Banda Sea Indonesia
September-October, 2026
Prelude
I’m not quite sure why I signed up for the Banda Sea trip other than it will be to some really cool islands that haven’t been birded all that much. In that way it may be different than the other Indonesia trips I’ve done. Especially Java and Bali were, in a way, kind of depressing because so many birds have been captured to be sold in cages. It will be interesting to see if the same is true in these islands. I don’t think so. (The treat part of Java and Bali were Boneng, Heru and Don. They were awesome to bird with and hang out with.)
The last days in Australia were quiet. I birded with Ju Lin and Ping Ling before we had lunch. Then they left for the airport with Ray and Edna. I will especially miss Ju Lin and Ping Ling. We’ve had lots of fun together. I hope our paths cross again in the future.
I was having a heck of a time getting an Indonesian visa. Then I applied for the arrival card. It was approved and it gave me the option to pay and apply for a visa. I paid and the e-Visa was issued immediately. Yippee.
I needed a haircut. The barber wasn’t at the shop so I bought clippers and did it myself.
The last day in Kununurra I spent the afternoon in the hotel’s lobby reading and chilling. Maybe I should have gone to Perth and birded there one day. But it probably was good that I just had a quiet day.
I was planning on getting a sleeping pod at the Perth airport but they were all full. So I spent the night at the airport. I took several naps in chairs and slept on the flight to Bali as well.
When I got to Bali, I had totally misread the instructions for getting to the hotel. I should have taken the shuttle. I thought I could walk the 500 meters. No sidewalks Evan. I ended up walking on the streets, some of them busy, about two kilometers to get to the hotel. Along the way I put a hole in one of my long sleeve shirts.
And I discovered earlier that I left my Tilley hat in Australia. (Luke gave me an NT Birding Specialist cap that I’ll wear on the Banda Sea tour.) Getting another Tilley hat can wait till DC.
I got to the hotel hot and tired and frustrated. After sitting there for about an hour who should show up but Forrest. Forrest is a super positive person and he was just what I needed to get revved back up. I got checked in and took a nice shower and now I’m ready to begin this Banda Sea adventure.
At Sea
September 12, 2026
This morning we were out of the hotel very early to get to the airport very early. We got there so early I think because of concerns about a volcano that has been erupting in another part of Indonesia. It did not impact us at all.
From Bali we flew to Labuan Bajo and then it was a ten minute drive to the small boat that took us to the boat we will be calling home for the next two weeks, the Lady Denok. We then set sail.
We had a second breakfast and were given an orientation session. Then we all went to the upper deck to sea watch. It’s not like sea watching in Cornwall but we did see several good birds. Forrest is doing checklists and once he’s got them done, I’ll report on the birds we saw. I got several lifers today.
While we birded I noticed several things. First, I felt much more comfortable with this group of birders than I thought I would as far as being over my head. Yes, I’m still pretty new at this stuff but the base of knowledge I’m working from is much higher. And I was able to get on every bird that was spotted as we sea watched. I even spotted a few.
The water was really rolling for a large part of the trip today. Years ago, Jeff Larson told me I wouldn’t be seasick even if I didn’t take motion sickness medicine. Today certainly proved that out. I was perfectly fine all day long.
I’m going to stop for now because even though I don’t get seasick I feel a little funny as I try to type with the rolling of the boat. A good first day for this trip.
I’m back, it’s the next day and the seas are calm. I’ll close of this entry and get it posted. We saw Tenggara swiftlet on the way to the boat yesterday. The sea watching produced both white-tailed tropicbird and red-tailed tropicbird. What a treat. Bulwer’s petrel, (pictured), great frigatebird and red-footed booby were among the other birds seen. In some ways it was good that there was a heavy wind and the seas were a little snotty yesterday. We might not like that weather but the ocean-going birds sure do.
18 species, 6 lifers
Tanahjampea and Kalao
“So when the day comes to settle down
Who's to blame if you're not around?
You took the long way home
You took the long way home”
“Take The Long Way Home” Supertramp
What a great day of birding. We took two tender boats to the shore of Tanahjampea this morning. I walked barefoot to shore. The beach sand was wonderfully soft and the water was very warm. Is this really birding?
I put on my socks and boots. Soon we all set off down a paved road and then turned onto a dirt road. (The dirt track was actually a major thoroughfare with many motorcycles going by during our birding there.)
We saw Flores Sea sunbirds almost immediately. A very dark colored sunbird. Then we tracked down Tanahjampea monarch, (pictured), one of the big targets of the trip to this island.
Now I have to talk about a bit of a controversial topic. Was the Supertramp fantail, (pictured), named after the band Supertramp or was it named after The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by William Henry Davies, the book that Supertramp the band was named after? Two schools of thought exist on this one and I’ll admit it, I like Supertramp’s music. What isn’t in question is what a beautiful bird the Supertramp fantail, (pictured), is. It’s gorgeous and we got many great views of it.
Red-chested flowerpeckers also showed very well in the morning.
After a wonderful morning of birding we went back to the ship on the tenders. Delicious avocado juice with vanilla milk was waiting for us. As we ate lunch we sailed to the next island we were birding, Kalao.
The Kalao blue flycatcher was the first bird we found and we got good views of this very jumpy bird. We then got spectacular views of an elegant pitta, (pictured),a very well named bird. As we walked through a teak forest a Flores Sea cuckoo-dove, (pictured), answered our call and showed very well. What a big bird. These were our big targets for the afternoon. It was wonderful to know that we got all of our targets for the day.
We went back to the ship and after some looking, we saw two yellow-crested cockatoo. They are listed as sensitive and are critically endangered because they have been trapped for caged pets. So, so sad.
What a wonderful day of birding.
42 species, 9 lifers
Gerygone and Snorkeling
September 14, 2026
We sailed all night. I’m rooming with Pete, a great guy from New Jersey. Our berth is right beside the engine. I heard the engine slow down about 2:45 AM and I knew we’d arrived at our next destination, Kalaotoa.
Breakfast was at 5:00 and we were headed to the island by about 5:30. Another sandy beach approach. In a matter of a few minutes we found our key target species, the rufous-sided gerygone, (pictured). We birded for about four hours. The other highlight bird for me was a flyby elegant imperial-pigeon.
We got back to the boat about 9:30 after we walked through kelp and mucky sand because of the tides. The next adventure was snorkeling. I wasn’t going to do it because I haven’t snorkeled in years. But then I thought, what the heck, I will be here exactly once.
The staff on the boat took good care of me preparing. They helped me pick out a snorkel and fins and they helped me adjust them. About six of us went snorkeling.
When the tender took us to the drop off spot everyone else jumped into the water. I was a bit hesitant but eventually I slid in. One of the staff was in the water with us and he was basically me shadow to make sure I was okay. I swam towards the pier and once in awhile he would point me towards better coral. I saw a plethora of colorful fish and swam through a school of light blue fish. The coral was beautiful as well and there were stunning blue starfish too.
After about half an hour I was ready to come in. I climbed aboard and the tender took me and Edwin another birder back to the ship. A freshwater shower, a cup of ginger tea and a towel awaited. What a super fun outing.
We’ll soon begin sailing and will sail through the afternoon and the evening to our next stop. I will be up on deck looking for pelagic birds and I’m sure I won’t be alone. If we find anything special I will add a postscript.
We just got interesting news. There’s a storm a brewing in the water we’re headed into and because of it we won’t be sailing till 4:30 AM tomorrow morning. We’ll do another session of birding this afternoon and evening on Kalaotoa. Life on the ocean.
30 species, 2 lifers