August 5-9, 2021 - From Salt Lake City, Utah

It’s not uncommon for a birding tour to have some adversity. Be it the weather, uncooperative birds, traffic noise or any number of other things that can come up. Over the course of the past 5 years our Most Wanted Tours have for the most part run super smoothly. Leading up to our 2nd Most Wanted Tour of 2021 we had our first major itinerary issues in 10 tours. If you read my previous recap about our 2021 Himalayan Snowcock Expedition you find out that at the end of our tour, flash floods caused mudslides that closed Lamoille Canyon in the Ruby Mountains. This canyon is THE best location in the range to access and see Himalayan Snowcock. While I crossed my fingers that maybe the canyon would open so that we could still make a run at the birds, that was not the case—it remained closed for a month and a half before reopening. With the knowledge that the snowcock was out, one tour member opted to cancel, leaving us with a group of 6 that still wanted to try for everything else. With that in mind I made some quick changes to our itinerary and we got right to birding.

The tour would start off as usual looking for Black Swift and Flammulated Owl, followed up with a visit to the Sage and Juniper specialists habitats near SLC. But instead of going to Nevada, we stayed in Utah for some high elevation birding that afternoon, before birding the Great Salt Lake on day 3 and continuing to Idaho for Cassia Crossbill. Day 4 was spent birding round Twin Falls and birding a shorebird hotspot we had never visited before, before wrapping things up on day 5 with more birding around Twin Falls and the Great Salt Lake on the way back to the airport. Species wise we actually saw more birds than our normal Most Wanted Tour, but obviously no Snowcock.

On August 5th I picked our group up from the airport and headed east to Millcreek Canyon to pick up Tundra Swan for the last time this summer. The birds that had been present were still there, and actually continued through the writing of this post in January 2022. We got the swans and found a very quiet canyon on this summer afternoon. The breeders had stopped being active and while we managed Cordilleran Flycatcher and Warbling Vireo, it was otherwise quiet. A surprise American Dipper along the creek was a great addition to get things started though!

After dinner we headed south for Black Swift. Our usual location in Salt Lake had been a dud as of late so we took our chances at Bridal Veil Falls where for the first time in my 25+ years birding this Sumer had been reliable for these birds. Tonight, at least 2 Black Swifts were circling overhead, but not nearly as cooperative as some other nights this summer. We also added Osprey and Peregrine Falcon here while we waited on the sun to set.

We made our way up in elevation for owls. I warned the group that things had been quite difficult in recent trips here as the birds were already quiet for the season, and we may not have a good opportunity tonight. As it turned out, that was the case. We heard 5 Flammulated Owl audibles and had a bird fly through the headlights, but that was it. Not wanting to be out all night, we called it early, knowing we would have another chance in Idaho.

Early the next morning we visited the desert an hour outside of Salt Lake City. Again, things were quieter than normal. We did manage to track down a Gray Vireo and a pari of Gray Flycatchers. Additionally we had a couple cooperative Juniper Titmouse, Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay, and Loggerhead Shrike. Recent rains had created a pool where one typically forms each spring. Much to our surprise a Peregrine Falcon was sitting at the waters edge as we drove past!


Having a full day to bird in Utah I took the group through a tour of some agricultural areas. Right away we had a pair of cooperative Golden Eagles. It was a fitting bird given 2 members of the group worked at Tennessee Tech University—the Golden Eagles! Richard even happened to be wearing a Golden Eagles shirt—a fortuitous coincidence!

Our drive through the farm fields turned up good numbers of Western Kingbird, Lark Sparrows, Mountain Bluebirds, Western Meadowlarks, and Swainson’s Hawks. Eventually after eating up most of the morning we headed back to Salt Lake for lunch and short afternoon break before heading to higher elevation to escape the heat and see what local montane birds we could find since we wouldn’t be getting to treelike in Nevada!

The plan was to visit some hummingbird feeders and make our way through a mixed aspen and coniferous forest. As we started walking I heard a whirling trill and immediately perked up, I told the group to come with me, there were White-winged Crossbills singing ahead! We found the birds quickly and realized there were 5 birds moving about the tops of the trees feasting on the cones. We spend 20 minutes taking photos, making recording and videos and enjoying the great looks at these birds we don’t normally see on tour since they are generally rare in Utah

We continued walking after the crossbill show adding Red Crossbill, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and a cooperative Red-named Sapsucker. The birding was pretty good despite being quieter than usual. One interesting thing was the lack of hummingbirds. The feeders we visit had a lone Rufous Hummingbird visiting and nothing else! Super weird for this time of year

The rest of our loop turned up a lot of young birds. We saw several young Orange-crowned Warblers as well a few Warbling Vireos, including one bird interacting with a parent that we were able to watch for several minutes. Cooperative Hermit Thrush, Dark-eyed Junco, Lincoln’s Sparrow, and Mountain Chickadee all made for a good afternoon of birding. With an early and long day ahead we called it a night.

