Bali, Indonesia : 27th July - 3rd August 2025

Bali's beach resorts are well known to most people, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in Indonesia. But the island is so much more than white sandy beaches and poolside bars. It offers some of the best birding in the country, with a good variety of localised specialties, the critically endangered Bali Myna being the cream of the crop. The well-developed tourism infrastructure also makes Bali quite an easy location to visit. Four of us (Kenneth, Yin, Hoiling, and I) booked a 4-day trip with Bali Birding Tours. They were very quick to reply and everything was well taken care of. We planned to first do the birding tour with them and leave a few days to relax and do other touristy things around Ubud and Denpasar.

Day 1 - Denpasar to Putri Kori Villa

We took a direct redeye flight from Hong Kong to Denpasar, arriving at 7:45am. We went through customs without any hassle and met our guide Untung and our two drivers Marcus and Komang at the arrival hall. We got going straight away and we were already getting our bins and cameras out at 9am. Our first stop was Nusa Dua Lagoon, a wetland area not far from the airport. Here we were quick to add a Sunda Teal and many Small Blue Kingfishers, also known as the Cerulean Kingfisher. Both were lifers for me.

Sunda Teal

Small Blue Kingfisher

A Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker showed fairly well, the area was also filled with Javan Pond Herons. There were quite a few Little Pied Cormorants and Little Black Cormorants around.

Nusa Dua Lagoon

Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker - male

Javan Pond Heron

Little Black Cormorant

Little Pied Cormorant

An Asian Water Monitor was out sunning itself. A few White-browed Crakes gave excellent views. This small crake is relatively common in Southeast Asia, but always delightful to see. In the trees many Blue-tailed Bee-eaters hawked for insects.

Asian Water Monitor

White-browed Crake

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Another lifer came in form of the White-shouldered Triller, which seems to be quite a common species around the coastal area. Elsewhere in Southeast Asia the same habitat would support the more familiar Pied Triller.

White-shouldered Triller

We headed for lunch after birding at Nusa Dua. The food was excellent and we had a good view of the paddies, here we added Javan and White-headed Munias. 

View from the restaurant

Javan Munia

White-headed Munia

A few Golden-headed Cisticolas also came by for a good look, race in Bali should be lineocapilla. A Javan Kingfisher made an appearance, although it remained a bit further away.

Golden-headed Cisticola

Javan Kingfisher

One and a half hour later we arrived at the Belatungan Bird Hide, a location catered for time constraint birders, where the feeding station attracted highly sought-after species like both sexes of Javan Banded Pitta and Crescent-chested Babbler, both provided much improved views compared to my last encounter in West Java.

Javan Banded Pitta - male

Javan Banded Pitta - female

Crescent-chested Babbler

There were also Orange-headed Thrushes, an Orange-bellied Flowerpecker, race amoenus of Oriental Magpie Robins, Olive-backed Tailorbirds, Horsfield's Babblers, Asian Emerald Doves, and Yellow-vented Bulbuls. All in all a very efficient birding spot, although the setting was not quite ideal for photography due to the unnatural setup, it was still nice to see so many good species in one place. Within 20 minutes of us arriving we already got everything we wanted!

Orange-headed Thrush - male

Orange-bellied Flowerpecker

Oriental Magpie Robin - female

Oriental Magpie Robin - male

Olive-backed Tailorbird

Horsfield's Babbler

Asian Emerald Dove

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Before dusk we arrived at Putri Kori Villa, our accommodation for the next three nights, it is a lovely villa with charismatic lodges, which were very comfortable. Before dinner I added a Chestnut-headed Bee-eater outside our lodge.

Putri Kori Villa

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

After a delicious dinner, we headed out to look for Sunda Scops Owls on our own. Untung gave us some pointers in where to look for the owl, and we played the call a few times along the road directly outside the villa, it didn’t take long to get a reply nearby, we followed the call to an abandoned banana plantation, after some scanning, Kenneth spotted the owl sitting on a banana tree. We managed to wiggle our way through the plants and got a good view of the small owl. Near the beach we also added a confiding Large-tailed Nightjar! All in all, a very productive day!

Sunda Scops Owl

Large-tailed Nightjar

Day 2 - Grojogan Waterfall, Banyu Wedang and Bali Barat NP

We headed out at 6am, our first stop was a paddy field nearby to try and get better photographs of the Javan Kingfisher. We sat behind the blind where the owner came and put out some crickets. The Javan Kingfisher sat at a distance but never came in, after nearly an hour of waiting, it simply wasn’t interested with the food on offer, so we ended up trying to take photos outside the hide, which turned out to be a better option, as the kingfisher was actually quite approachable on foot.

