After 18 months planning, an advanced scouting trip in 2018, and our local guides running a version of our Lesser Sundas Tour with another client in October 2018, we were excited to touch down in Bali for 18 days of birding on the Indonesian Archipelago. As with any long tour, in a remote part of the world, things didn’t always go as planned, but overall things went rather smoothly and the tour was quite successful.


During our time in the country, we tallied 292 species of birds on the current Clements list. Additionally, we encountered at least 19 other subspecies and or undescribed forms not currently recognized by Clements that will likely be split at some point in the near future (Rote and Timor Boobook, Mutis Parrotfinch, Timor Nightjar, Timor, Flores, and Sumba Flowerpecker, etc.).

But the juiciest tidbit and the entire reason for going to the Lesser Sundas is for the endemics--and endemic-wise, this tour was a success! On the Lesser Sundas, we tallied 79 Lesser Sunda endemics--the vast majority of the expected 85 species! Add in the 21 Java and Bali endemics found on Bali, we ended up with 100 species of endemics from Nusa Tenggara! We tallied a whopping 140 Indonesian endemic or near-endemic species in all, meaning that 48% off all the birds we saw are only found in Indonesia!

On Sumba, we found all 17 possible endemics, with good looks at 16 (see flighty Sumba Buttonquail below), and were only on the island for roughly 48 hours--a pretty good turnaround. A Sumba Hornbill feeding its mate in a nest cavity, a female Eclectus Parrot guarding her nest, a pair of cooperative Sumba Boobook, and a very obliging Red-naped Fruit-Dove highlighted our day at Billa Forest on the island. While a last-ditch effort for Sumba Myzomela paid off, and a flighty Sumba Buttonquail punctuated the quick stop here.


On Rote, we found all 4 recognized island endemics with ease: Rote Boobook, Rote Myzomela, Rote Fantail, and Rote Leaf Warbler. Additionally, we located both the Timor Blue Flycatcher and Timor Stubtail which potentially may be recognized as distinct species in the future (among a number of other possible splits. We also had great looks at a number of Timor specialists here like Timor Oriole, Red-chested Flowerpecker, and Green Figbird.

A major highlight here came during our only full day on the island where numerous Australian water birds were using Lake Sotimori. Amongst the Australian Pelicans, Royal Spoonbills, Wandering Whistling-Ducks, and Hardheads we found the Lesser Sundas apparent 1st record of Magpie Goose.

Outside of the West Papau where the birds aren't entirely uncommon in the southeast, this bird is accidental in Indonesia.  The only other vagrant sighting I found in eBird was from the Tanimbar Islands on Yamdena in November 2017 when one Magpie Goose was seen over the course of a week at Saumlaki Airport Lake.

And in Eaton's Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago, he mentions just a single sighting from Banda in 1988--making this the 3rd verified sighting for the archipelago.

There was one other interesting report I came across from a point in the middle of the Timor Sea about halfway between Timor and Australia--apparently in the Jabiru Oil Field.  During the week of July 15-19, 1991, Raymond Nojek reported 4 groups of 4-5 birds traveling east. The report came from the Jabiru Venture Floating Production Storage and Offloading ship stationed here.  This oil field has since been decommissioned, but the sighting is quite interesting.  The timing is outside of the cyclone season and seemingly makes no sense with any type of migration, post-breeding dispersal, etc.


The hardest birding of the trip came on Timor--as was expected. We had several misses here, but they were somewhat expected in the rare and decreasing Timor Imperial Pigeon, and we did not discover the first Timor Green Pigeons in West Timor in more than 2 decades. We also missed Timor Spangled Drongo which was somewhat of a surprise. Otherwise, we picked up 31 island endemics here including the mythical and still yet described Mount Mutis Parrotfinch, only known from a handful of sites on and around Mount Mutis. We had great looks at the Tricolored Parrotfinch, and every other bird with the word Timor in its name. A surprise Channel-billed Cuckoo made a brief appearance in the mangroves near Kupang (according to our local guide, this was a sign of rains to follow)--and a Great Frigatebird flew by while we ate lunch on our last day in Kupang.


