Sumatra is a the largest island out of Indonesia’s 17,000 islands, and the 6th largest island in the world. Being in close proximity with the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra share many spectacular avifauna within the region, but as an isolated island it also offers a good numbers of endemic birds, 35 in total! With some mouthwatering species like Sumatran Ground Cuckoo, Salvadori’s Pheasant, Schneider’s Pitta, Graceful Pitta, Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant, Sumatran Trogon, Sumatran Wren-Babbler and Sumatran Frogmouth to name just a few. Making Sumatra quite high on the wish list for birders.
With recent sightings of the mythical Sumatran Ground Cuckoo becoming quite stable, there is probably no better time to visit than now! Four of us made the trip to try and see some birds from the endemic rich region of West Sumatra, on 14th June saw Captain, Dennis, Kenneth and I at the airport and took the early evening flight to Kuala Lumpur, where we would get a transfer flight to Padang.
We arrived in Malaysia at 10:30pm, having found out that we cannot actually go back into the gate until 4 hours before departure of our next flight despite having booked a capsule hotel in airside of the terminal, we were unable to go check-in! This meant sleeping outside in the terminal benches until 3:45am!
We finally were able to get to the capsule hotel after a grueling wait, to take a shower and get a little over an hour of sleep. Our flight to Padang flew out at 7:45am, just an hour after we took off we arrived at Padang at exactly 7:45am! Thanks to the fact that Indonesia is one hour behind Malaysia.
Day 1 -
We met our driver at the airport and got going straight away. This was a travel day which meant we didn’t get any proper birding except for a few common birds from the car. We had a brilliant breakfast in Padang before we properly hit the road. 7 hours on the road meant we stopped a few times to stretch our legs, we managed to get a pair of Rhinoceros Hornbills very far away during a brief toilet break.
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| Rhinoceros Hornbill - from afar |
It was nearly 6:30pm by the time we arrived at our hotel in Sungai Penuh, Hotel D’vania was surprisingly well equipped and fairly comfortable. We met our guide Dwi Wahyudi, who is quite famous among birders visiting Sumatra. We had dinner and called it a night to get ready for the early start.
Day 2 -
The adhan from the mosque directly next to the hotel woke me up at 4:30am, something you will need to get used to visiting Indonesia. After breakfast we set out to the Danao Kaco trail, where we will target for the rare Sumatran Ground Cuckoo. We were joined by UK birder Adam Davison who was on his big Indonesia birding trip, with Sumatra being his first stop, Dwi have decided to join us together as we have all the same targets anyway, another pair of eyes are always welcomed! Upon arriving at the entrance we were greeted by a pair of Maroon Woodpeckers.
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| Maroon Woodpecker |
The trail was fairly easy going, and temperature was a pleasant 23°C in the morning. In the beginning things were fairly quiet, with not as many bird activity as I expected, nothing much were seen except a few Golden Babblers. We were told to wait for a little bit as Dwi and his team went around to search for the Sumatran Ground Cuckoo. As we waited, Captain found us a rather interesting Kloss’ Forest Dragon.
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| Golden Babbler |
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| Kloss' Forest Dragon |
It wasn’t until around 9:15am that Dai called us into a smaller trail, signalling that he’s heard the Ground Cuckoo calling! We got to the stakeout spot and waited, sure enough a bird with magenta and blue face poked its head out from the undergrowth! It took a few more minutes before it suddenly decided it was safe enough and perched right out in full view! For the next 15 minutes we were treated with absolutely phenomenal views of this previously mythical bird! To be able to obtain such clear images of this species was almost unthinkable just a few years back! This species is currently listed as critically endangered due to ongoing habitat loss, there are only an estimated 50-250 mature individuals in the wild, making this the rarest Ground Cuckoo in the world!
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| Sumatran Ground Cuckoo - an absolute showstopper! |
The huge adrenaline rush put us in the clouds, it was smiles and cheers before we moved onto other birds along the trail. We encountered more birds along a bit further on, including a few Cream-striped Bulbuls and Sumatran Bulbuls, both Sumatran endemics.
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| Cream-striped Bulbul |
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| Sumatran Bulbul |
A few small birds came in with a feeding flock, including common birds like Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Temminck’s Sunbird, Yellow-bellied Warbler and the brilliant Blue Nuthatch, a species I have seen many times, but never enough!
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| Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher |
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| Temminck's Sunbird - male |
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| Yellow-bellied Warbler |
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| Blue Nuthatch |
A larger bird flock came through with the “big” birds, including 2 more Sumatran endemics in form of Sumatran Treepie, Sumatran Drongo. The same flock also included many Green-billed Malkohas and a Lesser Yellownape which landed right in front of us for a good photo.
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| Sumatran Treepie |
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| Sumatran Drongo |
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Green-billed Malkoha
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| Lesser Yellownape |
Other birds seen includes Long-tailed Broadbills, Black-and-Crimson Orioles, Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush and Black-browed Barbets. I was particularly shocked by the lack of laughingthrushes in general, as we only saw a few during our entire trip, which no doubt due to the bird trapping pressures.
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| Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush |
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| Black-browed Barbet |
We stopped at a picnic area for lunch, Dwi’s team prepared a lunch box for us each, so we didn’t have to travel back to town for lunch. At the picnic spot we added another top target of ours, a pair of Sumatran Trogons! Which showed beautifully. This is a sister species with the similar looking Javan Trogon, but males have a maroon rump patch. Both sexes have beautifully turquoise blue and green bare skin around the eye.
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| Sumatran Trogon - female |
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| Sumatran Trogon - male |
The walk back in the afternoon was much quieter, a Red-bearded Bee-eater was about the only bird that gave great views. Since we got most of our major targets along Danau Kaco trail, Dwi suggested we get some more rest in the afternoon, we were all quite happy that we managed to connect with the Sumatran Ground Cuckoo, being on the top of everyone’s wish list, the strong start was certainly an encouraging sign.
