Jakarta Bay Boat Trip

We had a boat trip out into Jakarta Bay this morning aimed at seeing Christmas Island Frigatebird but it turned out to be so much more than that. We began from our ‘downtown’ starting position by sailing out of the channel towards the bay and within ten minutes had our first of over 20 Milky Storks to be seen today. Classified as Endangered by BirdLife International due to a rapid decline in its stronghold of Sumatra caused by intense hunting pressure at its nesting colonies, as well as more general human disturbance and the old nutshell of reclamation of its favourite coastal habitat for feeding. It’s a very sad situation and difficult to see a positive outcome here. It was a real privilege to see so many right on the edge of the huge metropolis of Jakarta, although it wasn’t the most salubrious of settings! 

We saw over 20 Milky Storks this morning...

Another highlight was seeing so many Sunda Teal, initially just flybys, but then out in the bay on some old, abandoned ships we saw many and apparently they nest in these old ships! We also saw a few Cerulean Kingfishers but again, mainly flybys, as well as Pied Triller, Bar-winged Prinia and eventually the ultimate prize of a Javan Coucal perched up and showing nicely, albeit a little distantly.

Sunda Teal

There were many other birds seen including House Swift, Javan Pond Heron, Black-backed Swamphen, Oriental Darter, Gull-billed Tern, White-breasted Waterhen, Sacred Kingfisher, Javan Myna, Freckle-breasted Woodpecker, Pacific Swallow, Pink-necked Green-Pigeon, Red-breasted Parakeet, Racket-tailed Treepie, Little Black Cormorant, a couple of Pied Stilts and a close Javan Plover. Nice!

Javan Plover

Javan Pond Heron

More Milky Storks were seen

Many Purple Herons were seen this morning

Then we headed out into Jakarta Bay seeing White-bellied Sea Eagle and Whiskered Tern, before reaching some poles where flocks of Great Crested and Black-naped Terns were roosting, with a couple of Common Terns. 

Great Crested Tern

And then we came across several roosting groups of frigatebirds, most of which turned out to be Christmas Island Frigatebirds and we were treated to outstanding close views of 59 of them, plus 3 Lesser Frigatebirds and a single Greater Frigatebird. Awesome! Once we were satisfied with the views we headed back to the mainland seeing Pied Imperial-Pigeon and a Pacific Reef Egret to round off a great boat trip.

Christmas Island Frigatebirds

Greater Frigatebird

Boas took us for lunch and coffee before we headed to the mangroves in the heat of the early afternoon. This turned out to be a good move as we saw Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker next to the car park, Golden-bellied Gerygone, Malaysan Pied Fantail, another Freckle-breasted Woodpecker, Indonesian (Brown) Honeyeater, Striated Swallow, a single Little Cormorant in a roost of Little Black Cormorants, and eventually a pair of Cerulean Kingfishers perched.

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker

It had been a great day but we were all tired by now and with a midnight flight to West Papua we decided to head to a nearby hotel for a rest and a refreshing shower before heading to the domestic terminal and the next stage of our adventure. Thanks Boas for being an excellent and very knowledgeable guide.

Gunung Gede

This was our ‘big’ day as we left the hotel at 3.30am and drove to the parking area for the hike up into the forested slopes of Gunung Gede. Upon arrival we quickly nailed Sunda Scops Owl, an adult and a juvenile being found very easily thanks to Boas’ night-time thermal imaging camera – no need for tape-playing or wafting a spotlight around! 

Sunda Scoops Owl

And then the walk began in earnest as the trail took us steadily upward on an uneven path made from rocks. It was hard going on our feet and knees and we took it very slowly, getting surprisingly sweaty rather quickly despite the cool early morning air. After about half an hour the same thermal-imaging camera paid dividends when a Javan Frogmouth was found perched right out in the open on a hanging vine not far from the trail. Nice! 

Javan Frogmouth

We yomped a bit from here in order to get to the lowest altitude you can find Javan Scops Owl, but we unfortunately dipped despite a bird coming right in to the tape and calling loudly from extremely close distance but it still managed to elude us. And then we walked up to the first shelter opposite a small lake where we had our breakfast and some hot coffee. This site turned up very obliging Eye-browed Wren-Babbler and Pygmy Cupwing, as well as our first of many Javan Whistling-Thrushes in what was a very productive session. 

Not too far away we had a confiding Lesser Shortwing right beside the path that gave repeated views, and we also saw Mountain Tailorbird, a flock of Sunda Minivets, our first Javan Fulvetta, a flock of skulking Crescent-chested Babblers and a Sunda Warbler singing its heart out from 5 feet away at eye-level. The walk continued ever upwards, steep in some parts and easier in others, and we soon added Fire-tufted Barbet to our list, saw a nice Mountain Leaf Warbler and a pair of Javan Heleia as well. 

