To begin this quest, in Ternate we met up with our friends from Bar Harbor, Maine and whom we traveled with in Oman, David and Shira. David is working on the same project as Stewart but in a different providence. They flew in from the Island of Ambon and met us at the harbor where we hopped onto a speed boat and in 45 minutes we landed at the docks on Halmahera Island in North Maluku. And were greeted by many villagers and our driver who would drive us to the resort and happened to be our birdwatching guide.
This photo was taken from the viewing scope with Stewarts iPhone
Halmahera is the largest island of 1,500 islands in the North Maluku province. There are 17,490 Islands in Indonesia. We new we had a 3 hour drive through the rain forest and the mountain range that reaches 1,560 meters at it’s highest point. We drove through many colorful villages and the people outdoors noticed us white folk driving through giving us smiles, yelling: yea mister and waving hello. The drive had many sharp curves and washed out sporadically through out the whole drive. My body was happy when we stepped out of the car.
Stewart had made these plans awhile back. With the knowledge of Wallace’s studies in this area and talking to the locals. Stewart found out about Weda Reef & Rainforest Resort on the far side of the island that sits in a protected cove and is in a protected area. This resort is part of the Ecotourism foundation. The proceeds from our stay (after cost) goes to this foundation. The land consist of 1,200 hectors of tropical rainforest to protect the birds that live there. The owner then built a small humble resort with a 6 or 7 bungalows and a lodge for guest to come and stay. There is solar power for lights and hot water for showers. As hot as it gets I’m not sure why one would want a hot shower. There is snorkeling, diving and birding all serviced with professional guides. The price includes transportation 3 meals and snacks and a coast line you can get lost in.
We had signed up for a bird guide to take us to see the Bird of Paradise with an early morning departure. Breakfast was served at 5:00 AM and leaving at 5:30 sharp. We needed to be at the sight in the forest before it got light outdoors. Bed time was early that evening and I refreshed myself from the hot sticky humid air by drenching cold water from a barrel with a scoop before I went to bed. During the evening I was woken to the sounds of rain, thunder and lighting. It continued until we woke up in the early morning. I laid in bed and listen to a lovely bird song coming from the forest that hugged the shoreline.
We took off sharply at 5:30 with 2 guides. We all had flashlights and followed the guide into the rain forest on a small narrow path, which only the guides would know the path was there. I thought I was so smart to have my hands free, head lamp from LLBeans. It had rained all night which made the falling leaves that blanketed the narrow path and the wet clay soil, a tad bit challenging; so watching each step we took was imperative. At one point I realized I was swatting at little flies and mosquitoes from my face. And then it registered to me, this is why I’m taking malaria pills. These bugs/flies were beginning to bother me as I kept my eyes on the placement of each step hoping to not slip and fall or twist my ankle. I had visions of some crazy movie where someone always falls down a cliff and rolls through the forest floor and landing on a bed of snakes. I then realized my headlamp was attracting this nuisance to my face. So I took off the head lamp and carried it like everyone else and was then free from it all. I got a good chuckle from that.
It was so quiet and still within this forest, I was thrilled to be out under the canopy of tall trees while brushing against the low brush of mini palms and young ferns and who knows what other plants were there. Now, this is an adventure. I told myself. We hiked for about 15 to 20 minutes and I loved every moment of it. As we proceeded in line one by one following the leader, whom which I was behind and having total trust in his knowledge of where to step, I only had to follow. At one point he stopped and shined his flashlight on this little bird roosting on a low branch not too far from where we stood. I thought to myself how did he know to stop there. Probably by experience.
We walked a little further and the leader stopped and suggest to those who where chatting to be quiet and listen. I was just beginning to see the light between the leaves in the trees and birds began to sign their morning songs. At some point there was a different song than the others and it was being repeated from one area to another. Back and forth it went. The bird guide took his green power point light and shown it onto a tree branch which pointed to the Wallace Standard Winged Bird of Paradise. Sure enough there it was. I couldn’t see any color on it due to the fact that there was not light enough. As it became lighter they kept up their matting ritual of singing back and forth to one another. Just listening to that was worth the miles traveled to get there in the middle of the mountains in a rainforest. The habit of the bird, as far as I could see, is they roost, call out and then fly around a bit then go back to the same place. On and on they went. As it got lighter out I could begin to see the color and markings. We were observing a male and heard the female. At one point there were 3 males but I could only briefly see them all.
This Wallace Standard winged bird of paradise’s wing span was a little over a foot, although it seemed larger to me. It could be because I’ve never seen anything like it before. It reminds me of a ballerina floating through the air like an angel, with the wings spreading gracefully in an arc with a tribal crown that appears above the wings, framing its head and beautiful turquoise torso.
