Tag: by Owen

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New Zealand

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One of our favorite places that we have been to, New Zealand was our next stop after Australia. Also known as “the land of birds” (because there are only two native land mammals, and the rest are birds) I couldn’t wait to get there because of the high proportion of endemics.

We started our trip in Christchurch, and while walking through the botanic gardens we found that the entire area is frequented by flocks of Black-billed Gulls, an endemic which is endandgered.
Black-fronted Terns are another endandgered endemic, and again easy to see when driving through centrel Canterbury.
In Dunedin we went to the famous Taiaroa Head Royal Albatross colony, and although we didn’t go on the tour, we still saw some albatrosses and the huge colony of Silver Gulls, which pooped and threw up on anything that dared to walk below.
One of the few albatrosses we saw fly over the hill.
Also near Dunedin we went to Orokonui Ecosanctuary, a “mainland island” where there are no invasive mammals. The New Zealand Robins there are very obvious, and are quite inquisitive.
Tuis are very common across the country, and are easily identified by their bronzy-blue color and characteristic dual white tufts.
This is a Pipipi, one of only three in its family and another endemic. We only saw them once, again in Orokonui.
New Zealand Bellbirds are also common, and are small honeyeaters that enjoy the nectar from flowers anywhere.
Orokonui’s star bird is the South Island takahē, a type of rail. It was once thought extinct but was famously rediscovered on an expedition to the Murchison Mountains in 1948. There are numerous populations on islands off of the North Island now, but few still live on the South Island, so it was nice to see one there.
Stewart Island, New Zealand’s “third island” was high on my list, and we went on a birding trip to try to see the famous Southern Brown Kiwi. The trip began with some birding on a boat, and we spotted this Yellow-eyed Penguin, the rarest in the world.
The trip did pay off, and we got excellent views of a young kiwi feeding on the beach.
Kiwi are very sensitive to white light, so our guides had red light flashlights so we could still get a good view and get some pictures without bothering the kiwi.
Kiwi only generally come to the beach on Stewart Island, not anywhere else. They are foraging for the sandhoppers (a type of insect) that feed on the washed-up seaweed.
During our stay on Stewart Island we also took a trip to Ulva Island, a pest-free sanctuary. This Weka followed us down the trail for a while, and then turned into the forest.
On the beach there were other Wekas, this one with a chick that had been hiding in a pile of branches.
Flocks of Red-crowned Parakeets are a common sight on the island, and some let us get close.
Little Pied Cormorants are also common along the coast and inland lakes.
The town of Oban on Stewart Island is mobbed by flocks of Kakas, large parrots that destroy any wood they find, including the tables of restaurants.
The town of Te Anau on the mainland was one of our favorite spots, and we saw a family of Great Crested Grebes on the lake.
We took a day trip to Milford Sound in Fiordland, and on the way got to meet the famous “cheeky” Kea, the world’s only alpine parrot and endemic to the South Island.
We also got to see the Kea in action, as it twisted off the antenna of somebody else’s car.
Tomtits are one of the less common passerines, although you’re still likely to encounter them at some point.
On our way up the west coast we visited Fox Glacier, at the end of a hike to a viewpoint.
I had been hoping to take a pelagic birding trip from the town of Kaikoura for a long time, and we did. This Westland Petrel was one of the first species we saw.
Northern Giant-petrels, the “vultures of the sea” generally hogged the chum that we were using to attract birds.
Kaikoura is famous for the albatrosses, and this Salvin’s Albatross was one of four species we saw that day.
We loved the tiny Cape Petrels, who would dart in to snatch a bite of fish and then retreat before the giant-petrels saw them.
The number one bird for Kaikoura was the Wandering Albatross, the largest flying bird in the world, with a record wingspan of 12 feet. We were lucky enough to see a completely grown adult, as indicated by the almost pure white plumage.
The wandering was the only bird that could really take food away from the giant-petrels, and when the rest of the chum was thrown out it dominated the other birds.
Due to the small size of the boat, we were only feet away from this huge bird.
On the way back we stopped at a seal colony with several babies, like this one.
We also came across this lone Hector’s Dolphin, the smallest and rarest marine dolphin in the world.
After we had finished on the South Island we went to Auckland and took a trip to Tiritiri Matangi island, another pest-free sanctuary. This baby Whitehead is begging for food, not an uncommon sight.
This Variable Oystercatcher apparently has at least one chick, as you can see the balls of fuzz poking out from underneath.
North Island Saddlebacks were also abundant on the island, and quickly became normal.
We also saw several Stitchbirds, especially around the nectar feeders. Stitchbirds are in their own family, and are endemic to the North Island.
New Zealand Pigeons are very common in the forests, although rarer in the cities, where you are not likely to see them.
Tuis are also common on the North Island, and this one had just finished taking a bath when I got this photo.
Tiritiri Matangi is also famous for its population of South Island Takahes, and we saw an adult and a chick.
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Australia!

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After our stay in Papua New Guinea we flew to Cairns, Australia, and began our journey down the east coast to Melbourne. Along the way we saw many birds, such as cassowaries, cockatoos, lyrebirds, and more! We also got to see some of Australia’s most iconic mammals, such as koalas, platypuses, and echidnas. Here they are.

