Whereas the primary motive to come back to Tangkoko is to see birds on the Tangkoko Nature Reserve, it’s also price contemplating a shortish boat journey alongside the coast – even for individuals like me who don’t significantly like boat journeys.
My journey began what number of actions on Sulawesi appear to begin – with ready. We had been on the seaside, the booked boat was not. A name to them ultimately introduced them to us, and we discovered that they had been sleeping.
Then once more, throughout this journey, I learn a criminal offense novel (“Dependable in Jakarta”), which incorporates the sentence “5 Germans surrounded me moaning with their customary vanity concerning the nation’s [Indonesia’s] inefficiencies.” So possibly I’d higher shut up.
The primary motive to take the boat journey is to see the Nice-billed Kingfisher. It isn’t a very colourful fowl (significantly for a kingfisher), however spectacular resulting from its massive black invoice.
And it’s a Sulawesi endemic – personally, I don’t fairly perceive the thrill about endemics (appears a bit too nationalistic to me), however I’m in all probability within the minority of birders right here.
Apparently, a blogger named Ray Cannon did the identical tour in 2015 – additionally to see the Nice-billed Kingfisher – and wrote about it in his weblog. I’ll should ask him for his excuse for not writing for 10,000 Birds.
As we noticed the focused kingfisher inside the first quarter-hour of the journey, we had time to see a number of different birds on a small island near the shore.
Two species primarily occupy that island, the primary one being the Pacific Reef Heron, a barely sinister fowl in all probability listening a bit an excessive amount of to previous Sisters of Mercy information.
Those on the island appear to be completely the gray morph, not the white one.
Curiously, it appears the 2 morphs have completely different looking methods. One examine discovered that white-phased birds sought prey by a flight, land, and freeze looking type in breaking surf, whereas darkish birds pursued prey by actively strolling or working on reef flats.
The opposite main species on this small island is the Black-naped Tern.
(I vaguely keep in mind Paul as soon as making some pun associated to terns. Right here is one I simply present in Alexandra Petri’s “Subject Information to Awkward Silences”, which in itself sounds a bit like one thing birders may discover helpful: “the person who hated seabirds left no tern unstoned, whereas the gifted masseuse left no stern untoned”)
It is without doubt one of the commonest seabirds in Indonesia (HBW).
A number of the images I took of them appear to lend themselves to make use of as memes (because of S.R. for the suggestion).
An attention-grabbing discover on that small island was a Noticed Kestrel. The scientific identify Falco moluccensis signifies that it is a regional specialty – it may be discovered on Sulawesi, but additionally on Sumatra and Java.
The scientific literature mentions two threats to the species on Sumba island – it’s killed with air rifles and slingshots (supply) and shedding nesting websites within the roofs of conventional Sumba homes as their quantity declines (supply).
My guess is that guides on easy methods to write weblog posts and articles in all probability advise to refer again to the beginning of the textual content because it ends – one thing I virtually invariably fail to do. Nonetheless, I’ll make an exception this time because the journey additionally allowed me to take images of one other kingfisher – the Collared Kingfisher.
I may even do the identical trick twice, probably as compensation for earlier omissions. The ebook quoted above mentions Germans once more a bit later (thoughts you, these are evil Germans committing crimes someplace in Southeast Asia, not engaging, good-natured Germans writing birding posts and caring for cats whereas residing in China): “The Germans, of their white socks and designer denims, had been getting noisier, now discussing soccer.” I hasten so as to add that I by no means put on white socks or designer denims, am often very quiet, and am not very excited by soccer any extra.