Our third morning started early to put us on Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake at Sunrise. We proceeded to the spot we’d had luck with Chukar all year and in no time found a group of 8. The key as with other successful outings this year had been to be there at first light. Our afternoon and evening visits had all come up empty. Besides birds we had an incredibly photogenic American Bison!

Aside from the Chukar we found our usual Rock Wren, and a single Burrowing Owl. There were a whopping 8 Sage Thrashers out and about at various stops as well. As we were driving our loop around the island we spotted a Wilson’s Phalarope in the road. It appears to have a slightly doomed wing. I got out and approached and was able to corral the bird. We transported ti to the causeway and let it go at the water edge. At least here it had a chance to find food before it was likely predated or run over on the road.

We hurried back to the island and picked up Great Horned Owl before finding a big family group of Burrowing Owls. We spent some time enjoying watching the owls as they were quite cooperative and close for great views.

Back on the causeway and making our way out of the park we encounter good numbers of phalarope. Roughly 10,000 Wilson’s Phalarope and 40,000 Red-necked Phalarope in tight flocks on the shallow water. Picking through the shorebirds we found 5 Wester Sandpiper, a single Baird’s Sandpiper, a Lesser Yellowlegs, 2 Spotted Sandpipers, 1 Long-billed Dowitcher, 2 Long-billed Curlew, and a handful of Willet. It wasn’t the most diverse shorebird list, but a good start. We also had nice looks at a few of the 5,000 Eared Grebe present.

With the entire day ahead of us we headed to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and drove the auto tour loop. The refuge was in a sad state, as the drought had dried up most of the ponds and canals. In just over an hour we still managed around 40 species with great looks ad huge numbers of Western Grebe and Clark’s Grebe on the main impoundment which still had water.

Various waterfowl, waders, and divers were all present here including American White Pelican, White-faced Ibis, and Caspian Tern. For me, the highlight was a pari of Solitary Sandpiper. We see these every once on a while on our Most Wanted Tours as they migrate south for the fall, but by no means is it expected on most tours. We wrapped things up at the refuge, grabbed lunch and hit the road to Idaho. We checked into our hotel in late afternoon and took a short break before dinner.

After grabbing dinner we headed towards the South Hills. The plan was to maybe get an evening look at Cassia Crossbill, and hopefully track down a cooperative Flammulated Owl after dark. We arrived at Diamondfield Jack Campground at 7:00 pm and spent the better part of the next 2 hours wandering the trails through the forest. We hiked to a Ridgeline I hadn’t visited before, and the Tennessee Tech duo uncovered a Horned Lizard under a rock. After some discussion and consulting the interwebs we settled on Pygmy Short-horned Lizard. A first on a tour!

We picked up many of the typical species here like Western Tanager, Brown Creeper, Hairy Woodpecker, and Violet-green Swallow. And while we had short looks and flyover Cassia Crossbill calling, we would return the next day for better views. As we got back to the parking area, several Common Nighthawk were flying around as well as a number of large bats. Based on the photos I took I'm still not sure of the species, though I suspect they were Big Brown Myotis.

As darkness settled I got a little concerned. There was some sort of concert happening at Magic Mountain Ski Area and the speakers could be heard for miles away—would this undo our owling??? My fears quickly evaporated as the road I had been using all summer here worked wonders as we tracked down 2 Flammulated Owls. The second bird being nothing less than a perfect subject to watch and photograph! By 11:00 pm we were back at the hotel for the night!

We kicked off the day visiting the agricultural areas south of town. Despite spending almost 2 hours on the backroads here we had no luck with Gray Partridge—a common theme for the summer of 2021 where we were 3 for 6 here. Prior to this year we had gotten this species on every tour to Idaho with the exception of our first trip when it wasn’t a focus. As a consolation we had an incredible 12 Barn Owls at one of our regular stakeouts..

