Sumatra & Java Part 3

Friday 7^th

With bags packed we loaded up and left the hotel at the ridiculously early time of 2am as we had a longish drive to the airport. Once checked in we had breakfast in a café and waited for our flight to Padang on Sumatra. It was a 90 minute flight and we landed at 8.30 where a few House Swifts were flying around. We loaded our bags into a minivan and headed off for our long drive to our accommodation. There was no time for birding stops but we managed a few at various rest stops; only a few birds were seen while driving such as the inevitable Cattle Egrets and the occasional Long-tailed Shrike.

The roads were slow and winding through the hillsides and we often got held up by slow moving trucks but in the end it wasn’t too bad. The original ETA was about 9pm but fortunately that was very pessimistic and we actually arrived in daylight at 5.30pm. The homestay where we were going to be based for three nights was by the main road and fairly basic.  

Saturday August 8^th

We left the hotel at 6 and birded the lower slopes of the montane trail of the volcano. It's another popular trail for trekkers and many had gone up in the night to reach the peak for sunrise.

There was a quite a bit of activity and among the commoner birds we saw Shiny Whistling-Thrush and Sumatran Blue-Robin, our first Sumatran endemics. 

Shiny Whistling Thrush

We went to a little hide off one of the trails and saw Sumatran Peacock-Pheasant but there was no sign of any pittas. At another hide there was a pair of Salvadori’s Pheasant. 

Salvadori's Pheasants

Sumatran Peacock-Pheasant

Along the trails were a group of Red-billed Partridge and some roosting Sumatran Frogmouths.

Sumatran Frogmouth

After lunch in the forest we continued working the main track and  saw Black-browed Barbet and Sunda Owlet before it was time to head down and back to the hotel.

Black-browed Barbet

Sunda Owlet

Black-crested Sumatran Langur

 

Sunday August 9^th

An extremely long and arduous day in the field began with breakfast at 5am and a short drive to the start of the forest trek. We started our ascent at 6am and it wasn’t too long before we were rewarded with the early start by seeing a Schneider’s Pitta on the track which we then enticed into a little clearing with some mealworms for an extended view, although it was too dark for photos.

As we climbed up, a few more birds that we had seen yesterday began to appear. We passed yesterday’s highest point and then the track got a lot steeper. We reached another rest area where a couple of us stayed behind to rest and have lunch while the others ploughed on and eventually got their Sumatran Cochoa. It was a popular rest stop with groups pausing on their way up and down and the squirrels took advantage of the free handouts.

Black-striped Squirrel

Niobe Ground Squirrel

Salvadori's Pheasant

We all met up and spent more time resting and waiting for the sun to go down so we could try for night birds. We heard Rajah Scops-Owl but couldn’t see it and saw a close Salvadori’s Nightjar. We then had a very difficult walk down in the dark with only a few torches between us but luckily made it to the bottom without any casualties. By the time we got back to the hotel it was 9pm so we had a quick dinner and retired as we had an early start in the morning.