Remote Sumatra Expedition
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On a tour built around two scops owls, this one, the cute Simeulue Scops Owl, came out as our bird-of-the-trip! (Pete Morris) REMOTE SUMATRA EXPEDITION 30 JUNE – 15 JULY 2014 LEADER: PETE MORRIS This tour was initially conceived as part of the push to find the ‘final 500’, as Birdquest strive to add to the 10,000+ seen on tours to date. There were not too many on offer, and the logistics to get to them were not completely straightforward, but we thought we’d give it a go anyway! After some careful planning and help- ful backup from agents and friends we were set… at least on paper! To make things a little tougher, the tour was added on to the four week Sumatra tour, and the two, back to back, made for quite an epic adventure! Thankfully, despite the odd hitch, the tour went very well indeed, and we managed to find just about all of the available specialities and new birds. Specific highlights included sensational views of both Simeulue and Men- 1 BirdQuest Tour Report: Remote Sumatra Expedition www.birdquest-tours.com After a little bit of effort, the superb Mentawai Scops Owl granted us some great views (Pete Morris) tawai Scops Owls, great views of the very rare Sumatran Laughingthrush and superb views of the rare Roll’s Partridge, while other great birds included the rarely seen Silvery Pigeon, the superb White-crowned Hornbill and a whole host of potential splits including Mentawai and Simeulue Serpent Eagles, Mentawai Malkoha and Sumatran Mesia to name just a few. And then there were the sensational Sumatran Orangutans and a Sun Bear to add a bit of interest. Following on from the end of the Sumatra tour, and the post tour extension to Enggano, we once again began the tour by taking a flight back to Padang. On arrival we were informed of our first change of plan as the ferry across to Siberut in the Mentawai Islands had been cancelled due to the start of Ramadan. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as were able to spend a night in a comfortable hotel, before getting up early and jumping on our private speedboat across to Siberut. We arrived mid-morning and checked-in before beginning our explorations of this rather over-exploited little island. With so much habitat destruction and hunting on the island, it was always going to be an uphill battle, and even when exploring further up river by canoe, we never really escaped the impacts of humans. That said, by exploring the fragments we could, we soon found our main targets. The endemic Mentawai Scops Owl was common, and though elusive at first, granted us many great views. Other distinctive island forms here included the excellent Mentawai Malkoha (already rec- ognized as a split from Chestnut-breasted Malkoha by Handbook of Birds of the World/BirdLife International), Thick-billed Green Pigeon (huge bill and no red bill-base here!), and very distinct forms of Ashy and Suma- tran Drongos (both likely splits), while other good birds seen during our exploits in the forest included Blyth’s Hawk-Eagle, great views of the localized Malayan Hawk-Cuckoo, Ruddy Cuckoo-Dove, the rare Large Green Pigeon, Oriental Pied Hornbill, Green Broadbill, Crimson and Copper-throated Sunbirds and Yellow-eared Spi- derhunter. More widespread species noted (many of which are represented by endemic subspecies) included 2 BirdQuest Tour Report: Remote Sumatra Expedition www.birdquest-tours.com Distinct island forms, such as this tiny and well-marked Mentawai Serpent Eagle, were a feature of the tour (Pete Morris) Pacific Reef Heron, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Pink-necked Green Pigeons, Green Imperial Pigeon, Grey- rumped Treeswift, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Black-naped Monarch, Black-headed and Olive-winged Bulbuls and Ashy Tailorbird. We also managed to see the rare Pig-tailed Langur and Siberut Flying Squirrel and heard the rare Kloss’s Gibbon. Sadly, local culture dictates that the hunting of primates is an integral part of life on these islands, so we considered ourselves lucky to encounter any primates at all!! We then took a choppy speedboat across to the rather more civilized island of Sipora. Here, the habitat seemed to be in a better state, and was more easily accessible. Again we saw the endemic birds easily, includ- ing more great views of the Mentawai Scops Owl and Mentawai Malkoha, and we also managed an excellent sighting of the very distinctive Mentawai (Crested) Serpent Eagle. Other interesting encounters included a ju- venile Indian Cuckoo and our first Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher. We left Sipora on the overnight ferry, in the luxury of comfortable air-conditioned cabins! Once back in Padang, we had a fair bit of travel ahead. We flew up to Medan and overnighted