Sumatra 15-21Mar13
From KH
Con and I went to Kerinci-Seblat National Park in Sumatra for birding. The
places birders go to in this national park are usually Mt Kerinci (>1800 m
elevation) and Tapan Road (<1500 m elevation). Click
here for maps of these two places.
Practicalities:
As Con mentioned, "In a nutshell the logistics consist of getting tickets
to Padang, and contacting
Subandi.
He does the rest. It is really that easy."
Hence, I would just add a few comments.
- Wear waterproof footwear and bring an extra pair.
We met with rain almost everyday late afternoon and the rain lasted for hours.
The main trail on Mt Kerinci turned into a stream when this happened. As for Tapan Road, I wore sandals without issue.
- Wear layered clothing. It was rather chilly in the morning. As you climb Mt Kerinci, you will get warmed up. I started with three layers and was down to my t-shirt halfway through. The outermost layer should preferably be waterproof with long sleeves as you might need to walk in side trails with wet vegetation. As for Tapan Road, two layers is sufficient.
- Rooms: All four guest rooms are en-suite with ceiling lights. However,
you will need to bring your own toilet papers. There are no mirrors in the room.
Pests:
- There were no leeches on Mt Kerinci. At Tapan Road, you mainly bird along the road,
hence no leeches. However, you might need to walk into a few of the side trails
(at most tens of metres in) for pittas and Marbled Wren-babbler. Con encountered
a grand total of 2 leeches.
- No mosquitoes were encountered throughout the trip.
- There were some pesky flies when we attempted to wait out the rain at Pos 3
(Camp Cochoa) Shelter.
Birding tips:
- The guides are great with the endemics and near-endemics, but be
prepared to ID the small birds (like flycatchers, warblers) and raptors.
- Do alternate days of Mt Kerinci and Tapan Road to give your body (and knees)
some rest.
15 Mar - Day 1 (Padang to Kersik Tua)
The first day was spent travelling. A few years back, you could fly straight
from Singapore to Padang, but now you have to transit at Jakarta. Upon reaching
Padang, a car was waiting for us and then it was a 7-hour ride to Subandi's Homestay at Kersik Tua (or Kersik Tuo or Keresik Tuo...) The only bird of note was a
Black Eagle in flight. The highlight, however, was a
Large Flying Fox in flight.
16 Mar - Day 2 (Mt Kerinci)
As Subandi had guests to guide, his son-in-law guided us instead
(Coincidentally, I have met one of Subandi's guests, Cagan, in 2005 at Changi Cove!)
After clearing the tea plantations and vegetable farms, we reached the forest
edge. Just 15 mins into the forest, we encountered one of the mega endemics of Mt Kerinci - a male
Schneider's Pitta! Our guide saw it a few metres away on the trail, but it quickly took flight and landed on an open perch a short distance away. Con's camera was still in his bag! Fortunately, it stayed long enough for Con to set up his camera and snapped a grand total of 5 photos. The Schneider's Pitta looks like a Giant Pitta, but sounds totally different and is smaller. We were really lucky as the bird never show up again for the rest of the trip, although it was heard again.
The
Lesser Shortwing subspecies
leucophris here is
different from the Peninsula Malaysia subspecies
wrayi - both sexes are
brown instead of dimorphic.
Eye-browed Wren-babbler was a lifer for me,
whereas Con has seen it in Thailand.
Pygmy Wren-babblers were also encountered along the way.
At Pos 1 (Base Camp) Shelter, a few
Three-striped Ground Squirrels
kept us company while a pair of highly vocal endemic
Rusty-breasted Wren-babblers sang their hearts out. The other squirrel we encountered was a
Low's Squirrel. The forest also echoed with
Siamang howls.
Left: Three-striped Ground Squirrel. Right: Low's Squirrel
The common flycatcher here is the
Snowy-browed Flycatcher. You can see it at eye level. The common mid-canopy flycatcher here is the
Grey-headed Flycatcher.
Snowy-browed Flycatcher (male left, female right) - common at eye-level on Mt Kerinci
We saw these in bird waves:
Grey-chinned Minivet,
Golden Babbler,
Mountain Leaf Warbler,
Chestnut-crowned Warbler,
White-throated Fantail and
Blue Nuthatch. These bird could also be found at Fraser's Hill in Peninsula Malaysia. Other Fraser's Hill birds here were
Collared Owlet (heard only),
Long-tailed Sibia and
Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush.