Flores proved to be more difficult this year than expected, with several expected birds proving hard to find. We missed 3 species here--and they were tough ones to swallow with the declining Flores Green Pigeon, and roaming Wallace’s Hanging-Parrot and the majestic Flores Hawk-Eagle. Flores Crow was heard only, and Mees’s Nightjar only provided flyby looks in the spotlight. 25 Endemics were heard and seen in all, and two members of our party ticked off their last Asian Kingfisher species with White-rumped Kingfisher on our 1st morning touring here. A memorable morning listening to Bare-throated Whistlers and coaxing out Flores Shortwing, Flores Leaf Warbler, and Pygmy Cupwing was punctuated in the evening by the calls of several Flores Scops-Owl, which proved difficult for good looks this year.


As expected the boat trip to Komodo National Park was a highlight not just for the dragons, but the birds here as well. The endemic Yellow-crested Cockatoo showed nicely at a nest site, while Green Junglefowl, Orange-footed Scrubfowl, and Wallacean Drongo all cooperated quite nicely. Here at the end of the dry season, the island was extremely dry, and hordes of Barred Doves visited the lone remaining man-made waterhole. From the boat, we had great looks at White-bellied Sea-Eagle, Great-billed Heron, Lesser Crested Tern, and a number of Lesser Frigatebirds.


We wrapped up our tour on Bali, where comfortable accommodations, delicious food, and easy birding made for a memorable end to our tour. Another 21 endemics were picked up here over our final days.  In the highlands, Javan Whistling-Thrush, Flame-throated Barbet, Sunda Warbler, and Javan Flowerpecker were all added.  And we wrapped things up in West Bali National Park with unforgettable encounters with Javan Banded Pitta, Bali Myna, and Sunda Scops Owl. 


On our final morning, while several of us relaxed in the swimming pool of our hotel, a Black-thighed Falconet paid us a visit, giving the group one more bird before the trip concluded.


None of this would have been possible without the immense help from Bali Birding Tour and our local guides Heri (Sumba), Martin (Timor), and Samuel (Flores). Local knowledge is key to successful tours in this part of the world, and our 3 local guides provided immense logistical support, as well as up-to-date information on key species. If you are interested in joining us on a future tour to the Lesser Sundas, we plan on going back in 2021!

Check out more than 600 photos from this tour on our Flickr Page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwbirdco/albums/72157713471968733

The photos are also split out island-by-island for easy perusal...

Sumba Bird Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwbirdco/albums/72157713470929736

Rote Bird Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwbirdco/albums/72157713472953363

Timor Bird Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwbirdco/albums/72157713473944588

Flores Bird Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwbirdco/albums/72157713474262708

Komodo Bird Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwbirdco/albums/72157713473655236

Bali Bird Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mwbirdco/albums/72157713471968723

And we will be writing up (and sharing here) our detailed trip report in our annual "Field Notes" report later this spring.

Labels: Asia, Bali, endemics, Flores, Indonesia, island, Lesser Sundas, Rote, Sumba, Timor, tours

2019 was an incredible year for Mountain West birding Company.  As we have come to expect, our Flammulated Owling Tours were tremendously popular and successful.  We offered 26 tours this year and saw or heard an incredible 183 Flammulated Owls between May 11 and August 19.  This year we shared these incredible birds with 109 other birders.  This all despite a late winter that forced us to seek out new locations to try for these owls throughout most of the early part of the season.  All in all Flammulated Owling remains our top tour, and we are excited to show these birds to even more folks in 2020.


We ran back to back sold out Mountain West Most Wanted Tours this past July.  On both trips, we saw Himalayan Snowcock, Cassia Crossbill, Flammulated Owl, Black Swift, Black Rosy-Finch, Gray Partridge, Lewis's Woodpecker, Calliope Hummingbird, Sagebrush Sparrow, Gray Vireo, Gray Flycatcher, Wilsons & Red-necked Phalarope by the 100's of 1,000's, and we had Chukar on the first tour but were skunked on the 2nd.  During our first outing, we tallied a total of 151 Species, and on our second trip, that number dipped to 140 species with several breeders having moved on.  Between the 2 tours, we saw a total of 164 species--not a bad haul for the northern Great Basin the last week of July!