in a very com- fortable hotel and feasted in a lavish restaurant, before taking a flight over to Simeulue. Simeulue is a popular island with surfers, and we took advantage of this, staying in a very pleasant surf camp and commuting to and from the birding sites. Again, habitat destruction was rife, though on this island the reason was that much of the native forest was being converted to oil palm plantations! Another ecological catastrophe, but fortunately fragments of habitat remained and these still held the species that we were after! Top of our hit list was the endearing Simeulue Scops Owl, and this cute little owl gave us little trouble, granting us fabulous views! Much of the rest of the time we devoted to finding the rare Silvery Pigeon, and although we did in the end get decent views of one, we never had the killer views we hoped for. Other good birds here included the distinctive Simeu- 3 BirdQuest Tour Report: Remote Sumatra Expedition www.birdquest-tours.com lue (Crested) Serpent Eagle, great views of Simeulue Parrot (already recognized as a split from Blue-rumped Parrot by Handbook of Birds of the World/BirdLife International), the isolated local form of Great Eared Night- jar, the small and vocally distinct form of White-bellied Woodpecker (surely a likely split) and the plain-grey form of Ashy Drongo, so different from those further south in the Mentawai Islands. A nicobar Pigeon was a great surprise, allowing prolonged flight views, Oriental Dwarf Kingfishers were surprisingly common and other goodies here included Changeable Hawk Eagle, Ruddy and Little Cuckoo-Doves, Thick-billed Green Pigeon (red bill base here), numerous Green and Pied Imperial Pigeons, Violet Cuckoo, the local form of Red-breasted Parakeet, Bar-bellied Cuckooshrike, Fiery and Scarlet Minivets, Slender-billed Crow, Oriental Magpie-Robin (surprisingly common here considering how heavily trapped they are in most areas) and more Copper-throated Sunbirds. All in all, it had been a good and successful visit to Simeulue, and we once again boarded the small plane to take us all the way back over to Medan. From Medan, we just had time to make our way into the high- lands and to Berastagi for an overnight stay. We were up early the following morning and exploring the forested slopes of the impressive Gunung Sibayak. Many species typical of montane forest were present, and we enjoyed fine views of many of these. Large Niltava and Yellow-breasted Warbler were of interest as these were two species we had not seen on the main tour, and other good birds included several Orange-spotted Bulbuls, Speckled Piculet, Sunda Minivet, Blyth’s Shrike-Babbler, Sumatran (Streaked) Bulbul, some white-bellied Yellow-bellied Warblers, a pair of confiding Eye-browed Wren-Babblers, Black-capped White-eyes and a lovely flock of Blue Nuthatches. After a fine breakfast, we then moved on, embarking on the long drive to Gunung Leuser National Park. It was a pretty un- eventful drive, though we did note the high numbers of poor songbirds for sale along the roadside, a habit that seems to be becoming more and more prevalent here as the popularity of songbird competitions increases! The stunning White-crowned Hornbill was one of the non-endemic highlights of the tour (Pete Morris) We arrived at Ketambe late in the afternoon, and after settling into our rustic but comfortable lodge, we set off exploring, and were soon watching some excellent Sumatran Orangutans right above the road. A great start to our explorations of the park! We had just over four days to explore this large and impressive national park, and spent our time in three different areas. We spent a few sessions exploring the immediate vicinity of the 4 BirdQuest Tour Report: Remote Sumatra Expedition www.birdquest-tours.com Brown Wood Owl showed very well in Gunung Leuser National Park (Pete Morris) lodge and here we found several more Sumatran Orangutans, including a couple of impressive males, several groups of cute Thomas’s Leaf Monkeys, lovely White-handed Gibbons, and a Small-toothed Palm Civet, and each evening, thousands of fruit bats flew over. Around the lodge itself, we found Bar-winged Prinias and poor- ly-known Sumatran Babblers and once in the forest we were constantly serenaded by Great Argus pheasants, though these shy creatures refused to show. We did find a fantastic group of White-crowned Hornbills as well as numerous Wreathed Hornbills, Bushy-crested Hornbills, a smart male Diard’s Trogon, a couple of Rufous Piculets, the diminutive Buff-necked Woodpecker, a speedy Blue-banded Kingfisher, a pair of Rufous-winged Philentomas, numerous species of bulbuls, smart Grey-headed Babblers and Fulvous-chested Jungle-Fly- catcher. At dusk, Savanna Nightjars showed well around the hotel and nearby, we were delighted to get some fine views of Brown Wood Owl.