By Caleb Ongtenco
Editor’s Note: Caleb started birding at the age of 10. Since 2022, he’s been an associate member of the WBCP. Today, at 15, he already has quite a lengthy life list, often going with his aunt on birding trips. In this issue of eBon, he shares his experience birding Indonesia. All bird photos are by Caleb.
I had only read about the birds-of-paradise in books, and seen pictures of them on the internet. So when my Aunt Helen invited me to go birdwatching with her in Papua, Indonesia, I was very excited! I could finally see them in real life, and see many other new birds along the way. This was going to be my first time traveling abroad with the main intention of birding, and also the first time flying out of the country without my parents. Also, birdwatching had taken a backseat for a while because of school. I was afraid that I would be a little rusty and become a burden to the group, but nevertheless I eagerly jumped at the chance!
After getting permission from my parents and obtaining approval from DSWD, I started preparing for my trip. It would last 10 days, filled with continuous traveling and birdwatching all around Jakarta and Papua. This trip would allow us to hopefully see six different birds-of-paradise species! So, on April 15, the day after my birthday, Aunt Helen, Tita Gwen, Tita Michele, and I went to the airport together to catch an early morning flight to Jakarta.
April 15, Tuesday
After landing in Jakarta, we met up with our main guide for this trip, Mr. Andrew Sebastian. We rested in our hotel rooms until the afternoon, when we decided to go look for some shorebirds along Aloha Beach, a 30 minute drive away from the airport. The beach had restaurants and shops along the shore. Even though the place was very urbanized, we still spotted many different shorebirds here, including Javan Pond Herons, Oriental Darters, and Javan Plovers. After some more light birding we went to eat dinner at one of the restaurants there, then drove back to our airport hotel.
April 16, Wednesday
The next day, we woke up early to board a boat that would take us around Jakarta Bay in search of frigatebirds! On the way to the bay, along the riverbed, we spotted other waterbirds, including Grey and Purple Herons, Javan Pond-Herons, Small Blue Kingfishers, and many others.
Arriving at Jakarta Bay, we set out to find the frigatebirds, which are often seen sitting on bamboo poles on the water. After a monotonous 2-hour boat ride, we finally arrived at the spot. Thankfully, the frigatebirds were there, all lined up in a row. We saw at least 50 Lesser and Christmas Island Frigatebirds in all! Most of them were juveniles though, so they had very dull colors. However, we did see a female Lesser Frigatebird, and several male Christmas Island Frigatebirds, with their red throat pouch. Aside from the frigatebirds, we also spotted endangered Milky Storks riding thermals way up in the sky. We were able to view them well through our binoculars.
After several minutes of taking pictures of the frigatebirds and the Milky Storks, we headed back, spotting some Sunda Teals and a lone Javan Plover along the way. When we returned to the shore, it was noontime already, so we headed back to the airport for lunch.
After eating lunch and resting for a bit, we drove to Muara Angke Wildlife Reserve for some afternoon birding. It was a semi-developed mangrove forest, which really reminded me of Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park. We saw many different birds here, including Javan Mynas, Sunda Collared Doves, Black-crowned Night Herons, Freckle-breasted Woodpeckers, and a whole tree full of Oriental Darters. My aunt and the others also saw a Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler, but unfortunately I missed it. After about an hour and a half of birding, we decided to call it a day, because our flight out to Papua was going to be later that evening. I had an awesome time birdwatching in Jakarta!
April 17, Thursday
The next morning, we landed in Sorong, the second-largest city in Papua. We didn’t stay there for long. After eating breakfast, we took a ferry to Waigeo Island, part of the Raja Ampat island group. After 2 hours of sailing in calm waters, we arrived in Waigeo. We checked into our resort, built on stilts in the sea, and started birding right away! While we were eating lunch and chilling at the resort, we spotted Torresian Crows, Beach Kingfishers, and even an Osprey on top of a tree quite close to us.