Mountain Leaf Warbler - a common warbler on Mt Kerinci
At Pos 2 (Air Minum), there is no shelter, but a big signboard. Nothing
special here today. Moving on, a highly responsive male
White-browed Shortwing played with us a bit.
Male White-browed Shortwing
Next, at Pos 3 (Camp Cochoa) Shelter, we had our lunch. After that we saw a
Sunda Bush Warbler. It was rather active in the
undergrowth and very vocal. The next endemic was a
Shiny
Whistling Thrush. We did not have good view of the other endemic -
Sumatran Drongo (that will have to wait till Day 5 at Tapan Road.) Another
mega endemic -
Sumatran Cochoa - was heard-only at Burnt Tree. We
never connected with it for the whole trip...
Shiny Whistling Thrush - a Sumatran endemic
While Con waited at Burnt Tree, I followed our guide to the First Shelter,
which has no shelter! It is so called because there used to be a shelter there.
At 2400 m elevation, this was the highest we went. The highlights here were
Mountain White-eyes feeding on fruits and a female
Rufous-vented Niltava. The guide saw Sumatran Green Pigeon and Orange-spotted Bulbul, but for Con and
me, these will have to wait till Tapan Road. We also got migrant
Siberian
and
Eyebrowed Thrushes.
Mountain White-eye feeding on fruit at First Shelter
Somewhere between Burnt Tree and First Shelter, our guide showed me a tree with scratch marks. He said those were made by Sun Bear!
Sun bear scratch mark on a tree trunk
At around 3:30 pm, the dark clouds moved in and soon it started pouring. We
took about 9 hours to get to the First Shelter and it took us about 2 hours to
rush down to the forest edge in the downpour. The trail turned into a gushing
stream! I got a bad left knee after that... Fortunately, we were doing Tapan
Road the next day. Due to the rain, no night birding tonight.
17Mar - Day 3 (Tapan Road)
Tapan Road is about two hours' drive from the homestay, so we woke rather
early. We started the day with the endemic
Sumatran Treepie and
Sumatran Green Pigeon. The treepies are fairly common. We saw them on all 3
days at Tapan Road. You will probably hear them before seeing them. The pigeons
are also fairly common, although we did not see them on the last day at Tapan
Road.
Sumatran endemics - Sumatran Treepie (left), Sumatran Green Pigeon (right)
Soon we encountered a bird wave of
Blue Nuthatch,
Oriental White-eye,
Black-and-crimson Oriole,
Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo,
Grey-chinned Minivet,
White-throated Fantail,
Grey-headed
Flycatcher and
White-browed Shrike-babbler. The guide pointed out an
endemic female
Blue-masked Leafbird, but the view was brief. The Oriental
White-eye has more extensive yellow on belly and paler flanks than the Mountain
White-eye. The Grey-headed Flycatcher is the more common flycatcher here.
Left: Oriental White-eye. Right: Blue Nuthatch
Other common birds here are
Barred and
Little Cuckoo Doves,
as well as
Orange-bellied Flowerpecker.
Left: Little Cuckoo Dove. Right: Male Orange-bellied Flowerpecker
Fire-tufted and
Black-browed Barbets were very common and highly vocal.
Left: Fire-tufted Barbet. Right: Black-browed Barbet
Next up, one of the mega endemics of Tapan Road -
Graceful Pitta. The
guide brought us to a gully and whistled one out. The rather tame bird was just
a metre or so away from us! It looks and sounds like a Garnet Pitta. Later in
the day, we went to another gully and saw its inhabitant too. According to
Subandi, there should be one Graceful Pitta in every gully!
Graceful Pitta - a mega Sumatran endemic of Tapan Road
After enjoying great view of the pitta, we headed for the first
Marbled
Wren-babbler gully and saw not one, but two of them! However, good views
were rare. They kept calling during the hour or so we were there, but they
just would not show themselves well to us. Nevertheless, we were glad to finally
nail this skulker.