This fine wee beastie is a Sunda Warbler

At the trail intersection, we walked towards the waterfall with a Javan Hawk-Eagle soaring high overhead, as well as a fine Indigo Flycatcher, a pair of close Trilling Shrike-Babblers, and a pair of Sunda Forktails. After another cup of coffee and a rest below the falls the really hard walk began as we headed up to the second shelter where we were meeting our porter and our lunch! 

Indigo Flycatcher

Record shot of Javan Hawk-Eagle - wasn't expecting to see this here!

Trilling Shrike-Babbler

Boy is it steep from here but we still added a fine Javan Tesia to our list, as well as a close pair of Pied Shrike-Babblers just a few feet away from us and a stonking Rufous-tailed Fantail. Lunch was enlivened by Javan Shortwing and an inquisitive Javan Whistling-Thrush before making our decent and failing miserably to find Javan Trogon. 

The dull, overcast conditions caused havoc with my camera and trying to get a decent true colour of Javan Whistling-Thrush!

A Sunda Cuckoo and Sunda Blue Robin right at the death ended proceedings. The cold beers at the restaurant never tasted so good this evening!

Java: Cibodas Botanical Gardens

And here I am in Java, spending a few days with my group before we all fly to West Papua. This year is a bit of a whirlwind, as I try to catch up with tours that have been postponed over the Covid period. And this is yet another one of them....

With everyone arriving into Jakarta late last night, it was a really horrid 5am departure from our downtown hotel. Blurry-eyed and needing coffee we set off towards Cibodas Botanical Gardens, some two hours south of the bustling metropolis of Jakarta. Upon arrival the weather was overcast and dull as we ate our field breakfast overlooking one of the favoured feeding areas of Javan or Yellow-throated Hanging-Parrot. It took a little while to obtain decent views, and all we had for our efforts to begin with were a few flyovers or bullet-like shapes disappearing into the canopy of a large, leafy tree. However, once the sky brightened we were able to enjoy repeated scope views of this little cracker – and a Javan endemic to boot! In fact, we had a purple patch for about 90 minutes with new birds appearing all too quickly for some! A calling Rusty-breasted Cuckoo was tracked down by our exceedingly sharp-eyed guide, Boas, followed by Collared Kingfisher, several Linchi Swifltets appeared and became our constant companions all morning, Cinereous Tit, Mountain Leaf Warbler and a flyby Crested Serpent-Eagle. The large tree in front of us not only held numerous hanging-parrots, but also a pair of Orange-spotted Bulbuls, a Banded Broadbill showed nicely and as we watched that little stunner, a Chestnut-breasted Malkoha appeared. Several Flame-fronted Barbetsthen diverted our attention as the views became increasingly better and we could fully appreciate the head pattern of yellow and blue with a rich, emerald body. Several smaller trees just below us then became the focus of our attention as a group of Sangkar White-eyes moved through, followed by Javan Munia, Little Pied Flycatcher, the endemic White-flanked Sunbird,Olive-backed Tailorbird, some superb Pygmy Bushtits, Black-winged Flycatcher-Shrike and an all-too-brief Javan Flowerpecker. Wow! 

The endemic Flame-fronted Barbet

After another cup of coffee we saw our first Pacific Swallows and had better views of Orange-spotted Bulbul before driving to a different area within these huge gardens. A Sooty-headed Bulbul was scoped in the car park, as was another Javan Munia, before we walked up the slope a little ways and found a very confiding Mountain Tailorbird and an Ashy Drongo. We also improved our views of Flame-fronted Barbet and Pygmy Bushtit before driving lower down to look for Javan Kingfisher. We didn’t find the kingfisher but a Blue-and-white Flycatcher was a bit of a surprise, and we also scoped an adult Rusty-breasted Cuckoo and a group of White-breasted Woodswallows. A short drive to another kingfisher spot was quite productive with brief Horsfield’s Babbler and Javan Flowerpecker, as well as another group of white-eyes, a party of 3 Chestnut-breasted Malkohasand finally a Javan Kingfisher to round off a really good morning’s birding. 

 

After lunch at a local restaurant we drove just down the hill to a really nice hotel, where we’d be spending the next two nights and enjoyed a couple of hours rest before heading back out into the field at 3.45pm. It was a bit overcast and activity was low but we had decent looks at a Horsfield’s Babbler, with Collared and a brief Javan Kingfisher and some other previously seen species adding to the mix. We waited for dusk and looked for Sunda Thrush without a sniff before spotlighting a Salvadori’s Nightjar perched up in the spotlight to round off a good day in Java. And so it's off to bed nice and early as we are leaving at 3.30am tomorrow to try and get Javan Scops Owl before heading up to Gunung Gede.... A beautiful 6 hours sleep beckons...!

