Showing posts with label Birding Bali. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birding Bali. Show all posts

Sunday, 2 January 2022

Bali Update (2nd half of 2021)

During the second half of 2021 I managed to get a few great birding trips in around a few different parts of Indonesia (see my recent posts below for details of those). I also saw a few good birds in Bali during this period, most of the birding was carried out in my garden in early morning or late afternoon sessions and I did manage a couple of brief trips to the coast. See also here for some information on the first half of 2021 in Bali.  

Some of the highlights of this second half of 2021 in Bali included Brown Booby, Lesser Frigatebird, Bulwer's Petrel, Wilson's Storm Petrel, Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Streaked Shearwater, and Black-naped Tern all from the ferry between Bali and Lombok (in Bali waters). 

Garden birding in this period gave me Bali Myna, Javan MynaEastern Barn Owl, Black-winged Kite, Marsh Sandpiper, Peregrine Falcon, Japanese Sparrowhawk, Chinese Sparrowhawk, Crested Honey Buzzard, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, White-throated Needletail, Pacific SwiftGreen Junglefowl, Common Flameback, Oriental Magpie Robin, (Javan) White-crowned Forktail, and an Oriental/Himalayan Cuckoo.

A couple of trips to the coast nearest my house resulted in Barred Buttonquail, Savanna Nightjar, Sacred Kingfisher, Brahminy Kite, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Little Tern, Great Crested Tern, Whiskered Tern, Little Ringed Plover, Javan Plover, Pacific Golden Plover, and Sanderling

Eastern Barn Owl

Black-winged Kite

Common Flameback

Greater Coucal

Oriental Magpie Robin

Himalayan/Oriental Cuckoo

(Javan) White-crowned Forktail

Sanderling

Savanna Nightjar

Little Tern

Brown Booby

Bulwer's Petrel

Lesser Frigatebird

Streaked Shearwater

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Saturday, 9 October 2021

Indonesia, Lombok Trip Report August 2021

Had an excellent and really enjoyable birding trip to Lombok, Indonesia in August 2021 and I've put together a trip report below, with a couple of photos too, take a look! 

Rinjani Scops Owl was our main target and we got great views of this endemic owl on our first night.

 Indoneisa - Lombok Birding Trip Report 2021 by Andy Walker on Scribd

 

We got some excellent views of Wallacean (Lombok Spangled) Drongo during our trip. 

I do like a pitta! Here we got some fabulous looks at Ornate Pitta

Sunday, 1 August 2021

A Bali Update

Since my last update in October 2020 things have been fairly similar, in that most of my birding has been from my garden in Ubud, Bali. Though I've found a great ecolodge to visit and have done a couple of birding sessions near the coast when I've had to go down into the city to sort out my visa etc. Very little dedicated "proper" birding, but the odd bit of casual birding here and there which has actually been quite rewarding.

The spring period (March-April) here was amazing, with a really pronounced visible migration period featuring really impressive sights of Crested Honey Buzzard, Chinese Sparrowhawk, Japanese Sparrowhawk, White-throated Needletail, Pacific Swift, and Blue-tailed Bee-eater all migrating over Bali in great flocks. Most of this was documented from my swimming pool and I'll be writing some proper notes up about that soon too! I also found a really rare bird for Bali - Blue-and-white Flycatcher. After some digging in difficult to access literature, not probably as rare as first thought, but still very rare for the island and pleasing - it was a stunning male bird.

In April, after 1 year at my house in the center of Ubud I moved a kilometre or so out of town to a place with a bit more of a garden and, more importantly, some trees! The change in bird life was instantly noticeable and I've been enjoying some great birds in the garden in the 4 months that I've been here, including Bali Myna, Javan Kingfisher, Oriental Pied Hornbill, (Javan) White-crowned Forktail, Brown-cheeked Bulbul, Fulvous-chested Jungle Flycatcher, Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo, Chestnut-breasted Malkoha, Java Sparrow, Black-naped Fruit Dove, and many more!  

Hopefully the next few months will allow for a bit of travel in Indonesia, things are not great out here at the moment so most of the year has, so far, been spent staying "out of the way". But hoping to get one or two exciting Indonesian birding trips in during the year within and outside Bali. 