Javan Kingfisher - an absolute stunner

We headed to Grojogan Waterfall next, where we had breakfast while looking for birds in the area. A flock of Wreathed Hornbills flew by, plus distant views of Oriental Pied Hornbills. A distant Plaintive Cuckoo and Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoo gave brief views, as did a Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo.

Wreathed Hornbills

Plaintive Cuckoo

Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo

Square-tailed Drongo Cuckoo

Untung found us a few Yellow-eared Barbets, which was a new species for me. A small flock of Small Minivets also came by, along with Black-winged Flycatcher-shrikes. A Black-naped Fruit Dove kept calling but never revealed itself.

Yellow-eared Barbet

Small Minivet - male

Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike - male

We didn’t add much at the waterfall, except for a few damselflies and dragonflies, other than more common species, we encountered a very unusual dragonfly, probably of Genus Indaeschna, there are no records of anything from that genus in Bali, so at the very least this is probably not very common.

Sundanese Gossamerwing

Sundanese Threadtail

Indaeschna sp. ?

Before lunch we headed to one more stop for Fulvous-chested Jungle Flycatcher, at the feeding station next to Keramat Mbah Temon. A Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher showed very well here. A pair of flycatchers took a bit of time to come out, but eventually gave decent views.

Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher

Fulvous-chested Jungle Flycatcher

After a lovely lunch by the seaside, Untung took us to the coastal salt pans at Banyu Wedang. Untung told us an Australian Pratincole was seen recently, but we never connected with it. However, we were greeted by many Javan Plovers and Greater Sand Plovers. A few Grey-tailed Tattlers, Ruddy Turnstones, and Little Terns were also present.

View on the coast at Banyu Wedang

Javan Plover

Greater Sand Plover

Little Tern

Driving around we added a few Pied Stilts. This Australasian species replaces Black-winged Stilt here, the main difference being the black nape and back of neck, as well as a pure white head.

Pied Stilt

Next, we headed into Bali Barat National Park, Untung stopped by two stretch of sandy beach to look for the Beach Thick-knee. They weren't at the first beach, only a pair of Malaysian Plovers were present, I didn't mind as this was also a lifer for me.

Malaysian Plover - female

Malaysian Plover - male

Luck was on our side and at the second beach Untung spotted two large birds walking towards us, and what else could they be but Beach Thick-knees! These charismatic birds gave excellent views up close before taking flight and out of sight. I was particularly pleased to connect with them, having missed them in Australia a few years ago.

Beach Thick-knee

After successfully getting the Thick-knee, we moved onto other targets around the national park. After adding the Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon, we heard the Black-naped Fruit Dove calling nearby but it never materialized. At the Pura Segara Rupek temple we scanned for Black-winged Mynas, since Untung heard some calling quite far away, and with some vigilant scanning he located a few in the distant trees. I managed to get a record shot before they flew off. The endemic race in Bali is tertius, which have dark greyish mantle and rump. Nearby we added our first Bali Mynas, a pair of these critically endangered species showed well.

Grey-cheeked Green Pigeon - female

Black-winged Myna - race tertius

Bali Myna

Along the forest track we encountered a flock of small birds, they were Lemon-bellied White-eyes, it was fortunate we bumped into this flock as they turned out to be our only encounter of this trip. A female Freckle-breasted Woodpecker foraged nearby.

Lemon-bellied White-eye

Freckle-breasted Woodpecker - female

Untung kept trying for Bar-winged Prinia, which we eventually got a visual, although it didn't want to come out for a better photo. Collared Kingfishers were very common along the coastal forest here.

Bar-winged Prinia

Collared Kingfisher

One prominent feature of Bali Barat National Park are the rather confiding Javan Rusas, which maybe seen anywhere from the roadside to the seaside, often at fairly close range.

Javan Rusa

Before we headed out of the national park for dinner, we gave Great-billed Heron a try despite the fading light. Scanning along the tidal zone we successfully connected with one bird in the distant, although in such dim conditions it was impossible to get any good photos, Untung told me we would try again in the morning for better views. On the way out we also added a few Lesser Adjutant.

Great-billed Heron

Lesser Adjutant

Day 3 - Bali Barat NP

The morning saw us heading back into Bali Barat National Park. The first bird we saw was one of our main target species, the Green Junglefowl, which ran in front of the car briefly, it was still quite dark so I didn't really get a good photo.

Green Junglefowl - male

We scanned the coast again for Great-billed Heron while we had our breakfast, it wasn't long before we got our eyes on the huge heron. A quick hop on the car and we drove straight towards where the heron was, we soon realized there were two of them, an adult and a juvenile, the juvenile was harassed by an immature White-bellied Sea-Eagle.