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| Red-bearded Bee-eater |
On the way back to the car, we stopped numerous times to marvel at the abundance of great looking butterflies, as well as other interesting insects.
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| Striped Ringlet |
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| Malay Cruiser |
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| Common Maplet |
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| Cyma Hedge Blue |
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| Peninsular Jester |
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| Sumatran Mapwing |
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| Forest Quaker |
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| Malayan Sunbeam |
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| Circe |
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| Callidula sp. |
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| Aceraius grandis |
Day 3 -
The adhan woke me up again early, we had breakfast at 5:30am and was ready to leave by 6am. We drove to Tapan Road, another birding hotspot in the area, our main target of the morning being Graceful Pitta and Marbled Wren-Babbler, both highly desirable species. We arrived at the stakeout at around 7:15am, almost immediately a pair of Graceful Pittas showed up without much persuasion. This Sumatran endemic is a sister species with the Black-crowned Pitta, it differs with having reddish purple hue around the head and neck, very beautifully just the same!
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| Graceful Pitta - a top target for birders to Sumatra |
We barely warmed our seat when the Marbled Wren-Babbler appeared, its song is a loud metallic whistle which is shortly followed by a nasal buzz. It gave insanely good views, as a skulking species that is known to be very shy, you can hardly ask for better views, having tried numerous times at Fraser’s Hill, I was over the moon with this sighting. A Spot-necked Babbler also came into view briefly, the sumatran subspecies seems generally darker than those I have seen before.
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| Marbled Wren-Babbler - a personal top target! |
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| Spot-necked Babbler - race strialata |
Having bagged the two main targets here, we moved onto the other birds along the road. Little Cuckoo Doves were numerous and we saw plenty feeding along the road. A few Sumatran Green Pigeons kept flying around above us, but never came close.
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| Little Cuckoo Dove |
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| Sumatran Green Pigeon |
A Fire-tufted Barbet caught a beetle and gave great views as it tried to get the insect down. I flushed a pair of Sunda Forktails from the gutter, an adult with a juvenile which gave great views.
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| Fire-tufted Barbet |
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| Sunda Forktail |
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| Sunda Forktail - juvenile |
We took a break for some coffee and biscuits, a lovely Dysphania transducta was spotted along the road, an absolute stunner of a moth! Our similar species of False Tiger Moth in Hong Kong will lose out big time if they both enter into a beauty contest.
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| Dysphania transducta |
A Fulvous-breasted Jungle Flycatcher kept singing and eventually showed, but did not come close. A few Leafbirds were seen with some smaller birds in the trees above, which turned out to be a few Sumatran Leafbirds, another endemic, and one that is apparently not the easiest to find! Females have yellowish forehead and bluish throats, while males resembles Blue-winged Leafbird but without the blue wings and yellowish neck.
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| Fulvous-breasted Jungle Flycatcher |
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| Sumatran Leafbird - female |
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| Sumatran Leafbird - male |
A Cream-striped Bulbuls gave great views, along with some Ochraceous Bulbuls which I couldn’t get a photo. A small bird flock gave us good views of Black-and-Crimson Orioles, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrikes, Temminck’s Sunbirds, Ruby-cheeked Sunbirds and Ashy Drongos.
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| Cream-striped Bulbul |
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| Black-and-Crimson Oriole - female |
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| Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike |
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| Temminck's Sunbird - male |
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| Temminck's Sunbird - female |
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| Ruby-cheeked Sunbird - male |
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| Ashy Drongo - race phaedrus |
Higher up and further away in the trees we connected with a Spectacled Spiderhunter, a pair of Yellow-eared Spiderhunters also came through. A single Yellow-vented Flowerpecker was added.
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| Spectacled Spiderhunter |
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| Yellow-eared Spiderhunter |
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| Yellow-vented Flowerpecker |
Before heading back to town for lunch, we added a female Red-headed Trogon, along the road we also saw a group of Black-crested Sumatran Langurs, an endemic primate of Sumatra. A few Pig-tailed Macaques were also seen. I even spotted a Flying Dragon on the side of a tree.
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| Red-headed Trogon - female |
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| Black-crested Sumatran Langurs |
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| Pig-tailed Macaque |
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| Draco sp. - possibly Great Flying Dragon |
Birding doesn't stop for lunch! During lunch we spotted many munias in the paddy field next to the restaurant, including Scaly-breasted, White-rumped and White-headed Munias. A single Zitting Cisticola also made an appearance.
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| Scaly-breasted Munia |
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| White-rumped Munia |
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| White-headed Munia |
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| Zitting Cisticola |
After a little rest, we headed back to Tapan Road at 4pm, along the way I spotted a small black bird on top of a dead tree, I shouted “Collared Falconet!” And asked the driver to slam on the break, luckily the bird was still there when we walked back to that spot, and we were then treated with lovely views of this charismatic little raptor.
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| Black-thighed Falconet |
It became quite foggy along the road a little higher up, and that certainly hindered our ability to search for birds, things were also generally quieter in the afternoon. A small bird flock added our first Sumatran Flowerpeckers onto our list, this species resembles Fire-breasted Flowerpeckers but without the red breast.
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| Sumatran Flowerpecker - male |
It took a while before we encountered a bigger flock of birds, with Spot-necked Bulbuls, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike, Golden-bellied Gerygone, Sangkor White-eye, Grey-chinned Minivet as well as our only Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo of the trip. With a bit of rain coming in we called it a day and headed back for dinner in Sungai Penuh.
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| Spot-necked Bulbul |
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| Grey-chinned Minivet - male |
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| Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo |
To be continued...
