Birding Report for Bali th th 27 February – 12 March 2012 Paul A Brown Sanur, Bali This is the next instalment of birding around the world on a relative shoe-string and with a non-birding wife! I am always keen to find a scenic, relaxed and not too noisy beach resort with cultural interest for Ros and some good local birding for myself. This year we chose Bali but we were aware that the weather might be a little changeable, it being their wetter summertime season. This may have been why I did not see certain species which are easier at other times of the year. As always with our world trips, we look for cheap deals and we found a two week all inclusive package through Mercury Direct to Hotel Diwangkara in Sanur which proved very cheap at £2425 for two, for two weeks and the Hotel was very comfortable with free ‘Bali Hi’ beer. The total money spent was £2850 between the two of us. The exchange rate was c.14000 Indonesian Rupiah to the £. Beware on entry at Bali, that you need to buy a visa for c.£17.50 each and in U. S. Dollars and there is also a leaving tax of c.£11 each as well. The gardens were well stocked with flowering plant and trees but but from our ground floor rooms there were no extensive views for the telescope to be used so no ‘bird tree’ to watch. The third floor rooms provide a much better view for the telescope. Another small drawback was that the ground floor verandas were very public so that it seemed rude to read, write use binoculars or telescope and keep one’s own company when neighbours were there. We moved to a more private room for the second week where I could feed the Bulbuls with fruit without being accused of attracting vermin to our neighbour’s room! I soon learnt that the Hindu food offerings were a good lure for birds. From home we hired in advance the services of the birdguide, Herykusuma Negara (“Hery”), [email protected] telephone +62 813 3807 8010, who works at Bali Barat (the best nature reserve on Bali), for a day’s birding there. He charged c.£150 for the day, hire of a car and driver to and from Bali Barat and a boat. We hired him midway through the holiday so that I had the chance to acquaint myself with the common species and so as to use his time most effectively to target my wants list. After discussion with our Mercury Direct rep ‘Sri’ at our Hotel, we decided to use the services of her contact, Ketut Darma who is a driver and tour guide with good knowledge of English too ([email protected]). We were able to discuss with him where he would drop me off at birding sites and to take Ros on to more interesting non-birdy cultural and scenic places. We did not take any malarial drugs as Bali is considered relatively malaria free (unlike Lombok next door). In Sanur, there was a notice saying “insect free beach!” and I soon found out why as they regularly fogged the hotel gardens with insecticide. There were a few butterflies, dragonflies, wasps and cockroaches that survived as did the resident geckos and frogs but the latter seemed to have little to feed on as the hotel lights brought hardly any moths in. There are still many dogs in Bali (even after a massive cull of the feral population) and there is still a rabies threat so one should keep away from dogs both tame and wild as much as possible. There were dog packs roaming but they never took much interest in this very populated area. The birds likewise were relatively tame too. Diary of the trip Sunday 26th February 2012 We flew from Heathrow at 10.30am on Air Malaysia flight MH3 to Kuala Lumpur and flew out over Minsmere (a regular and favourite haunt of mine), across a sunny northern Europe and a snow covered Ukraine and then a very short night. Monday 27th February 2012 We arrived at Kuala Lumpur at 6.45 am Malaysian time after the 12 hour flight and had a two hour wait for the next flight. I watched the dawn over the airport and noticed a number of the usual House Crows, Common Mynas and distant swifts were probable Brown Backed Needletails. There were also a few Pacific Swallows and looking very similar to little Swifts were a flock of House Swifts. The airport was surrounded by an endless acreage of oil palm plantations on the low hills so presumably the local avifauna is relatively impoverished. Took Air Malaysia flight MH715 at 8.30 and flew through thick and ominous cloud over Bali to land at Denpasar airport where we were met by a hired taxi to take us to Sanur and Hotel Diwangkara at the