Paul Matson's Birding Blog: Sumatra & Java, July 2018

I have so many potential destinations I would love to visit that I've never been to before that I am spoilt for choice when deciding where to go next. My limiting factor, is often the choice of dates when I can go away is restricted due to work commitments so I have to pick my dates first then find out what trips are running in the available time slot. Which is how this trip to Sumatra and Java fell into place although it is very much a destination I wanted to visit.

The trip was split into 2 parts, firstly 13 days in Sumatra, concentrating on 3 sites. Gunung Kerinci, The Tapan Road and Way Kambas, and secondly 9 days in Western Java, focusing on Gunung Gede, Gunung Halimun, and coastal forest at Carita and sites around Jakarta Bay. 'Gunung' means Mountain and the majority of time in the 3 weeks was spent up and down forested volcanoes.

The yellow pins give an indication of the approximately where we visited.

SUMATRA

Saturday 7th July

After a long flight to Padang via Singapore and Jakarta, I had an overnight stay in Padang before meeting up with the group the next day. I was pretty groggy when I got to the hotel around 6pm after all the travelling, but the World Cup was on, and England were playing their quarter final against Sweden at 9pm local time. I failed to find any TV channel or Internet service to watch the game, so settled for Radio 5 commentary which I really enjoyed and got a decent nights sleep after the game finished. Shame that the next match was out of technology range... and we all know now what happened.

View from hotel window in Padang, the fruiting tree just down to the right held a few birds

Sunday 8th July, travel to Kerinci

I saw the first few birds of the trip out of the hotel window early in the morning (some 40+ hours after leaving the UK !). A Coppersmth Barbet, Yellow-vented Bulbuls, Spotted Dove, Pacific Swallow and Edible-nest Swiflets. I met with the rest of the Group at the airport just after midday, there were 8 of us in total 4 Brits, 1 Dane, 1Australian ,1 American, and 1 Hungarian, which included the well-travelled Dave and Sue from Yorkshire who I'd already met at Heathrow on the way here. plus Janos who was our excellent leader.

Throughout our trip we were accompanied by a driver, a local rep and often additionally a site guide, I have to say the general logistics and how these individuals looked after us was exceptional.

We had a decent tiger-orange minibus for our transport, which was comfortable enough and importantly with working air-conditioning, as we set off for a long and slow 8 hour journey to the small village of Keresek Tua, our base for the Kerinci stay.

All local taxis in Padang were Orange min-buses - and had mostly been 'pimped' !

Monday 9th July to Thursday 12th - Gunung Kerinci

Gunung Kerinci is the tallest active Volcano in Asia and is renowned for slow and difficult birding, where the mountain does not give up its prizes easily, it was key, therefore, that we had sufficient time and attempts to try and see as many of the speciality birds as possible. Many of the specialist birds are true forest skulkers and noticeably quite a few of these birds have bright metallic blue element to their plumage which is often only visible when seen well.

Our base was in the homestay of Pak Subandi, which is in the village of Keresek Tua, and overlooks the tea plantations that lead up to Kerinci. In theory you have a view from the front of Pak's homestay over the tea plantations up to the cone of the volcano, although this doesn't work in the dark or with low cloud. The mountain has a single well-used trail that rises to the summit. The mountain is a magnet for climbers to the summit and at weekends the trails become so busy, the disturbance has the potential to make birding difficult, so our visit had been well timed to be there midweek. We still encountered a number of hiking parties but they did not affect our birding and everyone we met was extremely friendly.

The first couple of days we had heavy rain, with the morning night birding and dawn session being a complete wash-out on the second we didn't leave the homestay until later in the morning. There had been a significant amount of rain as well before we arrived which made the trail exceptionally muddy and suitable only for welly boots. We all seem to have suitable clothing for the condition except for our American traveller, Marcel, whose luggage hadn't arrived, so he gamefully made do with running shoes and a T-shirt.

We set off on our first morning full of anticipation, the minibus took us on a 10 minute journey to the start of the trail and we soon arrived at the forest edge, with us was Pak's nephew Dewi, who had a fantastic local knowledge of the birds.

Within the first hour we stumbled across a pair of Red-billed Partridge and whilst watching them a pair of Salvadori's Pheasant came into view, this was only a hundred metres from a small clearing where a female Schneiders Pitta was feeding a young bird and whilst we were watching the Pitta a Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant briefly chased the Pittas away. This was astonishing, within the first hour of being in the forest we had amazing views of 4 of the main target species it takes some birders days to even get a glimpse. We had no doubt that this amazing luck would probably not continue but we continued to add species such as Lesser Shortwing, Sumatran Trogon, Large Niltava and arriving at an area called base camp we were shown a pair of roosting Sumatran Frogmouths.

