Indonesia Update 1: Southern Sulawesi
That’s right. Ethan proved the haters and ops wrong and finally made it to Makassar before quickly departing for the higher elevations of Malino.
Ethan soon located a new Whistler (Sulfur-Bellied) and White-Eye (Black-Ringed). Ethan thought the place would be crawling with the White-Eyes. He saw two literally 30 seconds into his birding and proceeded to not see another for his entire time in the South.
Ethan encountered very friendly Turquoise Flycatchers on several occasions but they where not the guy he was looking for. He still appreciates the posing they did for him.
They both look familiar to Ethan but the some dweebs decided that this Brush Cuckoo and Pygmy Woodpecker are each Sulawesi endemics so into the collection they go.
Now here’s an cool one. The Red-Eared Fruit-Dove is a rare bird for this part of Sulawesi. Interestingly, this appears to be from the centralis subspecies, which Ethan’s maps suggested did not appear in this part of the island, and not the meridionalis, or Lompobattang, subspecies.
Here is the spooky version of the Spangled Drongo and the Sulawesi Myzomela.
The hard part of the Lompobattang Flycatcher for Ethan was finding a way into the mossy, higher elevation forests it calls home. After several fruitless attempts to find a way in, he finally made it, at great cost to his clothing, on his final morning and quickly ran into this little fellow.
Here are a couple more fairly nice birds. The Sulawesi Blue Flycatcher, generic but endemic, and some Piping Crows. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ethan so jazzed to get a crow.
Ethan absolutely bamboozled this Lompobattang Leaf Warbler, getting him to leave his wife and kids for Ethan’s new-fangled speaker.
So many sweet, sweet endemics including this Sulawesi Babbler and Sulawesi Fantail! Ethan will surly see them many more times but he is happy to not have to worry about them any more.
What an absolute treat! Ethan wasn’t expecting to see the Dark-Eared Myza so soon but this guy showed up while Ethan was looking for the flycatcher.
Ethan’s first dip of the trip came on the Black-Headed subspecies of the Green-Backed Kingfisher. I heard he was trying to blame it on the rain. At least he managed to have a close encounter with a troop of Moor Macaques. He found this slack-jawed imbecile sitting by the side of the road, its only hope of survival the generosity of a passing human.
Rained out of Karaenta, Ethan had to resort to the lowlands to try to salvage the close of his time in Southern Sulawesi. In his second miss, he was unable to find the Pale-Bellied Myna, (this time he blames Ebird for suppressing its location) , so he had to amuse himself with the likes of woodswallows and sunbirds.
So far Ethan is fairly happy with how things have gone. No truly devastating misses and the Fruit-Dove was one of the more exciting birds he as found. We’ll see if he can build on this start when he arrives in Lore Lindu.