Java, Upwards (Days 1 and 2)

I've dreamed of visiting Indonesia since I was very young, spending hours reading about the history, geography, and, yes, wildlife. I'd wanted to visit for the birds even before I was a proper birder- my first introduction to the country was hearing my uncle's stories about visiting the country in search of rare parrots. I never imagined I'd be visiting Java first however- I'd pictured it as a densely populated island with little room left over for natural areas. It certainly is densely populated (the world's most populous island!), and it definitely has problems with wildlife, mostly due to the Javanese affinity for keeping birds in cages. However, as I began becoming more connected on social media with the world birding community, I began seeing more and more friends of mine visiting Java and coming away with some impressive bird finds. As it turns out, Java is host to a tantalizing array of endemic fauna, including many rare and declining endemic birds. A visit to Java at the tail end of our Bali trip proved to be an easy decision to make. 

Since I was spending the whole summer in Ethiopia and didn't really have the time to study up on sites, logistics, and ID as much as would be necessary for a proper independent trip, I decided to go with my friend Khaleb Yordan of the Jakarta Birders guiding outfit. Khaleb is, of course, an excellent birder with unparalleled knowledge of birding sites in West Java, and is great company to boot, so having him along as a birding companion was a godsend. There are far more birding sites and endemic birds in Java than can be seen in a 4-day trip, so I decided to avoid making this trip about "listing", and more about exploring a new area and seeing some new birds- I expect I'll return sooner rather than later to do a "full" birding itinerary. 

As it turns out, Jakarta itself is a halfway decent birding destination, despite being one of the largest and most crowded cities in the world (so crowded it's sinking into the ocean). The remnant areas of mangroves on the shore of Jakarta Bay hold some much-sought-after endemics and other rare birds, while Jakarta Bay itself holds some treasures in the form of some very good resident and migratory seabirds. After talking with Khaleb, I decided to start with a day in Jakarta looking for that city's specialties, followed by a trip to Gunung Gede, the dormant volcano south of Jakarta that's the best-known spot for many West Java endemics. 

Before going too far, I should note that my first day in Java was the second day of amazing birding for which I have absolutely no photo documentation, thanks to the computer glitch that deleted about 3,000 of my pictures (see my last blog for details). This was just as painful as losing my Bali pictures, since it included some of the best bird pictures I've taken, including of some rare birds I might never see again. Thankfully, Khaleb also brought his camera along and got some good pictures, which he was nice enough to allow me to use in this blog to make it a little less barren.

I flew from Bali to Jakarta on August 10, arriving late enough in the morning that we wouldn't have time for proper early birding. Thankfully, some of Jakarta's top birds are out any time of day, so we headed straight for the shore of Jakarta Bay to get on a boat. As it happens, critically endangered Christmas Island Frigatebirds can be found year-round in Jakarta Bay, roosting on the poles surrounding fish cages. They're only a rare vagrant in most parts of the Philippines, so I was excited to finally see them. 

It was an hour or so on the boat before we got to the fish cages, although there were some other birds to se along the way, including Black-naped Terns, Great Crested Terns, Common Terns, and my lifer Lesser Crested Tern. I got good pictures of all of them, though of course they're all gone. Finally, at the fish cages, we spotted a group of Christmas Island Frigatebirds, dwarfing the nearby Lesser Frigatebirds and much more common Little Black Cormorants. I've still never seen a frigatebird displaying, but even watching them roosting on poles and occasionally skirmishing with each other over the water was an impressive sight. 

Male Christmas Island Frigatebird- photo by Khaleb Yordan

Third-year male Christmas Island Frigatebird- photo by Khaleb Yordan

Female Lesser Frigatebird- photo by Khaleb Yordan

Immature Greater Crested Tern- photo by Khaleb Yordan

Common Tern on a piece of flotsam- photo by Khaleb Yordan

The only remnant of my frigatebird pictures- no, I'm not bitter about it at all, why do you ask?

On the way back, we scanned all the terns we came across for something different- Aleutian Terns are uncommon winter migrants to Jakarta Bay, and had just been seen in the Philippines, so it was possible they were around. Sure enough, we soon ran into a beautiful Aleutian Tern sitting on a piece of flotsam (their favorite perch apparently), a lifer for me and an unusually early winter record considering it was only early August. I got some great pictures of it, but yes, they are also gone forever.

