Back to Timor

Left the homestay at 5.30am which was a little bit of a lie in after our early finish last night – and much appreciated. Headed off to the coast near Waingapu, stopping to flush a few Brown Quail along the way in a roadside field. After a bit of phaffing around the town for fuel we quickly got Broad-billed Monarch in the mangroves before reaching the Yumba wetlands and had an hour to find a few goodies before our morning flight back to Timor. Yes our crazy schedule, thanks to the local airlines has really cocked up our time on Timor, means that we have lost a day there and thus a few endemics. Not a happy chappy this evening! Anyway, around the pools we had several Javan Plovers, Australasian Swamphens, some close Australian Pratincoles, and some Wandering Whistling-ducks, whilst a perched Lesser Fish-eagle was a surprise. 

Australian Pratincole

Leaving here it was just a short drive to the airport and our flight took off on time and after an hours flight we touched down in Timor - once again. The luggage arrived in double-quick time and we set off back to Bipolo Forest, but this time drove out into the ricefields. Several new birds were found quickly, including Barred Dove, Black-faced Woodswallow, White-faced Heron, and a flyby Australian Pelican. Our search for Timor Sparrow only resulted in a couple of the group seeing it, but Five-coloured Munia, Blue-breasted Quail, Black-winged Kite, Spotted Kestrel and a bunch of other birds were seen to make it quite a profitable session. Once again we ended up at a lovely hotel and had a wonderful meal and cold beers – so lovely to have a hot shower after 3 nights of cold bucket washes at the homestay in Sumba.