We started off our Australian birding with walking down the Cairns Esplanade, which provided a very good introduction to the more common birds, such as this Red-capped Plover.
As I mentioned before, there are two species of birds-of-paradise endemic to Australia, and we got to see one. This Victoria’s Riflebird came to a tray of cheese in Kuranda, northwest of Cairns.
In Kuranda we stayed at Cassowary House, a small lodge run by a birding company called Sicklebill Safaris. This is a Pacific Emerald-dove seen from the balcony.
As the name suggests, Cassowary House is one of the best places for Southern Cassowaries in the world. There are three species of cassowaries; all live in New Guinea, one, the Southern Cassowary, also lives in Australia. Cassowaries are the most dangerous birds in the world, with over 150 recorded attacks on humans, and several deaths. They attack with their feet and the inner toe, which is long and razor-sharp. A single kick can dismember a person. Luckily, it did not attack us.
At Cassowary House we saw in total 4 cassowaries: one adult female, named Gertie, one adult male, named Dad, and two chicks. This is Gertie.
On the chicks you can see the little wattle stubs and the beginning of the large casque (helmet-like growth) on the top of the head.
This rat-kangaroo dropped in after the cassowaries had left. Although it looks like a rat, it hops somewhat like a kangaroo.
Australia has an abundance of parrots, most of which are not afraid and do not fly away when you try to get a photo. This Scaly-breasted Lorikeet posed on the patio of a restaurant.
Like the Maleo from Sulawesi, this Orange-footed Scrubfowl is a megapode. We saw it excavating in the sand, so it could be building a nest mound.
Australia is also famous for the cockatoos, and one of the first ones we saw was a huge flock of Red-tailed Black-cockatoos.
In the town of Yungaburra just south of Cairns we got lucky enough to see at least two platypus! You can see the bill and the head, just above water.
This baby Bush Stone-curlew was seen on the side of the road with two parents at a lake near Yungaburra.
Nerada Tea in Queensland has a line of trees near the road that, for some reason, a group of Lumholtz’s Tree-kangaroos have moved into, and they are now probably the easiest tree-kangaroos to see in the world. This is one of the three we saw.
Here is another angle on the same tree-kangaroo.
One of the most characteristic birds in Australia are these Rainbow Lorikeets, which look like there was a sunrise in their bellies.
These Agile Wallabies were the first kangaroo-like mammals for us to see. Since it was very hot, they just sat in the shade to stay cool
Off the coast of Townsville we took a ferry to Magnetic Island. This is a famous Laughing Kookaburra, seen on a street.
The Forts Walk on the island is famous for the likelihood of koala spotting, and this one gave us incredible views just below the World War Two installations that give the trail its name.
Since this koala was asleep I was able to explore different angles of photography and get close without disturbing it at all.
Here you can see the specially adapted hands. Instead of one thumb and four fingers, it has two thumbs and three fingers to help grip.
In the evening we also visited Magnetic Island’s Rock Wallaby colony, a type of very small kangaroo that lives among the large rock near the beach. They are occasionally fed, so are very used to the presence of humans.
One of the more common cockatoo species in Australia are these pink-and-gray Galahs, one with its crest raised, and although they are seen flying over easily, I didn’t get many chances to photograph them perched.
Emus are one of Australia’s two species of ratites (a group of birds that includes ostriches, cassowaries, kiwis, rheas, and the extinct moa and elephant birds), and are actually easily seen in fields near the road. However, these two crossed in front of us and headed down a side road. When I later updated my life list, they were found to be my 1000th species ever!
Although not our first kangaroos, this mob included our first joey. We approached using the cover of a tree trunk, and got great views.
At one campsite, there were kangaroos almost everywhere, and I couldn’t resist getting some more photos.
The classic cockatoo, Sulphur-crested Cockatoos are very common, but don’t usually get close. We were inside when this bird landed, but I got pictures through some windows.
Lamington National Park is one of the best birding sites in Australia, and O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat provides feeding stations for many birds, such as this Australian King-parrot.
Crimson Rosellas are also very common around the lodge, and are easily seen inside the gift shop (not kidding).
One of the park’s rarest birds is the Albert’s Lyrebird, closely related to the more famous Superb Lyrebird. Albert’s only live in a very small area around the border between Queensland and New South Wales, so I was ecstatic when this female just walked by our room and across a parking lot, where it foraged for at least 15 minutes.
This eventually turned out to not be the only lyrebird sighting for us! The next morning we saw another female Albert’s (potentially the same bird) in a different part of the lodge grounds.
The foraging method of the lyrebirds is to scratch large holes in the leaf litter to find insects, and this female was accompanied by smaller birds such as scrubwrens, presumably to feed on insects disturbed by the scratching.
O’Reilly’s also has a canopy walkway, and we climbed a ladder to a platform where you could see into a cavity with baby Brush-tailed Possums, a type of arboreal marsupial.
O’Reilly’s also offers a great chance to see Australia’s two most famous bowerbirds, such as this Satin Bowerbird, which we spotted from our balcony.
O’Reilly’s other bowerbird is the Regent Bowerbird, which is more common near the restaurant and at the feeders by the entrance. This male was seen on the morning bird walk.
Australian Brushturkeys are a very common type of megapode, but this was the only chick we ever saw.
Superb Fairywrens are frequent visitors to the lawns outside various buildings, especially outside the main area.
A less common sight are Red-necked Pademelons (a type of forest wallaby) like this one, which occasionally come out to the roads.
In Sydney we went on the opera house tour and got to go inside the many theaters of the landmark.
My favorite birds that we saw in Australia were a flock of Gang-gang Cockatoos, seen driving up to the trailhead for Mount Kosciusko.
Gang-gangs have a crest like no other bird, made up of thin, wispy, curled feathers. Personally, I would love to pet it.
This Eastern Rosella was just walking by our driveway in Jindabyne, and it ended up being the only one we saw.
This echidna was spotted crossing the road, and we stopped and walked back to try to find it. We did, and watched it forage for maybe 10 minutes.
Echidnas were the one classic Australian mammal that we had given up on seeing, but it made an appearance anyway!
Green Cape Lighthouse has a group of wombats that come out almost every evening, and we saw three of them.
We described wombats as small bear-ewoks, and that seems very accurate.
photography

New Guinea and the BoPs!