Aleutian Tern on a dead palm log

Flush with success from a hot but birdy outing on the water, we headed to our afternoon birding destination, a mangrove area on the other part of Jakarta Bay. The main target there was Javan Coucal, a rare and declining endemic. The best time for the coucal is the early morning, but since I had only limited time we tried for it anyway. Even before we got on the boat for this trip, I spotted my next lifer flying in the distance- Milky Storks, endangered Asian storks that look very like their much more common cousin Yellow-billed Stork, which I saw many times in Ethiopia. As the boat headed for the inlet that held Javan Coucal, we saw some Sunda Teals, Pied Stilts, and a few endemic Javan Plovers. Khaleb had seen a vagrant Pied Heron there just a few days before, but it wasn't present when we were there, though apparently it turned up again on Khaleb's next visit. 

Milky Stork- picture by Khaleb Yordan

We spent an hour or so boating up and down a marshy inlet in search of Javan Coucal, but unfortunately there were no coucals to be found. We did see many White-breasted Waterhens, Pink-necked Green Pigeons, Javan Pond Herons, a Cerulean Kingfisher, and my lifers Indonesian Collared-dove and Black-backed Swamphen (I've seen the latter in the Philippines several times, but since they're officially not distinguishable from Australasian Swamphens I wasn't allowed to count it). When we returned to the mangrove area, I saw a pair of Sunda Pygmy Woodpeckers just before we got in the car.

Asian Water Monitor swimming in the inlet- picture salvaged from one of my screenshots

Sunda Pygmy Woodpecker- picture salvaged from a thumbnail

We spent the night in Jakarta, and departed extremely early the next morning for Gunung Gede, our destination for the next 2 days. We arrived at the bottom of the volcano just before sunrise, early enough that it was still completely dark within the forest. We met a friend of Khaleb's there who worked for the national park and started up the mountain as the sun began to rise. Many birds were calling even in the pre-dawn darkness as we began hiking up, and flock activity was high. The bottom part of the trail had many of the usual birds found on mixed flocks on Gunung Gede, including Javan Fulvetta, Pygmy Bushtit, Crescent-chested Babbler, Javan Heleia, Horsfield's Babbler, and an extremely cute Pygmy Cupwing. A rustling noise off the side of the path alerted us to a small group of Chestnut-bellied Partridges, a rather elusive Javan endemic, and one of the first partridges I've gotten a good look at. After a summer in the beautiful wide-open spaces of Ethiopia, it was a bit of an adjustment having to photograph birds in the dark forest as they moved from branch to branch in low-lit areas. 

Javan Fulvetta, one of the commonest birds at Gunung Gede

Crescent-chested Babbler

Horsfield's Babbler

Pygmy Cupwing- very cute and very noisy!

Javan Heleia

Chestnut-breasted Partridge

Conoclinium sp. I think

Common Grass Yellow

We stopped for a rest near a small mountain pond, which seemed to be a popular water refilling spot. A pair of Sunda Bulbuls flew off right as soon as we got there, and we heard a Javan Banded Broadbill calling, but unfortunately weren't able to get a good look at it. By the pond was a pair of Blue-eared Kingfishers that didn't let themselves be photographed, and a beautiful Orange-spotted Bulbul that did allow itself to be photographed. A Flame-fronted Barbet was calling from directly above us, and I finally got a picture of it after hearing it many times in Bali without getting a decent look. 

Flame-fronted Barbet

Orange-spotted Bulbul

The pond on Gunung Gede

Just as we were about to continue hiking, a mixed feeding flock came through, including some great birds like a couple endemic (and declining) Trilling Shrike-babblers, a Sunda Blue Robin, Sunda Warblers, and my personal favorite, a Blue Nuthatch, certainly one of the best-looking birds in Southeast Asia.

Sunda Warbler

Javan Fulvetta

Sunda B

Blue Nuthatch- with Sunda Blue Robin in the foreground!

Immature Trilling Shrike-babbler

Male Mangrove Blue Flycatcher

Shortly after the rest stop, we reached a clearing in the woods where a very rickety boardwalk crossed a marshy area. We stoped for a bit to look for raptors and swiftlets, and were soon rewarded with a flyover from an endangered Javan Hawk-eagle! A Black Eagle and a Crested Serpent Eagle were also flying overhead, and amidst the Cave Swiftlets and Edible-nest Swiftlets we spotted a single Giant Swiftlet flying high above us.

