Day 4 -
This was our last morning at Tapan Road before needing to move onto Mount Kerinci. It was raining quite heavily during breakfast, which was never a good sign in tropical regions. Luckily, by the time we arrived at the lower sections of Tapan Road the rain has subsided. Our first birding spot of the morning was no other than a perched Blyth’s Hawk Eagle, which was most definitely not enjoying the weather.
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| Blyth's Hawk Eagle |
The lower elevation seems to hold some slightly different birds, namely a lot more Bulbuls, including Cinereous Bulbul, Scaly-breasted Bulbul and Grey-bellied Bulbul, even a few Hairy-backed Bulbuls came along, but I didn't manage any decent photos. All 3 endemics bulbuls were present, but Sumatran Bulbul seems to be the least common of the trio, I finally managed a slightly better photo of the Spot-necked Bulbul.
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| Cinereous Bulbul |
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| Scaly-breasted Bulbul |
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| Grey-bellied Bulbul |
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| Spot-necked Bulbul |
Flocks with Black-and-Crimson Orioles, Sangkar White-eyes and Ruby-cheeked Sunbirds seems to be the usual suspects around here. The guide told us he saw a Blue-masked Leafbird, but it only showed briefly and we were unable to relocate it. A few Blue-winged Leafbirds were all we saw.
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| Black-and-Crimson Oriole - male |
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| Sangkar White-eye |
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| Ruby-cheeked Sunbird - male |
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| Blue-winged Leafbird - male |
A Black-and-Yellow Broadbill made an appearance, a species that inhabits lowland to hill forest, an indicator that we were much lower down than before. A pair of Asian Fairy-Bluebirds also came through, but only the female allowed a distant record shot.
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| Black-and-Yellow Broadbill |
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| Asian Fairy-Bluebird - female |
A male Red-headed Trogon showed quite well along the road. While a Sunda Forktail gave us very good looks by actually being on the road!
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| Red-headed Trogon - male |
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| Sunda Forktail |
A Horsfield’s Babbler came through, which was a new bird for Kenneth, with some effort we managed some decent views of this skulking species.
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| Horsfield's Babbler |
After lunch in town, we drove north towards Mount Kerinci, the highest mountain of Indonesia, the summit sits above 3,800m asl. The site is probably the most important birding site for the Sumatran montane endemics, making it the top birding site in West Sumatra. We arrived at our the Bintang Kerinci Hotel in the small town of Kayu Aro, which overlooks the southern slopes of Mount Kerinci. We had a little rest and headed out for our first birding session in the forest.
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| Entrance of Kerinci Seblat National Park |
We were guided into a feeding station in the forest, many key endemic species can supposedly be seen around here, including the Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant, Salvadori’s Pheasant, Schneider’s Pitta and Red-billed Partridge. We were greeted by a bunch of “common” birds, including a pair of Large Niltavas, a pair of Snowy-browed Flycatchers also came in quite often. A Lesser Shortwing was also present, these usually shy species can become much easily seen in feeding stations like this.
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| Large Niltava - male |
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Snowy-browed Flycatcher - female
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| Lesser Shortwing |
A pair of Shiny Whistling Thrushes were the only endemic species we added at the feeding station in the afternoon. Dwi went looking for a roosting Sumatran Frogmouth nearby and succeeded, we followed him and received incredibly close views of this amazing endemic, seeing a frogmouth during the day will make the dullest of day exciting! Night birding was not quite as successful, we heard and saw the Salvadori’s Nightjar briefly flew by and heard the call of a Rajah Scops Owl twice, but nothing responded.
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| Shiny Whistling Thrush |
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| Sumatran Frogmouth |
Day 5 -
This was our first full day at Mt Kerinci, and we hope to get most of the birds at the bird hides as quickly as possible, so we can focus on walking up the trail for other species. Things were again quiet at the bird hides at first, with only the regulars hanging around. The hide was also infested with many Three-striped Ground Squirrels.
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| Shiny Whistling Thrush |
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| Three-striped Ground Squirrel |
Roughly around 8:30am Captain stated he needed a brief toilet break, not 30 seconds after he went outside, a large dark bird strolled onto the “stage” on the left side, a male Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant! We scrambled for photos, luckily Captain came back just in time and we were all given superb views of this otherwise difficult bird in the wild.
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| Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant - male |
Kenneth kept playing the call of the Rusty-breasted Wren-Babbler, hoping one will come in eventually. To our surprise, a pair did sneaked in and suddenly bursted out in full song right in front of our bird hide! They were in fact too close for us to get any decent photos, luckily one stopped briefly on the side of the big tree to the left, and we were rewarded with great views of this endemic.
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| Rusty-breasted Wren-Babbler |
It was 11am before we left the hide, a bit later than we expected due to the lack of birds. The guides found the Sumatran Frogmouth roosting at another spot, this time with side on views, and who can say no to a Frogmouth as tame as this!
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| Sumatran Frogmouth |
The hike going up started gently, but slowly increasing in steepness and the height of the steps! At the first rain shelter we encountered a large feeding flock, with numerous Sunda Warblers, White-throated Fantail, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Sunda Minivets, Grey-chinned Minivets and Blue Nuthatch.
