Ciremai (almost) Cleanup

 

As I continued returning to Indonesia this year for various work projects, I began to realize that I was quickly running out of Javan endemics to see. Indonesia itself has approximately two gajillion endemic birds, and no-one has managed to see them all, but Java has a much more manageable 70 or so endemics and specialties, many of which rank up there as some of Indonesia's best birds. The majority of these are reasonably easy in the right habitat, a few are essentially impossible, being either extinct or almost extinct, and the rest are just bastards- uncommon even in the right habitat, or unless you know just the right person. 

I'd managed to connect with a good number of those bastard birds, like Javan Flameback and Javan Blue Flycatcher, on previous visits, but looking through my list of remaining endemics, it seemed that most of the rest of them were to be found up on the mountains. I'd gotten most of the mountain specialties on my hike up Gunung Gede back in 2019 (blog posts here and here), but a number of them eluded me: Volcano Swiftlet (exceedingly uncommon and only in the craters of active volcanoes), Spotted Crocias (rare and declining due to the caged bird trade), Rufous-fronted Laughingthrush (critically endangered for the same reason), Javan Green Magpie (virtually extinct for the same reason, with no recent records), and Javan Woodcock (not really threatened, just plain uncommon). A few other species, like Javan Cochoa, Mountain Serin and White-bibbed Babbler, I had only ever heard and never seen, while the rest I just wanted to see again because they were great and it had been a while. 

The logical choice was to do another climb up Gunung Gede, where all of these can at least theoretically be found. Unfortunately, I found out that the upper trails were completely closed to hiking, making that an impractical option. I got in touch with Hery at Bali Birding Tours, who suggested a trip up Gunung Ciremai, the highest peak of West Java. Despite being fairly accessible and popular with hikers and covered in forest, Ciremai has practically never been visited by birders. Exploring new birding spots, especially ones with as much potential as this one, is one of my favorite things to do, so I was more than happy to take Hery up on his suggestion. This was a good choice, as it ended up being one of my best trips of the year. 

I met Bayu (who had guided me in East Java earlier this year) in Jakarta very early on the morning of June 23, and we started the long drive eastwards toward Kuningan, the town below Ciremai. Ciremai is an enormous conical stratovolcano that looms above the plains of West Java, so it was exciting watching it draw closer from the car. It was mid-morning by the time we arrived at the flanks of the volcano, where we met with our trail guides and had an early lunch at a little ecotourism spot below the trailhead. Surprisingly, our lunch was actually Korean barbecue- not what I expected in the middle of nowhere in West Java! There was a beautiful view of the Kuningan valley below us, but although the area looked great on satellite it turned out we were in the middle of a pine plantation with very few native birds except Sooty-headed Bulbuls and a few Cinereous Tits. 

Nothing like samgyeupsal for a pre-trail meal

The view from the park

We expected to depart straight from there, but apparently all our porters wanted to attend prayer before starting the hike, giving us an hour or so to kill as we waited. We walked around the open areas below the park and got some of the usual birds, along with a surprise singing Brown Prinia and a couple of Yellow-throated Hanging Parrots. I was actually able to get a picture of one of the hanging parrots, the first time I've had a proper view of this species which is shy and hard to see even by hanging parrot standards. I suppose being relentlessly trapped and put in cages will do that... Birds aside, there were more than enough cool insects to keep me occupied while we waited for the rest of the crew. 

Yellow-throated Hanging Parrot- a record shot of an extremely difficult-to-see endemic

Sooty-headed Bulbul

Common Three-Ring

Banded Treebrown

Yellow-legged Hornet

Yellow Grass Dart

Purple Sapphire, an absolutely gorgeous hairstreak

Finally the crew was done with their prayers and we were able to start hiking. The trailhead was relatively nearby where we had eaten lunch, but the first few kilometers went through a large pine plantation- not really ideal for birding. In order to get us into the proper forest sooner, we elected to take dirtbikes up to the first camp. This was, I thought, a great idea since it saved time and meant more time for birding. What followed, however, was perhaps the least comfortable 30 minutes of my life: driving at breakneck speeds up a rutted, rocky dirt path, getting bounced up and down on the back of a bike with no padding whatsoever. I ended up with a bruised tailbone for my troubles, which made sitting down on hard ground a painful experience. My recommendation for anyone doing this hike in the future is to either bring your own pillow, or pick the bike that has a padded seat! 

