I spent 4 days in Halmahera. This, the Northern part of the island was reached by air from Manado to Ternate. The taxi went through the fresh market where all kinds of spices and produce was available. The Moluccas are also known as the Spice Islands.

From Ternate a speed boat took us to the mainland of Halmahera. One nicely paved 2 lane road winds its through a lush and hilly landscape. Most of our birding was done from this road. Many exciting and endemic birds waited a lure within the forests of the island and one by one each species would let itself known. I ended up with 44 lifers only from Halmahera itself.

Birding was rather slow though with low density of birds.
The main reason for coming here is the high number of endemics with some cracking target species such as Wallace's Standarwing, Ivory-breasted Pitta and Moluccan Owlet-Nightjar.

I got the impression that this part, the Northern part, almost had no developments. I have seldom seen such a green rather undisturbed place. But with this nice road and I would assume, mounting population growth at nearby Ternate, one can only foresee a quick exploitation of these rich natural resources.

My personal 'high' was to connect with the Ivory-breasted Pitta. The birds were heard calling all over but it took a lot of work to finally see one.

The trek to see the Wallace's Standardwing, a bird of paradise, was absolutely worth it with several birds displaying in the dark morning hours.

The Common Paradise Kingfisher wasn't that easy to see, though it was seen on a couple of occasions.

The Moluccan Owlet-Nightjar was a 1st of the family for me and a very exciting encounter.
It was taped in.

Parrots were flying about but usually far away with the exception of Red-cheeked Parrot.

In general it was hard to get close to birds and photography proved difficult.
I am including many record shots in this gallery as there aren't that many images of
several of these species online.

I used my Canon 30D and 400mmF5.6, handheld at all times.

Full report is found here: http://birding2asia.com/tours/reports/Sul-HalAugust11.html