Birding Moluccas: Halmahera island
Standardwings and Invisible Rails
Ferry is one of water transportation who can be choiched to this island, the view to the left is of a crane in the Barito Pacific log-pond, loading a barge destined for the plywood factory on Ambon. But to the right is scene as pristine and beautiful as any you will find in Indonesia: a creek winds away through mangrove forest towards a backdrop of forested hills.
This is Halmahera, in shape a Celebes in miniature, with few people, few roads and vast forests, where logging has yet to make a significant impact. For birders it is home to 24 species of bird found nowhere else in the world, including the aptly named invisible rail and Wallace’s greatest find-the standardwing bird of paradise. For decades an island so far off the beaten track that only one ornithologist ventured there between 1932 and 1986 Halmahera is now a surprisingly easy place to see some very special birds.
Source: Birding Indonesia. Periplus Publishing. Singapore