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 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.