The endemic
Spot-necked and
Cream-striped Bulbuls
are common birds of Tapan Road. A word of note is in order
regarding the Cream-striped Bulbul. In the MacKinnon and Phillipps field guide,
Cream-striped Bulbul is described as having pale eyes, while Sunda Bulbul red eyes. However, as you can see from the photo below, Cream-striped Bulbul does have red eye. The key features telling them apart from Sunda Bulbul are the crest, pale throat and
white streaks on the back. So this whole trip, we did not have any confirmed
sightings of the Sunda Bulbul.
Endemic bulbuls - Spot-necked Bulbul (left), Cream-striped Bulbul (right)
We heard a
Collared Owlet which sounded close. When it flushed then we
realised how close it was. It was just a few metres up on a roadside tree. Some
recognise this as a separate species Sumatran Owlet. It was also nice to saw the
near-endemic
Sunda Cuckooshrike found only on Borneo, Sumatra and Java.
We made it passed Bridge 2 but did not go far. When backtracking on Tapan
Road, we ran into Subandi. Cagan has seen another mega endemic of Tapan Road -
Sumatran Peacock Pheasant - running across the road! Wish we had the luck too... On the way back to the homestay, we met with rain again, but fortunately we were in the car
this time. I think it took us about 3 hours to reach the homestay.
18Mar - Day 4 (Mt Kerinci)
After easy birding on Tapan Road, it was back to
Mt Kerinci. While Con stayed at the Base Camp to stalk out the pitta,
I followed the guide up the trail. Today,
Maroon Woodpeckers were rather
active. Other new birds for the trip were
Sunda Minivet,
Sunda Warbler, male
Rufous-vented Niltava and
Indigo Flycatcher.
Sunda Warbler - endemic to Sumatra, Java and Bali
We met Subandi at Air Minum. While chatting with Cagan and his
partner, the guides suddenly alerted us to a calling endemic
Red-billed
Partridge. It was calling from the dry riverbed and it was close. However,
despite great effort to whistle it out and crossing the dry riverbed, tracking
through the thickets, the bird did not show. While we bashed in the thicket, a
pair of
Sunda Laughingthrushes were laughing noisy at us. Next, my guide
took me to the other trail at Air Minum and after some
effort, viola! A Red-billed Partridge responded and ran on the trail giving
great view. However, it was too fast for photography.
Continuing on, somewhere before reaching the Burnt Tree, my guide spotted
some movement at eye level by the side of the trail. It was a night bird in
daytime roost. The bird was just a metre or so from us! After some discussion,
it is identified as a
Mountain Scops Owl. However, if anyone can turn it
into a Rajah Scops Owl, I would be happy to hear.
Mountain Scops Owl in daytime roost
Moving further up towards the First Shelter, we sensed the
rain was coming. So it was time to descent. When we reached Pos 3 shelter,
we decided to wait out the rain. Big mistake! The rain never stopped and the trail
turned into a stream again... Oh well, here we go again. My bad knee came back
halfway through. While I endured the pain, relief came in the form of a male
endemic
Salvadori's Pheasant perched on a branch overhead. How did the
guide spot it in the rain and darkness?? He also saw two Golden Cats crossing
the trail. Since we were close to the Base Camp, my guide
went to get Con. Meanwhile I setup my camera in the rain and snapped some
photos. After a while, my guide returned informing that Con had bailed out
before the heavy rain. The rain continued through the night, so no night birding
again.
Male Salvadori's Pheasant - an increasingly rare Sumatran endemic due
to poaching
19Mar - Day 5 (Tapan Road)
Today, we were back at Tapan Road and finally had Subandi as our guide. We
have not seen a single trogon yet! So this was our target and Con wanted to take
better photos of the pitta. I was also after the Giant Swiftlet, so I kept
looking up. However, throughout the whole trip I never connected with it; just
the other swiftlet species and a
Fork-tailed Swift. According to previous
trip reports,
Glossy Swiftlets are common, but I found it to be rare. Nevertheless, those
efforts looking up did return some consolations in the form of raptors, namely
Crested Serpent Eagles and
Blyth's Hawk Eagles.
Raptors - Crested Serpent Eagle (left), Blyth's Hawk Eagles (right)
Our next target bird was an endemic
Sumatran Drongo.
Followed by a flowering tree attracting
Blue-masked Leafbirds,
Temminck's Sunbirds,
Oriental White-eyes and endemic bulbuls.