The bane of my existence for 30 minutes or so

The ride up might have been excruciating, but it did indeed get us up to our first campsite with time to spare for birding. We were to spend that night in a nice big clearing next to a ranger station, just past the edge of the proper montane forest. This meant that Bayu and I had the remainder of the afternoon to wander around and look for birds, which is exactly what we did. We heard a Javan Sunbird above us but never saw it (as usual), and had many Javan Tesias, Javan Fulvettas, and Crescent-chested Babblers calling from the undergrowth. From a distance we heard the song of a Spotted Crocias and rushed into the woods to find it. It was a challenge to spot the bird as it absolutely refused to perch anywhere except the thickest, most backlit foliage, but eventually I was able to get decent views, my first lifer of the trip. The rest of the mixed flock had some other great birds, including many Javan Bulbuls, Sunda Minivets, and Fire-tufted Barbets, several Lesser Racket-tailed Drongos, and a couple of gorgeous Blue Nuthatches, certainly one of the best-looking nuthatches in the world. 

Spotted Crocias!

Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo

Blue Nuthatch!

Mycalesis sudra

The first campsite

The mixed flock in the canopy moved on, and instead I worked on getting photos of the many Javan Tesias singing all around us. This worked out better than expected, as we found an extremely vocal individual doing small circles through the undergrowth, sometimes singing from an open perch just a meter  or so away! The Javan Fulvettas and Sunda Warblers coming through were much less bold, but the former still gave us some decent looks as well. 

Javan Tesia- adorable, tailless little orbs of anger

Javan Fulvetta, one of the commonest birds of mountain forests

It was late afternoon by then and the understory was starting to get dark on the forest floor, so we decided to hike uphill to try a different spot in our last bit of daylight. A ways away from the campsite we heard the whistling call of a Javan Cochoa, one of the most sought-after endemics. We spent a solid half hour trying to follow the source of the calling, but as so often happens with forest birds it seemed to be coming from all different directions at once. Just as we were about to give up I saw movement in the corner of my eye and saw that it was right behind us! It perched just a couple meters away for a couple seconds only, long enough for some record shots in terrible light, then flew off. It was a great bird for the first day, and one that felt like a lifer considering I'd only heard it very distantly before. 

Javan Cochoa

We continued hiking upward, and eventually heard the raucous calls of Rufous-fronted Laughingthrushes in the distance. After some searching we were able to locate a flock of them moving past the trail. I rushed to get decent pictures of this critically endangered bird as they moved through quickly. Suddenly, Bayu shouted out "GREEN MAGPIE!" and I stopped even caring about the laughingthrushes. It took me a while to get on it myself as the light was awful and the birds were shy, but sure enough there it was: a green magpie! I tried frantically to get some record shots and was eventually able to get on it long enough for a few backlit pictures. The magpie even started calling, and Bayu was able to get great recordings. After the flock moved on, we spent a bit just staring at each other in amazement: Javan Green Magpie is practically extinct in the wild, and in fact had never been photographed outside of a cage, so this was a historic occasion. 

Rufous-fronted Laughingthrush- critically endangered thanks to trapping for the caged-bird trade, although I have to say both the calls and appearance are pretty underwhelming by laughingthrush standards

Javan Green Magpie? Well, it's a green magpie in Java at least........

