Birding in Karaenta Forest

We left at 4:30 in the morning for Karaenta Forest about an hour from Makassar. Our main targets were two Sulawesi endemics: the Sulawesi Hornbill and the Black-headed Kingfisher.   We arrived at sunrise, pulled over and went for a short walk where we saw the Kingfisher. Mike got a good photo in spite of the poor early morning light.

 The best part was that we were accompanied by stray kittens on the walk. 

 We left the kittens behind and drove a few minutes farther up the road, where we went for a hike. We passed some local homes until we came to a narrow path through dense forest that made it hard to see the birds we could hear. We got brief views of a blue monarch and a Black-ringed White-eye. We saw the Sulawesi Pitta, but it was deep in the leaves. Chris spotted a Yellow-sided Flowerpecker, but it was too quick to photograph.

 On the hike back, we spotted three or four hornbills, and one male posed long enough for a photo. We even got a better view of the pitta. 

Although we found our target birds, it was a bit frustrating flying 10,000 miles and driving two hours to see a kingfisher for 30 seconds and a hornbill for a minute. 

 On the drive back, we stopped for a small bowl of Coto Makassar, a traditional Sulawesi beef soup which you eat with rice wrapped in leaves.

 We got back to the hotel a little after noon, showered, ordered room service, and fell asleep about 2:30, ruining our acclimation to the time zone.