Male Blue-masked Leafbird - Sumatran endemic
Before the trip, Con and I were wondering when the breeding season is on Sumatra. I guess we cleared our doubts, as we saw a pair of nesting
Long-tailed Broadbills,
two pairs of nesting
Ashy Drongos, mating
Whiskered Treeswifts and
Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrikes carrying nesting materials.
Left: Ashy Drongo - a very common bird at Tapan Road. Right: Bar-winged
Flycatcher-shrike carrying nesting material
Finally at around 4 pm, we saw a
Sumatran Trogon.
After playing with it for a while, we discovered there was
a family of four in that area. While Con was snapping away, I took a walk and
found a group of at least three
Bushy-crested Hornbills.
Sumatran Trogon - an uncommon Sumatran endemic
On the way out, we saw a band of endemic
Mitred Leaf Monkeys (aka Sumatran Surilis). The guide called it Banded Langur, which is a name reserved for another species.
Mitred Leaf Monkey - fairly common Sumatran endemic
20Mar - Day 6 (Tapan Road)
It was back to Tapan Road again. First target bird today showed up in the
form of a near-endemic
Orange-spotted Bulbul. Besides it, there were also
a
Greater Yellownape,
Hill Prinias and
White-headed Munias.
The prinias are very common on Tapan Road, while the munias were seen on 2 out
of 3 days.
Left: Orange-spotted Bulbul - found only on Sumatra and Java. Right: Hill Prinia - common at Tapan Road.
While Con was stalking out at one of the pitta gullies, I had fun
with a pair of nesting
Long-tailed Broadbills.
Long-tailed Broadbill nesting
As well as found a vocal
Fulvous-chested Jungle-flycatcher, a
Yellow-bellied Warbler and some
Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrikes.
Fulvous-chested Jungle-flycatcher - a rather vocal bird
Three more mammals were seen today -
Lesser Treeshrew,
Black-striped
Squirrel and an
otter. I saw the otter under Bridge 2, but it disappeared too quickly, so no photos.
Left: Lesser Treeshrew. Right: Black-striped Squirrel
The only reptile encountered was a dead snake -
Speckle-bellied Keelback. It was about 1 foot long and has
a distinctive pattern.
There were also some nice butterflies. The majorities of them are Straight-line Map-wing (
Cyrestis nivea nivalis).
21Mar - Day 7 (Mt Kerinci)
This was our last day of birding and we only had the morning session. Since we
had missed all the night birding on previous days, this is our only chance at
it, a couple of hours before dawn. We woke early and spent 2 hours or so at forest edge and vegetation farm searching for the
Sumatran Frogmouth.
Initially, Subandi brought us to the usual spot, but there was no response. So
we headed towards the entrance, then the bird started calling from the usual
spot! So we walk through the vegetable farm to the forest edge and track it down
after some effort. Seeing the bird is one thing, getting a good frontal shot is
another.
Sumatran (Short-tailed) Frogmouth
All this while, a
Mountain Scops Owl was calling.
Today, we only had time to make it to Air Minum. While Subandi and Con tried for
the Red-billed Partridge, I had some fun with a pair of near-endemic
Sunda
Blue Robins.
Sunda Blue Robin (left male, right female) - endemic to Sumatra and Java
The final endemic we managed to get was the
Sumatran Wren-babbler. However,
it took some bashing through a side trail at Base Camp. The view was not too
satisfying, but the long curvy bill was unmistakable. We also heard a
Schneider's Pitta on the other side of the gully.
So that is our adventure in Sumatra, 16 out of 19 endemics (number varies depending on which split is
recognised), missing the Sumatran Peacock Pheasant,
Sumatran Cochoa and Brown-winged Whistling Thrush.
Photos and
write-up from Con.
Bird list (Sumatran endemics in bold):
1. Purple Heron - 1 enroute Padang to Kersik Tua
2. Cattle Egret - common enroute Padang to Kersik Tua
3. Crested Serpent Eagle - a few heard at Mt Kerinci, a few seen at Tapan Road
4. Black Eagle - 1 enroute Padang to Kersik Tua
5. Blyth's Hawk Eagle - 3 (2 adults, 1 juvenile) at Tapan Road
6.
