Hiking Tour and Birdwatching in Sonder of Minahasa

Most visitors who travel to North Sulawesi want to spend their holiday doing scuba diving and snorkeling in Bunaken, Siladen and Lembeh Strait. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of other tourist attractions in the region. One of them is the natural landscape, flora and fauna of the mainland Sulawesi. The highland of Minahasa is a beautiful destination for visitors who love hiking, birdwatching, butterflywatching or wildlife watching in general. 

Walking tour in Sonder town of Minahasa Highland

Sonder town in Minahasa regency is a good destination. It is a recommended base for visitors who want to explore the nature, and culture of the Minahasan people. Sonder has got forest, farmlands and rice fields and villages which tourists can visit. 

Terraces of Paddy Fields in District Sonder of Minahasa

The small forest of Tounelet Slope in Sonder is the habitat of various species of birds including Chestnut Munia, Scaly-breasted Munia, Black-naped Oriole, Sulawesi Cuckoo Dove, Slender-billed Crow, Sulawesi Hanging Parrot, Sahul Sunbird, Slender-billed Crow, Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Grey-sided Flowerpecker, Yellow-sided Flowerpecker, Black-crowned White-eye, Collared Kingfisher, Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon, Eurasian Treesparrow, and etc. 

Farmlands, and villages in District Sonder of Minahasa

In the rice field areas of Sonder, visitors could walk along the road to enjoy the beautiful view of the agricultural land with the background hills and mountains of Minahasa. Birds such as Barred Rail, Cinnamon Bittern, Black Bittern, White-breasted Woodswallow, Chestnut Munia, Scaly-breasted Munia, Eastern Yellow Wagtail and White-browed Crake are some of the birds that can be watched in the area. 

More birds could be watched in the forest. They include such birds as Crimson Sunbird, Mountain White-eye, White-faced Cuckoo Dove.

Walking Tour Routes

Hiking trails to a lot of directions of Minahasa can be organized for visitors. One that is good for watching birds and butterflies is the route of Sonder to villages of Rambunan - Sawangan - Pinaras - Rambunan and then back to Sonder. Another interesting route for sightseeing is Sonder - Tincep - Kengkang Waterfall - Timbukar (by White Water Rafting) - Tangkuney. After that visitors can return to Sonder by car. 

Tincep is the village of flowers and butterflies

Tincep is a village that is famous for its colourful flowers, butterflies, water birds and and ricefields. Short trails for guided walking tour and birdwatching can be organized around Sonder farmlands. The walking tour route from Tounelet village to Lalek Forest - Talikuran village and back to Tounelet village is good for sightseeing. 

Tincep village, flowers and waterfall

Lalek forest is also suitable for nature lovers who want to see forest and farmland as well as birds and butterflies. Trees in this forest are tall and are the habitat of Black-naped Oriole, Hair-crested Drongo, Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon, Sahul Sunbird, Hair-crested Drongo, Sulawesi Cuckoo Dove Yellow-billed Malkoha, and a lot more.

Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon

If you are interested in taking a tour in Minahasa and want me to organize your trip, please, contact me by whatsapp to: +6281332245180 or by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com.

Also read:

• Walking Tour in the Farmland of Sonder Town of Minahasa
• Nature Tour in North Sulawesi
• Manado City Tour
• Tour around the farmland of Minahasa
• Trip to Minahasa Highland

Kingfishers in Minahasa Peninsula

Kingfishers are birds with long pointed, and sharp bills that live at beaches, rivers, small streams and ponds. There are also kingfishers that live in the mountains, deep in tropical rainforest. There are several interesting species of them that can be watched in Minahasa peninsula. 

People think that kingfishers eat fish and small crab. Yes, but there are kingfishers that eat lizards and worms that they find in trees of rainforest.

• Great-billed Kingfisher (Pelargopsis melanorhyncha) - The usual site for watching this bird is along the riverside that flows through mangrove forest. This kingfisher eats small fish.

Great-billed Kingfisher

• Collared Kingfisher -  This bird could be watched near water pond, rice field and even the dry farmland. The bird likes to sit alone on a dry branch of a tree. 

Collared Kingfisher in a farmland
at the outskirt of Sonder town

• Green-backed Kingfisher (Actenoides monachus). This bird is usually seen in lowland rainforest of central to northern region of Sulawesi. In the southern region of Sulawesi island, his relative Black-headed Kingfisher can be found. 

According to Wikipedia, Genus Actenoides was introduced by Charles Lucien Bonaparte, a French ornithologist in 1850. In Greek, actis or aktinos means beam or brightness; oidēs resembling. In Late Latin, the word monachus means monk (i.e. hooded); in Greek monachos monk > monos > solitary. 

Green-backed Kingfisher

Ruddy Kingfisher (Halcyon coromanda) lives in lowland forest to lower montane forest. 

Ruddy Kingfisher

Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher (Ceyx fallax) - a small bird that is quite difficult to find. Tangkoko Nature Reserve is the usual place which visitors go to find the bird. Actually, there are a lot of other places that visitors could go to find this bird. Some forest areas in Sonder of Minahasa are also the natural habitat of this endemic bird of Sulawesi.

Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher

Sulawesi Lilac Kingfisher

Sulawesi Lilac Kingfisher

Scaly-breasted Kingfisher (Actenoides princeps). This bird is uncommon. Its habitat is montane forest around 900 to 2100 meters above sea level. Most visitors go to Mount Mahawu to find this rainforest bird. Local guide and tour leader often use the call of the bird to attract the kingfisher to land in the nearby branches. 

Because this practice have been done for years, the Scaly-breasted Kingfishers do not respond the calls anymore. So, I highly recommend that birdwatchers minimize the use of the artificial electronic calls.  Let's leave the bird in peace. If we want to watch the birds, we just do walking tour inside the forest to find them. 

Scaly-breasted Kingfisher

Please, book your Birdwatching Tour

If you are interested in taking a birdwatching tour in the highland of Minahasa and want me to organize your trip and guide you, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by whatsapp to: +6281332245180 or by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com.

Also read:

• Birds in Minahasa
• Birding in Tounelet Forest of Sonder
• Birding in North Sulawesi
• Birds of Sulawesi