Sumatra & Java Part 1

Thursday July 30^th

I booked on the Sumatra & Java Rockjumper trip which began on August 1st in Jakarta. Although I’d been to Indonesia four times before I hadn’t visited Sumatra before and had only overnighted on Java at an airport hotel so these were two new islands to explore. I elected to stay at Heathrow so booked a room at the Holiday Inn Express at T4 and arrived there mid-evening.

Friday July 31^st

I had breakfast at 6am getting a free upgrade to the Brasserie as the ‘guest of the day’ before checking out and walking over to the terminal to the Etihad bag drop and was quickly through to airside by 7am. My flight to Abu Dhabi wasn’t until 9.30 so had a bit of a wait before boarding.

We landed at 19.45 and went straight to the gate for the next flight to Jakarta which should have departed at 21.35 but didn’t take off until gone 11pm due to congestion in the safe Middle East air corridor.

Saturday August 1^st

We landed in Jakarta on the Indonesian island of Java at 10.10, about 40 minutes late and then had to wait ages for my luggage which appeared to be the last one off the plane. I quickly zoomed through immigration and customs (all online and completed in advance) and was met by a local Rockjumper rep and whisked to a nearby airport hotel where I could relax for the rest of the day until the first meet up for dinner at 7pm. W discussed plans for the following day and retired early to catch up on sleep as we had an early start tomorrow.

Sunday August 2^nd

Breakfast was at 5am and then we had a short drive down to the river mouth where our introductory birding was a boat trip on Jakarta Bay. 

Grey sky & sea in Jakarta Bay at sunrise

Mussel beds

Fishing platforms

We went through the mussel beds and out past the fishing platforms. At the edge of the mangroves and on the mud were various herons and a few waders with the first specialities being Milky Stork and Sunda Teal. 

Javan Pond-Heron 

Milky Storks

Sunda Teal

All the mud was covered in plastic waste and the whole bay smelt of sewage as most of Jakarta’s waste is dumped into the bay. We got out on a bank and saw Bar-winged Prinia, Javan Munia and Freckle-breasted Woodpecker. 

Bar-winged Prinia

As we got further out into the bay we saw our first Christmas Island Frigatebird then carried on to a wooden structure where a group of them were roosting along with a few Lesser Frigatebirds.

Little Tern

Little Black Cormorants

Juvenile Lesser Frigatebird (flying)

Female frigatebird sp

Male Christmas Island Frigatebird

On the way back we detoured to another spot where a few Javan Plovers were making their living on the waste-coated mud before docking at 11.30.

High rise tower blocks overlooking the mangroves

We stopped for lunch along the way on a long drive to our next stop at a forest, arriving mid-afternoon. First up were a pair of roosting Javan Frogmouths before we were ushered into a hide where Javan Banded Pitta came in along with Black-chested and Temminck’s Babblers. 

Javan Frogmouths

Female Javan Banded Pitta

Male Javan Banded Pitta

Arboreal Monitor Lizard sp

We stayed until dusk and saw Javan Owlet and several Large-tailed Nightjars before going to our hotel. 

Monday August 3^rd

We went out pre-dawn for some more owling and saw Sunda Scops Owl and Spotted Wood Owl in the hotel grounds. We carried on birding in the forest for several hours where there were plenty of birds such as Drongo-cuckoo, Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, Grey-cheeked Green-Pigeon and Yellow-eared Barbet. 

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker

Yellow-eared Barbet

Common Flying Lizard

We had breakfast in the field then birded for a bit longer, adding Black-collared Barbet before it was time for a long drive to our next hotel, stopping for lunch at a restaurant along the way.

Field breakfast