You may be wondering why I've been so coy about my rediscovery of a near-extinct bird, or why I'm giving details on the mountain where I saw a species that's in such high demand from the caged-bird trade. Well, fast forward to a few days after I returned to Jakarta, when I was reliving my triumph by putting my pictures on the computer. Looking at my magpie pictures on the computer, I started to get a bad feeling: the tail started looking a bit too long and the eyebrow a little too thick for Javan Green Magpie. Info is hard to come by for such a rare bird so I sent my pictures to Indonesia bird guru James Eaton for his thoughts. After a close look at the pictures and a listen to Bayu's recording, my worst fears were confirmed: it was, in fact, a Common Green Magpie, non-native to Java and doubtless an escaped or released caged bird. I was crushed. 

I can at least be thankful that I caught the mis-ID on my own soon after the fact, rather than embarrassing myself by doing a triumphant public reveal of my pictures of some guy's escaped pet. That means I can still happily write this blog rather than having to change my name and hobby entirely. Still, the implications of this are grim: if the forests of Java are being re-colonized by former caged birds that manage to establish populations, then it makes it harder for the actual native relatives such as Javan Green Magpie: they run the risk of being outcompeted, or just hybridized into extinction. Fire-tufted Barbets have already managed to establish themselves in Javan mountains, and it seems that magpies may be following their lead. It's a grim reminder of the perilous situation of Java's birdlife. 

It was nearly dark by the time we returned to camp, and we spent some time looking around unsuccessfully for Javan Woodcock, which a ranger said he'd seen before in the area. While there were no woodcocks around, my thermal still got put to good use: first finding an adorable pair of sleeping Javan Tesias, and then a huge Sunda Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel sitting right above our tent. I got distant looks at a Southeast Asian Palm Civet up in a tree, and the rangers found an adorable little mammal that turned out to be a rare Javan Flying Squirrel perched high in the canopy. Just before we slept, we heard the croaking calls of a Javan Scops Owl next to our tents, and were able to tempt it out into the open briefly. 

Javan Tesia

Sunda Spotted Giant Flying Squirrel

Javan Flying Squirrel!

Javan Scops Owl

Mustilizans dierli

Trabala sp.

Aschiphasma annulipes, a cool endemic stick insect

I fell asleep that night listening to scops owls calling outside my tent, and woke up the next morning at dawn for more birding. We walked down the access road a bit following the calls of White-bibbed Babblers and eventually found a flock of them, though they were virtually impossible to photograph. Back at the campsite there was a very bold Javan Blue Robin hopping around looking for discarded food, allowing me to get much better pictures than I had before. There was lots of activity in the trees above our tent, the highlight of which turned out to be a pair of Javan Cochoas! They sat for a long time in much better light than last time- this species seems to be much more abundant on Ciremai than they are on Gunung Gede. 

White-bibbed Babbler

Javan Blue Robin

Javan Cochoa

Black-striped Squirrel carrying nesting materials

The forest near the camp

After a leisurely breakfast we started hiking uphill toward the upper campsite. The first part of the trail was a fairly gentle uphill through primeval-looking cloud forest full of enormous trees draped in mosses and epiphytes. Surprisingly it was quieter than it had been the previous afternoon, with no sign of any laughingthrushes or that blasted magpie. I did find a little Pygmy Cupwing foraging next to the trail, and a ways uphill a mixed flock came through with Sunda Cuckooshrikes, Sunda Minivets, Trilling Shrike-Babblers, Pied Shrike-Babblers, and Rufous-tailed Fantails, all of which were practically impossible to photograph against the light. 

Pygmy Cupwing

Sunda Cuckooshrike

Some kind of chrysosomatid fly

Impatiens javensis

A little further uphill we saw a female Javan Blue Robin next to the trail, and soon after heard the chattering of a flock of White-bibbed Babblers. I was able to get marginally better pictures this time, although the damn things refused to perch absolutely anywhere without branches in front of them. A cute Rufous-tailed Fantail was also foraging nearby, though it was similarly difficult of photograph this deep in the understory.

