Toeing the Wallace Line

After returning from Mexico, I spent the remainder of August in DC, mostly working and doing only local birding. It's the sort of thing I'd write a quick blog about if I wasn't already months behind with this whole thing- or I suppose if I'd seen anything particularly noteworthy, which I didn't. There was a brief, lovely weekend spent in Vermont seeing old friends but that, too, had little in the way of birding or good photo opportunities. What followed in September was, however, noteworthy. 

My couple of months back in the Western Hemisphere were fun, but it was time for me to return to Asia. Once again the excuse was an extended work trip, and once again I was able to get work clearance to telework from the Philippines for a while after the work trip- my job certainly has its perks. This particular trip was almost entirely spent in Indonesia, though unusually it was mostly spent outside of Jakarta. My first stop was actually a totally new island for me: Lombok, the small volcanic island immediately to the east of Bali in the Nusa Tenggara archipelago.

Lombok tends to get ignored in favor of its touristy, temple-filled neighbor to the west, but it's a beautiful, fascinating island in its own right. Historically it was often a vassal state of Balinese kingdoms, and the Sasak majority was ruled by a Balinese upperclass for many years, to the extent that the Sasak invited the Dutch to take over the island in order to liberate them (I'm not entirely sure that worked out positively for them). While there are a good number of historical Hindu temples around Lombok, these days it's almost entirely Muslim, something that's readily apparent in daily life and in the cuisine. It also missed out on most of the economic boom that Bali and Java have seen over the past 50 years and has much higher rates of poverty. There's lots to bring tourists there, however, including gorgeous beaches and mountains, cool temples, and some of the best food I've had anywhere in Indonesia.

Bird-wise Lombok is also often overlooked- mostly because it doesn't really have that many birds. Part of that is just by virtue of being a small island with relatively low biodiversity, but it probably doesn't help that Lombok is host to Mount Rinjani, the second-tallest volcano in Indonesia. Normally high mountains would mean cool endemic birds, but Rinjani blew its top about 800 years ago in one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions of the last 10,000 years. That plus the even more powerful eruption of Mount Tambora just to the east seems to have been successful in wiping out almost all of the endemic birds western Nusa Tenggara might have had. 

There are a few exceptions though: the nearly extinct Sunset Lorikeet, the recently-discovered Rinjani Scops Owl, and the unique Lombok-endemic form of Wallacean Drongo that will likely be recognized as its own species at some point. It's not much in a country with 500+ endemic birds, so unsurprisingly not too many people visit. These were all new to me, however, and there were a number of other new birds for me. This was to be my first time birding in Indonesia east of the  Wallace Line, the famous boundary between  Asian and Australasian fauna. West of the line are trogons, hornbills, broadbills, pheasants, monkeys, and elephants, while east of it are cockatoos, honeyeaters, and marsupials. It's a stark difference, especially since Bali is less than 20 miles to the west and hosts wildly different avifauna.

Three things ended up working in my favor and turning it into a much better birding experience than I expected. First, I was able to finagle my flight tickets so that I arrived in Lombok on a Friday afternoon, giving me the whole weekend off before I had to start working. Second, the hotel the office put me up in was on Senggigi Beach, a prime tourist spot that also happened to be just downhill from the primary Lombok birding spot. Third, my friend Phil Chaon happened to be in Indonesia already and had the weekend free between bird guiding gigs, which meant that he was able to join for a full weekend of exploring Lombok. 

I departed DC on September 6, and after multiple transoceanic flights and a transfer in Jakarta arrived in Lombok on the afternoon of September 8. The flight in was surprisingly gorgeous, with a great look at Mount Agung and the other volcanoes of Bali, although I was disappointed that Rinjani never showed very well during my stay there. I spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach- though I was at least able to add Collared Kingfisher and Brown Honeyeater to my West Nusa Tenggara list, along with many introduced Sooty-headed Bulbuls and Yellow-vented Bulbuls. 