Juvenile Great-billed Heron & White-bellied Sea Eagle

We slowly walked out onto the tidal zone, where we were able to get relatively close to the adult. It was foraging along the coast, as well as vocalising every so often, inflating the top of its neck and boomed, like you would expect of a Great Bittern. The magnificent bird eventually took flight and flew off into the distant.

Great-billed Heron

It was extremely gusty that day, which made scanning for birds difficult. We tried again for Bar-winged Prinias but nothing responded in the strong wind. Only a Javan Rusa eyed us intently on the track. Heading back out towards the car park we saw a male Green Jungelfowl feeding along the roadside, which gave fairly decent view.

Javan Rusa

Green Junglefowl - male

Seeing that we didn't add anything new, Untung took us to another feeding station nearby. Upon arriving, a Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher was present, together with a few Horsefield's Babblers and a Malaysian Pied-Fantail. A Horsefield's Tree Shrew also frequented the bird hide.

Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher

Horsfield's Babbler

Malaysian Pied-Fantail

Horsfield's Tree Shrew

The main target here was the Hair-crested Drongo of race jentincki, endemic to east Java and Bali. The Hair-crested Drongo was close-by but simply not willing to come out into the open for photos, we ended up taking some photos in-between the branches. Different races of Hair-crested Drongos differ hugely in appearance, so I wouldn't be surprised if this will be split in the near future.

Hair-crested Drongo - race jentincki

Next, we walked around the coastal forest in search for Javan Owlet and Mangrove Whistler. While the owlet was nowhere to be found, a few Mangrove Whistlers were heard, but they were reluctant to show, and I was the only one who managed a brief view. The wind probably didn't help much as all the birds seemed particularly agitated by the weather. White-shouldered Triller and Golden-bellied Gerygone were slightly more cooperative. A few Olive-backed Tailorbirds also made an appearance.

White-shouldered Triller

Yellow-bellied Gerygone

Olive-backed Tailorbird

After lunch, Untung wanted to try for Brown Honeyeaters near Gilimanuk. We arrived at a little hut next to the sea amongst the mangroves, and at the little fountain the Brown Honeyeaters were already there drinking water. Although this was not a lifer for me having previously seen them in Australia, seeing Honeyeaters west of the Wallace's Line was a first for me.

Brown Honeyeater

We birded around some open fields in Gilimanuk hoping for Sunda Collared Doves, but we again came up empty handed. I spent a little time photographing the ever so common Cave Swiftlets in the good light, as a few flew close to the ground hawking for insects. We didn't really see all that much there, a few Chestnut-crowned Bee-eaters and Javan Mynas were about the most notable species we got.

Cave Swiftlet

Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

Javan Myna

Having missed a few targets, everyone were a bit down on spirit. Untung wanted to try one last time for Mangrove Whistler at another site nearby, as this would be our last chance for Mangrove Whistler on this trip. Not long after we got there, Untung suddenly motioned us to stop, and said "Owlet!". I didn't quite believe him at first, but as I looked at where he was pointing directly in front of us, a Javan Owlet was sitting at eye-level not 5 metres away from us! We slowly got into better position and had fabulous views of this main target of ours. No doubt the best bird of the day! And just so happens that this was my 2,000th bird on my global list!

Javan Owlet

After the unexpected success in connecting with the owlet, we moved onto the Bali Mynas at the breeding centre nearby. Here they are working on captive breeding and rewilding them into the national park. Bali Myna nearly went extinct in the wild due to bird trapping for the bird trade, with population down to just 6 individuals in 2001! With conservation efforts, the population for this incredible species seems to now be stable, but without breeding programme this species most definitely would have gone extinct in the wild. The rangers put out food here for the starlings, and both released and wild individuals come in to feed, therefore allowing us to get close views of this Bali endemic. 

Bali Myna - with leg ring

I noticed quite a few birds with no rings on their legs, which I presume are wild offsprings of released birds. They are simply a spectacular species to see up close, no doubt a highlight for any birders visiting the island of Bali.

Bali Myna - iconic bird of Bali

There was also a Javan Pied Starling feeding there with the Bali Myna, which is now a very rare species in the wild in the native range of Java, with many stating it is probably functionally extinct in the wild. This could be an introduced individual from across the channel, although the origin of this particular bird is not well known, it was still interesting to see this very rare species just casually feeding on the lawn.

Javan Pied Starling

Nearby, a few Coppersmith Barbets also came through, race roseus is endemic to Java and Bali, unique looking amongst Coppersmith Barbets anywhere else, as they have a completely red crown, face and throat.

