Indonesia Update 4: Northern Sulawesi
Back on a slightly larger island, Ethan set to work cleaning up species he’d missed and finally seeing some of Sulawesi’s coolest birds.
Ethan never ran into the rare Sulawesi Cuckoo but he saw plenty of Bay Coucals and Yellow-Billed Malkohas which are bigger and cooler anyway.
Ethan got a bit worried he would miss the Maleo when none showed up during his first two attempts to wait for it. Eventually a pair came to lay an egg on his final morning and although they they kept their distance, he can now say he has seen this most iconic of Sulawesi endemics.
After a semi-successful attempt for the Cinnabar Boobook, Ethan tried playing the Scaly-Breasted Kingfisher just for fun. To his delight and horror, it showed up in the predawn darkness but Ethan, in a moment of ingenuity, blasted it with his owl light and managed to get a picture. He got the Ruddy Kingfisher from the table where he would eat dinners at his hotel, a nice change from chasing these guys around India and Japan.
Ethan finally got to add the Green-Backed Kingfisher that he had missed at the beginning of his time in Sulawesi, not that he was ever worried about it.
What a delightful little guy this Sulawesi Dwarf-Kingfisher was.
Maybe this post should have been called Northern Sulawesi: Whoops All Kingfishers. The Sulawesi Lilac proved to be Ethan’s favorite of the trip and possibly of any he’s ever seen.
Ethan managed to push some normies out of the way long enough to get a photo of these Knobbed Hornbills. He also got another decent photo of the Sulawesi Hanging-Parrot while looking for the Pygmy Hanging Parrot (which he also photographed but not nearly as well.)
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Ethan was unable to find the Ochre-Bellied Boobook during the day but fortunately it proved to be more cooperative by night and Ethan managed to get a photo despite being covered in biting ants.
Another island, another Scops-Owl. Ethan finally tracked down the Sulawesi Scops-Owl in the north.
The Sulawesi Pitta proved to be worth the wait and was one of the best behaved birds Ethan has ever met.
Ethan didn’t let this Black Macaque anywhere near his camera gear to avoid sparking a years long legal drama.
Ethan mostly enjoyed Sulawesi but he is more than ready to move on. Soon, he will move east across the Moluccan Sea and the Weber Line and properly reenter Australasia.