We spent the rest of the day and into dark birding up and down the trails up to Air Minum and finishing on the forest edge, the day slowed, particularly in the afternoon, we did add several more species including local specialities such as Rusty-breasted Wren-Babbler, Sumatran Wren-Babbler, Rufous-vented Niltava, Black-capped White-eye, Shiny Whistling Thrush, Brown-winged Whistling Thrush, Sunda Warbler, White-throated Fantail and more birds that were to become daily sightings, such as Long-tailed Broadbill, Grey-throated Babbler, Golden Babbler and Snowy-browed Flycatcher. we were very satisfied with our first full days list of birds.

It had started to rain as we left Kerinci at dusk and we concluded the day back at the homestay with some food, a cold beer and a cold pan of water over the head !

Our first view of a male Salvadori's Phesant

female Schneider's Pitta

with worms for young

Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant

Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant

Juvenile and female Schneider's Pitta

Sumatran Trogon

Large Niltava

Sumatran Frogmouth

Sumatran Frogmouths

It was heavy rain all night and even though we were up before 4.30am, there was no way we were going out in the weather, the night birds were off the menu to start, so were hung around at the homestay until around 10.30 when there was a little more light, although it was still pretty wet. A definite switch to wellies, meaning that you could wade through the mud, but the climbing the trail was a little more awkward than it would have been in walking boots.

Even though the conditions curtailed the length of the day a little, we fought hard with the Kerinci mud and still managed to see many of yesterdays specialities with good views of Salvadori's Pheasant, a male Schneider's Pitta, the Sumatran Frogmouths, we actually managed exceptional views of these species and despite the dark forest gloom managed some ok photos as well. We also added some new species, mainly because we encountered a couple of canopy flocks, such Fire-tufted Barbet, Grey-chinned and Sunda Minivet, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Pygmy Wren Babbler , Blue Nuthatch, Sunda Robin and Little Pied Flycatcher. Arguably, the best new bird was when we were about to leave the forest, having decided that there was no way any night birds would be out early in this weather we found a pair of calling Barred Eagle-Owls.

Mammals seen included, Common Treeshrew, Siamangs, Black-striped Squirrel, Three-striped Ground Squirrel, Black Giant Squirel, Low's Squirrel and Slender Squirrel

We returned to Pak's for the same routine as the previous night.

Early morning view in the rain to Kerinci !

This was the point we decided it had cleared sufficiently to go out.

A flat bit of the trail in the Kerinci mud.

male Salvadori's Pheasant

female Salvador's Pheasant

female Salvadori's Pheasant

male Schneider's Pitta

Sumatran Frogmouths

Sunda Robin

female Snowy-browed Flycatcher

A wet Barred Eagle-Owl

Breakfast in the homestay.

This was my en-suite, a plastic bin of cold water with a pan to wash and flush with.

We knew that our best chances to see the Sumatran Cochoa were higher up Kerinci, so with the weather looking marginally better, we committed to start pre-dawn and go up Kerinci to Camp Cochoa, which is around 2,300m. Our morning ascent again added a few species, including 2 Collared Owlets (Sumatran Owlets), Black-browed Barbet, Common Green Magpie, Cinereous Tit, Blyth's Shrike Babbler and Temmincks Sunbird. As we reached the higher elevations some of the species started to change with Mountain Leaf Warbler, Sunda Bush Warbler, White-browed Shortwings, rather than the Lesser Shortwings lower down.

As we approached the track to Camp Cochoa, we had a thin high pitched call of the Cochoa and after a short wait the bird thankfully flew in to a nearby fruiting tree and for the renowned elusive Sumatran Cochoa we had really good views, which made our day.

We had seen Sumatran Surilis and a Yellow-throated Martin to add to the mammal list.

We waited at Air Minum until dark and when we heard both Salvadori's Nightjar and the Rufous Woodcock, the nightjar giving the briefest of silhouette views, we had no further luck on the way down other than a roosting Sunda Cuckoo. We heard both Mountain Scops Owl and Rajah Scops Owl but both were brief and distant.

Sumatran Owlet

Sunda Bush Warbler

Sumatran Cochoa

Fire-tufted Barbet

Sumatran Trogon

On day 4, having been successful with most of Kerinci's specialities we had a change of plan this morning , which was to go to the top section of the Tapan Road as Dewi had a site for the Graceful Pitta. It was a clear bright morning and we left shortly after dawn. We were unsuccessful with the Pitta, although we heard it calling, the Pitta's favoured position seemed to be taken by a couple of squirrels and a Treeshrew, but we did add some new species with the change in location. Blyths Hawk Eagle, Green-billed Malkoha, Giant Swiftlets, Maroon Woodpecker, Black-and-crimson Oriole, Sumatran Drongo, Sumatran Treepie, Fulvous-chested Jungle Flycatcher, Sunda Forktail, Orange-bellied Flowerpecker, Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird, two of the endemic Bulbuls in Spot-necked and Cream-striped and Spot-necked Babbler, but the best bird of the morning was eventual good views of the incredibly skulky Marbled Wren Babbler.