Red-billed Partridge - 1 at Mt Kerinci Air Minum side trail
7.
Salvadori's Pheasant - 1 at Mt Kerinci near Base Camp
8. Slaty-breasted Rail - 1 at Kerinci vegetation farm
9. White-breasted Waterhen - 1 enroute Padang to Kersik Tua
10.
Sumatran Green Pigeon - 1 at Mt Kerinci, 8 at Tapan Road
11. Barred Cuckoo Dove - 2 at Mt Kerinci, fairly common at Tapan Road
12. Little Cuckoo Dove - common at Tapan Road
13. Spotted Dove - common between Sungei Penuh and Tapan Road
14. Rock Pigeon - 5 enroute Padang to Kersik Tua
15. Dark Hawk Cuckoo - 2 heard at Tapan Road
16. Asian Drongo Cuckoo - 1 seen and few heard at Tapan Road
17. Rusty-breasted Cuckoo - 1 at Tapan Road
18. Greater Coucal - 1 heard at Mt Kerinci
19. Collared Owlet - 1 seen at Tapan Road after Bridge 2, few heard at Mt Kerinci and Tapan Road
20. Mountain Scops Owl - 1 at Mt Kerinci near Burnt Tree, 1 heard at Mt Kerinci forest edge
21.
Sumatran (Short-tailed) Frogmouth - 1 at Mt Kerinci forest edge
22. Fork-tailed Swift - 1 at Tapan Road
23. Glossy Swiftlet - 1 at Tapan Road
24. Swiftlet spp. - very common at Tapan Road
25. Whiskered Treeswift - 5 (including 1 mating pair) at Tapan Road
26.
Sumatran Trogon - 6 (including 1 family of 4 and 1 juvenile) at Tapan Road
27. Oriental Dollarbird - 1 at Tapan Road
28. White-throated Kingfisher - 1 at Kerinci vegetable farm
29. Red-bearded Bee-eater - 1 heard at Tapan Road
30. Bushy-crested Hornbill - at least 3 at Tapan Road
31. Rhinoceros Hornbill - 1 heard at Tapan Road
32. Fire-tufted Barbet - common at Tapan Road, a few at Mt Kerinci
33. Black-browed Barbet - common at Tapan Road
34. Greater Yellownape - 1 at Tapan Road
35. Maroon Woodpecker - 2 seen and several heard at Mt Kerinci
36. Long-tailed Broadbill - 2 pairs (including 1 pair nesting) at Tapan Road
37.
Graceful Pitta - 2 at Tapan Road in roadside gullies
38.
Schneider's Pitta - 1 at Mt Kerinci between entrance and Base Camp
39. Barn Swallow - many enroute Padang to Kersik Tua
40. Pacific Swallow - several on Tapan Road
41. Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike - 6 (including 1 with nesting material) at Tapan Road
42. Sunda Cuckooshrike - 1 at Tapan Road
43. Grey-chinned Minivet - 2 pairs at Tapan Road, 1 pair at Mt Kerinci
44. Sunda Minivet - 1 at Mt Kerinci
45. Scarlet Minivet - 1 pair at Tapan Road
46.
Sumatran (Golden-fronted) Leafbird - 1 at Tapan Road Bridge 2
47.
Blue-masked Leafbird - 5 at Tapan Road
48.
Cream-striped Bulbul - common at Tapan Road
49.
Spot-necked Bulbul - common at Tapan Road
50. Yellow-vented Bulbul - 2 heard at Mt Kerinci forest edge
51. Grey-bellied Bulbul - 1 at Tapan Road after Bridge 2
52. Ochraceous Bulbul - fairly common at Tapan Road
53. Orange-spotted Bulbul - 1 at Tapan Road
54. Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo - a few at Tapan Road
55.
Sumatran Drongo - 1 at Tapan Road
56. Ashy Drongo - very common (including 2 pairs nesting) at Tapan Road
57. Black-and-crimson Oriole - 2 males, 2 females at Tapan Road
58.
Sumatran Treepie - common at Tapan Road
59. Blue Nuthatch - 4 at Tapan Road
60. Lesser Shortwing - 2 at Mt Kerinci
61. White-browed Shortwing - 1 seen, a few heard at Mt Kerinci
62.