Javan Blue Robin

White-bibbed Babblers

Rufous-tailed Fantail

Javan Hammerhead Worm (Bipalium javanum), the scourge of the local earthworm population

Further up, the trail got a little steeper and the trees smaller, with more gaps in the canopy showing us peeks of the sky. In one such gap we heard the calls of a Crimson-winged Woodpecker, which was a lifer for me, but it never came close. We did get fantastic looks at an adorable Sunda Warbler, and soon after a gorgeous male White-flanked Sunbird, surely one of the most spectacular Javan endemics. I'd never gotten a proper look at this one on my previous visit, so this was a nice second chance for some decent pictures. 

Sunda Warbler

White-flanked Sunbird

We entered an area of thicker mossy forest filled with begonias and cool epiphytes. As we rounded a corner, Bayu stopped suddenly and pointed up in a tree- there was a female Javan Surili sitting there! Also known by the less-flattering name of Javan Grizzled Leaf Monkey, the Surili is one of the shyest of Java's endemic primates, and was a great mammal lifer for me. This one was oddly tame, and unusually solitary for a monkey that's usually found in larger troupes. As she turned around we saw that she appeared to be pregnant, which could be a reason she was off on her own. Further up, we found a Snowy-browed Flycatcher feeding its recently-fledged baby, and a typically bold Javan Tesia.

Javan Surili- for some reason their facial expressions always look like they're watching a close relative being murdered

Male Snowy-browed Flycatcher

Baby Snowy-browed Flycatcher

Javan Tesia

Some kind of cool orchid

 Begonia areolata, I think

Hedychium roxburghii, an endangered endemic spider lily

Mist Flower (Agteratina riparia)

We had lunch in a nice clearing in the woods, then pressed on. The trail got steeper as we went upwards, and I begun to be very glad that we had sprung for porters on the way up so all I had to carry was my camera. The mountain is popular with hikers, and we spent much of the day leap-frogging the trail with a bunch of hapless college students who had decided to schlep all their gear up. Of course, the hike might have been easier for them if they hadn't been chain-smoking the whole way, but most Indonesian guys don't seem convinced by that logic.

We reached a clearing and I saw the back end of a large green bird I thought at first might be a magpie, until it turned out to be yet another Fire-tufted Barbet. I got some consolation when I spotted a trio of Spotted Crocias in a nearby tree. These ones proved to be slightly bolder than the bird of the previous day, although they still refused to come any lower than the canopy, making photography a challenge. Still, I was able to get some decent looks at them as they flew back and forth across the trail, alternately singing and foraging for insects in the dead leaves. The crocias are absolutely beautiful, and look like absolutely no other laughingthrush- except for their cousin the Grey-crowned Crocias, which is endemic to a tiny plateau in southern Vietnam. I wonder if the ancestral crocias were mostly displaced by Garrulax or Pterorhinus laughingthrushes, leaving just these two little remnant populations. 

Spotted Crocias

The trail continued to get steeper, which was annoying as the birds also started getting more numerous. Stopping to photograph them was a challenge especially with other passing hikers, but there were still some good photo ops along the way. Some Javan Bulbuls were nice enough to pose near the trail, and we got ridiculously good looks at a pair of Pied Shrike-Babblers, another striking endemic bird. Trilling Shrike-Babblers were as always much harder to photograph, but I got a good look at a female as she savaged a caterpillar. 

Javan Bulbul

Female Pied Shrike-Babbler

Male Pied Shrike-Babbler

Female Trilling Shrike-Babbler

By the time we reached the second-to-last post before our campsite, it was starting to feel like proper high-elevation forest. Javan Bulbuls were replaced by Orange-spotted Bulbuls, and the lower-elevation mountain birds like Spotted Crocias and Fire-tufted Barbet disappeared from mixed flocks. The trees also changed, with big dipterocarps being replaced by more pine trees and ferns. We found an Indigo Flycatcher singing next to the trail, and as we went upwards into some beautiful gallery forest we were surprised to hear the calls of Dark-backed Imperial Pigeon, much less common on West Java than on East Java and Bali. Pink-headed Fruit Doves also started calling as well, and we were able to get a decent look at a perched one, though it remained quite far from us. The real sign we were at high elevation was when we started hearing the songs of Sunda Bush Warblers from the thick ferns next to the trail. As is typical of this species they were usually invisible but occasionally perched out in the open to sing angrily at passersby. 