Black-striped Squirrel

Black-browed Barbet

Marbled Wren-Babbler

The same view to Kerinci from the Homestay except now it's visible

This is the homestay ! - They are building an extension, it doesn't look attractive but was comfortable enough

The afternoon and into the night we were back on Kerinci, trying for a few species we had not yet found such a the Pink-headed Fruit Dove, Sumatran Green Pigeon, the Woodcock and any Owls, conclusion was we didn't see any of the above, and it was 11pm by the time we were back at the homestay, however the assessment of the last few days was we had been incredibly successful and we still a final try on the mountain in the morning.

Sumatran Surili

Mountain Tailorbird

Blue Nuthatch

Friday 13th July to Tuesday 17th July - Kerinci to Tapan Road

We had a few hours in the morning just covering the lower slopes of Kerinci before decamping from here and driving to Sengai Penuh, our base for the Tapan Road.

Our final success on Kerinci was finding a group of 5 Sumatran Green Pigeons that had eluded us to date and we added White-rumped and White-headed Munias on the journey. We arrived late afternoon in Sengai Penuh at the Aroma Hotel. We were initially concerned as to which particular aroma the hotel had based it's name on. The rooms had the traditional Mandi (the bucket of cold water and pan), so no luxury. The additional feature of this hotel was that it was surrounded by competitive mosques and the closest one had wired its sound system into the hotel corridors which meant that the call to prayers were exceptionally loud and frequent. It probably helped us that our breakfast time was 4.30am which was approximately when the first bout started, although one morning they obviously tried to get ahead of their competitors at 4.15am. … the extra 15 minutes counts so much when your sleep has been lacking!!! . The eating arrangements for these few days were all cardboard box, which usually included fish, and here you either got the head or the tail end, literally.. just as well we weren't here for the food, it was the birds we were after.

We were obviously up early and out on the road to arrive at the start of the Tapan Road before dawn, the plan for the first day was to start in the top section and work our way down throughout the day we started at 1300m and ended at 750m, this compared to Kerinci where we started at 1300m and ended at 2300m. The birding was largely on the road, with occasional forays into the forest, although there were no tracks so it was just a matter of pushing through the undergrowth. We were not unduly bothered by traffic and a noticeable feature of Indonesian roads was the driving culture was not at all aggressive and the horn was generally used politely, so despite the procession of large trucks they tended to rumble past slowly with a polite 'toot' on their air-horn.

Our success of the day was seeing a Graceful Pitta although it was harder work than we had hoped and took a couple of attempts of a bird calling close-by before eventually we had a full but brief view of one through the undergrowth. The change in altitude and terrain increased the number of species seen and it meant we had a full list at the end of the day, there wasn't much in the way of night-birding here so we returned to the town by around 8pm.

Other species seen over the course of the day included ; Red-billed Malkoha, Dark Hawk Cuckoo, Whiskered Treeswift, Bushy-crested Hornbill, Blue-crowned hanging Parrot, Black-and-Yellow Broadbill and lots of Bulbuls Grey-bellied Bulbul, Cream-vented Bulbul, Red-Eyed Bulbul, Ochraceous Bulbul, Hairy-backed Bulbul, Sunda Bulbul, Cinereous Bulbul. Chestnut-crowned Warbler, Asian Fairy Bluebird, Greater Green Leafbird, Blue-masked Leafbird, Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker, Red-throated Sunbird, Van Hasselt's Sunbird, Yellow-eared Spiderhunter.

Birding along the Tapan Road

and occasionally off into the forest

Blue-masked Leafbird

Fire-tufted Barbet

A dreadful picture, but this was the Graceful Pitta

Spot-necked Bulbul

Black-capped White-eye

Dark Hawk Cuckoo

Orange-bellied Flowerpecker

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner provided by Mantap…. Did we love it ?

The fish head was disguised in the green sauce...mmm

Dark Hawk-Cuckoo

The routine the next day was the same, although we chose different elevations on the road, spending the morning in the lower elevations down to 680m and the afternoon from the top of the road to about 1200m

We saw more raptors today, Crested Honey Buzzard, Blyth's Hawk Eagle and Rufous-bellied Eagle showing along the ridges, we spent quite a while trying to locate fruiting trees with the hope that the bird flocks would concentrate on these as well. The Sumatran Leafbird continued to elude us and one probable individual in a mixed flock, shot away before ID was clinched.