Here are a few of my photos from the last few months in alphabetical order to give you a sample of what I've been enjoying...

Blue-and-white Flycatcher

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Chestnut-breasted Malkoha

Chinese Sparrowhawk

Crested Honey Buzzard

Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon

Java Sparrow

Javan Kingfisher

Javan Plover

Javan Pond Heron

Olive-backed Sunbird

Olive-backed Tailorbird

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Pacific Swift

Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo

Striated Swallow

White-throated Needletail


Saturday, 10 October 2020

Bali Lockdown Birding - Garden List Hits 50!

There's been another shift in the winds recently in Bali along with several severe thunderstorms and I've had a few garden ticks in the last couple of weeks too (I'm in Ubud) - such as Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Pacific Swift, White-breasted Woodswallow, White-throated Needletail, Common Myna, and Javan Myna. 

Today, after a huge storm that lasted most of the night and all morning I got two ticks in two minutes once it stopped - firstly a flock of three Wood Sandpipers, followed by a single Grey Heron, happy days! 

Grey Heron actually took my garden list to 50 species! I've been here almost 7 months now. 

  1. Olive-backed Sunbird
  2. Yellow-vented Bulbul
  3. Javan Pond Heron
  4. Cave Swiftlet
  5. Plaintive Cuckoo
  6. Collared Kingfisher
  7. Eastern Cattle Egret
  8. Edible-nest Swiftlet
  9. Zebra Dove
  10. Spotted Dove
  11. Javan Munia
  12. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
  13. Javan Kingfisher
  14. Large-billed Crow
  15. Striated Swallow
  16. Chinese Sparrowhawk
  17. Scaly-breasted Munia
  18. Pacific Swallow
  19. Intermediate Egret
  20. Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon
  21. Pied Bush Chat
  22. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
  23. Black-naped Fruit Dove
  24. Black-crowned Night Heron
  25. Savanna Nightjar
  26. Olive-backed Tailorbird
  27. Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon)
  28. White-headed Munia
  29. Rusty-breasted Whistler
  30. Asian Glossy Starling
  31. Pink-necked Green Pigeon
  32. Little Spiderhunter
  33. Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker
  34. House Swift
  35. Common Iora
  36. Java Sparrow
  37. Sunda Scops Owl
  38. Barn Swallow
  39. Short-tailed Starling
  40. Little Egret
  41. White-throated Needletail
  42. Brown-backed Needletail
  43. Zitting Cisticola
  44. Javan Myna
  45. Blue-tailed Bee-eater
  46. White-breasted Woodswallow
  47. Pacific Swift
  48. Common Myna
  49. Wood Sandpiper
  50. Grey Heron
Here are a few photos of some of the birds from the garden, my camera has been packed away for the most part so I've missed some very good photo ops.. such as the only time I've seen the Java Sparrow perched... about 10ft away from me at eye-level - DOH! Happy with the ones below though...



Javan Kingfisher


Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon


Pied Bush Chat


Scaly-breasted Munia


(Eastern) Spotted Dove


Yellow-vented Bulbul


Zebra Dove

Monday, 25 May 2020

Lockdown Birding in Bali - LOCKDOWN LIFER!!!

Amazing week on lockdown in Ubud, Bali when I got an unexpected LIFER! I was sat at my desk working on a range of new and exciting tours when all of a sudden I noticed a shape on the next door villas roof, this wasn't the usual Javan Munia or Eurasian Tree Sparrow, this was bigger, more colourful... I leaned back so I could see round the blind and almost fell off my chair when I realised I was watching a stunning JAVA SPARROW! Too quickly it dropped out of view into a garden and as I tried to get in a position to photograph it two birds were flushed by a motorbike and flew off high calling. Hopefully they will be back, but pretty amazing to get this very cool tick!

Also this week I finally (after 62 days) got a photo opportunity for the Javan Kingfisher. Each morning they are very vocal flying back and forth over this part of Ubud, often quite high and sometimes doing a bit of a display flight which has been cool to watch but frustrating in terms of trying to get a photo. Well, yesterday one finally landed close by. After a bit of work I was able to get myself into a position to take the following photo on my neighbours roof. What a stunning bird.