I took all these photos they are blurry not to my standards but you can see how fabulous they show off and how magnificent they are. I was amazed that any photos came out due to how far I was and the size of my lens.
According to, “A Guide to the Birds of Wallacea” by Brian J Coates and David Bishop their description is perfect.
Range: Endemic to the North Maluku. 1. Halmahera. 2. Kasiruta, Bacan. 27cm
Inconspicuous and difficult to observe and, but for its has a distinctive contact calls, easily overlooked. However, produce a distinct wing-rustling in flight.
At dawn, and to late afternoon, groups of 3 – 30 males display in the forest canopy while producing a cacophony of calls. On approach of a female, males go into a frenzy and perform a unique aerial display in which they leap vertically 2-11 m into the air and descend, parachute-like, on fully extended and vibrating wings with the wing-plumes fearing iridescent green shield (Bishop 1992a: Frith 1992).
It was now time to leave the area after 2 1/2 hours of total entertainment and continued looking for more birds. In all, we saw 14 different bird species thanks to the two bird guides we had with us. I also saw a few different butterflies with yellow and black markings, along with orange and white ones many different sizes and species. The most I’ve seen since arriving in Indonesia.
These photos are from Stewart and myself
My thoughts have been on Wallace and his work. While walking through this lush rainforest I kept thinking of Wallace and how he must have been doing the same type of thing in this area 100’s of years ago when discovering the theory of evolution. Because of the time he spent on the islands in North Maluku and with his scientific research Wallace had the information he needed to write his letter to Darwin. It took 3 months for that letter to reach Darwin and that is where the controversy began. Darwin used Wallaces information and took much of the credit for the Theory of Evolution.
Now I sit on the porch in the shade of our bungalow on this hot, humid afternoon listening to other birds singing new songs while looking out on to the ocean. Snorkeling is next on the list this afternoon…but for now I will rest and take in the experiences of watching The Bride of Paradise.
Photo by David Manski
We have now gone to three different reefs snorkeling. There is one right outside our bungalow which was an easy access and the reef was diverse with an assorted amount of small colorful fish. The coral was not as colorful as some I’ve seen. But it’s always wonderful to go out and see what is on the ocean floor.
I have been using some snorkeling gear I got a few years ago but was having problems with my mask filling up with water. I tried a number of things to try to eliminate the problem but finally shouted out to Stewart for assistance who was mesmerized snorkeling and diving down closer to the reef. At first he didn’t hear me and as I watched him go further away from me. So I raised my voice. By the time he reached me I was feeling very anxious and was trying to explain my problem. Stewart said I was yelling…..I guess I was more nervous than I thought.
Years ago when I started snorkeling I was told to not touch the coral. The area we were in was shallow which made it hard to stop snorkeling and fix the mask without changing my position in the water and not touching the coral. All in all I guess i was freaked out seeing Stewart getting further away from me. He tried to help me eliminate the problem of my mask leaking but it wasn’t good enough. So we went back to shore, by then it had been an hour and I was done for the day anyway.
This morning we went out on a boat to two different reefs not far from one another. I borrowed a mask from the dive shop and it worked much better. We got to see some great coral and fish. If you have snorkeled before you understand the feeling one gets when viewing the underwater world. If you haven’t snorkeled I’d highly recommend trying. There is nothing else like it. It’s so peaceful and tranquil but there is also a fear factor (I wish Jaws had never been made) yet it’s a way of exploring the unknown at a totally different level. As long as I’m around other people snorkeling I am comfortable.
Thank you David Manski for these photos
We leave early tomorrow morning back to Ternate on Easter morning and will have 2 days left in Ternate before flying back to Jakarta.
My quest to see a Bird of Paradise has been successful and will be a memory forever.
At 5:30 am we took off into the mountains and were chatting about our adventure while driving into a small village. In the middle of the road the driver slowed down to a stop. It was still dark and it looked like the whole village was awake and were carrying torches walking down the road. I instantly remembered that it was Easter. They were signing a song back and forth to each other and stopped at a little church. As soon as we saw them we asked the driver if we could get out of the car. We jumped out and slowly followed them. I was so touched by this experience. By taking part in a little of a sunrise procession. When we drove past them we had our heads out the window and when they noticed us driving by many waved and shouted out hellos. Obviously this village was not Muslim.
My camera was in the back of the truck all tied up and I was not going to pull it out. David took some photos. It was a prefect way to start this Easter morning.
Happy Easter and spring to you all.
Sauntering new roads with Ruby Begin reading from the bottom Oct 2016 