We saw other new birds for the list including Silver-rumped Spinetail, Orange-breasted Trogon, Red-head Trogon, Golden-whiskered Barbet, Blue-eared Barbet, Banded Broadbill, Silver-breasted Broadbill Scarlet Minivet, Grey-bellied Bulbul, Spectacled Bulbul, Horsfield's Babbler, Plain Sunbird, Thick-billed Spiderhunter, and luckily a close view of the elusive White-tailed Flycatcher.

We also had more views of local endemics such as Sumatran Drongo, Sumatran Treepie, Sumatran Green Pigeon, Bue-masked Leafbird.

Crab -Eating Macaques, Sumatran Surilis, Siamang, Plantain Squirrel were added to the mammal list for Tapan road although most views were rather more distant than we had on Kerinci.

Cream-Striped Bulbul

Red-throated Sunbird

White-tailed Flycatcher

Little Spiderhunter

Sumatran Treepie

Long-tailed Broadbill

Brown Cuckoo-Dove

The view at Sunset as you descend form the Tapan Road looking back towards Kerinci

Monday 16th July

Our final full day on the Tapan Road, saw us testing the various elevations, starting higher up at a particular fruiting tree that had been quite productive, a Lesser Yellownape was one of the first sightings, then a real surprise when Janos found a Sumatran Laughingthrush (Chestnut-capped) which was one of a pair. We had been struggling to find some of the Sumatran specialities knowing that some previously abundant species were fast disappearing and the laughingthrush was one of those birds, favoured by trappers, that was now on the hard-to-find list.

We also saw another Graceful Pitta, although view were again fleeting. We still had several new species including Banded Kingfisher, Red-throated Barbet, Sooty Barbet, Sunda Cuckooshrike, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker and more views of Sumatran Trogon

We also saw Siamang, Sumtran Surili , Crab-eating Macaques and a Yellow-throated Martin.

We returned to Sengai Penuh for a final cardboard box meal, mosque shouting and a pan of cold water over the head.

Blyth's Hawk Eagle

Yellow-throated Marten

Sumatran Green Pigeon

Sumatran Surili

Green-billed Malkoha

Sunda Forktail

Whiskered Treeswift

Little Cuckoo-Dove

Final sunset on Tapan Road and last view of Kerinci

Tuesday 17th July - Tapan Road to Padang

This morning we stopped only in the lower sections of the Tapan Road for a couple of hours before the long drive back to Padang for an overnight stay, again the lower elevation helped us to find a few new species for the list. We lucked out on the Sumatran Leafbird, which has been disappearing in numbers, with the amount of trapping being the biggest culprit along with habitat loss. We did see a close Rhinoceros Hornbill and also Wreathed Hornbill. Luckily, the elusive Rufous-chested Flycatcher and Blue-winged Leafbirds were in greater numbers in the lower elevations.

The journey back to Padang was long and uneventful, although we did see a couple of Woolly-necked Stork by the roadside.

We stayed overnight in a decent hotel in Padang before the flight tomorrow, it was some relief to encounter a hot shower after 9 nights of the pan-of-cold-water-over-the-head routine.

Woolly-necked Stork

Wed 18th July - Journey to Way Kambas

Today was a travel day to Way Kambas. We had an internal flight to Bandur Lampung which was via Jakarta, or two internal flights to be exact as the route was more painful than it should have been, but we arrived mid-afternoon at the very nice lodge just next to the park entrance in time for some lunch before an evening and night drive into the park itself. The climate was different here, being very hot and slightly sweaty but low altitude, flat, forest country.

Our first outing was intended to be just a taster for the next few days but shortly after entering the park we had a pair of Storm's Stork on a high tree before they flew off, we had several views of Crested Fireback mostly just off the track and just before dark a Rufous-collared Kingfisher. We had also seen a Black-eared Pygmy Squirrel. As the dark descended our first night-bird was found on a branch over the track, a Large Frogmouth. which gave great views. The best was still to come, as we picked up an Owl calling in the forest, we all headed off into the undergrowth and after about 30 mins of tracking, Janos expertly found the Oriental Bay Owl, which gave excellent views and is quite a prize bird.

We ended the day after 10pm very pleased with the first Way Kambas excursion.

Oriental Bay Owl

Large Frogmouth

Thursday 19th July - Way Kambas

For this full day in Way Kambas we had an early start for night birds, leaving the lodge at 4.15am, firstly on-foot just inside the park gates and successfully found a Sunda Scops Owl. We then relocated to the edge of the forest along the road and had a double-success when both Large-tailed Nightjar and the local endemic Bonaparte's Nightjar which were both seen in quick succession.