There was also a Great Horned Owl hanging out in the same patch of trees and nearby 3 Burrowing Owls were at one of their usual burrows. Several of our Southern Idaho targets were present in good numbers with 30 Western Meadowlark, 20 Swainson’s Hawks, and 5 Northern Harrier. We also tracked down Sage Thrasher, Vesper Sparrow, Loggerhead Shrike, and a single Brewer’s Sparrow. Incredible numbers of doves were present near the municipal airport where we tallied 28 Rock Pigeon, 14 Eurasian Collared-Dove, and 125 Mourning Dove!!!

We finally made our way up into the South Hills again, this time to focus on finding the endemic Cassia Crossbill. Walking the same trail as the previous day our luck was much improved when a flock of birds flying over calling had a few individuals come into trees and spend a decent amount of time perched out in the open for great views and photographs. We were able to put scopes on the birds in several spots allowing lots of time to study and enjoy this interesting species.

We ventured across the range, finding 4 Lewis’s Woodpeckers along the Burn trail. This location was incredibly quiet. With the early spring and hot summer we had the common theme at the end of July and beginning of August was that most of the breeders were quiet, and many species were much harder to track down. Continuing towards Brockman’s we added Mountain Bluebird, Cedar Waxwing, and American Kestrel for the day.

As we pulled into the area near the feeders there was a small raptor perched on a dead snag in the distance. I dismissed the bird as a Sharp-shinned Hawk initially. Luckily the bird took flight and Lyle (form Michigan), said it looks like a Merlin. Sure enough as soon as the bird started sprinting it was apparent that it was indeed a Merlin! An early migrant and firs for this tour!

Brockman’s was nothing less than a zoo on this morning. This summer that had also been a common and unusual theme—one reason we rearranged our tour dates for 2022, to try and make sure we visited any day but a weekend! We drove to the secondary feeder site and ran into several local birders. We spent the first bit here and then once the crowds moved on headed to the main feeders. The entire production was fabulous as usual. We estimated around 20 Black-chinned Hummingbirds were running the show, while a pair of young Calliope Hummingbirds joined the handful of Rufous Hummingbirds and Broad-tailed Hummingbirds also present.

After a picnic lunch, we headed back towards Twin Falls, again driving the southern fields hoping for some Gray Partridge luck. While that didn’t happen we found a hatch year Swainson’s Hawk at a buffet on a hay bale. I am 90% sure this was the same young bird from our Georgia Audubon Tour earlier a few weeks earlier, sticking really close to its nest. We watched as the young bird shredded its prey, and then took the fleshy parts and devoured them. It was both disgusting and incredible to watch and provided an awesome photo op!

We took an afternoon break before driving out towards the town of Hansen and a flurry of eBird pins on what appeared to be a couple of holding ponds on a a farm. Sure enough we found two ponds with extremely low water, covered in waterfowl and shorebirds. Despite years of tours here during the summer shorebirds and other waterbirds were always a hard get—but not today. We spent an hour scanning to find anything out of the ordinary. 13 species of shorebird were highlighted by 1 Semipalmated Sandpiper, 3 Baird’s Sandpiper, 175 Western Sandpiper, both Wilson’s Phalarope and Red-necked Phalarope, and both Greater Yellowlegs and Lesser Yellowlegs.

Waterfowl wise we saw huge numbers of Cinnamon Teal, and various counts of Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Green-winged Teal, Redhead, Lesser Scaup, and several other species. Along the power lines around the ponds were 750 Bank Swallow with Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow, and Cliff Swallow mixed in. We had a 6-species sweep for Idaho all in the same day. These ponds were a major highlight and never on my radar due to their location and the general timing of my tours. I think in the future we might have to take some time to continue to check them out though!

In the evening we decided to try a local park for screech-owl. Surprisingly, the water and traffic noise made it difficult—and the mosquitoes made it almost unbearable to be outside. We did add a Canyon Wren just before dark, but struck out on owls!

Our last morning started off like the previous day in the southern fields. Not much changes overnight as we found many of the same species, but none of the game birds we hoped to target. We checked out of the hotel and made our way over to Shoshone Falls Park where the theme of “quiet” continued. We did track down a couple of California Quail, one Lazuli Bunting, and a single Yellow-breast Chat. We also had both Canyon Wren and Rock Wren before wrapping things up and heading back towards Utah. Quick stops in Idaho grand Great-tailed Grackle in Burley, and an Osprey in Idaho along the Snake River.

