Our Lesser Sundas birding tour takes us to this remarkably diverse and rugged chain of volcanic islands stretching across the Javan Sea between Bali and New Guinea, supporting over 80 Indonesian endemic bird species! Our tour visits four of these islands (Sumba, Timor, Flores and Komodo), targetting over 60 of these localized and highly sought-after birds. The Lesser Sundas fall within a region known as Wallacea and its avifauna is a startling mix of Asiatic and Australasian families. Starting and ending in Bali, we explore montane rainforests, lowland monsoon forests, wetlands, mangroves, coastal mudflats, grasslands and dry scrub.

We begin our tour in East Sumba, where mouth-watering specialties include Red-naped Fruit Dove, Sumba Hornbill, Great-billed Parrot, Mees’s Nightjar, Sumba Green Pigeon, Pale-shouldered Cicadabird and the little-known Sumba Buttonquail. Our next leg of the tour takes us to West Timor where avian specialties abound, including some of the island’s most highly regarded species; Banded Fruit Dove, Pink-headed Imperial Pigeon, Flame-breasted Sunbird, Orange-sided and Chestnut-backed Thrushes, Cinnamon-banded Kingfisher, Black-banded Flycatcher, Buff-banded Thicketbird and Timor Sparrow.

We end the tour on the island of Flores, where the magnificent Flores Hawk-Eagle, Glittering Kingfisher, sensational Elegant Pitta, Wallace’s (Flores) Hanging Parrot, Leaf (Flores) Lorikeet and the bizarre Bare-throated Whistler will be among the many targets on the island. One of the undoubted highlights of the trip will be the visit to Komodo Island just off of Flores, where 10ft (3m) Komodo Dragons roam this almost prehistoric paradise along with Green Junglefowls and Orange-footed Scrubfowls. Here we will also seek the beautiful and critically endangered Yellow-crested Cockatoo.

The Lesser Sundas has something very special to offer the keen birder and nature enthusiast and this eighteen day birding tour promises to be a classic among international birding adventures!