Following this and just before day-break, we re-entered the park and journeyed slowly towards the second bridge area to have some breakfast , seeing more Crested Firebacks, and then start to walk and bird at first light, the track branched off to a very large reinforced gate, which turned out to be the Rhino enclosure, where the park authorities are rehabilitating around a dozen Sumatran Rhinos. We did not see any, just their daily rations which arrived on a convoy of scooters.

A bird list commenced with Black-bellied Malkoha, Checker-throated Woodpecker and Red-naped Trogon.

As the morning continued, a theme of new species of skulking Babbler developed and slowly but surely we saw Chestnut-rumped Babbler, Chestnut-winged Babbler, Short-tailed Babbler, Sooty-capped Babbler, Rufous-crowned Babbler and Ferruginous Babbler.

We also found a Green Broadbill, not particularly rare but a bird I'd hope to see as I had missed it elsewhere in asia and probably the find of the morning was a Malayan Banded Pitta, a real jewel of bird although as with all Pitta's initially difficult to find.
We saw other more common species such as Lesser Cuckooshrike, Bronzed Drongo,Malaysian Pied Fantail, Black-naped Monarch, Blue-winged Leafbirds and Little Green Pigeon.

As time approached 11am any bird activity slowed as the heat increased, so the plan was to return to the lodge for lunch and a rest. On the way back to the lodge we stopped at some scrubby edged forest and found a Sumatran Babbler (Buetikofferi) a species which until recently was thought to have disappeared from this part of Sumatra. It was in the very plain and dull brown category, but still a good bird to see.

The plan mid-afternoon was to be taken down to the edge of the river to try and find the White-winged Duck. There had ben minimal sightings of this bird which tend to have nocturnal habits so is sometimes seen commuting to overnight feeding areas at dusk. We all piled into the open-topped Landcruiser (safari-vehicle style). The journey went through an area of more open grassland where we saw several Pink-necked Green Pigeons a Violet Cuckoo, Red Junglefowl and Yellow-bellied Prinia before we entered an area of scrub, where the track reduced down to moped width, which meant we were hurtling through the bushes (literally) and getting covered in branches and insect-life and in the 30 minute rough-part of the journey I ended up wearing a complete array of ants, spiders, beetles, moths, so much that the others in the seat behind me start narrating in Attenborough-style 'Life on Paul'.

We were then escorted towards the river and a few boggy clearings, the swamp we had to wade through was fairly dry which probably contributed to the duck's absence. We did see a couple of Lesser Adjutants and a Stork-billed Kingfisher on the way to the river, but no sign of any duck as we returned to the swampy area as dark descended we found a Brown Hawk Owl and a good display from 5 or 6 Malaysian Eared Nightjars. We returned to the vehicle and repeated the bush tour
in the dark with the same impact of collecting wildlife species. Into the more open areas we saw a good number of Savanna Nightjars. We continued back into the forest and saw roosting Crested Firebacks and the best bird of the night a Gould's Frogmouth also a few mammals which included a Coluga (Flying Lemur) and Black Giant Flying Squirrel completed a long day, eventually returning to the lodge around 11pm.

After a day and a bit, we had done astonishingly well for nightbirds already.

Green Broadbill

Blue-winged Leafbird

Yellow-bellied Prinia

Lesser Adjutant

Malaysian-eared Nightjar

Savanna Nightjar

Crested Fireback

Gould's Frogmouth

Coluga or Flying Lemur

Friday 20th July - Way Kambas

We started at 5am this morning, for another full day around Way Kambas and spent the morning session walking the trails and track in the forest, with very satisfying results. The focus on new species revolved around Woodpeckers and more Babblers but also a better view of a Malayan Banded Pitta and difficult to see birds such as the Grey-chested Jungle Flycatcher and Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. We found several species of woodpecker in a slightly more open forest area including
Crimson Winged Woodpecker, Rufous Woodpecker, Buff-necked Woodpecker and Buff-rumped Woodpecker. It was late in the morning when we found a pair of the much sought-after Orange-backed Woodpeckers.

We had done well for Babbler species yesterday, but today included some of the more sought-after and more difficult species such as Black-throated Babbler, Fluffy-backed Tit Babbler and
along with the comparative easier Pin-striped Tit Babbler, Moustached Babbler and Scaly-crowned Babbler. Other new species included Velevet Nuthatch and Scarlet-rumped Trogon and Fiery Minivet.
Despite the dry conditions, Leaches had made an appearance on some of the trails, which added to the distraction, biting insects tended to be restricted to horsefly-types rather than mosquitoes.

After our lunch and rest back at the lodge we headed down to the river again, this time for a boat trip, we all piled into the boat and it was largely a slow drift downstream until dark and was very enjoyable and very birdy.

