taking me up to 129 species this year.

Ruddy Shelduck, Rainham Marshes

Black-tailed Godwit, Rainham Marshes

Greenshank, Dagenham Chase

Yellow-legged Gull, Rainham Marshes

Great Egret, Rainham Marshes (upgrade)

Sparrowhawk, Dagenham Chase

Whinchat, Rainham Marshes

Yellow Wagtail, Rainham Marshes