Java, Downwards (Days 3 and 4)
Our night spent camping on Gunung Gede after hiking up the previous day was an extremely cold one- far colder than one would think is really necessary for being just a few degrees south of the equator. We woke up before dawn to climb even further up to the second campsite, where we would look for Horsfield's Thrush, a ground-dwelling denizen of the high mountains. The morning was clear and cold, and initially there wasn't much bird activity besides a few Javan Heleias and a heard-only Javan Shortwing. Soon, however, we saw a distant Horsfield's Thrush scratching on the ground on the other side of the campsite, and I was able to get a couple of bad record shots before it disappeared into the forest. An orchid ( Dendrobium hasseltii ) in the campsite Horsfield's Thrush The upper campsite at sunrise With the thrush seen, we hiked down the mountain towards the first campsite. On the way down we ran into a trio of squabbling male Javan