Javan Kingfisher

I've had a couple of 'new' lockdown ticks this week such as Barn Swallow, and the Java Sparrow, but also pretty high up there was Sunda Scops Owl that appeared outside the villa in the rain one evening while I was waiting for my pizza delivery! Not new but always nice to hear/see Savanna Nightjar and Black-crowned Night Herons going over at night too.

At 37 species now I think for my lockdown list!


Wednesday, 13 May 2020

Lockdown Birding in Bali - Camera Out and New Birds

Got a few new lockdown birds the last couple of days since my last blog update, and I even (finally) unpacked my camera to take some photos of some of the common birds I'm seeing, as and when time permits.

Here's a couple of pics of the gorgeous Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon, a common sight but most often sat in the tops of dark trees, was nice to finally get one at more-or-less eye-level out in the open! Beautiful bird.

Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon

Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon

A few new birds have included Plain Prinia, Common Emerald Dove, House Swift, and Common Iora.

Tuesday, 5 May 2020

Lockdown Birding in Bali - An update!

I've had a few new birds during the last week of my lockdown here in Ubud, Bali including Rusty-breasted Whistler, Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker, Little Spiderhunter, Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Olive-backed Tailorbird, White-headed Munia, and Feral Pigeon! These have take me up to 32 species! Not bad from my little patch of urban land. 
  1. Javan Kingfisher
  2. Spotted Dove
  3. Zebra Dove
  4. Plaintive Cuckoo
  5. Yellow-vented Bulbul
  6. Javan Munia
  7. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
  8. Cave Swiftlet
  9. Intermediate Egret
  10. Eastern Cattle Egret
  11. Javan Pond Heron
  12. Pacific Swallow
  13. Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon
  14. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
  15. Olive-backed Sunbird
  16. Pied Bush Chat
  17. White-nest Swiftlet
  18. Striated Swallow
  19. Scaly-breasted Munia
  20. Chinese Sparrowhawk
  21. Large-billed Crow
  22. Collared Kingfisher
  23. Black-naped Fruit Dove
  24. Black-crowned Night Heron
  25. Savanna Nightjar
  26. Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon)
  27. White-headed Munia
  28. Olive-backed Tailorbird
  29. Pink-necked Green Pigeon
  30. Little Spiderhunter
  31. Rusty-breasted Whistler
  32. Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker 

Monday, 20 April 2020

Lockdown Birding in Bali - Nocturnal Birding...

A couple of bonus birds this evening added two species to my lockdown birding list in Ubud, Bali. These were:

24. Black-crowned Night Heron
25. Savanna Nightjar

First time I think I've recorded the Black-crowned Night-Heron in Bali, maybe. The Savanna Nightjar was less of a surprise as I have had them from several restaurants in the town, but these were the first ones from the actual villa.

Today was the #BirdTheFeckAtHome BIG (Sun) DAY with the Eastern Hemisphere competing against the Western Hemisphere in a lockdown bird race of sorts. I was able to add the following 5 species to the Eastern Hemisphere list from my spot in Ubud.

1. Javan Kingfisher
2. Javan Munia
3. Javan Pond Heron
4. Cave Swiftlet
5. Black-crowned Night Heron

All good fun! 

Saturday, 18 April 2020

Lockdown Birding in Bali - NEW SPECIES UPDATE

Had a big bonus today when a Black-naped Fruit Dove flew over the garden into the nearby fruiting tree, that is lockdown number...

23. Black-naped Fruit Dove.

I finally also got round to checking out the #BirdTheFeckAtHome Facebook group and added this species and one other (Striated Swallow) to their cumulative bird list from all of the people reporting sightings from their places of lockdown around the world...

Amazingly my record of Black-naped Fruit Dove was the 2,270th species logged on the site!

Friday, 17 April 2020

Lockdown Birding Bali Style

Well like most of the rest of the world I'm currently in lockdown and self-isolating due to Coronavirus (Covid-19). Hope you're all staying safe and well at these difficult times.

