Tangkoko continued
On 3rd November we visited the Tangkoko National Park which is walking distance from the lodge, though we travelled there by minibus. We arrived early in order to see Spectral Tarsir, the world’s smallest Primate – which we saw well at its roosting site in the crevices of a strangler fig. We also saw Bear Cuscus, though this was less photographable high up in the canopy. We also did well with most of our target bird species here, particularly kingfishers and owls. The rangers’ knowledge of the location and habits of the species was impressive.
There is also a monument to Alfred Wallace here in the park. Wallace spent much time in Indonesia. He noted the major difference in Passerine families present in the west compared with the east of the archipelago, with a fairly sharp dividing line between Sulawesi and Ternate/Halmahera. Asian families predominate in the west eg bulbuls, thrushes, while Australasian families predominate in the east eg honeyeaters, whistlers. This gave rise to the notion of biogeographical zones with Wallace’s line forming the boundary between the Asian and Australasian zones.
It was while he was ill on Ternate that he put pen to paper and wrote a 3 page document citing the processes of natural selection as the means of speciation. He sent this document in a letter to Charles Darwin who plagiarised it in his Origin of Species. During the lunch break I went snorkelling from the nearby beach. The area was a little limited but contained numerous coral and fish species and the water temperature was like a warm bath. In the afternoon we returned to the national park but didn’t find much that was new. On the morning of 4th November we returned to the overlook for a further session of static birding and saw very few birds. Then we returned to the national park and did some short walks on the trails and to the beach. |
3rd November: 21 species seen; 9 new for me
4th November: 22 species seen; 0 new for me
4th November: 22 species seen; 0 new for me