Moluccas Birding: Into the interior deep forest

Into the interior
Park ranger will act as your guides for longer treks into the park; supplies can be bought in Wahai. The best birding route is a circular, 7-10 day trek from Wahai to kanikeh and Selumena in the Manusela valley, returning to Wahai via the Kobipoto ridge and the Mual plains. However, many people like to trek across the island, continuing on from Selumena to Manusela and then crossing the Binaya ridge to Mosso on the south coast. A third option is to return from Selumena to Pasahari by a less interesting, 3- day hike down the Isal valley, which forms the eastern border of the park. The village of Kanikeh, at the entrance to the cultivated Manusela valley, is a 4-day walk from Wahai (3 days if you relly move).

Spend the first two days on the trail that leads to the village of Roho; it passes through a logging concession where the forest is disturbed, but this does not detract from the birding. Raucous screeches will alert you to groups of Salmon-crested Cockatoos, either flying overhead or collecting in a roosting tree. Listen also for the strident call of the Lazuli Kingfisher, sitting high on an exposed vantage point. Other notable species on this part of the walk are likely to be Forsten’s Megapode (recently split off from orange-footed Scrubfowl as a separate species), Pale Cicada bird, Moluccan Cuckoo-shrike, Spectacled Monarch, Streak-breasted Fantail and Long-crested Myna.

After Roho, the trail enters uncut forest and steadly climbs a ridge. The forest here is stunted and bird densities are relatively low. However, views of Moluccan King Parrot, Blyth’s Hornbill, White bibbed Fruit-dove, Golden Bulbul and Rufous Fantail will maintain your interest until, after 3-4 hrs, the trail drops down to the Wasa Mata river and an overnight shelter.

If your time is limited you may wish to press on to Kanikeh, a further 4- to 5-hr walk. But this section of the trail passes through a beautiful mosaic of bamboo and mid-montane forest which is worth giving time to, especially as it is the habitat of the fabulous Purple-naped Lory. Which feeds on flowering rattan or the red fruits of a climbing pandan.

The inhabitantsof Kanikeh, a village of 60 houses on a ridge above the Wae Ule river, have supplemented their meager incomes for at least 50 years by catching Purple-naped Lories and trading them on the coast. Using a decoy lorry, villagers attract wild lories to nylon snares wrapped around exposed branches. A good decoy lorry is a treasured family possession. Around Kanikeh look out for Drab Myzomela in the tree tops. Bicoloured Darkeye is common in the area and there is a good chance of Nicobar Pigeon, Cinnamon-chested Flycatcher and Black-fronted White-eye.

Source: Birding Indonesia. Periplus Publishing. Singapore

Moluccas Birding: Getting Wahai

Wahai
The pleasant coastal village of Wahai is a day’s journey from Ambon. Early each morning direct buses leave Ambon’s Merdeka bus terminal, cross to seram by ferry and continue to saka, a small collection of huts and a jetty nestling by the side of enormous cliffs on Seram’s north coast. Public speed boats meet the buses in the late afternoon and whisk you off on an exhilarating, 2-hr dash along the coast to Wahai. As you pass the spectacular limestone cliffs-the end of a rugged ridge which still defies the road engineers-lookout for flocks of migratory Australian Pelicans loafing on sandbanks.

Just 8 km to the east of Wahai is the boundary of a broad swathe of the National Park that sweeps down to the sea. A day spent birding along the road tha runs through it to Pasahari provides a superb introduction to seram’s birds. Species to look for here include Gurney’s Eagle, Oriental Hobby and Pacific Baza soaring over the forest edge, Lazuli Kingfisher in partially cleared areas, Metallic pigeon, Claret-breasted Fruit-dove and Long crested Myna in the swamp forest and common bush-hen in the grasslands.

< You will soon be over familiar with the ubiquitous, explosive pprow calls of seram friarbird, the island’s most common endemic. It is so accurately mimicked by the black-naped oriole that most people leave seram unsure wheter they have relly seen the oriole. With the help of the National Park Rangers, a number of pleasant “off road” excursions can be arranged in this area: you can walk to the edge of the mangroves or through the swamp forest, or even float down the rivers to the sea on a bamboo raft.

Either on the way out or back (depending on the tides) check out the mangrove-lined mud-flats in air besar bay, just 2 km east of wahai. There are usually a few Australian ibises around and good range of shorebirds-and possibility of Channel-billed Cuckoos-in the migration season. The small patch of forest behind the quay is good for common Paradise-Kingfisher.

Source: Birding Indonesia. Periplus Publishing. Singapore