Back in Utah mid-afternoon we headed to Farmington Bay WMA to see if there was anything else new we could add before wrapping things up. We added Neotropic Cormorant, Wood Duck, Sora, and Virginia Rail for the week, and had a decent number of birds despite the hot August day. And just like that our 10th Most anted Tour came to an end. Despite the disappointment about being able to go to Nevada and track down Himalayan Snowcock, we made the best of the week and still tallied 148 species. A very good number for 4 days of birding here in late July or early August. I offered for the entire group to join me the following summer on one of our future tours as tagalongs so they have an opportunity to see their lifer snowcock. We’ll be seeing them this July and August when we are back at it!

Labels: Calliope Hummingbird, Cassia Crossbill, Flammulated Owl, hawks, Idaho, owls, phalarope, utah, White-winged Crossbill

If there was one thing about the summer of 2020 that was normal—it was the reliability of Flammulated Owls in the mountains just outside of Salt Lake City. While we had a big summer full of tours planned, I ultimately pulled the plug on almost everything except the Flammy tours. The reason was simple—I could meet my clients in the field, distance, and wear a mask, while still sharing these incredible creatures with the world. There were some caveats though. I didn’t have any large groups. I think the biggest was a family of 5 that came with me in May. Other than that most of my parties were parties of 2 friends or family or individuals. It made the tours simple but meant I still ended up doing a fair amount of owling tours. 

Labels: Flammulated Owl, Long-eared Owl, Northern Flying Squirrel, owling, owls, utah

Our first Flammy on a tour this year on May 18th.

On May 11th the State of Utah opened the highway into our favorite early season owling location, so I decided to get out and see what the habitat looked like and how active the birds were.  I left Salt Lake on the 40-minute drive so that I would arrive just as it was dark enough to start owling.  I drove to the furthest point in the canyon where I typically find owls and stepped out into the cool night's air. American Robins and Hermit Thrushes rang out form the aspen covered hillsides—but more importantly, 3 FLAMMULATED OWLS were calling simultaneously from various directions.  The birds were back and extremely active!

Our first cooperative owl of the year! It was a great start to the year.  The owls were back, active, and responsive.  The only issue was how many people would I be able to share them with this summer due to Covid-19?  Fast forward one week to May 18th and I put together a private tour with a family of 5 to go look for owls.  There were some differences between my usual tours, however... For starters, I didn't provide transportation—instead, I had my clients meet me near where we would go owling, then follow me in their car.  Next, there was to be 6' of space between myself and the group while birding. I could still show them the birds without having to get close.  Third, when we got the owls there would be no congratulatory high-fives or handshakes.  It was to be a hands-off experience.   With this in mind, we met shortly after sunset and caravanned to the spot I wanted to try for owls.  When we got there it was quiet, but a little windy.  We gave it some time to calm down then started owling.  Right off the bat, we had several birds calling but nothing really responsive.  We have parked about a 1/4 mile away and were going to walk our way back looking for birds along the way.  At our second stop, we tried and didn't get any response—but just as we were starting to walk away  an owl started calling relatively close.  The next thing we knew it had flown in and landed low in an Aspen right next to our group.  Everyone got a nice short look before the bird departed deeper into the forest.  At about the same time, another owl started calling on the other side of the road where we were walking.  We moved that direction, and after a short search, I found the bird perched about 15' up on a dead limb.  This time the bird sat and watched us as we watched it.  For several minutes we enjoyed nice looks as the owl before it took flights and headed back into the forest.  The group was pleased and we called it a night, without having to check any other spots for owls.

Labels: Flammulated Owl, owls, utah

September 11 to 12, 2018

As I've become accustomed to with travel overseas, delays are frequent--so it wasn't surprising that our flight out of Bali to Flores was delayed more than 90 minutes. We eventually boarded a stuffy plane, with an extremely narrow pitch--my knees wouldn't have made it if it weren't for having a toddler next to me. The flight was under an hour, and we thudded into Labuan Bajo with a landing fit for no plane--seriously the plane lurches left and right when the wheels touched, for a brief moment inducing the thought, "are we about to crash?". We didn't. I really like regional airports in small cities--and this one was no exception--the signage facing the runway read K O M O D O in big block letters, and there was a dragon motif on the exterior of the building to go along with it.



We grabbed our bags and quickly found that our ride was not waiting for us--in this case, the 90-minute delay was to blame. We snagged a taxi and were at the Puri Sari Beach Resort 10 minutes south of town before sunset. We walked out to the beach and enjoyed the last few minutes of light before it faded to pink then dark.