AMAZONIA NATIONAL PARK - THE END

Our final trail hike of the tour took us along the Tracoa Trail, which proved to be a little slow. It took a while to actually see any birds at all and there wasn’t much calling at all for ages. Eventually, we tracked down a calling Barred Forest-Falcon, followed by a cracking Amazonian Antshrike, Striped Woodcreeper, Band-tailed Antbird, Dot-winged Antwren and Glossy Antshrike along a pretty productive section of trail. 

Barred Forest Falcon

Dot-winged Antwren

Striped Woodcreeper

Walking back and we saw a fantastic Long-billed Woodcreeper very well, but a Hauxwell’s Thrush just flew around us without perching in the open at all. A short while later a Rose-breasted Chat did the same frustrating thing, whilst a Long-tailed Hermit appeared. 

This monster is a Long-billed Woodcreeper. Wow!

But we didn’t go out with a whimper as we had a pair of Moustached Wrens, Long-billed Gnatwren at point-blank range and ended the tour with nice views of Amazonian Antpitta again (incredible huh). 

Long-billed Gnatwren

Amazonian Antpitta

All that remained was to return to the lodge, shower, pack and have lunch before loading the luggage onto the bus and driving back to Itaituba. Here we had a private charter 9-seat Sessna plane to take us back to Manaus. The flight took around 85 minutes and flew the entire journey over the Amazonian rainforest, which was only broken up by numerous rivers, lakes and side channels making for a fascinating and eye-opening journey. 

Obligatory end of tour selfies....

Another view of the river....

Our private charter back to Manaus

One last selfie....

The views over the Amazon were mind-blowing. Just mile after mile of river and rainforest for a solid 75 mins...

Upon arrival at our hotel in Manaus we shared one final beer together before departing our separate ways.

One last self-indulgent sunrise photo before wrapping up another successful tour....

A Mixed Bag at Amazonia National Park

A slow morning really as we birded along another trail. It began brightly with some calling Green-winged (Dark-winged) Trumpeters that some of us saw in the early morning gloom. A Hoffmanns’s Woodcreeper followed, along with Elegant Woodcreeper, Cinereous Antshrike and a Long-winged Antwren. A calling Cryptic Forest-Falcon remained just a voice in the distance unfortunately. We walked quite a way before getting brief looks at Black-spotted Bare-eye, and I think only I saw a Rufous-capped Antthrush but a little further on a stonking Collared Puffbird was tracked down way above us in the canopy of some really tall trees. 

This Collared Puffbird was waaaaay overhead...

Further on, at a clearing where we could look across the valley, we saw Yellow-tufted Woodpecker, Gould’s Toucanet, Lafresnaye’s Woodcreeper, some soaring Swallow-tailed and Plumbeous Kites and a distant Golden-green Woodpecker. Reaching the end of the trail it was a relief to see we had rejoined the road from a different place and didn’t have to retrace our steps many kilometres. We drove down to one of the bridges and scanned the surrounding area from the shade and were lucky to see a bunch of new birds for the trip beginning with a group of Bare-necked Fruitcrows, followed by Masked Tityra, Pied Puffbird, Epaulet Oriole and Rufous-bellied Euphonia, with another much closer female Fiery-tailed Awlbill. We do love a bit of padding!

 

After lunch and a siesta we got on a boat and sailed across the Rio Tapajos where we visited several small islands. The first island gave us the local subspecies (and soon to be split) Blackish-grey Antshrike, a pair of which showed really well. Flame-crowned Manakin, Striped Woodcreeper and Amazonian Streaked Antwren followed. The second island was birdless so we sailed to a third where we scanned from the sandy beach.  Some terns could be seen downriver so Bart and I sailed down to get close to our first Yellow-billed Tern sat amongst some Large-billed Terns and Black Skimmers. Sailing back to join the guys we passed a small island where around 40+ Sand-coloured Nighthawks were roosting and took flight as we passed by in spectacular fashion. 

This tree was literally dripping with Grey-breasted Martins

Nice view from our lodge out across the river

A jumble of Sand-coloured Nighthawks

Yellow-billed Tern

Great-billed Terns

Black Skimmer, Yellow-billed Tern and Great-billed Tern

We got the others and returned, only to find a rare Southern Martin had been seen by them, but we all had close views of the nighthawks and as we headed back across the river to the lodge passed a tree dripping with Grey-breasted Martins. They all took flight and unbelievably another Southern Martin flew right across in front of us. The light out on the river was extraordinarily beautiful this evening and it was a pleasure just being out on a boat in the Amazon! Back ashore some Turquoise Tanagers were seen, as well as our first Speckled Chachalacas. 

This Tropical Screech Owl proved to be quite tricky to locate, until........

After dinner we called in a Tropical Screech-Owl to round off the day’s proceedings.