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Our last stop in Indonesia was the province of Papua, on the island of New Guinea. We also went to Papua New Guinea, the country that covers the other half of the island. New Guinea is famous for having almost all of the birds-of-paradise (BoPs) (exceptions are two species in the Moluccas and two species in Australia)! Since I have been reading about the BoPs for almost my entire life I couldn’t wait to go there. Here are the pictures.

In Papua we started at the island of Waigeo in the Raja Ampat island group. One of the most obvious bird species were the huge flocks of Lesser Frigatebirds, seemingly migrating as they streamed across the sky overhead.
Another conspicuous resident of the island were the Willie-wagtails (the real name) which hopped around our houses and sang constantly.
Torresian Crows also frequented the trees by the beach, potentially foraging on the sand.
We unanimously agreed that Waigeo had some of the best sunsets we had ever seen, lasting for almost an hour and constantly changing from pink to yellow to orange to red to purple to black.
The reason we came to the Raja Ampat is because they have two endemic BoPs. One of them is the Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise (shown here) commonly agreed to be one of the most colorful, with its red back, yellow neck, bald blue head, green chest, and blue feet, it is like a tiny firework display.
Here you can get a better view of the curled blue tail feathers and the yellow on the neck, as well as the dark iridescent green belly.
The other BoP endemic is the Red Bird-of-Paradise, with a green head, brown and yellow body, and bright red tail feathers it is one of the more “classic” BoPs in the genus Paradisaea.
Although the Red was hidden in the trees most of the time we could occasionally hear some of its loud resounding trumpet-like calls, meant to attract females to the communal lek.
Although there are only two species of BoP are endemic to the Raja Ampat there is a third species that also lives on mainland New Guinea. Since BoPs are actually descended from crows, the crow-like manucodes are still BoPs. This is a Glossy-mantled Manucode, which was actually just seen near our homestay and not at a special hide.
One of the other birds that frequently turned up at the beach was the aptly named Beach Kingfisher, with the distinctive all-white head visible in the photo.
Although Eclectus Parrots are common on the islands this female is one of the few that perched in the open; more often they were seen flying over.
After Waigeo we stayed at the village of Syoubri in the Arfak Mountains. Our birding guide Zeth Wonggor showed us this Marbled Frogmouth (a type of nocturnal owl-like bird) in his backyard.
While we were in a hide waiting for a Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise to appear this Hooded Pitohui came onto the lek. Pitohuis are famous for being the only poisonous birds; although not deadly to humans, if you bite one you will immediately want to spit it out.
After our wait, the Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise (I call it the mag bop) did show up. The tail shape is similar to the Wilson’s, and they are in the same genus. This was also the only BoP that we saw at a lek with a female, although the female left before the male could display.
One of the least known BoPs is the Long-tailed Paradigalla, one of the “plumeless” BoPs. We waited for it to come and feed at this single banana tree, and eventually our wait was fulfilled.
Although Darwin is generally attributed with the development of the theory of evolution, the explorer Alfred Russel Wallace came up with the same idea at the same time while studying birds-of-paradise in New Guinea and observing how the males could afford to evolve gaudy plumage due to the abscence of ground-living predators and competitors for food. This paradigalla certainly dominated the bananas.
When most people think of a bowerbird it is generally the Satin Bowerbird of Australia, but I believe that this architect deserves the credit: The Vogelkop Bowerbird constructs a large hut-like tent and decorates the entrance with trash and seeds, organized by color and shape: see the large pile of nuts, the “red section”, and pile of plastic cups.
This photo shows the architect at work. Because of the plain plumage, the male must construct a larger bower to demonstrate fitness and maturity.
After the Arfak we took a break from the BoPs and headed to New Ireland in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. Although PNG has BoPs, none of them reach the Bismarcks. We still got some nice birds, like this Nicobar Pigeon.
These Moustached Treeswifts are, unlike normal swifts, able to perch on branches, and do so commonly, allowing a photo opportunity.
Back on mainland New Guinea we took a trip into Varirata National Park near Port Moresby, and that day turned out to be one of my most succesful single birding days ever. This is a Black-capped Lory, seen on the drive in.
The BoP that Varirata is known for is the Raggiana Bird-of-Paradise, PNG’s national bird. This is either a young male or a female.
Red-faced Parrots are almost exclusively found in New Guinea, but there is a small population on the Cape York Peninsula of Australia. Varirata is the only place we saw them.
Several Raggianas showed up, but we never saw an adult male.
Varirata is also the best place in the world for the delightful little Brown-headed Paradise-kingfisher, which just sits on a branch and watches you watch it.
We were also lucky enough to catch this Barred Owlet-nightjar out in the open, as they are nocturnal and generally stay inside their hole unless you are quiet and patient.
After birding the park we stopped at a nearby wetland where we saw this Comb-crested Jaçana with a chick.
We also found this Plumed Whistling-duck, a vagrant from Australia.
Once our lowland birding had been satisfied we headed up into the highlands near Mount Hagen and stayed at Kumul Lodge, known for the ease of birding at its fruit feeders. This is a Common Smoky-honeyeater eating a piece of pineapple.
The Ribbont-tailed Astrapias (a BoP) at Kumul frequent the feeders and it is more common to see them when you glance out the window than to not.
Equally common are these Brown Sicklebills (another BoP), the young bird on the right and the adult female on the left.
Kumul is also known for its rare mountain species, such as this Mountain Firetail, a finch endemic to the highlands of New Guinea.
Because of its prime location you can take tours from the lodge to see a variety of BoPs; this is a Blue Bird-of-Paradise (Cedar’s favorite) seen just a quick drive and walk away from the lodge.
One of the other birds easily seen at the feeders are Brehm’s Tiger-parrots, which make very good photography subjects.
Here you can see part of the tail that gives the astrapias their name. This photo also provides a good look at the “pom-pom” above the bill.
Less common than the tiger-parrots, Plum-faced Lorikeets skipped the feeders and fed off of the trees instead.
On a walk through the forest we came across this Lesser Melampitta, one of New Guinea’s rarest highland birds and only one of two species in its family.
Besides the trip for the Blue BoP we only took one other trip outside of the lodge for a BoP. This is the King-of-Saxony Bird-of-Paradise. The two long straight lines in the photo are not sticks but specialized feathers coming out of the bird’s head. It can move them around wherever it wants, and could theoretically slap you in the face without moving anything but its head wires. When these feathers originally came to Europe they were thought to be fakes due to the plasticky texture and flag-like appendages lining it.
This photo provides a better view of the flags on the sides of the wires. The actual bird is small, but the wires are big, so Cedar calls it the “Li’l Champion with Big Hair”.
The King-of-Saxony is actually uncommon and hard to find, so we were lucky to get such good views of it.
The call of this BoP does not sound remotely like a bird at all. It more sounds like somebody’s radio broke down and is emitting a combination of clicks, twitters, hisses, static, and beeps in a single fast series. Look it up, it’s amazing.
On almost our last day at Kumul we finally got really good views of Crested Berrypeckers, which are, along with the Tit Berrypecker, in their own family.
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Singapore and Sulawesi!