As soon as we were moving White-chested Babbler and Malaysian Blue Flycatcher were seen in the low riverside mangrove scrub with a party of Red-and-Black Broadbills and Blue-Eared Kingfishers darting across the river in front of us. Cinnamon-headed Green Pigeons and Green Imperial Pigeons, flew over in small groups and Blue-rumped Parrots were seen. A couple of Black Hornbills briefly alighted and a Violet Cuckoo made a few passes high over the boat.

We found a calling Red-crowned Barbet and at the same time the large White-bellied Woodpecker appeared. As dusk descended we tried to locate a calling Hooded Pitta, but had no good view from the near riverbank. As we headed back slowly in the dark, spotlighting, we saw Malaysian Eared Nightjars and Savanna Nightjars a Brown Hawk Owl then a Bat Hawk.

We saw some roosting mammals which included Sumatran Surili's and Silvery Lutungs.

We arrived back to the vehicle and drove for a short time before progressing on foot, the vehicle had a problem so we decided to carry on walking assuming we were a large enough crowd not to be picked off by Tigers. Before long we found a Reddish Scops Owl, which pretty much completed our Owl list.

We continued intermittently back in the vehicle which kept cutting out after a few hundred metres, and we started to think the 10km walk back in the dark would not be very welcome as it was already 10pm. Eventually the driver sorted the problems out and we made it back out of the park with a final diversion around the back of the village where we found a Greater Slow Loris trying to hide behind a very thin tree trunk.

Lodge accommodation was very comfortable.

Grey-chested Jungle Flycatcher

Fluffy-backed Tit Babbler

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Orange-backed Woodpecker

Malaysian Blue Flycatcher

Take-away dinner for the Rhinos

Black-and-red Broadbills

Bat Hawk

Reddish Scops Owl

Greater Slow Loris

The river drift

Saturday 21st July -Final day in Way Kambas

We had not given up on finding the White-winged Duck, so that was our target for today, so we had planned an early morning river excursion and then if unsuccessful we would try outside the forest in the evening.

We set off at 4.30am, checking the roadside at the forest edge, seeing the Bonaparte's Nightjar again but also a success with our last new night-bird for the trip a Sunda Frogmouth, which showed well on a tree next to the road. We also saw a Leopard Cat and a Golden Cat in torchlight, although nothing larger in the shape of a Tiger.

We took the track back down to the river just before dawn, seeing more Crested Fireback. We boarded the small boat again and set off downstream seeing White-throated and Blue-eared Kingfisher close from the boat along with the White-chested Babblers and Malaysian Blue Flycatcher, we then disembarked the boat to be led through the forest to some open swampy areas where the duck has been know to inhabit. Even though it was a bit of a route-march we did see Rufous-winged Philentoma and another view of a Malayan Banded Pitta. Arriving at the swampy glades there was actually very little water other than the river itself and there was no sign of any duck, we spent a fair amount of time scanning and waiting, seeing plenty of Cinnamon-headed Green Pigeons and Green Imperial Pigeons a few Rufous Woodpeckers, Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker, Chestnut-bellied Malkoha and Crimson and Olive-backed Sunbirds before we gave up and headed back to the boat and on the way the best bird of the morning when we found a Black-thighed Falconet. The boat journey back just added Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo.

The rest of the morning was spent walking the forest track where the key additions were Banded Kingfisher, Grey-and-buff Woodpecker and Chestnut-backed Scimitar Babbler.
Our final foray after lunch was to a series of fields on the forest edge where we waited until dark for any potential White-winged Duck flyover, ultimately this was unsuccessful but not a surprise, as we had long-before concluded that the disturbance from illegal fisherman to the ducks habitat would keep them from their traditional sites and it was also very dry which meant that the chance of a flyover at dusk was not great. We saw plenty of Edible-nest Swiftlets and Pacific Swallows hawking over the fields and at dusk more Savanna Nightjars. 3 Blue-throated Bee-eaters turned out to be our last new species in Sumatra.

We had a decent last meal at the lodge and were up early the next day to return to Bandur Lampung for a flight to Jakarta to start the Java leg of the tour. Sumatra had been a fantastic success, particularly with the night-birding and had surpassed all expectations.

Sunda Frogmouth

Crested Fireback

Red Junglefowl

JAVA - 22nd July to 31st July

22nd July - Arrival and Travel to Gunung Gede

We arrived at Jakarta around midday, said goodbye to 3 of the participants and met with another 3, we were now made up of 3 Brits, 1 Australian, 1 Belgium, 1 Swede, 1 Dane and 1 Hungarian. Perhaps surprisingly no Americans. We had a similar, but different air-conditioned minibus and set off for the short but long drive. We were warned that traffic on Java was a nightmare and even though our drive on paper was not that far, it was likely to be several hours before we arrived, including having to negotiate a timed motorway closure, where they alternate closing a 4-lane highway in one direction for 2.5 hours at a time. We stopped for lunch, but eventually arrived at the lodgings in the Cibodas Botanical Gardens after 8pm. So it was really a no bird day.