Before coming to Flores I reached out to a guide who agreed to set up our boat tour to Komodo National Park, and could also help with birding in Flores. My main focus on the island were the 3 scops owls, and a handful of endemics that I figured I could get with a 1/2 day tour and a couple nights of owling. As it would turn out our guide, Max Wago would not be able to take us on our trip. He claimed to have tonsilitis and instead would send us with another guide. Everything would work out in the end, but the birding was nearly 100% self-guided in a place I would have really liked to have had a guide. The truth is, I should have planned better and could have probably avoided any issues.

So the following morning Max arranged for a driver to pick me up at 4:00 am and head into the mountains to look for owls. The driver knew the rough areas to stop, but I would have to try for the birds on my own. As luck would have it, we didn't have to go far before a MOLUCCAN SCOPS-OWL flew across the road just outside of town. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't coax the bird into the open. At our first actual stop I got out the car to a calling MEE'S NIGHTJAR--formerly a subspecies of the Large-tailed Nightjar, this species has a significantly different call. Like the owl, the nightjar didn't care about my playback and we moved up in elevation.

The next several stops turned up exactly ZERO owls or nightjars of any kind. The frustration of not knowing an area and where the birds are. As we reached the elevation where Flores and Wallace's Scops Owls overlapped my driver pulled over and made a comment about the spot being good for owls. Out of the vehicle, I immediately heard a calling WALLACE'S SCOPS-OWL. I got my gear ready and headed in the direction of the sound. For the next few minutes, the bird and I played phone tag, until the bird eventually flew right at me, passing just a couple feet above my head and gliding up the hill behind me into a tree. Despite following it with the spotlight, I couldn't pick it out in the large tree, and subsequent attempts to coax it out failed.

I was slightly frustrated, but we still had time to try for Flores Scops Owl. Had I done better research before,I would have had the driver take me to the trail we would end up birding later in the day, and I would have just hiked through the jungle trying for the bird. Instead, we tried again on several small side roads. Again, the first few stops were void of owls--but on the third try a bird, a FLORES SCOPS-OWL immediately responded to the playback. But like the other birds, it refused to cooperate.


The morning would go down with 2 flyby owls, a 3 audible, and an audible on the nightjar--how I wish I would have had a couple more days to try again. As the horizon began to lighten to the east, I could make out the mountains I was currently in. We drove down one more road and tried again for the 2 higher elevation owls with no response--and as the sun rose, ELEGANT PITTA started calling from several locations in the forest around us--the jungle came to life.

We headed towards Puarlolo which from what I can tell is a reserve. I found this description online which is helpful:

This small forest patch lies alongside the main East-West (Ruteng) road around 36 km east of Labuanbajo. It can easily be reached as a day trip from town, or en-route to or from Ruteng. Look out for the birdwatching signs and the obvious telecom tower set just back from the road on the right (as you travel from Labuanbajo). Small trails leave from the clearing in front of the tower, and a more obvious trail descends from the main road a couple of hundred meters back from the turn-off to the tower, around the back of a small building/office.


I walked down the trail from the main building into the forest--there were birds making noises all around, and I didn't recognize any of them. The first bird that I spotted was an easy ID as a FLORES MINIVET. Still too early for photos without a flash, my shots all turned out black. I headed deeper into the forest and got my first look at a CHESTNUT-BACKED THRUSH, truly a remarkable looking bird--the lighting issue persisted for another 15-20 minutes.

I waited till I felt I could start getting shots of things to keep moving when I heard a call that sounded like a parrot coming from a tree above.


Scanning the tree I spotted a rather drab looking RED-CHEEKED PARROT. It must have been a young bird. But at least I was able to get a picture!

After a few minutes, I heard an ELEGANT PITTA calling from what sounded like just a few feet away. So I found a good place to sit down where I was mostly surrounded by tall grass and I tried to lure it into the open. The call got so close I felt like the bird was a foot away, but I couldn't' see it anywhere.


I strained my eyes on the forest floor scanning every stick, rock, limb, flower, and leaf. Nothing. The bird sounded as if it were maybe 6-10' above me, but why would a pitta be up in a tree I thought... So I never looked--and I never saw the bird that spent the next 30 minutes calling from everywhere around me. It was maddening.