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My previous post was comprised of us visiting Indonesia west of Wallace’s Line. Here I will display photos from Sulawesi, an island east of Wallace’s Line and west of Lydekker’s Line (the separation of wildlife from Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, and the Moluccas from New Guinea and Australia ). Sulawesi is known for its high proportion of endemism, especially in the birds, so a lot of the species shown here can be found nowhere else. I will also be posting photos from Singapore, where we stopped briefly before heading to Sulawesi. Also, many of the species I took photos of are rare and hard to see, so the photos will be of less quality because of the low light and fast-moving animals.

One of our best stops in Singapore was the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which was full of Red Junglefowl, the wild ancestor of the domestic chicken. Immediately after we got out of the Uber, we saw these chicks, much to Cedar’s delight.
One of the best ways to separate junglefowl from chickens is to check for the large white patch on the male’s head, seen here clearly.
The junglefowl were also accompanied by this Common Flameback, a type of large woodpecker.
These chicks were adorable, snuggling under the mother’s belly.
In Singapore we also went on a birding trip around some wetlands that started off with my first Dollarbird, (a type of roller) name because of the white patches in its wings that appear like “silver dollars” when it flies.
Another highlight of the birding trip was this Little Bronze Cuckoo, easily identified from the iridescent bronze back, red eye-ring, and barred belly.
While climbing to Singapore’s highest point we came across this colugo (a type of mammal that uses flaps of skin to glide from tree to tree). It stayed perfectly still the entire time, and we still don’t know if it was actually alive!
Javan Mynas like this one are common all across the city, but this one is suffering from a leg disease, and you can see the misshapen feet.
Upon leaving Singapore we arrived in Sulawesi, a haven for endemic birds. Almost 27% of the region’s birds are endemic. Sulawesi hosts 12 endemic genera of birds, including 6 kingfishers, 9 parrots, and 7 owls. One of the first endemics we saw was this Yellow-billed Malkoha, a relative of the coucals, which are relatives of the cuckoos.
Our first stop in Sulawesi was the village of Kamarora A, near the famous Lore Lindu National Park. On our first morning we took a trip to a lake just outside the park to bird. This Brush Cuckoo was seen there.
This Turquoise Warbling-flycatcher was also a highlight of the lake trip.
On the way back from the lake this raptor flew up and perched in a tree in front of us. It was later identified as a Bat Hawk, a rare species that can catch bats or swifts on the wing.
Lore Lindu is also known for its tarsiers, which are small nocturnal primates and very, very cute. This is one of the several we saw.
One of the most famous birding locations in Sulawesi is the Anaso Track. The track’s star birds is the Diabolical Nightjar (shown here). There was actually known terrorist activity on the track, but without us knowing that what we were on was the Anaso Track, we still saw the birds and came out fine.
In total we saw two nightjars. This one is engaged in a threat display.
Another star endemic bird is the Purple-bearded Bee-eater, which we saw twice on the track
Later down on the track we came into a “birdstorm” with Mountain Cicadabirds, Ashy Woodpeckers, Sulawesi Pygmy Woodpeckers, and this Sulawesi Thrush.
After Lore Lindu we stayed at Lake Poso, where the friendly Pacific Swallows provided great photography practice.
The next major stop in Sulawesi was the Togian Islands, where we saw this Ashy Woodpecker (a Sulawesi endemic) excavating this palm tree.
One of my most-wanted Sulawesi birds was the Togian Boobook, a type of small owl endemic to the islands. On our first night we asked the lodge managers and they said that an owl comes almost every night to their trash pile to feed on insects. This owl has been named Kokoro, and we saw him many times.
Kokoro would often just sit in one place for a very long time, and you could just stand, and watch him hunt or eat or anything without bothering him.
Our final stop was potentially the place I had most wanted to go in Sulawesi, Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park. Sulawesi is well-known for its profusion of endemic kingfishers, and we quickly saw this Sulawesi Dwarf-kingfisher.
Several times we came across the endemic Pale-blue Monarch flitting around in the low branches.
Another endemic we saw soon after starting was this Bay Coucal, a type of large cuckoo-like bird.
This Sultan’s Cuckoo-dove posed for the camera, unlike many of the other birds seen on the hike.
The only large mammal we saw on the hike was this macaque, which gave us very good views.
We spent a while trying to get this beautiful Sulawesi Pitta to come out into the open, and eventually it did. Pittas are normally secretive, so I was very happy.
The highlight of Bogani Nani is the Maleo, a species of endangered megapode (more on that word later) endemic to Sulawesi. When we reached a snack point we found this baby Maleo just walking around and taking scraps of food from the ground. It was definitely wild, because it flew away later (baby megapodes learn to fly instantly).
This baby Maleo blew my mind with cuteness, rarity, and comfortableness. It felt like a tiny chicken that is endangered with only 8,000 to 14,000 individuals alive.
Megapodes are birds that do not incubate their eggs, but instead either build a mound of rotting vegetation and let the heat from the chemical reactions do the rest, or dig a hole in thermally heated earth or on a beach that absorbes the sun. When the eggs hatch, the chicks dig out, fly away and grow up. One of the main reasons for the Maleo’s decline has been the unsubstantial harvesting of Maleo eggs, since they are all grouped together, easy to get, and make good eating.
Sulawesi also has two endemic species of hornbill, and we saw one. The Knobbed Hornbill is one of the largest birds in Sulawesi and also one of the most colorful.
As we were almost leaving the park a large flock of hornbills came around us from all sides. Hornbills are easily located by the loud noise their wings make when they fly, but when you are in the middle of a flock it just feels like chaos.
photography