That afternoon, our group decided to try our luck and spot the Red Bird-of-Paradise, an endemic to the Raja Ampat Islands. We drove to the opening of a trail and entered the jungle. After 45 minutes of hiking over a steep hill covered with mud, we finally reached our destination, a 3-story hide made by the locals! From the hide, we could see the display tree of the Red Bird-of-Paradise very clearly. With high hopes and big dreams, we waited… and waited… and waited…
By the late afternoon, it started raining, so it really blew our chances of seeing the bird, at least for the day. After the rain stopped, having dipped on the Red Bird-of-Paradise, we decided to go back down. Our plan, though, was to stay in Waigeo for 4 days, so we still had a chance. Even though we were quite disappointed, we decided to look for the Hook-billed Kingfisher, one of our target birds, after returning to the roadside. Our guide took us to a spot just beside the road where the kingfisher normally roosted. Thankfully, the Hook-billed Kingfisher was there, and we were able to get some excellent photos of it until it got spooked by our flashlights. On our way back to the resort, we also saw a Papuan Frogmouth sitting on a telephone wire! This unanticipated sighting capped our first day in Waigeo Island.
April 18, Friday
We woke up very early to try and spot the other bird-of-paradise in our checklist, the Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise. We hiked up another trail, fortunately shorter than the first one, and arrived at a hide 20 minutes later. According to the guides, the Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise had been seen every morning at that place. This made us very optimistic. Sadly though, it never came, so we hiked back down to the roadside after about two hours of waiting. At this point, we were very disappointed because we failed to see both birds-of-paradise during the two days we were here! We hoped to make up for it with better birding in the afternoon.
After lunch, we went driving around the island, stopping at many different sites by the roadside to look for our other target birds. Luckily, it had just rained during lunchtime, so many birds were outside, sitting on bare branches preening their feathers. We saw many different birds, including Black Sunbirds, Mustached Treeswifts, Pinon’s Imperial-Pigeons, Blyth’s Hornbills, Papuan Eclectuses, Rufous-bellied Kookaburras, Palm Cockatoos, and a Glossy-mantled Manucode, among many others. It was a very rewarding afternoon, and probably our best day of birdwatching in Indonesia.
April 19, Saturday
We decided to try and look for the Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise again, so that morning we hiked back up to the hide. But this time, after just an hour of waiting, the bird DID show up! It perched on a low branch while our whole group was frantically taking pictures and tripping all over one another inside the hide. After a few minutes, it flew to its display court and cleared some of the leaves surrounding it. Sadly, it did not perform. Nevertheless, we were more than ecstatic! After the Wilson’s Bird-of-Paradise finally flew away, we congratulated ourselves and headed back down the trail, finally content.
After eating lunch and resting for a while, we decided to go around the island again to look for even more birds. We weren’t as lucky as the last afternoon, but we did see quite a lot of new birds, including Rainbow Bee-eaters, Coconut Lorikeets, Sulfur-Crested Cockatoos, and a Great-Billed Parrot. The next day would be our last chance to see the Red Bird-of-Paradise, as we were scheduled to head back to Sorong that afternoon. We went back to our resort and prepared for tomorrow, praying for all the luck we could get.
April 20, Easter Sunday
Early that morning, we hiked up the long, muddy trail again to the hide and anxiously waited for the Red Bird-of-Paradise to arrive. We were quite optimistic because, compared to two days ago, the sky had no clouds and it was very sunny. However, after another three hours of waiting, the the bird never showed up. We stayed in the hide until about 9 a.m., when our guides told us that the Red Bird-of-Paradise wasn’t going to be active anymore because it was already too late in the morning. With heavy hearts, we had no choice but to dip on the Red Bird-of-Paradise again.
After we went back down to the forest clearing near the roadside, we continued to look for birds. We saw quite a lot, including a Sahul Brush Cuckoo, a Papuan Hanging-Parrot, and a beautiful Golden Monarch. But what happened next might have been the most unbelievable birding experience I have EVER had so far! As we were standing there, we heard the Red Bird-of-Paradise call, and it sounded like it was nearby. After a few seconds, our guides saw it and pointed it out to us! We crossed a small creek to get a better view of it, and took a ton of photos of the bird just perched on a branch. I could NOT believe that after all the hiking, we would spot the Red Bird-of-Paradise near the road! We called it “An Easter Miracle” as our group cheerfully got ready to drive back. That was truly amazing!
