Sumatra & Java Part 5

Thursday 13^th August

We made the most of a good buffet breakfast before departing at 6.30 for the airport and our flight back to Jakarta at 9.30. We only had an hour’s wait before boarding our flight back to Sumatra, this time to Lampung in the south. It was only a 40 minute flight and we quickly reclaimed our luggage and loaded up the next van and were on our way. As it was a fairly long drive, the only stop was for lunch.

Misty mountains

We arrived at the Satwa Elephant Ecolodge at 4.30pm and had a little chill-out time before dinner. Some people birded the grounds as this was our first time in the Sumatran lowlands. 

Elephant Ecolodge

We had an early dinner, just as the Malaysian Eared Nightjars started flying around the grounds. We boarded a couple of open-top safari jeeps and headed onto the forest track to look for night birds and critters.

Malaysian Eared Nightjar

 

First up was Savanna Nightjar hunting over the fields. We could hear frogmouths and owls calling but none came close enough to see. We did see Malayan Palm Civet, Slow Loris and Asian Golden Cat before heading back to camp. There was one last surprise for us, on the way we saw a Buffy Fish-Owl. It had been released into the wild and was surviving well but occasionally returned to habitation.

 

Buffy Fish Owl

Friday 14^th

An early start with breakfast at 4.30. We headed just into the forest for our first major target: Bonaparte’s Nightjar. It didn’t take too long to appear at the designated spot but it didn’t land long enough for decent photos. It flew around and landed briefly several times then headed off into the forest.

Bonaparte's Nightjar

As the forest gradually woke up, the birds began to appear and we spent the rest of the morning birding the main track in several places. Barbets, Babblers and Bulbuls were much in evidence as this was our first taste of Sumatran lowland forest, there were plenty of new birds for the trip. Woodpeckers were frequent with Grey and Buff, Buff-necked, Buff-rumped and Banded all seen in quick succession.

Black-and-Yellow Broadbill

Buff-rumped Woodpecker

Crested Goshawk

Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker

Red-naped Trogon

Ruby-cheeked Sunbird

Rufous-winged Philentoma

Activity had died down by midday as the temperature climbed into the 30s so we went back to the lodge for lunch and a siesta. We went out again at 3pm, starting with Black-thighed Falconet in the garden, then back into the forest. 

Black-thighed Falconet

A Grey-chested Jungle-Flycatcher was enticed out of the deep forest and performed right next to the track for us. 

Grey-chested Jungle-Flycatcher

Lizard sp

We stayed out after dark and saw Brown Wood Owl and Reddish Scops Owl as well as two roosting Malayan Crested Firebacks and some roosting Kingfishers before heading back for a lateish dinner.

Brown Wood Owl

Reddish Scops-Owl

Malayan Crested Fireback

Rufous-backed Dwarf Kingfisher

Rufous-collared Kingfisher

Saturday 15^th

Another early start with a 4.30 breakfast as we headed back into the forest to look for night birds but couldn’t locate any this time. 

We also tried for White-winged Ducks but the pools had almost dried up and there was no sign of them either. What was left of the pool was enough for fish and a flock of about ten Small-clawed Otters spent some time fishing in the deepest pool. There were also signs that Asian Elephants had been there during the night.

Asian Small-clawed Otters

We spent some time looking around the clearing and got Banded Kingfisher, Drongo-Cuckoo and a fly-over Violet Cuckoo. Back on the track was Dark-throated Oriole, Yellow-eared Spiderhunter, Rufous Piculet and an assortment of other birds including trogons and malkohas and a very confiding Green Broadbill.

Asian Green Broadbill

Rufous Piculet

We went back to the lodge early and lunched, followed by a well-needed siesta before heading out again at 3pm. The falconet family party were again in the garden.

Black-thighed Falconets

 This time we drove deep into the forest for about an hour, stopping for a few babblers and bulbuls along the way. 

Hairy-backed Bulbul & Rufous-crowned Babblers

At the campsite at the end we were shown some roosting bats: Lesser False Vampire and Short-nosed Fruit Bats. 

frog sp

Lesser False Vampire Bat

Lesser Short-nosed Fruit-Bat

We had dinner in the forest and then spent a long time looking for night birds, particularly frogmouths as we hadn’t seen any here yet. It took many attempts but eventually we saw all three targets: Sunda, Gould’s and Large Frogmouths. As we started to drive back we saw another one of the latter sitting above the track and then a Sunda Scops-Owl so it ended up being an epic night birding session, even if it did mean arriving back to the lodge after 11.30pm.

Gould's Frogmouth

Large Frogmouth

Sunda Frogmouth

Sunda Scops-Owl

Malayan Crested Fireback

Sunday 16^th

With a sleep-deficient night we were all still a bit sleepy at our 5am breakfast and headed back into the forest to try for the ducks again. Unfortunately we weren’t successful but we did manage a few new trip birds in the clearing: Malayan Black Magpie, Blue-throated Bee-eater, Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike and a brief Blue-eared Kingfisher.