Indonesia West of Wallace’s Line

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As you may know, Wallace’s Line is the line which (in terms of flora and fauna) separates Java, Bali, Sumatra, and Borneo and their outlying islands from Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Timor, and the Moluccas. West of the line we visited Sumatra, Java, and Bali. Here are photos from that segment of our trip.

Our first stop in Sumatra was the village of Bukit Lawang, where we stayed at Green Hills Guest Lodge. Our first visitor was this Silver Leaf Monkey.
Bukit Lawang is situated right by a river, and a family of Crab-eating Macaques showed up on the opposite bank.
The day after we arrived we wen on a walk to see the famous Sumatran Orangutans, (Critically Endangered) and immediately saw this young male.
This baby orangutan seemed extremely proficient at climbing and foraging, here eating the orange fruit pictured.
After seeing the first orangutans we passed through a “carload” of Thomas Leaf Monkeys, some with babies.
The star bird of the hike was this Great Argus, a type of pheasant closely related to the peafowl. It boasts strangely elongated wing and tail feathers to aid in its spectacular display, and although this male did not display, it was still astounding.
This zoomed-out picture can offer a better perspective on the seemingly stretched body of this amazing bird.
This was one of the highlights of the hike: a fully grown male orangutan, sitting in a tree.
This is a White-handed Gibbon, one of the several we saw. Back at Bukit Lawang several times we heard the song of gibbons, a truly spectacular sound. This one was with several others.
Seen at the same time as the other gibbon, here you can see a baby’s head and hands.
Near Bukit Lawang we went to a cave system inhabited by many bats. This is one of the residents.
We had also signed up for a “jungle trek” which meant staying at another spot for a night before starting. There we got great views of this Little Spiderhunter, a relative of the honeyeaters.
Near the beginning of the trek we came across another troop of Thomas’s Leaf Monkeys. This is a mother and a baby.
This squirrel was Cedar’s favorite animal we saw on the trek, and he made me put it in this post.
For me the highlight was this White-crowned Hornbill (classified as globally Endangered), seen after our night camping. It is rare and only occasionally seen in Sumatra.
On the way back from our camp we came across this Diard’s Trogon, the bright red bird in the middle of the photo.
Just before we got back to the lodge we saw this Blue-throated Bee-eater, one of the star birds of the trek.
Just before going back to Bukit Lawang we saw this bright red and yellow Banded Woodpecker from the jungle lodge.
Before leaving Bukit Lawang we got great views of this Crested Serpent-eagle calling and displaying for seemingly no reason.
Our next stop was Lake Toba, where this Eurasian Tree Sparrow provided the perfect opportunity for a more artistic photo.
Also at Lake Toba we saw this White-breasted Waterhen walk past our table at a restaurant.
After Toba we stayed at Rimba Ecolodge on the west coast. This is a Stork-billed Kingfisher, one of the most distinctive birds we saw.
Here you can see some of the strange geometric patterns found in the some of the coral of the area.
This is one of the amazing sunsets we saw at Rimba.
Since we had to fly through Java to get to Bali we stopped at Yogyakarta and saw the famous Buddhist temple Borobudur. Here we found a carving of a chicken standing on top of a temple.
We also found this amazing carving of a Green Peafowl, the lesser known relative of the Indian one. Green Peafowls mainly live in mainland Asia, but there is a small population on Java.
Borobudur’s most famous attraction are the sitting Buddhas inside stupas lining the edge of the top level. Since the Buddhas are mostly enclosed, I just got a picture of the eye of one.
And here’s CEDAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our first stop in Bali was Ubud, where we went on a bird walk around the rice fields and few forests of the city. This is a Cattle Egret in a rice paddy.
One of our target species on the walk was this Javan Kingfisher, only found in Java and Bali.
Near the end of the walk we saw this snake attack a flying lizard and eat it. Here it is preparing to strike.
Later in Bali we went snorkeling off of Pulau Menjangan, an island where we saw a herd of deer resting under a building.
This Whimbrel we saw on the beach of the island. It is a type of curlew, famous for their long, curving bills.
After snorkeling we went on a walk to dinner where we saw this Racquet-tailed Treepie, a specialty bird of the region.
The sunset over the mangroves in West Bali was spectacular.
The reason for us going to west Bali was because of West Bali National Park, and the reason I wanted to go there was because of a single bird. The Javan Banded Pitta you see here is not the special one but was seen in the beginning of the desired birding trip.
This Green Junglefowl is also not the one we were looking for, although it was high on my list of birds I wanted to see.
This is the bird I had been waiting for. This is a Bali Starling, Bali’s ONLY endemic bird, Critically Endangered with a population estimate of only 50 left in the wild. It is so valuable on the black market pet trade that a captive breeding center was once robbed at gunpoint just for these birds! We saw around 17!!!!!!!
This pair of starlings sat and posed for us for almost ten minutes!
Here you can see the wispy crest of the starlings.
This starling posed for just a moment when I got this photo, then flew away.
This Island Collared-dove is the Indonesian equivalent of the Eurasian Collared-dove, widely introduced in North America.
After the forest where we saw the starlings we went to a plantation where we got this Chestnut-headed Bee-eater.
The final segment of our birding trip in Bali was going to the shrimp farms, where we saw this Small Blue Kingfisher.
After Bali we crossed over to Java again and went to Baluran National Park to look for the Endangered Green Peafowl. Here is an Oriental Pied Hornbill seen in the park
We eventually saw three peafowl, two male and one female. This male came the closest, and gave us amazing views. Most of the global population are found in mainland Asia, but there is an isolated group found in Java.
Here you can seen part of the famous train that male peafowl have. This was either a young male or something had attacked because it was missing most of its train feathers.
This is a fully grown male peafowl, with the completely developed train of iridescent green ocelli feathers.
This is the same male peafowl.
Baluran is also famous for its herds of water buffalo and deer.
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More Photos!!

