birding...

Ambon

Satellite View
The travel hub of central and southern Maluku. Got a few nice birds too.

Bacan

Satellite View
This is where Wallace first discovered the Standardwing now named after him, but he may also have been the last person that visited this island!

Buru

Satellite View
It looks big on the map, but getting there and getting around is for the adventurous. If you try it the birds are all there somewhere.

Damar

Satellite View
There is an endemic flycatcher here, and who knows what else.

Halmahera

Satellite View
Packed with north Moluccan endemics including the stunning Standard wing and Ivory-breasted Pitta. A trip to Halmahera is on many people's wish list.

Kai

Satellite View
Relatively easy to get to, nice beaches, two endemic white-eyes and an endemic coucal. Can't say better than that, can you?

Obi

Satellite View
If you make it this far you will be on your own. There is a woodcock here somewhere. Good luck!

Seram

Huge mountains, obscure islands, Salmon-crested Cockatoo and a whole load more central moluccan specialities and Seram endemics await.

Taliabu

Satellite View
If you can figure out how to get here then there are a load of gripping endemics to be seen!

Tanimbar

Satellite View
The far south of Maluku and not easy to get too. If you make it, the reward is accessible forest packed with endemics.

2003 [October] Gave Gandy - Halmahera - North Malaku

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Dave Gandy and Abdullah Iskandar spent 3 days birding on Halmahera, using Sidangoli as a base, and exploring the forests at Kali Batu Putih (2nd-3rd Oct); one of the most popular areas for birding in Halmahera, as well as the area of Mangroves around Sidangoli (4th Oct)...

2006 [August] - Mehd Halaouate - Buru island

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Even though Buru Island is not rich in species it still holds some of the rarest and less known species on the planet...

2007 [August] - Ron Hoff

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...This morning we went to the NW part of the island to place called Ohoililur Beach Resort. There is some decent forest there and it was fairly birdy, besides being a gorgeous location. Most of the rest of the island is pretty much cut over, with only remnant patches of trees and lots of scrub habitat. The weather was good and we never had any rain on these islands. New birds for today were Little Pied Cormorant, Variable Goshawk (sylvestris ssp), Orange-footed Scrubfowl, Great Crested Tern, Uniform Swiftlet, Barred Dove, Wallace’s Fruit-Dove (RE), Elegant Imperial-Pigeon, Tanimbar Corella (E), Kai Coucal (E – Kai), Kai Cuckoo-shrike (E – Kai), Varied Triller, Cinnamon-chested Flycatcher...

2009 [October] - Dave Farrow

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Another splendid Birdquest tour to Sulawesi and Halmahera, and one that was rather different to usual, in that we did not see rain until our penultimate day! Everywhere was very hot and dry, some areas not having had any rain for three months, perhaps the effect of an ‘El Nino’ weather event. This however didn’t seem to have any negative effect on the birding, and we recorded a very handsome total of 283 species...

2009 [October] - Nicolaas & Robert van Zalinge

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In total we saw 210 bird species. As we had been to Sulawesi before, we mostly limited ourselves to areas not visited previously: Dumoga-Bone and Gunung Ambang, but revisited Tangkoko. The island of Halmahera was new to us and therefore we spent nearly half the time there. For us the top ten birds were: Spotted Harrier, Maleo, Moluccan Owlet-Nightjar, Great-billed -, Scaly – and Paradise Kingfishers, Purple Roller, Ivory-breasted and Red-bellied Pittas and Wallace’s Standard-wing Bird of Paradise...

2010 [April] - Phil Gregory

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Arrived Manado from Singapore and met up with Shita and Untu, with some inaugural birding along the road to Tangkoko...

2010 [August] - Robert Hutchinson

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The whole of the Indonesian archipelago is a biodiversity melting pot and this tour which combines two distinct faunal areas either side of Weber’s line, is one of the most endemic-rich in the region. This custom tour was successful with almost our entire long list of targets which on Sulawesi included the iconic Maleo, Purple-bearded Bee-eaters, a full set of endemic kingfishers including the tricky Scaly Kingfisher, Sulawesi Thrush, Great Shortwing and a host of endemic night-birds including the now expected Cinnabar Boobook and point-blank views of roosting Diabolical Nightjars...

2010 [August] - Stijn De Win

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Highlights in Lore Lindu National Park were numerous, Piping Crow, Sulawesi Thrush, Diabolical Nightjar, Savannah Nightjar, Red-eared Fruit Dove, Blue-faced Parrotfinch, Purple-bearded Bee-eater, Greater Sulawesi Honeyeater, the hard to find Maroon-backed Whistler gave away great views in the end and we found an obliging Great Shortwing for excellent photo opportunities even though the species wasn’t active singing during our stay...

2010 [October] - Allan Drewitt & Sue Rees - Sulawesi & Halmahera

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A combined trip to Sulawesi and the nearby island of Halmahera in the North Moluccas provides an excellent introduction to species restricted to Wallacea, the region of Indonesian islands between Borneo and New Guinea. Many of the species here are restricted to Sulawesi (and adjacent islands), the Sundas and the Moluccas (or Spice Islands), with others found elsewhere only in the Philippines, New Guinea and Northern Melanesia...

2010 [September] - Dave Farrow

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Another great Birdquest tour to Sulawesi and Halmahera, and once again quite different climatically to previous visits, as we experienced rain on almost every day. It didn’t dampen our birding though, and we enjoyed great success with 278 species recorded, On Sulawesi we enjoyed many superb endemics such as Green-backed, Lilac-cheeked, Sulawesi Dwarf and Great-billed Kingfishers (some of the 12 species seen)...