At noontime, we freshened up and prepared for our ferry ride back to Sorong, where we would be staying for the next three days. There, we would have a chance to see three more species of birds-of-paradise! Arriving in Sorong a few hours later, we decided to relax for the afternoon and spent our time in the hotel.
April 21, Monday
We woke up very early, as we wouldn’t actually be birding in Sorong. The site we were going to, Malagufuk, was a village two hours away by car. We were hoping to spot three different birds-of-paradise: the King, Twelve-wired, and Magnificent. Upon arriving in Malagufuk, we went birdwatching by the roadside for a bit. We didn’t see much, but we did hear the King and Twelve-wired birds-of-paradise call from inside the forest. We stayed for about 15 minutes before going on the boardwalk and into the jungle. From the boardwalk, we saw many birds, including Black-sided Robins, Yellow-capped Pygmy-parrots, Wompoo Fruit- doves, Western Crowned Pigeons, and a Yellow-breasted Boatbill. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any birds-of-paradise during our walk, although we did hear them occasionally.
After a quick lunch break, we resumed birding along the boardwalk, adding some new birds to our life list, including a Common Paradise-Kingfisher and a Papuan Pitta. We still didn’t spot any of the birds-of-paradise, so we left the boardwalk after a few hours.
Instead, we decided to look for the Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise, which had a display court some distance from the roadside. We ventured into the forest and reached the hide in about 10 minutes. However, luck wasn’t on our side, because after about 45 minutes of waiting, the Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise never showed up; so we left disappointed. We didn’t see any of the birds-of-paradise that day! Tomorrow would be the last day of birding for this trip, so we would need to have an incredible amount of luck to be able to see all three birds-of-paradise.
April 22, Tuesday
We went back to Malagufuk to enjoy our last day of birdwatching in Indonesia. We immediately returned to the Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise’s display court. Not long after we arrived, we saw a male and a female perched on a branch. Unfortunately, there was no performance, but we were still very delighted to have seen at least one bird-of-paradise on our list.
After some more birding along the boardwalk, we saw several other birds, including Frilled Monarchs, a Ruby-throated Myzomela, and a Red-breasted Paradise-Kingfisher. At that point, it was already noontime. Our flight back to Jakarta was very early the next morning; so we had to leave for Sorong to prepare for our departure. Although we only saw one out of the three birds-of-paradise in our target list, we were still extremely grateful for our experience.
April 23, Wednesday
After saying goodbye to Mr. Andrew, who had another tour in Sorong in a few days, we headed to the airport to catch a flight to Jakarta. Landing at noon, we decided to spend our day sightseeing! We went to the National Monument (also known as the Monas) and to Old Batavia, where we saw many colonial-period buildings. At sundown, we headed back to the airport to catch our midnight flight to Manila, where we landed in the morning.
Final Reflections
My birdwatching experience in Indonesia was one of the best that I’ve ever had! We traveled to so many places and visited a lot of cool birding sites. We spotted many rare and beautiful birds everywhere we went, and the birds-of-paradise were amazing! But aside from adding 79 birds to my life list, this adventure also taught me important life lessons: how to be responsible for my things, how to be more patient, and how to be more respectful.
This trip to Indonesia was the first time I left the country without my parents, and I was pretty nervous in the beginning. But looking back at it, I realize that I had such a great time there. I was surrounded by kind and passionate people at every point of the trip, and the atmosphere in the group was always very welcoming and friendly. Tita Michele and Tita Gwen motivated and energized me and entertained us with their interesting stories. Mr. Andrew made sure we saw as many birds as possible and managed to make us laugh, even during the disappointing parts of our trip. My Aunt Helen took very good care of me and made sure this trip would be a memorable one. And it was! Terima kasih Indonesia!