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Due to WiFi issues, my posting plan has lost all semblance of reason. I am just posting any photos in no particular order. Here the photos are from Botswana and Victoria Falls. Additionally, thanks to Cedar CEDIE BOI for providing the photo of the Victoria Falls Bridge! 🙂

This is a Slaty Egret, one of the specialty birds of Botswana’s Okavango Delta. It is restricted in range and somewhat rare, so seeing it was a very good addition to our Moremi/Khwai birds.
Southern Ground Hornbills are some of the weirdest birds we saw on our trip. They can grow up to be over three feet long, and travel in packs, working their way across the ground searching for food.
The second-to-last of the Big Five for us to see. Despite their reputation, it is not the huge herds that are very dangerous, only the lone old males.
Almost immediately after seeing the buffalo we found this leopard. Apparently practically everybody else in the entire campground had also heard about it, so there was a huge group of safari vehicles clustered around this one forested area, with the leopard clearly visible among the trees.
Along with the Slaty Egret, Wattled Cranes are one of the Okavango Delta’s “Big Three” birds. They are classified by the IUCN Red List as globally Vulnerable with a population of 6,000-6,300 birds. We saw two on the ground, with one sitting on a potential nest.
Driving back from our day trip along the Khwai River we spotted this owl. At first we thought it was a Spotted Eagle-owl, but once it gave us a good view we identified it as a Verreaux’s Eagle-owl, one of the birds I most wanted to see.
Upon arriving in Victoria Falls we found this pair of White-fronted Bee-eaters, some of the most colorful birds in the region.
At the same place where we saw the bee-eaters I noticed this Red-winged Starling, drinking from the fountains near the pool where we were having lunch.
While going on a walk in Vic Falls I spotted a flock of White-crested Helmetshrikes, and got this photo.
One yard near our Air BnB had a tree that overhung the fence. In one tree I found this Black-collared Barbet along with Southern Masked-weavers, Scarlet-chested Sunbirds, Collared Sunbirds, and more.
This is a photo of the Victoria Falls Bridge. We were at the Victoria Falls Hotel when Cedar CEDIE BOI 🐓🐱🐈🐶🐕🐹 wanted to take a photo, so I let him take this one.
On the lawn of the Victoria Falls Hotel there was a large group of warthogs, letting people get close and letting me get this photo.
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Africa, Part Three!!!!!!!!!!!

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This is part three out of a now many part posting series about our safari in Botswana and our stay in Zimbabwe and Zambia, along with our safari in South Africa and our stay in Cape Town. The photos shown here are exclusively from Botswana.

This is a Greater Kestrel. It is related to the American Kestrel which we see commonly in the U.S. This is the second falcon species for us to have seen on this trip: The first one was a Eurasian Kestrel at the London Heathrow Airport.
Some of you may have seen the Lilac-breasted Roller of the first post. This is a Purple Roller, much rarer than the Lilac-breasted. This is the first of two we have seen.
Inside the Nxai Pan we came across this incredible watering hole. This photo only partially encompasses the scene: the hole was attended by Gray-backed Sparrow-larks, Ostriches, Bateleurs, Kudu, Springbok, Impala, Zebra, both oxpeckers, and Wildebeest, providing an incredible view.
In the center of this photo you can see a Bateleur, a type of colorful snake eagle, that we saw many of in the air. This is the only one we have seen perched. The word Bateleur means “tightrope walker” in French, referring to the rocking motion of the bird in flight.
This is an adult male kudu. You can see the incredibly long curly horns that are the indicator of the age: a young male would have much shorter horns.
Also at the watering hole we found this “unicorn”. Despite the disadvantage, this impala seemed to dominate over the others, a sign of obvious notoriety.
This is an adult male Kori Bustard, the heaviest flying bird in the world. We actually saw many of these, and our guide Kabelo had done his PhD dissertation on the Kori Bustard.
One of the most common raptors that we saw was this Southern Pale Chanting Goshawk, a bird that I think (and I may be wrong) holds the distinction of having the most words in its name without any hyphens.
This Steenbok is one of Cedar’s favorite animals. Unlike many others we saw, this one stayed lying down in the shade as we drove up to it, allowing a great photo.
This was my first Southern Red-billed Hornbill ever, and it stayed perched for a while, allowing me to get good pictures.
Red-billed Francolins, shown here, and Crested Francolins immediately became our alarm clock, bursting out every morning in an incredibly loud series of harsh calls.
These were some of our first elephants, and posed at this watering hole (actually an isolated puddle that is supposed to be a river) perfectly for us.
As can be clearly seen in this picture, the elephant on the left had some of the largest tusks we saw on both of our safaris.
We saw this snake on a hike at the Tsodilo Hills, in the process of swallowing a lizard. The snake was alive, because we saw it blink, and the lizard was alive, because we saw it move a foot. When the snake presumably finishes swallowing the lizard, you will probably be able to see the lizard inside the snake!
Due to the current drought in Botswana, a group of hippos and crocodiles have been trapped in an isolated pool of water in the town of Maun. We saw them (along with a Black Crake, Golden-tailed Woodpecker, African Fish Eagle, and Marabou Stork), and I was able to get good pictures.
On our first game drive in Moremi Game Reserve, we amazingly spotted this pair of Honey Badgers! The photo is not perfectly focused, but they left soon after, so I am glad I got it. Here is a link to a video (that has some inappropriate language) about how tough the honey badger is:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r7wHMg5Yjg
This is a Red Hartebeest, an animal that we proved to come by infrequently, but in Moremi we passed a herd of them, allowing this photo.
At a watering hole in Moremi we observed a large herd of elephants with several babies, and this pride of lions!
The lions were well concealed, and soon after we arrived a group of impala and kudu came up to drink. This female tried to catch the kudu, but was unsuccessful.
On her way back from the hunt, this female passed us in our car several feet away! We could have touched her if we wanted to, which, of course, we did not.
Near the end of our second Moremi game drive we spotted a troupe of baboons, each sitting in a pile of elephant dung, and eating the grass that the dung was composed of!
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Africa, Part Two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Here is the second installment of my four-part African posting spree. Enjoy!

