Another couple of days on
the Tapan Road, one of which was predominantly a rainy affair but we still had
nice views of a lot of previously seen species, plus Red-headed Trogon, Gold-whiskered
and Blue-eared Barbets, Long-tailed Broadbill, Scaly-breasted and Grey-bellied Bulbuls, Brown
Fulvetta, Large Niltava, Spectacled Spiderhunter and Purple-naped Sunbird. Failed to get any
photos today as couldn’t be bothered carrying the camera around in the rain!
Black Laughingthrush |
Our last morning resulted in
another view of Bronze-tailed
Peacock-pheasant but it was just too shy to allow for any photos. We spent
the rest of our time here on the upper sections failing to get a decent look at
Blue-masked Leafbird, our one
failure at this site. But there were outstanding views of Blue Nuthatch and Blyth’s
Shrike-babbler, a Waterfall Swift
at last flew over the ridge above us, and we saw both Orange-spotted and Sumatran
Bulbuls – and all this in sunshine as well.
Blue Nuthatch |
Blyth's Shrike-babbler |
We left after lunch and
drove back to the homestay, arriving mid-afternoon and it was kind of nice to
relax and stare up at the volcano one last time. The weather here has a mind
all of its own, and even when the sun is shining everywhere else, every cloud
for miles around seems to get sucked up to cloak the volcano. But as we sat and
watched the cloud began to break up and a vague outline of the volcano could be
seen, so with that in mind we decided to attempt a little night-birding. This
resulted in a Salvadori’s Nightjar
coming in to inspect us just after sunset, but Sumatran Frogmouth kept its distance and just called back from
afar. Oh well, will be back for that one later…..
Gunung Kerinci |
And that was it and the
following day we left at 3am and drove to Padang and our flight to Jakarta. Had
to overnight in a hotel before the tedious flight back to the UK via Dubai….