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| Sunda Warbler |
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| Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher |
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| Sunda Minivet - female |
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| Blue Nuthatch |
A bit further up, we had a close encounter with a pair of Eye-browed Wren-Babblers, at first we thought we hit the jackpot with the Sumatran Wren-Babbler, as they have a slightly similar song, but it was not to be, as Sumatran Wren-Babbler have a shorter monotonous whistle. Either way, we enjoyed close views of these usually skulking birds.
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| Eye-browed Wren-Babbler |
A group of Siamangs gave us great views, these large gibbons are very common around Mount Kerinci, and their loud morning songs can be heard throughout the trail. Due to habitat loss, they are also now an endangered species.
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| Siamang |
The rest of the walk wasn't much fun, and there weren't that many birds worth mentioning either. We reached the rest stop at 2,225m, which is supposed to be where the Sumatran Cochoa frequents. All in all, not a lot were seen there, a few Aberrant Bush Warblers gave good views, while Kenneth managed to photograph a Sumatran Shortwing which hopped out to the footpath briefly, I was left with only brief views.
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| Aberrant Bush Warbler |
The wait was gruelling, and to be honest a bit boring. The odd Golden Babblers and Black-capped White-eyes came in occasionally. The numerous Lowland Slender Squirrels were perhaps the most entertaining, as they have no fear of men, and would constantly try to get food from you as soon as you sit down.
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Golden Babbler
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| Black-capped White-eye |
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| Lowland Slender Squirrel |
A better bird came in form of a very confiding Sumatran Whistling Thrush, also known as the Brown-winged Whistling Thrush, not difficult to see why, but it is certainly quite unique looking amongst the other Whistling Thrushes, with its deep navy blue head and bright chestnut tail, it certainly is a great looking bird, and a Sumatran endemic no less!
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| Sumatran Whistling Thrush |
With no sign of the Cochoa, we headed back down hill to hopefully encounter some night birds before we leave. The Salvadori's Nightjars were again playing hard to get, with distant calls, and I had brief views on the thermo of a Rajah Scops Owl swooping down from above, but as soon as we turn our lights on it flew off. My thermo did picked up a few sleeping birds, but none was quite as exciting as a female Schneider's Pitta sleeping on a low branch!
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| Schneider's Pitta - female |
Day 6 -
This was our second and final full day at Mt Kerinci, so we knew we must make the most of it. We headed back towards the bird hide to hopefully get either a Pitta or Partridge there. There were many Long-tailed Shrikes along the way to the entrance of the trail.
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| Long-tailed Shrike |
The session in the bird hide didn't start too badly, as it didn't take long to produce a female Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant. A Rusty-breasted Wren-Babbler also came in without too much persuasion, and gave much better views compared to the previous day.
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| Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant - female |
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| Rusty-breasted Wren-Babbler |
All of a sudden, a plump bird hopped up on the left side of the bird hide, the female Schneider's Pitta finally decided to come in! Despite being a female, it was still a jaw dropping moment to see this usually skulking species out and about, even though it does somewhat resembles a Rusty-naped Pitta, it was larger with a longer bill. The bird was named after Swiss taxidermist Gustav Schneider, who first observed this species in 1897, but this species went without record since 1918 and wasn't until 1988 when British ornithologist Phil Hurrell reconnected with this species on Mt Kerinci, and the rest is history.
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| Schneider's Pitta - female |
Having gotten slightly better photos of the Rusty-breaasted Wren-Babbler as well as phenomenal views of the female Pitta, we thought it was a good time to set off slightly earlier to the upper slopes, so at 9:30am we set off onto the trail. Things started off quietly, with a juvenile Snowy-browed Flycatcher with its parent.
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| Snowy-browed Flycatcher - juvenile |
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| Snowy-browed Flycatcher - male |
A little higher up, the guide heard the song of a Rufous-vented Niltava and managed to call it in, the male especially showed quite well for everyone. This species was once considered conspecific with Rufous-bellied Niltava, but have since been split and now considered a monotypic species which range from the Malay Peninsular to Sumatra.
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| Rufous-vented Niltava - male |
As we got closer to our 2,225m platform, a feeding flock with quite a few species were encountered, including a few nice looking Fire-tufted Barbets, Blue Nuthatches, and many Black-capped White-eyes.
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| The insanely high steps |
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| Fire-tufted Barbet |
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| Blue Nuthatch |
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| Black-capped White-eye |
There were quite a few Sunda Warblers, but we got much better looks at many Mountain Leaf Warblers, which only gave brief views the previous day. A pair of Sumatran Flowerpeckers also made an appearance.
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| Sunda Warbler |
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| Mountain Leaf Warbler |
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| Sumatran Flowerpecker - male |
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| Sumatran Flowerpecker - female |
We managed to get up to the platform earlier, hoping that this would give us a better chance with the Sumatran Cochoa. As we waited, a Black Eagle quietly drifted by above us.