The Double-banded Sandgrouse, like the Burchell’s Sandgrouse featured in the previous post, is known for its aerial trips to drink at watering holes. However, they are not necessarily tied to water sources.
We saw multiple flocks of mousebirds before one landed and allowed us to identify them as Red-faced Mousebirds (shown here). Upon looking back at this photo, I realized that the main bird featured is supporting half of its body weight with one toe. I do not know why it did this, but it sustained this position for the entire time we saw the flock.
White-backed Vultures are a close relative to the Cape Griffons of the previous post. Although much more common in southern Africa, the White-backed is listed as Critically Endangered compared to the Endangered status of the Cape.
Over the course of our entire trip we constantly admired the adorable shaggyness of waterbuck, which we saw quite a lot.
The Secretarybird is one of the most distinctive raptors in the world. It is identified by its long legs, orang face, strange tail, and floppy crest. It is the only bird in its family, and is sadly growing quite rare in parts of Africa.
In the Makgadikgadi Pans there is a small reserve called Lekhubu Island. It has lots of birds, and one of the many distinctive species we saw was the Scaly Weaver, which travels around in large flocks, so you will see either none at a time or many.
A close relative to the Blue Waxbill and Red-cheeked Cordonbleu, the Violet-eared Waxbill is one of Africa’s most stunning birds. In fact, this is not a very zoomed in photo; a pair of these birds came to within a foot of me.
The Cape Starling is a ubiquitous bird of southern Africa, and is easily identified from the similar Burchell’s Starling by the orange eye, shorter tail, and absence of black ear coverts.
Another iconic bird of Africa, the Lilac-breasted Roller proved to be relatively common, yet still always amazes us when we see this rainbow of feathers.
In this photo you can see the lilac breast that gives the roller part of its name. The other part comes from the wild display flights given by each species in the roller family.
We also saw a different roller from the one pictured above in a tree directly in front of the setting sun. There could not be a more fitting photo for a bird with as many colors as the sunset behind it.
We saw many prime sunsets in Botswana, but I still could not resist taking a close-up of this one.
During our Botswana safari we had a full day to just relax (and in my case, bird) at the Pelican Lodge. One of the first birds I sighted was this Southern White-crowned Shrike. It was quite calm, and allowed me to get this photo.
One of my favorite birds we saw on this safari was this Bradfield’s Hornbill. Our guide, Kabelo, argued that it was a Southern Red-billed Hornbill, while I said it was a Bradfield’s. We eventually got to the point of betting sodas for who was right, and this bird won me a Fanta.
Another of the birds seen at Pelican Lodge was this Red-headed Finch. I was birding and would never had noticed them if a bulbul in the same tree called, drawing my attention until I noticed two birds sitting perfectly still and watching me.
One of the most beautiful birds seen at the lodge was this Marico, or Mariqua Sunbird. It was the first sunbird we had seen, and posed for a while, allowing me amazing views of this African equivalent of a hummingbird.
Because we remained stationary and I was on foot I was able to get much better photos of the birds seen at Pelican Lodge than in various other locations. A flock of these noisy Black-backed Puffbacks had flown into a tree also containing Burnt-necked Eremomelas, Marico Sunbirds, and various other species.
This is one of the birds mentioned in the previous caption, one with the incredibly strange name of Burnt-necked Eremomela. It is called that because of its rufous collar, but I do not know about the eremomela part. This photo was a very lucky occurence, as the bird was moving about extremely quickly in the tree.
Pelican Lodge was much more successful in terms of birding than I expected it to be; it even provided me with a large flock of Red-headed Weavers hiding behind some water tanks (although I probably wasn’t supposed to be there).
At one part of Pelican Lodge there was a small puddle with some sticks crossing it, and due to the current drought in Botswana there was much activity around it. Although not a new bird, I was still excited to get this look at the beautiful Pied Barbet, one of the many visitors to the puddle.
The day after Pelican Lodge we drove to Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans National Park, and on the way we got this wonderful view of a zebra, allowing me great photos. The one difference between the southern African zebras and Tanzanian zebras is that the zebras in Tanzania are completely black and white, whereas the ones we saw had some brown stripes as well.
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Africa, Part One!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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As many of you know, we are now in Africa! Currently we are in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, after doing a 12 day safari in Botswana with our guide Kabelo. As we are in Africa, I have seen over a hundred new species of birds and taken many photos of them (and a couple of the more interesting mammals). Because of this, today’s post may be a bit long. However, I think you will enjoy it! (Due to the large number of photos I would like to post I will be posting four installments, each with 21 photos. Because of this, the photos in this post are from August 3rd to the 5th, our first two days of the Botswana safari).