Sumatran (Long-billed) Wren-babbler - 1 seen, 2 heard at Mt Kerinci; 1 heard at Tapan Road
63.
Rusty-breasted Wren-babbler - 2 seen at Base Camp, several heard at Mt Kerinci
64. Eye-browed Wren-babbler - 2 at Mt Kerinci
65. Pygmy Wren-babbler - 1 seen, a few heard at Mt Kerinci
66. Marbled Wren-babbler - 1 pair at Tapan Road Marbled Wren-babbler Gully 1
67. Golden Babbler - fairly common at Mt Kerinci and Tapan Road
68. Grey-throated Babbler - 2 at Mt Kerinci, several at Tapan Road
69. Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush - 1 pair at Mt Kerinci, several at Tapan Road
70. Sunda Laughingthrush - 1 pair in dry riverbed at Mt Kerinci Air Minum
71. White-browed Shrike-babbler - 2 at Tapan Road, 1 heard at Mt Kerinci
72. Long-tailed Sibia - fairly common at Mt Kerinci
73. Sunda Blue Robin - 1 pair at Mt Kerinci Air Minum
74. Sunda Forktail - 1 heard at Tapan Road
75.
Sumatran Cochoa - 2 heard at Mt Kerinci
76.
Shiny Whistling Thrush - several at Mt Kerinci
77. Siberian Thrush - a few at Mt Kerinci
78. Eyebrowed Thrush - 1 at Mt Kerinci First Shelter
79. Golden-bellied Gerygone - 1 heard at Tapan Road
80. Chestnut-crowned Warbler - 1 at Mt Kerinci
81. Sunda Warbler - several at Mt Kerinci
82. Yellow-bellied Warbler - 1 at Tapan Road
83. Mountain Leaf Warbler - common at Mt Kerinci
84. Sunda Bush Warbler - 1 seen, 2 heard at Mt Kerinci
85. Eastern Crowned Warbler - 1 at Tapan Road
86. Mountain Tailorbird - 2 seen at Mt Kerinci, 1 heard at Tapan Road
87. Hill Prinia - common at Tapan Road
88. Fulvous-chested Jungle-flycatcher - 1 at Tapan Road
89. Verditer Flycatcher - 2 at Tapan Road
90. Indigo Flycatcher - 1 at Mt Kerinci
91. Asian Brown Flycatcher - 1 at Tapan Road
92. Snowy-browed Flycatcher - common at Mt Kerinci
93. Mugimaki Flycatcher - 1 male, 2 female at Tapan Road
94. Rufous-vented Niltava - 1 male, 2 female at Mt Kerinci
95. Large Niltava - 1 male at Mt Kerinci Base Camp
96. Grey-headed Flycatcher - fairly common at Mt Kerinci and Tapan Road
97. White-throated Fantail - 2 at Mt Kerinci, 2 at Tapan Road
98. Long-tailed Shrike - common at Kerinci vegetable farm and between Sungei Penuh and Tapan Road
99. Javan Myna - 4 at Kerinci vegetable farm
100. Temminck's Sunbird - 4 at Tapan Road, 2 at Mt Kerinci
101. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker - common at Tapan Road
102. Fire-breasted Flowerpecker - 1 female at Tapan Road
103. Mountain White-eye - 5 at Mt Kerinci First Shelter
104. Oriental White-eye - common at Tapan Road
105. Black-capped White-eye - 2 at Tapan Road
106. White-headed Munia - 8 at Tapan Road
107. Eurasian Tree Sparrow - common enroute Padang to Kersik Tua
Mammal list:
1. Otter sp. - 1 at Tapan Road Bridge 1
2. Large Flying Fox - 1 enroute Padang to Kersik Tua
3. Black Giant Squirrel - 1 heard at Mt Kerinci
4. Three-striped Ground Squirrel - common at Mt Kerinci
5. Black-striped Squirrel - 1 at Tapan Road
6. Plantain Squirrel - 1 at Tapan Road
7. Low's Squirrel - 1 at Mt Kerinci
8. Lesser Treeshrew - 1 at Tapan Road
9. Pig-tailed Macaque - common at Tapan Road
10. Mitred Leaf Monkey - common at Mt Kerinci and Tapan Road
11. Siamang - common at Mt Kerinci