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| Black Eagle |
It was again a gruelling waiting game on the platform, with not many birds around. We kept looking through the few fruiting trees but simply had nothing going there. A few of us waited around for the Sumatran Shortwing to come in and managed a brief look and a record shot, they have a much more elaborate and musical song compare to Lesser Shortwing. A Sumatran Spiny Rat was observed foraging for scraps around the platform.
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| Sumatran Shortwing - male |
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| Sumatran Spiny Rat |
I also found a very friendly Pygmy Cupwing nearby, Sumatran race lepida is genearlly more brightly coloured around the head, the scales on the breast also seems slightly thicker. Their song is also different, being slightly higher pitched, with 2 short 'tsit-tsit' in between the song phrases.
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| Pygmy Cupwing - race lepida |
Eventually, around late afternoon, Kenneth, Adam and I heard the Sumatran Cochoa call from a distant, its mournful whistles were clearly heard, but simply too far away for us to track down, there was also no horizontal trails from the platform, which meant there isn't any way to see this species unless it just so happen to be feeding on the fruiting trees close to the platform. With that, we headed back down, on the way we managed to connect with a juvenile Sunda Owlet.
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| Looking towards where we heard the Sumatran Cochoa... |
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| Sunda Owlet - juvenile |
It was already quite dark when we finally heard the short whistle of Sumatran Wren-Babbler, Kenneth immediately worked on calling it in, and to our surprise it came closer! With light fading, I just managed to catch a glimpse of it's white throat facing me in the undergrowth, and somehow managed to get everyone onto the bird! The bird stayed on the same perch for a few minutes, allowing us to take a few record shots before it got too dark for our cameras to work properly. We knew this was quite a scarce resident on Mt Kerinci, so this was certainly a record we were all very pleased with, and likely one of the top bird of this entire trip!
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| Sumatran Wren-Babbler - a mega lifer for everyone! |
We again had no luck with any of our night birds, so we called it a day and went back to the hotel for dinner.
Day 7 -
This was our final morning on Mt Kerinci before we needed to head back to Padang. Our only realistic chance for anything new now depended on the bird hide. Things started off with the 'regulars' of Snowy-browed Flycatchers, Shiny Whistling Thrush and Lesser Shortwings.
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| Snowy-browed Flycatcher - male |
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| Shiny Whistling Thrush |
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| Lesser Shortwing |
The Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant again came out dutifully, as did the female Schneider's Pitta which we are now getting to know very well. A Rusty-breasted Wren-Babbler showed very nicely again a few times.
Kenneth played the call of the Red-billed Partridge from the bird hide, to our delight we heard a response from nearby! Not long after, a family group came in but stayed out of sight by the side of the bird hide, an adult came through the front of our hide and gave incredible views! It felt great that we finally managed to get a good look at this Sumatran endemic, and probably arguably one of the best looking partridge in the region!
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| Red-billed Partridge - what a good looking bird! |
By 9:30am we decided that we have gotten all that is possible at the bird hide (no show for the male Schneider's Pitta and no sign of the Salvadori's Pheasant) and tried birding along the trail before we had to leave. we didn't see much except for a pair of Maroon Woodpeckers. And that was that, we headed back to the hotel, packed up and got ready for the long drive back towards Padang. Adam stayed on for the afternoon and left the next day to continue for his journey around other parts of Indonesia, of which I wish him the best of luck and no doubt he will be seeing some amazing species on his travels.
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| Maroon Woodpecker |
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| Team of happy birders |
The 7 hours car journey was not the most enjoyable, but we did stop by Lake Diatas for a coffee break in between, a very nice local tourist spot that provides lovely views of the lake. We stayed one evening in Padang, and got on an early morning flight back to Kuala Lumpur and then to Hong Kong, where we managed to get back in the evening.
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| Views at Lake Diatas |
Summary -
We recorded 21 Sumatran endemics in total, with the Sumatran Cochoa being a heard only record, all the other species we obtained decent to great views! I personally added 29 lifers, and had a total trip list of 140 species in Sumatra. With the new lifers, my life list now stands at 1,984 species (I know AviList is coming soon and will knock quite a few species out of my list, but hey, let's make the most of it before!), 16 species left till I reach 2,000!
I thought we did fairly well, considering we connected with almost all our target species, the only species we did not get a whiff of being the Salvadori's Pheasants, which apparently have not been seen recently anyway, so it wasn't that much of a surprise. It was a shame that the male Schneider's Pitta decided not to show up, although getting such good views of the female was in itself quite special and not something I should complain about.
Birding in Sumatra is no walk in the park, birds are hard work here, and the density of birds encountered were by far lower than places like Fraser's Hill or Mt Kinabalu, which have similar habitat and similar set of birds. I have no doubt that if it wasn't for the amount of bird trapping happening, the density of birds would be much higher. I also advice any birders visiting to come prepared, this is not a location where everything is hand fed to you, other than the few notable stakeouts, expect to work quite hard on the other species on your own.
A big thanks to Dwi and his team for organising the logistics on the ground, also huge thanks to Captain, Dennis, Kenneth and Adam for being such great company throughout, we had a lot of laughs and great fun along the way.
Trip List:
https://ebird.org/tripreport/384985?view=checklist
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