Monday 23rd July - Gunung Gede

Gunung Gede is another 'active' volcano with forested slopes. The idea was pretty much the same as Kerinci, which was to target the specialist birds of the forest including a good selection of night birds, which meant birding in the dark at either end of the day and ensuring we could reach the higher altitudes.

Our base was at an elevation of 1,300m and for some of the birds we needed to be at over 2,200m fairly early in the morning. The main track on Gede was rocks, rather than the mud and roots found on Kerinci, and the incline probably slightly less steep, but this meant a climb in elevation of 800-900m would take several hours. So we had a slight change in itinerary which was to spend the day ascending Gede then camp overnight at 2,200m to position ourselves well for the next morning.

We left the base at 5am and entered the park, for the slow ascent, we quickly found a Salvadori's Nightjar, although the bird was high above us, it was an improvement on the glimpse we had in Sumatra.

As the night turned to morning, we started to encounter a few birds such as Sunda Robin, Lesser Shortwing and Pygymy Cupwing. Javan Whistling Thrush was quite abundant close to the track. An hour or so later as we reached a stream and a few more open trees, we encountered a bird flock which contained Fire-tufted Barbet, Ashy Drongo, Black-winged flycatcher-shrike, Sunda Minivet, Rufous-tailed Fantail, Cinereous Tit and Sunda Bulbul.

A little further another flock of smaller birds with Blue Nutchatch, Sunda Warbler, Pygmy Bushtit, Mees's Whiteye and Little Pied Flycatcher.

We then reached an open area with a boardwalk with plenty of Linchi Swiftlets were hawking over the forest and a pair of Blood-breasted Flowerpecker were in the area but no raptors were seen at the end of the boardwalk the track re-entered the forest and became a steeper ascent. We found a single Javan Kingfisher for scope views perched in a valley and added Javan Tesia and both Pied and Trilling Shrike-Babblers in small flocks. A little higher we were fortunate to hear and then see a group of Rufous-fronted Laughingthrush, which were slowly making there way through the undergrowth. We eventually reached an elevation that was high enough to start looking for the Javan Cochoa, which was really the key target bird. White-browed Shortwings replaced the Lesser Shortwings at the lower altitude and a flock of larger birds which had Lesser-racket tailed Drongo and more Pied and Trilling Shrike Babblers also held a pair of Chestnut-backed Scimitar Babblers.
We then heard the very soft notes of Pink-headed Fruit Dove, a bird that we had missed on Kerinci, and before long had good views of a single bird in the canopy.

At this point I started to feel the on-set of a fever and tried to dose up with paracetamol to keep the sweats and temperature at bay, although it became hard-work as we continued to climb.

We made our way across a waterfall where the water ran through a hot spring. This was actually quite dangerous. There was a rope across rocks where you had to walk on the very edge of the waterfall and because the water was hot, there was steam rising, this reduced visibility, which in the circumstance was probably a good thing, as you couldn't see over the edge. All safely across we continued up to where our porters had set up the camp for the night at around 2,200m.

After a short break we continued upwards for a while, adding White-flanked Sunbird and good views of a Horsfield's Thrush, being the local form of the Asian Scaly Thrush and then a great surprise as we headed back to the camp when a pair of Chestnut-bellied Partridge crossed the path in front of us.

Back at the camp there were plenty of Javan Whistling Thrush and Sunda Robin close by and as dusk settled we thought we might get lucky with mammals, but other than a few Rat and squirrel species nothing else appeared. I was feeling worse so retired to the tent for an awful nights sleep which I spent fully clothed but shivering and shaking the whole time. The sleeping bags we were provided were pretty flimsy and the temperature plummeted overnight, but I couldn't work out whether I was cold or just had a fever, I was pretty pleased when it was time to get out of the tent and move around to warm up.

This is the view to Gunung Pangrango as we ascended Gunung Gede

Sunda Robin

Sunda Cuckoo

Javan Whistling Thrush

Javan Surili (Sunda Leaf Monkey)

Javan Surili

Campsite at 2,184m

Tuesday 24th July - Gunung Gede

A cup of tea just before dawn and we were on the move and ready to ascend up to 2,450m with our main target to try and see the Javan Cochoa. We stopped every few hundred metres as the climb was quite steep at the first 'sit down' we were surprised when a Sunda Stink Badger walked up to us and quickly disappeared when it realised that we were there.

We ascended slowly until we neared another camp, which was where we first heard the high pitched call of the Cochoa and shortly afterwards we saw the first Javan Cochoa as it moved around the high canopy. Over the course of the morning we saw 3 birds in total which was a good haul.