In early May we ran a quick weekend tour to southwest Utah, visiting Lytle Ranch Preserve, Zion National Park, and a few other locations on the northern tip of the Mojave Desert. We ran into some technical difficulties during the tour, as it was the first outing in our newly purchased van--Otus!  Otus performed mightily, but a crack in an HVAC line component forced us to cut the trip short and miss out on a few montane species.  Luckily our major desert targets all showed nicely, with Green Heron, Common Black Hawk, Brown-crested Flycatcher, Bell's Vireo, Cactus Wren, Phainopepla, Black-chinned Sparrow, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Hooded Oriole, Vermilion Flycatcher, and Lucy's Warbler.  A pair of phenomenally cooperative California Condors were surely the highlight of the trip for the entire group!  We ended the tour with 150 species despite the hiccups!


A one-off trip to Cassia County in late June yielded all the South Hills specialties we've come to expect: Calliope Hummingbird, Lewis's Woodpecker, Hammond's Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat, Fox Sparrow, and Lazuli Bunting.  Around Twin Falls we also picked up Gray Partridge, Ring-necked Pheasant, Barn Owl, Burrowing Owl, and the incredible sight of 67 Swainson's Hawks following a tractor bailing hay in a random field!  This tour also added a new bird to our Idaho tours list when we stumbled upon a young Western Screech-Owl during our night in town.  This quick 3-day trip tallied 132 species.


During the course of the year, we also led a variety of other private, multi-day, specialty, and custom tours with a variety of clients from all over the United States, and several other countries.  During 2019 we tallied 246 species of birds in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming--the core states where we've been leading guided tours since 2005.  However, in 2019 we expanded our tour offering--opting to go big for our first tour outside of this region, with our Bali and The Lesser Sundas Tour in Indonesia in November.


If you've never heard of the Lesser Sundas, you're not alone.  Most birders unfamiliar with Southeast Asia have never heard of this string of islands on the southern edge of the Indonesian Archipelago.  For those listers obsessed with the endemic-rich region, however, know that between Sumba, Rote, Timor, Flores, and Komodo, a keen birder can snag 85 species found only on these islands. Our inaugural international tour was in the works for almost 18 months, and after a scouting trip in 2018, we teamed up with Bali Birding Tour and had a fantastic trip. 


Of the 85 endemics, we picked up a whopping 79 (3 would be nearly impossible on our itinerary, and we missed 3 others with bad luck).  We also picked up 21 Java and Bali endemics on Bali and added another 40 Indonesian endemics across all the islands on our way to 292 species on the current Clements List.  In the near future, taxonomical splits will likely lead to the tour total for this trip jumping to around 311 species.


Some highlights from this tour included a Magpie Goose on Rote. From what I can tell this was a first island record, and one of just 3-4 for Indonesia away from West Papua. We saw all 4 endemic booboks (Sumba, Least, Rote, and Timor), all 3 endemic myzomela (Sumba, Rote, and Black-breasted), the incredibly difficult to find and range-restricted Mount Mutis Parrotfinch (only discovered in 2012), its cousin the Tricolored Parrotfinch, the critically endangered Black-winged Starling, and my personal favorites: Sumba Hornbill, Elegant Pitta, Javan Banded Pitta, Bali Myna, Flores Scops Owl, Red-naped Fruit-Dove, Sumba Buttonquail, Timor Sparrow, Timor Blue Flycatcher, and many many more!


I just want to thank all of my clients for joining me on a variety of tours.  Looking to the future we plan to start offering even more international itineraries, as well as a few new stateside tours.  In January 2020 we have a sold-out tour to the Yucatan Penninsula, 2 more Most Wanted Tours in July, and are planing a pair of shorter Indonesian tours for the fall (Java and a Bali Extension)!  And in 2021 we are looking at possible tours to Jamaica, Panama, Cabo, and another expedition to the Lesser Sundas!  Stay tuned, and we hope to see you on a tour again (or for your first) in the future!

Labels: Asia, Bali, Indonesia, Lesser Sundas, tours