Coppersmith Barbet - race roseus

After the exciting photo session, we wanted one last try for Black-winged Mynas. We headed back into the national park to try again. Along the way we saw a pair of Oriental Cuckooshrikes, a male Freckle-breasted Woodpecker also came through. We eventually saw the mynas, but they remained very far away, but we did see up to 20 of this rare species flew out from a tree, we tried to follow them but in vain.

Oriental Cuckooshrike

Freckle-breasted Woodpecker - male

Day 4 - Bedugul Bali Botanical Garden and Luhur Batukaru Temple

We had an early morning start at 4am, as it takes 2 and a half hours to get to Bedugul Bali Botanical Garden. As we moved east, weather started to change from dry to wet, and by the time we arrived at the entrance of the botanical garden, it was very misty with a bit of rain. Luckily, by the time we started, the rain had subsided, although it remained quite misty. Our first birds were a pair of Green Junglefowl foraging on the side of the road. They were drenched and the male was not as pretty as the ones we saw the previous day, however they did gave quite good views.

Green Junglefowl - male

Green Junglefowl - female

We added many Javan Heleias soon after we got out of the car, there were also Sunda Warblers and Mountain Leaf Warblers singing, but they were more reluctant to show. A few Javan Flowerpeckers were seen, but none gave good views and remained very high up.

Javan Heliea

Things were more quiet than I expected, we heard a few Javan Scimitar-Babblers calling nearby, but they never came out for a look. A distant Javan Whistling Thrush teased us in the morning mist. We finally heard a few Dark-backed Imperial Pigeons, and one gave itself away eventually.

Javan Whistling Thrush

Dark-backed Imperial Pigeon

We kept our ears out for Tenggara Whistler, which we eventually heard and followed the call through the tall trees. It took us a while, but eventually a pair of them gave distant views up near the canopy. The female was rather non-descriptive, but the male was distinctive. They look superficially similar to the Golden Whistler, but with rusty coloured breast. A Greater Racket-tailed Drongo was also nearby.

Tenggara Whistler - male

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

The weather improved slightly, and we added a rather shy Sunda Cuckoo. A Flame-fronted Barbet was feeding on a fruiting tree, which gave great views. The race baliensis from east Java and Bali have pale eyes instead of black eyes.

Sunda Cuckoo

Flame-fronted Barbet - race baliensis

We went past the Green Junglefowl again, which was attempting to dry itself in the morning sun. Despite the conditions of the plumage, you can still appreciate that technicoloured crest.

Green Junglefowl

A few Ruddy Cuckoo-doves showed up, most of them flew by at great speed, but one perched on top of a tree, probably trying to dry itself after the rain. A Black-backed Fruit-Dove was heard, unfortunately remained as that. A Crested Serpent Eagle also came by, probably taking advantage of the slight sunshine.

Ruddy Cuckoo Dove

Crested Serpent Eagle

Untung took us to an area of tall grass and shrubs, hoping for Javan Bush Warblers, it didn't take long to get onto the insect-like song, but it took us a little while to locate one nearby to try and lure it out. Just as we started seeing some movements in the grass, it started raining again, but our patience was not wasted as the bird eventually showed quite well through the gaps! As good as we could ever hope for of a skulking bush warbler.

Javan Bush Warbler - showed so well despite the rain!

The rain continued as we move onto our final birding spot at Luhur Batukaru Temple, here we were going to give one last try for Black-naped Fruit Doves and Short-tailed Starling (which I missed as Kenneth in the front car saw a few flew by), but the heavy rain prevented us from getting any meaningful birding done. The only bird of interest were a few free-flying Black-winged Mynas around the entrance of the temple. These were not the Bali subspecies, but were of race melanopterus, from west Java. We were told that someone probably wanted to do some breeding and release programme like the Bali Myna, but obviously released the wrong race into Bali. This could end up hurting this species more than anything, as the different race could interbreed and produce hybrids, contaminating the gene pool of the birds in Bali. It was still interesting to see them free flying in the wild.

Black-winged Myna - race melanopterus

And with that, our 4-day trip with Bali Birding Tour was over. We headed towards Ubud, where they were to drop us off at our hotel. After being stuck in heavy traffic for over an hour in Ubud, we finally bid our farewell with Untung, Marcus, and Komang.

The group with Untung in the middle

Day 5 - Ubud and Denpasar

The whole day was spent relaxing around Ubud, despite the rain, we did walk the Ridge Walk and added Chestnut-breasted Malkoha to our trip list. Along the paddies we enjoyed the presence of another Javan Kingfisher, although this one a bit further away. There were plenty of Common Sun Skinks and Great Crested Canopy Lizards to keep us entertained.

