Sangihe is the largest of a group of 77 islands (47 inhabited) strewn between North Sulawesi and the Philippines. Sangihe is almost totally covered in mixed plantations but the island’s four endemic species, Red-and-Blue Lory, Sangihe Hanging-parrot, Elegant Sunbird and Caerulean Paradise-flycatcher, can be found in forest remnants surviving on two of the island’s volcanoes, the active Mt Awu in the north and Tamako in the south-west.
Caerulean Paradise Flycatcherwww.biologicaldiversity.org
Getting there
Passenger ferries leave the harbour every other evening at 6.00 pm. Check on the blackboard at the harbour for sailing dates. Fare is $5 for the 12-hr journey; cabins can be rented from the crew for $7. bemos meet the ferry to transport you to the other end of town, where accommodation is concentrated.
Mount Awu
From the terminal take the bus to Talawid Atas (2-3 hrs, IDR 15,000). Get off at the school, walk right along the road and pass a junction after 50 m. after a further 50 m the trail upwards through plantations for 1 hr. it climbs a ridge with forest in the valley on either side and plantations along the ridge top. This trail continues for 3-4 hrs but does not enter forest; however, you can see Sangihe Hanging-parrot and Red-and-Blue Lory flying overhead and Elegant Sunbird in mixed flocks in the plantation trees. This is where the 1995 sighting of Caerulean paradise-flycatcher was made.
source: Birding Indonesia. Periplus Publishing. Singapore