Red Junglefowl - the wild ancestor of the domestic chicken

Red-billed Malkoha

On the way back, we stopped by the river and added Green Imperial Pigeon (or GIMP), White-bellied Woodpecker and Orange-backed Woodpecker, our final new birds for the trip. 

Green Imperial Pigeon

White-bellied Woodpecker

Entrance to the park, an example of how to waste money

New road and fence to prevent the elephants leaving the park

There were plenty of large houses under construction outside the park

We returned to camp, packed up and departed mid-morning to drive back to Lampung Airport and a flight back to Jakarta.

As we all had various flights departing after midnight we returned to the Orchardz Hotel where the trip started and had our final dinner together before saying our goodbyes and heading home. 

Our stops in Sumatra & Java

Sumatra & Java Part 4

Monday August 10^th

We left the hotel with bags packed at 4am and drove for two hours. Breakfast was taken at a homestay and then we transferred to a fleet of 4x4s to get to the park. We had one major target this morning so we tried not to spend any time looking for other birds along the trail. After an hour we arrived at the spot and the mealworms were scattered around a clearing. With hardly any waiting time the first of two Sumatran Ground-Cuckoos appeared, looking more like a pheasant than a cuckoo. This had been a really difficult bird to see for a long time before these birds became habituated at this site.

Sumatran Ground-Cuckoos

They were still feeding in the open after half an hour as we got up to walk away and let the next group in. We took our time walking down so we could look for other birds and caught up on Sumatran Drongo, Sumatran Bulbul and Sumatran Flowerpecker, a trio of endemics.

Red-bearded Bee-eater

With the sun out and a wide track with plenty of low vegetation and mud, there were lots of butterflies, more than we’d seen in total on the whole trip so far. We had lunch at the park entrance and there were a few birds to see as well and I also found a Lesser Death’s Head Hawkmoth. 

Lesser Death's Head Hawkmoth

Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike

Scaly-breasted Munia

We walked back along the track for a while before hopping back into the 4x4s. We had a much needed cold drink back at the van before driving to the next hotel which was about an hour away, arriving in daylight for a change.

Tuesday 11^th August

We left the hotel after a 5am breakfast and went into the forest. Sumatran Trogon showed well and a few babblers moved through the trees, shortly followed by a couple of Sumatran Treepies. 

Sumatran Trogon

Sumatran Treepie

As the forest continued to wake up, gradually more birds began to show. We went to a little stream and waited behind a screen. Sunda Forktails were feeding by the stream but it wasn’t them we’d come to see. After a few minutes, a Graceful Pitta appeared, anxious not to miss out on the new supply of mealworms that had been scattered around. It was a little skittish but eventually gave really nice views. 

Graceful Pitta

Sunda Forktail

The other target was Marbled Wren-Babbler but there was no sign of it so we wandered off. However, it came in shortly afterwards so we went back and saw this normally skulking bird feeding right out in the open. 

Marbled Wren-Babbler

The sign says 'do not litter'!

We spent the rest of the day birding the roadside at various elevations. Blyth’s Hawk-Eagle flew over as did a pair of Rhinoceros Hornbill in the afternoon. 

Asian Fairy-Bluebird

Black-and-Crimson Oriole

Fire-tufted Barbet

Temminck's Sunbird

Sumatran Flowerpecker

Whiskered Tree-Swift

Grey-bellied Bulbul

Pig-tailed Macaque

We went searching for various bulbuls and managed to locate Grey-headed, Spectacled and Scaly-breasted. Towards dusk we drove back up to the top of the pass and saw a few Sumatran Green-Pigeons fly over before going to a spot to try some owling. It took quite a while but eventually a superb Rajah Scops-Owl came in and sat in the spotlight for ages.

Rajah Scops-Owl

Wednesday 12^th August

We checked out of the hotel at 5.30 and went back to the pass in the forest. No more Green-Pigeons were seen so we worked the lower slopes for the rest of the morning but it was a bit slow going. We were particularly looking for leafbirds but could only manage Blue-winged Leafbird rather than the hoped-for endemic. Lots more bulbuls were seen before it was time to leave for the long drive back tp Padang. 

Cream-striped Bulbul

Wreathed Hornbill

We stopped for lunch en route at a small out of the way restaurant which probably doesn’t get a lot of westerners as the owner insisted on having her photo taken with all of us.

At another rest stop late afternoon we saw a little flock of Baya Weavers and some Asian Glossy Starlings. We arrived at our rather nice hotel in Padang just before 8pm and barely had time to drop off our bags before heading down to dinner but at least we didn’t have an early start in the morning.