Javan Hawk-eagle

Crested Serpent-eagle

Black Eagle

Cave Swiftlet

Delias belisama

The forest clearing

Shortly after the clearing the trail split in two, and we took the fork leading straight up the mountain. Just after the fork there was a striking butterfly resting on the trail, which turned out to be a Ninja (Amnosia decora), a very rare nymphalid butterfly with only a few records worldwide. We also caught another mixed flock of birds, including White-tailed Sunbirds, Rufous-tailed Fantails, and Pied Shrike-babblers, all of which are Javan endemics. A bit further up we saw another beautiful Sunda Blue Robin.

Ninja butterfly (its real name!)

Rufous-tailed Fantail

Sunda Blue Robin

A little further up, we heard a warbling call off the side of the trail, and Khaleb whispered "Trogon!" And sure enough, there was an amazing male Javan Trogon perched next to the trail, joined soon by a female. Beautiful even for a trogon, Javan Trogons are found only in the mountains of west Java, an extremely range-restricted and vulnerable species. We enjoyed 10 minutes of great views of these beautiful birds, certainly one of the highlights of my summer birding.

Javan Trogon

Continuing up the mountain, we saw some more Snowy-browed Flycatchers and a small flock of very cute and very skulking Javan Tesias. We stopped at a rest area for lunch, and just after lunch had another bird wave, this one including a Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, a Checker-throated Woodpecker, more Sunda Bulbuls, some very inquisitive Pied Shrike-babblers, and my first Fire-tufted Barbets. The barbets are not technically native to Java, being found in Sumatra and Peninsular Java, but have been introduced for whatever reason and seem to be thriving on Gunung Gede. Not that I'm complaining, since they're gorgeous birds. The rest area's resident Javan Whistling Thrush was fun to watch as always, hopping around at our feet checking us out and looking for crumbs.

Female Snowy-browed Flycatcher

Male Snowy-browed Flycatcher

Javan Tesia

Sunda Bulbul

Checker-throated Woodpecker

Javan Whistling-thrush

Fire-tufted Barbet

Pied Shrike-babbler

A Yellow-legged Hornet that was intent on stealing some of my lunch

The woods got cooler as we went upwards, and the bird density decreased as we neared the campsite. We heard a Pink-headed Fruit Dove calling from nearby the trail, but it never showed itself despite our best efforts. There were some mammals to be seen however, including a troupe of Javan Lutungs and a Horsfield's Tree-shrew. We came to a river crossing that required hopping on slippery rocks over hot water that filled the air with warm mist, only adding to the dramatic atmosphere- a reminder of Gunung Gede's volcanic origins. Just past the crossing, we saw a Tawny-breasted Parrotfinch, a usually extremely difficult to see bird that was probably accustomed to living off tourists' food scraps. In the same area was a male Javan Shortwing, one of the many splits from the White-browed Shortwing complex. The Philippine shortwings are generally virtually impossible to see or photograph (albeit extremely easy to hear), but I guess Javan birds are much bolder.

Javan Lutung

Horsfield's Tree-shrew

Tawny-breasted Parrotfinch 

Javan Shortwing

The campsite was shortly after that, and we set about setting up our tents and preparing dinner. A nice surprise was a family of endemic Chestnut-breasted Partridges puttering around nearby the tent site, including some very cute partridge chicks. Just before sunset, we set out up the mountain once more, climbing further in the growing darkness. We were aiming to see Javan Woodcock, the extremely rare nocturnal denizen of the Javan mountains. Unfortunately, we heard nary a peep from any woodcock, or any other night bird or mammal. We climbed down in the dark, woodcockless and ready for dinner. As we were eating dinner, we noticed the eyeshine from some kind of mammal in the darkness of the woods. We approached with our flashlights, and it turned out to be a Javan Leopard Cat, a subspecies of Sunda Leopard Cat with probably even fewer records than the Javan Woodcock! It was the perfect way to finish up a productive climb, and a good consolation for the otherwise quiet night.

Adult Chestnut-breasted Partridge

Baby Chestnut-breasted Partridge

The woods just after sunset

Javan Leopard Cat!