North end of the beach. The hotel and ground floor rooms were very close to the sea and had small lush gardens throughout. Sipping a gratis free drink at the hotel beach bar, we noticed Javan Pond Herons fishing along the reef exposed by the low tide and the ubiquitous Linchi White Breasted Swiftlets which seemed always in view anywhere on Bali. Tree sparrows were feeding on the Hindu food offerings on the beach. From the veranda of room 116 we were visited by the local Yellow Vented Bulbul begging for food and soon noticed a few Island Collared Doves amongst the common Spotted Doves. There were a few Plantain Squirrels in the sea side trees. The towering and brooding presence of the local volcano Gunung Agung (3142 metres high and thirty miles away) made itself known as it appeared out of the haze. As night fell, there was a cacophony of ‘shorebird-like’ ‘schreee schreee’ calls which I could not identify but I was to find out who made them on the morrow! We watched the geckos in the bar after dark. Hotel Diwangkara, Sanur Gunung Agung 3142m from Sanur beach Tuesday 28th February 2012 I was awoken by the local Imam at 4.30 and again by the very noisy Yellow Vented Bulbuls so it was not difficult to arise at first light to go birding slowly and very locally so as to catch up with the common species as usual. A few immature night herons flew north and then a flock of Grey Cheeked Green Pigeons flew into the local banyan tree, the common green pigeon in Sanur. Behind our Hotel Diwangkara, I found the local golf course (part of the Grand Bali Beach resort) and a gang of Bulbuls with much brighter yellow vents than Yellow Vented Bulbuls but with Sooty Heads. I walked in and was not challenged so roamed around making sure that I didn’t get in the way of any of the many golfers already up and about. A row of tall trees with few leaves proved a good place for birds to see and be seen and the local red headed ‘rosea’ race of Coppersmith Barbet was soon added to the list. A noisy Black Naped Oriole was easy and I could see right inside it’s red mouth. A pair of Collared Kingfishers were calling and the local White Breasted Wood Swallows were busy hawking from the tree tops. Flocks of Scaly Breasted (siskin like call) and Javan Munias (‘trilee trilee’ call) were frequent and a distant flock of flying Mynas were Javan. The first of many good views of male Scarlet Headed Flower-pecker and male Olive Backed Sunbird were secured. A Long Tailed Shrike pair was feeding noisy young and then they squabbled with the Plantain Squirrels. I walked back along the beach where barn swallows were sitting and singing on the fishing boats. Sunning on the beach later I watched a rather parched looking Purple Heron with open bill fly in from the sea and south along the beach which made me try to string it into a large-billed heron! We acquired two bikes for the two weeks for circa £20 and so tried them out by cycling south along the brick paved promenade path all the way to it’s end at Sanur Mangroves. Here the tide was in but we did have great views of Little Blue Kingfisher and Common Sandpiper. At dusk, I went in search of the strange ‘chewee chewee’ calls that I heard last night and on the pantile roof of our Hotel Diwangkara I found a pair of displaying Savannah Nightjars with white wing flashes on the flying or wing-stretching male and white tail edges showing when the female wagged it’s tail while seated. Each pantile roof seemed to have its own pair of nightjars. Sanur mangroves dump or amazing habitat but maybe both ??? Wednesday 29th February 2012 At 6am I took the bicycle south to the Sanur Mangroves at low tide which were smelly and full of rubbish of all description but this did not put off the birds which on first inspection consisted of a feeding flock of large, medium and small white egrets, pond herons and many Common Sandpipers. There were also a few Greenshanks, Green Sandpipers, Redshank and White Bellied Water-hens wandering through the lush trash. In the mangrove were a pair of noisy Pied Fantail and a Javan Grey Throated White Eye with a non white eye and a pair of noisy protesting (‘tueety tueety’) Bar Winged Prinias which were the brightest coloured (yellow & blue grey) and the least streaky Prinias I’ve ever seen! A Small Pied Cormorant and a pair of Sunda Teal flew in to the lagoon before I left for breakfast, the latter quite unlike the duck I saw in South Australia without the steep for-head.