Halmahera Birding

In order to go for a good birding trip, we need to have a good guide and plan the trip during the right season. But in most cases, we might not be able to go during the right season as we have work and personal commitments. So the best way for me is to go for my trip whenever I have the time and let’s nature take its cause.

This time around I decided to explore Halmahera and was hoping to see Wallace’s Standard wing up close and personal. Standard wing is a species of the bird-of-paradise. The local called it Bidadari Halmahera. I fancy the local name more as if you translate Bidadari to English, it will be translated to “Angel” or “Fairy”.

When I contacted Monal to arrange for the trip, he told me that this is not a good time to go to Halmahera as it’s monsoon season now. I agreed with him but I also told him so let’s just go and see what we can find there together. He was reluctant initially but finally agreed.

Upon learning my decision to go to Halmahera, my good friend offered to lend his 1DX as he said my 7D mark 2 will not be good enough for the trip as the lighting in Halmahera is very challenging. I would like to dedicate all these shots to my good friend and I am grateful to you for your kindness.

I was mentally ready to bird in the rain and very low shutter count. But on this trip, I experienced equal excitement and anxiety at the same time. Almost most of the things that I could think of. I shall share with you the challenges first and the rest as we go along.

1st was the weather.

I flew through Manado when going to Halmahera and I was expecting good weather in Tangkoko but unfortunately it was raining when I flew in and out. On the other hand, I was expecting bad weather in Halmahera but fortunately, I got great weather in Halmahera when I was there.

2nd is the Nature events of bigger things.

Two years ago when I visited Tangkoko with my friends, Mt Lokon erupted. This time around I experienced the earthquake tremor during my first night at Manado around 10.30 pm. I felt like I was like sleeping on a waterbed. That night we had an M6.8 earthquake 156km NW of Ternate. Please see the below link for the earthquake details. I could not stop thinking about it during the whole trip.

http://earthquaketrack.com/q…/2014-11-26-14-33-43-utc-6-8-39

3rd is bird photography.

Oh no… the bird flew behind me… Oh no… the bird just flew past in front of me… Oh no.. the bird is so near that I cannot shoot… Oh no… by the time I set up my gears… the bird already flew away. Oh no… after soaking in the rain… I got zero shutter click…

And the worst part… when you missed it…u missed it for good. The birds will fly far far away…

I guess it’s a long intro up there… let’s start with the journey.

Let me start with the last bird I shot in Halmahera as this is the most difficult journey for me on this trip.

The journey

We left at 2.30 am and drove for about 1 ½ hrs to the ranger’s place. The ranger’s place is located at the entrance of the nature reserve. The ride got winder and bumpier as we got close to the nature reserve. I got a mild headache when we arrived.

At the ranger’s place, we were served breakfast. The hot tea had helped to recover my system and I was all ready for the tough walk ahead of me. It’s about a 3 KM walk one way from the Ranger’s home to the Standard wing location. We were walking in pitch-dark with each one of us equipped with our own torchlight. We have to cross a few streams, climbing up and down the trails with slippery boots. Halfway through the trek, I had to give up my overshoes as I was not able to cope with the slippery muddy trail. Back to my trusted normal trekking shoes and walked through the streams. I have to cope with wet feet, socks, and shoes throughout the journey.

As we got near to the destination, we could hear the Standard wing calls and that made me excited. At that point, I felt a sudden burst of energy in me. Finally, we reached our location after 1 ½ hour trekking through the forest. I had to make sure that I kept in phase with the rest as I need to make sure that I was not left behind haha.

The other thing that I find very interesting is that there is a huge amount of dead corals present in the forest. Reading through the internet, I understand that the islands there is form from volcanoes emerging from the sea. These dead corals made trekking more challenging as you have to be very careful when walking and moving your tripods.

Upon reaching the location, I have to wait for a while before the sun is up. I got only about an hour to get a photo of them before they started to fly away. The birds were high up in the canopy and most of the time they were blocked and backlight.

Finally, I would like to thanks Monal Capellone and his team that made this trip possible for me to see Bidadari Halmahera and my friends here in Singapore who shared their Halmahera experienced before the trip. 

Halmahera – Paradise for Birds, Hell for Photographers

It has been a long journey, one hour from Singapore to Jakarta, stayed overnight at Jakarta airport, woke up at 3 am (2 am Singapore time) in the morning to catch 5 am flight to Manado, then transited to Ternate, reached at local time 11:45 am, drove to the jetty, another 45 min speedboat ride, then followed by a 5-hour drive (of course we stopped by to shoot birds along the way), reached Weda Resort around 6:30 pm, it was dark, very dark by then.

Never heard of Halmahera before till Wong Lee Hongposted his Standard Wing in Birder’s group and Simon Quek recommended it to me. Understand it is a bird paradise with many Halmahera Endemic (not just Indonesia) birds, was excited before the trip. The reality is, yes, it is a paradise for birds, or maybe even for birdwatchers or twitchers, but from a photographer’s point of view, though the word “Hell” is a bit exaggerated, it is really a challenging place, especially comparing to other places we have been, such as Thailand. Many birds, we had never been able to see them but only hear their call, such as Common Paradise Kingfisher, Ivory Breasted Pitta, and more, needless to say, to record them on our sensors. Besides, situations such as high up on the tree tips, low light or backlit, dense leave block, far distance, fast-moving or skittish birds, plus the steep slope, muddy trail, and uneven ground, make the photography of bird a real difficult and sometimes frustrating job. Remember read an article before saying birding is light exercise leisure, shooting bird in Halmahera has never been light, one better prepares yourself physically before going to this place. 🙂

Though it is a tough place for bird photography, well, we still very much enjoy our stay in this amazing place, very good experience and eye-opening. Thanks to Monal Capellone who made it happen and everything possible for us, despite last min hiccups (which almost ruined our visit since the originally engaged guide flew us kite even though he had taken the deposit without refunding ), turns out, we were able to stay and birding at a much better place, the Weda Resort with relatively easy access to our target bird (comparing to the original arrangement). It is really 塞翁失马焉知非福呀. Highly recommend Monal, a very responsible tour organizer.