On the front end of a work trip to Indonesia, I arrived in Java (Jakarta) prior to the weekend and drove south a few hours to Gunung Gede Pangrangro National Park near Cibodas. The park is 2 to 7 hours south of Jakarta depending on traffic! This park is well known due to its high concentration of Javan endemics on an island ravaged by humanity. I stayed at Freddy’s Guest house. His place is about 1 K from the park gates, so access is great, but it is quite basic. You can rent a room for 100,000 / night $11 AUD, but you need to bring your own Towel, Bog Roll, Soap and a set of your own sheets would not be a bad idea. His wife will cook for you if you like, basic meals such as Nasi this or Mie that for around 3-4 dollars, the will also give you a plastic lunch box to take in the forest too! The Friday afternoon I spent in the lower part of the forest by myself and managed to see a number of critters and many endemics without ID’s being too difficult. I can however say that this is the first time I have ever been hampered by a field guide. I found A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali: The Greater Sunda Islands by MacKinnon to be very challenging to use. I can be generous and chalk up the drawings being of “non-Javan” forms, but I swear you would think you were discovering new species! White-browed Shrike-Babbler, Javan Trogon and others were so different…anyone who has the book and would like to see some pictures…I will show you what I mean!
The next morning, I did not intend to take a guide into the forest, but Freddy insisted that his Grandson go with me. He told me he is training Ekke to be a bird guide, he is a nice young kid but still needs a lot of training! Those without independent identification skills will end up with a much bigger list than appropriate and even a few species that would be firsts for Java…if you know what I mean. He is in his late teens so time is on his side.
I think after the first few minutes with me pushing back on his Id’s he called up his uncle (Freddy’s son) who was also in the forest guiding a Japanese fellow and the four of us hooked up. That was a blessing as he is an excellent bird guide. I was foiled from actually camping in the park due to the higher elevation sections being closed to tree falls and bad weather but we made it above “the Junction” on two successive days in search of Javan Trogon and Javan Cochoa. Managed the Cochoa the first day and Trogon the second…nice pics of the trogon too! We were there on the weekend and the trails were full of Javanese heading up and down to the waterfall, but once we walked onto a spur trail, we had the place mostly to ourselves. Like all forests, you can wander around and hope to stumble into or hear a resident bird, but our guide knew the spots and we spent more than a few hours waiting for the flocks, which inevitably had the target species. Things like being at the boardwalk clearing at 8 for Giant Swiftlet failed the first day, but worked the second! There is a lot of good info on the web about the trails and areas to see which species so I won’t duplicate that. Anyone interested in more details can contact me off line. Bird species list is below, those with a (J) were seen while waiting for my driver in Jakarta and not in the mountains. Intermediate Egret(J) Little Egret(J) Javan Pond-Heron(J) Crested Serpent-Eagle Asian Black Eagle Changeable Hawk-Eagle Javan Hawk-Eagle Spotted Dove(J) Zebra Dove(J) Oriental Cuckoo Salvadori’s Nightjar Waterfall Swift Edible-nest Swiftlet(J) Linchi Swiftlet Javan Trogon Javan Kingfisher Mangrove Kingfisher Fire-tufted Barbet- not suppposed to be in Java…great pics! Flame-fronted Barbet Crimson-winged Woodpecker Orange-backed Woodpecker Pacific Swallow Gray Wagtail(J) Sunda Cuckooshrike Sunda Minivet Black-winged Flycatcher-Shrike Sooty-headed Bulbul Orange-spotted Bulbul Gray-cheeked Bearded Bulbul Sunda Bulbul Long-tailed Shrike Lesser Shortwing White-browed Shortwing Sunda Whistling-Thrush Sunda Robin Sunda Forktail Javan Cochoa Horsfield’s Babbler Eyebrowed Wren-Babbler Pygmy Wren-Babbler White-bibbed Babbler Crescent-chested Babbler White-browed Shrike-Babbler Chestnut-fronted Shrike-Babbler Javan Fulvetta Spotted Crocias Bar-winged Prinia Javan Tesia Mountain Tailorbird Ashy Tailorbird(J) Mountain Leaf-Warbler Sunda Warbler Indigo Flycatcher Mugimaki Flycatcher Snowy-browed Flycatcher Little Pied Flycatcher Gray-headed Canary Flycatcher Rufous-tailed Fantail Pygmy Tit Great Tit Blue Nuthatch Blood-breasted Flowerpecker Brown-throated Sunbird(J) Olive-backed Sunbird(J) White-flanked Sunbird Javan Gray-throated White-eye Ashy Drongo Lesser Racquet-tailed Drongo White-breasted Woodswallow(J) Tawny-breasted Parrotfinch Javan White-bellied Munia(J) Nutmeg Mannikin(J) Eurasian Tree Sparrow Cheers,
Roger
Roger McNeill Samford Valley, SEQ
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