Orange-spotted Bulbul

Indigo Flycatcher

Pink-headed Fruit Dove

Sunda Bush Warbler

We arrived to the upper campsite just before dark, and were surprised to hear a Javan Cochoa singing nearby, even up at almost 2500 meters above sea level. Much more appropriate were the Island Thrushes, staking out their claim as usual at the highest elevation they can find. This was actually a subspecies lifer for both of us, as they are restricted to only a few mountain peaks in West Java. 

Island Thrush, this one of either the biesenbachi or javanicus subspecies

The campsite was in a nice big clearing high on the mountain, and clearly the most popular spot for hikers planning to summit in the morning. By sunset it was absolutely jam-packed with tents and hikers jostling for space. Thankfully we had a decent spot as some of our porters had gone up earlier to secure it, but some unfortunate latecomers had to continue uphill. I was struck by the uneven gender balance of the hikers- of the hundred or so people up at the campsite, only three or four of them were women. Some of the other hikers seemed to notice this as well, if the catcalls were anything to go by- no wonder more women don't go hiking. One thing I very much miss from the Philippines is how many outdoor activities have a pretty equal gender balance (or in the case of birding, are even majority-female). Much as I love Indonesia, it's certainly an area that needs some progress. I'm blessed to be able to work with some amazing Indonesian feminists and feminist organizations in my real job so I know that the work is being done, but it's an uphill battle. 

That night was one of the worst sleeps I've ever had- the other hikers stayed up until past midnight laughing and joking, and then woke up at 3AM so they could get up to the summit at sunrise. Obviously it's a mixed-use trail and I don't begrudge anyone else their fun weekend, so I wasn't particularly annoyed, just sleep-deprived in the morning. Thankfully, the campsite had mostly cleared out by the time I crawled groggily out of my tent at sunrise, and we were able to have a quieter start to the hike, enjoying sunrise through the beautiful pine forest on the way up. 

Sunrise in the pine forests of Ciremai

The trees got thinner and smaller as we went upward, turning into a dry, stunted forest as we approached the tree line around 2,750 meters above sea level. It was interesting to see the avifauna change as we went upwards- Pied Shrike-Babblers, Sunda Minivets, and Pink-headed Fruit Doves stopped just above the campsite, while we heard Javan Tesias, Pygmy Cupwings, and Cinereous Tits all the way up to the edge of the forest. Above the forest edge, trees were limited to tiny, stunted thickets that grew thinner as we went higher, eventually replaced by giant fields of Javan Edelweiss clinging to the scree-filled slopes of the volcanic cone. The view, of course, was spectacular with the ash-covered summit looming above us while below was the valley of West Java with random volcanic cones peeking up in the distance. 

The view from above the tree line

The toughest part of hike was the last few hundred meters of elevation, as we broke through the tree line and started a steep scramble up heavily-dissected slopes of volcanic ash. The birds were still around this early in the morning, albeit far less diverse- Orange-spotted Bulbuls, Sunda Bush Warblers, dozens of Warbling White-eyes, and surprisingly huge numbers of White-flanked Sunbirds. The best bird was a Mountain Serin (this subspecies sometimes split as Javan Serin) that popped up from a bush just above the tree line, coming into view long enough for us to get our bins on it before disappearing into the foliage forever. It wasn't the most satisfying view, but it's an absurdly rare bird so any view of it is impressive. 