I later in the day learned that while the Elegant Pitta is terrestrial like most other pittas, it is also quite adept to displaying anywhere from 10-30' off the ground, in the trees. The bird was above me, and I had failed to scan where it was likely sitting because of a preconceived an incorrect notion that pittas are always found in the understory! But the wait did turn up several CHESTNUT-BACKED THRUSHES, of which I was able to get decent shots.




It also turned up a number of other birds like calling and endemic WHITE-THROATED KINGFISHER and FLORES CROW. A pair of RUDDY CUCKOO-DOVE made a short appearance before they realized I was watching them and flew off back into the jungle.


GREEN JUNGLEFOWL and BROWN QUAIL called from the jungle, while a VARIABLE GOSHAWK burst into chatter from somewhere nearby. There was so much audible stimulation, but the visuals were far and few between...

I started hiking down the trail to see if I could eventually find some more birds to look at when I got into a small flock of birds moving along together. There were BARE-THROATED WHISTLER and RUSTY-BREASTED WHISTLER--I could hear male birds singing further back from the trail, but only female birds out in the open.


RUSSET-CAPPED TEPIA and SPECTACLED MONARCH passed by too quickly for photos, leaving me photographing a small yellow and brown bird that I couldn't figure out. The bird was a DARK-CROWNED WHITE-EYE--but it looked, unlike any white-eye I'd seen before.


I spotted a thrush jumping up the trail--only this one wasn't the more common chestnut-backed--it was a CHESTNUT-CAPPED THRUSH, and by the time I pulled my camera up, it disappeared into the understory. I only had till about 8:00 am before I had to leave to get back to Labuan Bajo by 9:00 am. So I painfully pulled myself away from the birds to start heading back. I spotted a drongo, the endemic WALLACEAN DRONGO, and got some crappy shots through the forest.

As I got closer to the trailhead I spotted a gray, white and black bird skulking through the trees--I was fairly certain it was a FLORES MONARCH, but it was staying well out of view. finally, it lit on a small cross branch in a rather dark patch of trees, and I got the full view of the bird--it was the endemic monarch, and I managed a decent shot of it before it disappeared back into the thick.

There was a surprising amount of activity in the patch of forest closest to the road, including several more drongos, and a small group of the RED-CHEEKED PARROTS, including a lovely adult male with the colors I had been expecting to see.



My time was up and I had to get back to Labuan Bajo. I wish I had had several more mornings, even if just to visit this same patch of forest over and over--it was fantastic. I recorded a lot of things that frankly I haven't even tried to listen to or ID since getting back. At some point hopefully, I will be able to match some of the recordings that I didn't know with some of the birds I do!


We descended from almost 3,000' back to sea level, giving me a whole new appreciation for where we had driven in the dark. Flores, is an interesting place and has enough endemic birds, that is it worth several days to cover the whole island. Unlike Bali, it is not a major tourist destination, with the vast majority of westerners never going east from town. Even as I sit here on the other side of the world, the one thing I wish I had done while on this trip would have been one more entire day of birding with a guide--while I racked up nearly 25 lifers on Flores, I probably could have probably tripled that with a proper guide!


The driver dropped me off, and I had breakfast with Cam and Sam, before setting off for town to try and get some cash and supplies for our boat trip. Labuan Bajo is truly a dusty frontier town--it's prominence on a map is 100% due to Komodo National Park, and surprisingly no one has really taken hold of that and done something amazing with the area. Everything feels very much like you are stepping back in time technology and modernity it wise. And I like that.


I met with our new guide, Jack, and squared away all the details for the following 3 days--tomorrow we were boarding a live-a-boat where'd we sleep for 2 nights, and live for 3 days. There would be snorkeling, birds, and Komodo Dragons, and it would pan out to be an incredible experience...

Photos from These Days
From Puarlolo

Checklists from These Days 
Puri Sari Beach Hotel (9/11)
Puarlolo
Puri Sari Beach Hotel (9/12 morning)
Puri Sari Beach Hotel (9/12 afternoon)

Other Posts in this Series
Indonesia Part 1: Via Hong Kong
Indonesia Part 2: Nusa Dua Lagoon
Indonesia Part 3: Sebatu and Ubud
Indonesia Part 4: West Bali National Park
>>Indonesia Part 5: Flores Endemics
Indonesia Part 6: Komodo National Park
Indonesia Part 7: Recap & Logistics

Labels: Asia, Bali, endemics, Flores, jungle, Komodo, national park, owls, pittas