This is a Familiar Chat, seen on the drive to the town of Otse in Botswana, south of Gabarone. The chat was very familiar, and did not fly away, allowing me to get this, and some other, photos.
This is a Cape Griffon, or Cape Vulture, which is very rare and declining, a victim of poisoning. Its current global status is Endangered, and in the whole of Botswana there are only two colonies. This picture is from the colony at Otse, the reason we went to that village.
The Gray Go-away-bird, one of the most common birds in the region, is very endearing and comes close to you, allowing good photos. This one flew into our camp at Khama Rhino Sanctuary and perched on a tree with its crest raised, providing a perfect photo.
Along with the go-away-bird, Southern Yellow-billed Hornbills are also very common in central Botswana. I saw this one just after we had started a game drive at the rhino sanctuary and the sunrise light on it provided an amazing view.
Helmeted Guineafowl are some of the more common game birds in southern Africa, and congregate in huge flocks; we saw some reaching an estimated 50 birds!
Springbok were the first large mammals we saw, easily distinguished from impala by the different shape of the horns and the dark brown stripe on the side.
Although similar in appearance to sandpipers, Crowned Lapwings are not closely tied to water; we saw many out on the open pans, with no water nearby.
Impala were the second large mammal we saw, after Springbok. They turned out to be more common, and soon became like mule deer in Colorado.
Our first mammalian predator to be seen was the Black-backed Jackal, one of the most doglike creatures you can find. We particularly enjoyed how they run, described by many as “trucking“.
At one particular water hole we saw jackals, impala, Martial Eagle, White Stork, warthog, and Red Hartebeest coexisting together (which makes sense, because a jackal couldn’t eat any of those).
This Burchell’s Sandgrouse was the second sandgrouse species we saw. Sandgrouse are well-known for their habit of flying varying distances to watering holes to drink at various times of the day.
Crested Francolins turned out to be surprisingly common, much more common than any game bird in the U.S. We quickly began seeing large flocks moving about everywhere.
The Dwarf Mongoose is southern Africa’s (south of the Cunene and Zambezi Rivers) smallest carnivore. We saw several of these tiny mammals, at first thinking they were baby Banded Mongooses due to their size: full-grown ones are just 20 cm long!
Red-billed Oxpeckers frequent all types of large mammals; we saw them foraging for insects on kudu, impala, zebra, donkeys, and cows!
On a hike up the Goo-Moremi Gorge (not to be confused with Moremi Game Reserve) we saw an unexpected Verreaux’s Eagle, a very large raptor that we have only seen that one time.
On our second evening at Khama Rhino Sanctuary we witnissed a spectacular sunset over a watering hole filled with impala. This was one of the most iconic African scenes we have observed.
At that same time we noticed a herd of giraffe walking towards the watering hole, and I realized that this was a moment I could not miss. (Actually, I pulled out my camera to find out that I had used up my memory card space, so hastily deleting a video and some photos got me the ability to capture this photo).
This is a Natal Francolin, the second francolin to be seen by us. I noticed it just after I got up at the campsite at Khama Rhino Sanctuary.
I have compared the brilliant color of the Crimson-breasted Gonolek’s underparts to those of a Vermillion Flycatcher, one of our Southwestern birds in the U.S., some of the most admired birds for their color.
Fork-tailed Drongos are some of the commonest birds in this region, and are easily seen sallying to catch insects in flight.
Although their appearance is similar to cows, Blue Wildebeest are actually large antelope, and we saw many of them, sometimes in large herds, but never as many as in the documentaries where somebody with David Attenborough’s voice is grandly describing the “great migration” that occurs in Kenya.
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Many Birds

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As some of you know, I am doing a Big Year: a competition or personal challenge to see the most species of birds within a certain region in one year. It is customary to start on January 1st, but since that would not encompass all of our trip I started July 8th. In this case my region is the world. I am aiming to see 1,000 species of birds and to do that I need to maintain an average of 2.7 additional species per day. Currently my average is 5.46 and I have seen 71 species of birds in 12 days, 2 of them being my first ever. Here are some photos of some of those 71 species.

This is a Green-tailed Towhee, one of several birds that I suspect may be seen only once during the course of my Big Year.
Western Tanagers, on the other hand, are not as uncommon as the towhees; we saw an estimated 6 in a period of 2 hours.
This Calliope Hummingbird is one of the two new species for me that have been seen during the Big Year period. It is the smallest bird in North America.
This is an adult male Hairy Woodpecker, due to the red patch on the back of the head. We have seen adults feeding a juvenile so we presume they have nested here recently.
Pygmy Nuthatches are very hard to get a photo of, as they move extremely quickly, are very small, and do not visit the feeder for prolonged amounts of time.
This Bald Eagle was seen at Lagerman Reservoir in Longmont. It calmly perched on a telephone pole while we looked on from our car parked adjacent.
This is not special sunset light on this adult male Baltimore Oriole; it looks like it is about to burst into flame perpetually.
This sighting of a Dusky Grouse was my first view of the species, and as it was a species I had been trying to see for literal years (my “nemesis bird) I was elated to get a good view and get good photos on my first sighting of it.
I found this Yellow Warbler nest in Buena Vista. It was before I had started my Big Year, so it didn’t count towards the total, but it was an photographic opportunity I could not miss.