Indonesia - Wallacea 2017

This photographic trip took place over three weeks during February/March 2017. The visit proved to be very different in nature to any previous expeditions due to the unique situation in Wallacea.

Overall the photography proved to be very difficult since the areas were generally forest, although often quite open, the birds were not abundant and when we were observing displays these took place early in the morning in poor light conditions. Much of the time was therefore spent searching for a specific bird in a known location rather than randomly observing birds while travelling around. The result was a fairly limited list of birds, many of which however are endemics. It has to be said that although there is a long list of endemics for Wallacea the taxonomic splitters have taken every opportunity to exploit geographical separation of the islands to create new species based on barely discernible differences. More than fifty percent of the birds photographed were endemic and very few of the remaining ones were familiar to us even with extensive experience of photographing birds in Thailand, Malaysia and other parts of Asia.

It has to be said that although there is a long list of endemics for Wallacea the taxonomic splitters have taken every opportunity to exploit geographical separation of the islands to create new species based on barely discernible differences. More than fifty percent of the birds photographed were endemic and very few of the remaining ones were familiar to us even with extensive experience of photographing birds in Thailand, Malaysia and other parts of Asia.