Chestnut-breasted Malkoha

Javan Kingfisher

Common Sun Skink

Great Crested Canopy Lizard

That evening, we joined a herping tour by Bali Reptile Rescue, our guides Arius and Bahus met us at 8pm and we went along with them to three different spots in hope to find some snakes. Despite Hoiling twisted her ankle that day, she still joined us, luckily all the spots we visited were easy to walk on and relatively flat. The first stop was not far from Ubud, along some paddy fields with a water channel running along a track. Here we looked for Mangrove Cat Snakes, but couldn't find any. There were a lot of Asian Grass Lizards along here. Arius and Bahus took out a huge bag, turns out they rescued a Reticulated Python earlier and planned to release it here, as there are plenty of rats around for it to feed on. We were able to take some photos before it left. Arius told us that the Retiuclated Pythons in Bali usually are smaller and have a yellowish head.

Asian Grass Lizard

Reticulated Python

Our second stop was along a jogging trail just north of Denpasar, it didn't take long before I spotted our first snake there, a small male White-lipped Pit Viper.

White-lipped Pit Viper - male

The second and third snake came almost at the same time, as Arius found us an Oriental Vine Snake, while Bahus somehow spotted a tiny Painted Bronzeback! Both are common species here and around Southeast Asia, but Painted Bronzeback was a new snake for me.

Oriental Vine Snake

Painted Bronzeback

Another new snake came soon after, a very cute Keeled Slug Snake. Like all the other slug snake this was extremely docile. 

Keeled Slug Snake

A bit more excitement when Arius found us a much larger female White-lipped Pit Viper. I really like the bluish tint to the lips of this species, which differs quite a lot to our Bamboo Pit Viper in Hong Kong.

White-lipped Pit Viper - female

Emerald Tree Skink was a species I have wanted to see for quite some time, and we were able to see quite a few of them here, this gorgeous species as its name suggest is emerald green all over, with exquisite-looking scales.

Emerald Tree Skink

We saw a few frogs along the way, including a few Common Southeast Asian Tree Frogs, a few Paddy Field Frogs and Common Asian Toads.

Common Southeast Asian Tree Frog

Paddy Field Frog

Asian Common Toad

Our final stop was on the east side of Denpasar, where Arius took us to the seaside to look for Yellow-lipped Sea Kraits. We ended up seeing quite a few, and managed to get a photo session with one of them. This was a species I have wanted to see for a long time, so it was absolutely brilliant to be able to see this beautiful species up close. It was nearly 2am by the time we got back to our hotel. Our evening total was 13 snakes of 6 species, not bad for just a few hours of herping!

Yellow-lipped Sea Krait

Day 7 - Uluwatu Temple

In the afternoon we visited Uluwatu Temple, hoping to see a White-tailed Tropicbird from the coast. The views are great and weather was great, but I would not recommend anyone going there, as the Long-tailed Macaques there were rampant and were constantly trying to grab things off you. One successfully snatched my glasses off my head despite my effort to secure them with an elastic band to my head. I was fortunate enough to locate them, although all the soft bits were chewed off. That being said, of the little time we were able to scan the sea, we picked up a very distant White-tailed Tropicbird and a Brown Booby. I will leave closer views for future visits to their breeding grounds, as I was just happy to get another lifer. I don't recommend anyone visiting the temple, as it is simply too stressful and you won't be able to even enjoy the views, let alone scan for birds on the sea! I was lucky that I got my glasses back, many people don't and the macaques are even known to snatch phones off people!

Views above Uluwatu cliffs

Long-tailed Macaque - problematic primates

Bali is an incredible location, with rich culture and history, friendly people, and great food. The birding was also great, despite the weather being less than optimal on a few days, we were able to connect with most of our major targets. We did miss a few species, and a few as heard-only, but that is to be expected anywhere. We ended up with 140 species, with 24 lifers for me personally. For those with more time, you can add a few days to East Java, which will get you a lot more Javan endemics, but if you only have a few days, just birding in Bali should provide plenty of interesting birds for both novice or more seasoned birders.

A huge thanks to Untung and his team for guiding us. They were attentive and flexible, and they were keen on sharing their insights on local culture and conservation efforts. I would also like to thank Arius and Bahus for their expert guidance during the herping tour, I highly recommend anyone going to Bali to join them for one evening, it was a lot of fun. Massive thanks to Hoiling, Kenneth, and Yin for excellent company throughout the trip, it was certainly fun and memorable.

Full bird list: https://ebird.org/tripreport/397232