We had another Horsfields Thrush, Orange-spotted Bulbul and Sunda Bush Warbler at the high camp, but no sign of any Parrotbills.

We returned to our camp for a mid-morning breakfast and stayed in the area for most of the morning. There were small numbers of Volcano Swiftlets seen where there was sufficient sky visible, as they breed in the volcano rim of Gunung Gede, and we occasionally benefitted from a canopy flock moving through the area, with many of the birds previously seen but including Indigo Flycatcher and Chequer-throated woodpecker.

We spent the afternoon in the long descent seeing a welcome pair of Javan Trogon, but kept the pace very slow as we needed to ensure we were still on the mountain as night fell. We then had great success with the night birds, seeing Javan Scops Owl, Javan Frogmouth, and a very close Salvadori's Nightjar. A Leopard Cat and Wild Boar were added to the mammal list.

We arrived at a the entrance gate after 9pm and I felt dreadful !! - my feet were screaming at me as the descent for 9 hours on a hard rocky path was taking it's toll - all I could do was wish that the facilities had a hot shower (which they didn't) and several hours sleep (which I did get about 6 !).

Javan Trogon

Salvadori's Nightjar

Javan Frogmouth

Wednesday 25th July - Ciboda Botanical Gardens / Gede

Thankfully, this morning the plan was to bird around the botanical gardens, to try and pick up a few species. Surprisingly a Salvadori's Nightjar was hawking round the buildings just before first light. The elusive Sunda Thrush was the first target, armed with the knowledge that it tended to make a brief appearance in the leaf litter on the edge of the park just before dawn, we did our best to locate one, but failed all the same.

Our slow wander gradually started to ick up some target birds, first up was Yellow-throated Hanging Parrot and then a Rusty-breasted Cuckoo and Chestnut-breasted Malkoha.

The mixed feeding bird parties gave us good looks of Flame-fronted Barbet, Mountain Tailorbird, Pygmy Bushtits, Olive-backed(Javan) Tailorbird, Javan Fulvetta and White-flanked Sunbird.

Later in the afternoon we again entered the main park and headed up the track seeing Crescent-chested Babbler, Sunda (Javan) Blue Robin and Eye-browed Wren-Babbler.

Park entrance

Thursday 26th July - Journey to Halimum

We had a final morning walk back up the track in the park luckily finding a Javan Owlet, which completed the endemic night birds of Java. Returning to the vehicles we set off mid-morning for a fairly long journey to Halimum and the Salak National Park.

The National Park is at a lower elevation than Gede so the chance to find some more endemics that were not found at the higher elevations. It was dark when we arrived at the 'research station' so the activity waited for the next morning, which I was fairly pleased about, I'd recovered from whatever fever I had on mount Gede, but my feet had exploded into a rash, so virtually a days rest from boots was welcome.

Friday 27th July - Salak National Park.

We walked on the main track from the research station which cuts across a reasonable forest and picked up a good selection of species including (eventually ) a Javan Hawk Eagle after much scanning. Dark-backed Imperial Pigeon, Ruddy Cuckoo Dove, Sumatran Green Pigeon, Giant Swiftlet, Flame-fronted Barbet, another Orange-backed Woodpecker, Black-fronted Falconet. Banded Broadbill, Sunda Cuckooshrike, Sunda Minivet, Striated Grassbird, Temminck's Babbler, White-breasted and White-bibbed Babblers, Large Wren Babbler and Javan Sunbird.

We also saw Javan Gibbons when we were having lunch at the research station and a Palm Civet.

The Research Station at Salak.

Forest at Salak National Park

Javan Gibbon

Palm Civet

Friday 28th July - Carita

After a bit of morning birding we headed on the long journey to Carita, not arriving until after dark. Our only bird activity was at a truck stop approaching dusk where thousands of Munias were gathering for roost, we estimated 10,000 birds , mainly Scaly-breasted Munias with a few Javan Munias mixed in, there were also several Savanna Nightjars hawking in the area.

Saturday 29th July, Carita Forest.

Carita is on the east coast, our hotel was actually on the beach road facing the sea, not that we noticed as we had arrived after dark and left in the morning well before first light arriving at the small patch of forest in the dark. We soon found a roosting Sunda Flying Lemur and the a roosting Javan Banded Pitta, followed by one further down the path. A calling Sunda Scops Owl was tracked down and a few Large-tailed Nightjars were there as well.

A Javan Black-capped Babbler was seen and also the endemic Black-banded Barbets. We saw a Freckle-breasted Woodpecker and Javan Tit-Babbler.

It had been a long drive out of the way to Carita but worth it for the few birds we saw that morning,. In the afternoon we had an equally long drive back to Jakarta, staying a at a decent business-type hotel.