Female White-flanked Sunbird

Orange-spotted Bulbul

Warbling White-Eye, by far the commonest bird above the tree line

Javan Blueberry (Vaccinium varingifolium)

Hypericum leschenaultii

Javan Edelweiss (Anaphalis javanica)

This high up, there was exactly one target we were looking for: Volcano Swiftlet, which if present at Ciremai would be around only at the highest parts of the mountain. We dragged ourselves upward to a "goa walet" (swiftlet cave) a hundred meters or so below the summit, but found it totally devoid of walet (perhaps because of dipshit hikers entering the cave, making campfires, and leaving all their trash). There was no choice but to continue up. Thankfully, just a little bit further a single Volcano Swiftlet flew by, giving us decent views before disappearing again.

The goa walet, sans walet

Volcano Swiftlet!

By that time, we were only 100 meters or so below the summit of the mountain, and it seemed like a waste to get so close without summiting. It was a real slog to get to the top, clambering our way through thick shrubbery and unstable scree-covered ravines, and we were absolutely exhausted by the time we finally got to the crater rim. The views from the top were worth the struggle though- a panorama of Ciremai's volcanic crater, along with a panoramic view of all of West Java around it. I've essentially given up recreational hiking since getting into birding (I still hike a lot of course, but generally only when the objective is to see birds), but it was a good reminder that sometimes the summit is a reward in and of itself.

Climbing up toward the summit

The view from the summit

The summit crater

The real reward of summiting Ciremai, however, was the ridiculously good views we had of dozens of Volcano Swiftlets zooming by at eye level. Most birders get these at the summit of Gunung Gede, where they're difficult and generally quite far. This on the other hand was probably about as good of looks as any birder has ever had, and I was able to get what are by far the best pictures of the species online. I'm no expert on Aerodramus ID, but to me they seemed fatter-bodied, shorter-tailed, and bigger-headed, making them look much cuter than the usual Edible/Black/Mossy-nest swiftlets that are common at lower elevations. The tail fork also looked pretty deep in many of them, although lord knows that's not reliable with swiftlets. It's unusual for a swiftlet to be a birding highlight for me, but getting this good of views of a rare and mysterious bird definitely qualified.

Volcano Swiftlet!

Swiftlets aside, I was entertained by the Island Thrush hopping around at our feet looking for food scraps, and the Sunda Bush Warblers we could hear burbling away even from the summit. As we started the long, long hike down from the summit, we had close flybys from a pair of Black Eagles, as well as a more distant Javan Hawk-Eagle. Just before we re-entered the forest, we saw a troupe of Javan Surili hanging out in a dead tree just across the ravine from us. 

Black Eagle

Javan Hawk-Eagle

Javan Surili

Thought this was a raptor when I saw it from a distance, but it turns out it was uh, not that

Bayu and I at the summit

The summit and swiftlets were the high point of the day (literally), while the rest of it consisted of making the long, steep climb all the way down from the summit to the trailhead. We did stop for some birding along the way, including for a Snowy-browed Flycatcher devouring a moth right on the path, the tame Island Thrushes of the second campsite, and a relatively cooperative male Trilling Shrike-Babbler, but it was mostly just trucking downward to finish the hike. It was near dark by the time we approached the lower campsite so we tried trolling once again for Javan Woodcock, but to no avail. 

GLOMP

Snowy-browed Flycatcher

Island Thrush

Trilling Shrike-Babbler

Fire-tufted Barbet

Making the hike back down

Down at the lower campsite, it was just another excruciating dirtbike ride before we were back at town below. We returned to the park and took some much-needed (and very cold) showers, then had dinner before making the long drive back to Jakarta. It had been an exhausting, uncomfortable three days that was still one of the best birding trips I'd done all year. The birds were amazing, Bayu is an excellent birder, guide and friend, and the location was absolutely gorgeous. I also managed to clean up on almost all my remaining mountain endemics, with the exception of the woodcock, Salvadori's Nightjar, and the accursed green magpie- those will have to wait for future trips. I certainly hope more birders will visit Gunung Ciremai, as it's a fantastic location for birding, and I expect there's a great deal more to discover there. Yet another reason why Indonesia needs more local birders I suppose, so that new sites like this can continue to be explored and valuable data on endangered species can continue to be collected.