Introduction
Sonder is a small subdistrict town in Minahasa regency of North Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. It is surrounded by hills, valleys, rivers, farmland, waterfall, and villages. It is a great destination for visitors who are interested in wildlife and nature especially tropical birds, butterflies and forest.
 |
| Sonder town is surrounded by hills, valleys, forest and farms |
The following tour program will allow participants to explore the forest and farmland of Sonder to watch various species of birds that occur in Minahasa peninsula of North Sulawesi.
 |
| Pygmy Hanging Parrot |
We will meet you at the hotel or airport of Manado city. After that we will organize your transfer by car to Tomohon town or Subdistrict Sonder depending your choice of accommodation in this tour. It takes around 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the traffic condition. Check into hotel or homestay. You could take a rest for 1 to 2 hours.
After that we will start our birding tour by visiting a slope outside Tomohon town that goes to Rambunan village of Subdistrict Sonder. We will do roadside birding to find such birds as Black-billed Koel, Bay Coucal, Hair-crested Drongo (white-eyed), Collared Kingfisher, Black-naped Oriole, Sulawesi Cuckoo-dove, and etc. As we walk down the slope of this Minahasa highland that consists of mountains, hills and deep ravines, we will be able to see various kinds of trees that grow on both sides of the road. They include coconut, aren palm tree, duku, spathodea, clove, durian, rambutan, and other tropical trees that are the natural habitat of these birds of Sulawesi.
 |
| Sulawesi Drongo in Sonder's farm forest |
We will return to your hotel or homestay before dark. Dinner is usually served at 19:00 local time.
Night birding will be organized for participants to see Sulawesi Scops Owl and Speckled Boobook.
 |
| Sulawesi Scops Owl at the outskirts of Sonder town |
Day 2
We will wake up early at 05:30 to make preparations and then have very early morning tea or coffee with some snacks. At 06:00, we will start our birding tour in the higher elevation forest of Sonder. Sometimes the mountain is still covered by fog in the morning. We will look for such birds as Sulawesi Blue Flycatcher, Sulawesi Bush Warbler, Citrine Canary Flycatcher, Crimson-crowned Flowerpecker, Crimson Sunbird, Sulawesi Myzomela, Black Sunbird, Sulawesi Pygmy Woodpecker, Sulawesi Cuckoo-dove, Superb Fruit-dove, White-faced Cuckoo-dove.
When the fog has disappeared, we will continue our birding trip that morning to a flat farmland to look for such birds as Black Kite, Sulawesi Goshawk, Sulawesi Crow, Barred Rail, White-breasted Woodswallow, Black-faced Munia, Gray Wagtail and a lot more.
 |
| Black-crowned White-eye |
We will return to homestay or hotel for lunch and rest before continuing our exploration of birding sites in Subdistrict Sonder to lower elevation forest and farmland.
At 15:00, we will go to rice field of Talikuran and Tounelet to look for Javan Pond Heron, White-browed Crake, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Collared Kingfisher, Barred Rail, Buff-breasted Rail, White-breasted Woodswallow, Scaly-breasted Munia and Purple Heron.
We will continue our trip to lower elevation forest around Tincep village. We will look for such birds at Kengkang waterfall as Green Imperial Pigeon, Sulawesi-crested Myna, White-rumped Triller, and Finch-billed Myna and etc. We will do night birding at around 19:00 to find Sulawesi Scops Owl, Speckled Boobook and Minahasa-masked Owl.
Back to hotel, we will have dinner and then take a rest.
 |
| Black-naped Oriole, Sulawesi Pygmy Woodpecker, Pale Blue Monarch, Sulawesi Cuckoo-dove |
Day 3
We will wake up at around 05:30 to make preparations. At 06:00, we will go to Mount Mahawu to look for such birds as Scaly-breasted Kingfisher, Snowy-browed Flycatcher, Sulawesi Pitta.
Back to hotel for breakfast at around 08:00. After that we will continue to Lake Linow to find such birds as White-breasted Waterhen, Pied Stilt, Sunda Teal, Barn Swallow and Javan Pond Heron.
At 11:00, we will return to hotel, check out and organize your transfer by car to Sam Ratulangi Airport of Manado city. End of Tour
Wildlife Trip to Tangkoko Nature Reserve
Or if you want to continue your exploration of rainforest of North Sulawesi, we could extend your trip for 4 days/ 3 nights in Tangkoko Nature Reserve where you could enjoy wildlife watching to see Spectral Tarsier, Celebes-crested Macaque, Sulawesi Bear Cuscus and a lot of other birds such as Knobbed Hornbill, Sulawesi Hornbill, Green-backed Kingfisher, Sulawesi Lilac Kingfisher, Ruddy Kingfisher and Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher. An extra trip to Naun River by boat will allow you to see Great-billed Kingfisher, and various species of sea birds such as Pacific Reef Heron, Whimbrel and etc.
 |
| Warbling White-eye |
How to get there?
To take this tour, participants need to fly to Manado city. There are regular flights between Manado and major cities in Indonesia such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Makassar and Sorong cities. They are served by Indonesian domestic airlines: Garuda, Citilink, Batik Air, Lion Air, TransNusa, and SuperAirjet.
Direct flights from Singapore to Manado is served by Scoot Air; and from Guangzhou to Manado is served by China Southern Airlines.
 |
| Car route between Sonder town and Manado city |
For more info about the tour and its cost, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by whatsapp to: peace4wp@gmail.com or through whatsapp by pressing the following button:
No comments:
Post a Comment