I'm taking a little (forced) break from birding at the moment. I should have just completed a 3 week trip in the United States of America looking for Grouse and Chickens etc (birding in Colorado, Nebraska, and South Dakota) and should have just started a 2 week Vietnam trip. I know also that my spring birding trip to the United States (for Biggest Week in American Birding) and a subsequent trip to Colombia and Ecuador is also off (as is the British Bird Fair in the UK in August). Sad but will catch up with those all next year I hope. No decisions as yet on my Sulawesi, Halmahera, West Papua, and Australia tours for later in the year thus far....

So currently I'm in Bali, not really birding as I said, doing lots of computer work improving itineraries etc to come back stronger after this is all over. However I am a birder of course so I'm always noting the birds that are around my villa, which is right in the town center of Ubud, so not necessarily the best place for birdwatching... but here's what I've had so far in no particular order...

  1. Javan Kingfisher
  2. Spotted Dove
  3. Zebra Dove
  4. Plaintive Cuckoo
  5. Yellow-vented Bulbul
  6. Javan Munia
  7. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
  8. Cave Swiftlet
  9. Intermediate Egret
  10. Eastern Cattle Egret
  11. Javan Pond Heron
  12. Pacific Swallow
  13. Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon
  14. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
  15. Olive-backed Sunbird
  16. Pied Bush Chat
  17. White-nest Swiftlet
  18. Striated Swallow
  19. Scaly-breasted Munia
  20. Chinese Sparrowhawk
  21. Large-billed Crow
  22. Collared Kingfisher

I wonder if I'll get anything else while I'm here?... keep tuned!

Javan Munia

Sunday, 5 January 2020

Bali and East Java 2019 - A quick catch up!

While putting together my review for 2019 I realized I'd forgotten to put together a blogpost on the awesome few days I had birding with my friends Jerry and Annie in Bali and East Java in February 2019. It was supposed to be a relaxing couple of day between tours... it turned out to be an incredible birdfest! And I think I got some sleep somewhere at some point, and I wouldn't change it for the world!

After a day or so around Ubud we cut north to a really cool mountain birding site before heading west along the north coast where we found the Bali Myna - stunner. We then caught the ferry over to East Java where the main target bird was the Grey-breasted (White-faced) Partridge, an incredibly rare bird that had just been discovered to be coming to some feeders. We got great looks and some photos of the bird, as well as many other targets (like Horsfield's Thrush). Lots of potential future splits we think too. Photography was tough (and was with my old Lumix then).

Some of the other highlights included Grey-cheeked Tit-Babbler, Javan Bush Warbler, Sunda Bush Warbler, Pink-headed Fruit Dove, Green Junglefowl, Crescent-chested Babbler, Javan Grey-throated White-eye, Rusty-breasted Whistler, Javan Kingfisher, Javan Whistling Thrush, Siberian Thrush, Blood-breasted Flowerpecker, Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker, Black-backed Fruit Dove, Dark-backed Imperial Pigeon, White-crowned Forktail (local subsp), Sunda (Javan) Scops Owl, Javan Pond Heron, Flame-fronted Barbet, Black-banded Barbet, Javan Banded Pitta, Sunda Minivet, Pied Shrike Babbler, Olive-backed Tailorbird, Lesser Shortwing, Javan Munia, White-shouldered Triller, Javan Hawk Eagle, Orange-breasted Trogon (local subsp), Pale Blue Flycatcher, Indigo Flycatcher, Warbling White-eye, Lesser Adjutant and more!!!!

I'll be heading back to Bali next month and hope to improve on some of these pics, at least for the ones I see again!!

Bali Myna

Bali Myna

Black-banded Barbet

Blue Nuthatch

Collared Kingfisher

Grey-breasted (White-faced) Partridge

Grey-breasted (White-faced) Partridge

Grey-breasted (White-faced) Partridge

Indigo Flycatcher

Javan Bush Warbler

Javan Munia

Javan Whistling Thrush

Long-tailed Shrike

Olive-backed Sunbird

Orange-breasted Trogon

Red Junglefowl

Rusty-breasted Whistler

Horsfield's (Scaly) Thrush

Sunda (Javan) Scops Owl

Sunda Bush Warbler

White-crowned Forktail

White-shouldered Triller