Bali volcanoes from the plane window

Western Lombok from the plane- the beach we stayed at is at lower right and Rinjani is covered in clounds in the center

Phil arrived that Friday night, and I finally allowed my jet-lagged brain some sleep after he got in. Hery from Bali Birding Tours gave me contact information for Dennis, a park ranger who guides for birders when they visit Lombok. I was able to contact Dennis and arrange for birding the following morning at Kerandangan National Park, just uphill from Senggigi Beach. The national park itself isn't much to write home about- pretty much just a forested valley on the slope of the extinct volcano making up western Lombok. That's enough for all of Lombok's endemics and most of its specialties though, which I guess makes sense- if a bird is resilient enough to survive being covered in volcanic ash, it's probably not too picky when it comes to habitat. 

We arrived at the gate of Kerandangan National Park just before sunrise on Saturday, and Dennis met us there shortly after. I got my first lifer at the visitor's center in the form of a calling Orange-footed Scrubfowl, a megapode found throughout Australia and Indonesia that I just hadn't been in range for before. Dennis led us up the valley along a rocky path, criss-crossing the mostly-waterless river. It was the dry season in Lombok and many of the trees were bare, which did make birding easier even if it also made everything look rather desolate. In some ways it reminded me of the tropical deciduous forest I'd been in in Álamos the month before. Unlike Álamos, however, it was filled with Javan Lutungs- a bit weird to see this side of the Wallace Line, but monkeys are famous for their shaky grasp of biogeography.

Javan Lutung

It was along this dry river that I got my second lifer of the day: a Lombok Drongo in the top of a large, leafless tree. It flew off before we could get a very good look, but Dennis told us we'd have better looks elsewhere. In fact, it proved to be the only time I saw it the whole weekend, so I'm glad I was able to get a record shot at least. We also got brief views of an Orange-footed Scrubfowl and a Rufous-chested Flycatcher, although I wasn't able to get good pictures of either of them. A small mixed flock of birds held Mangrove Whistlers, Ornate Sunbirds, and Scaly-crowned Honeyeaters, another lifer for both of us.

Lombok Drongo, usually considered a subspecies of Wallacean Drongo

Making our way up the dry riverbed

Our first real stop of the morning was a steep hillside about a kilometer up the valley. This was where Dennis said was a good spot for Cinnamon-banded Kingfisher, a Nusa Tenggara endemic, as well as potentially other birds. We clambered up the sharp rocks to get to a little flat viewpoint, and proceeded to wait for the kingfishers to arrive. And then waited some more. In all it was about 45 minutes of craning our necks to stare into backlit foliage before a Cinnamon-banded Kingfisher flew in and perched briefly almost directly above us. On the other hand we did have a stunning Ornate Pitta hop into view- any morning with a pitta is a good morning of birding in my book. We heard the grunting call of a White-rumped Kingfisher (also known more poetically as Glittering Kingfisher) far in the distance, but it never came closer. 

Cinnamon-banded Kingfisher, a nice Nusa Tenggara endemic

Lesser Sunda Dark-throated Skink

It was mid-morning by the time we had pictures of the kingfisher, and the quiet forest was even quieter. We went to a different spot to look for the White-rumped Kingfisher we had heard, but came up empty-handed; Dennis managed to see it briefly but it flushed immediately and flew off, never to return. Instead we proceeded downhill to a little hide Dennis had set up for Ornate Pitta. It took all of 30 seconds between when we sat down and when a gorgeous Ornate Pitta came hopping in, clearly expecting its usual gift of mealworms. We were able to watch it scratching on the ground practically within arm's reach, getting hundreds of pictures. They're exactly the same pictures that everyone else has of Ornate Pitta of course, which is why I'm not a huge fan of hide photography, but if it's a pitta I really shouldn't complain. A smart little male Rufous-chested Flycatcher also came in, a welcome and long-overdue lifer for me.

Ornate Pitta

Rufous-chested Flycatcher

With that we had just about exhausted the bird possibilities of Karandangan National Park, and we started to head back down for lunch and a nap. We did get slightly better looks at Orange-footed Scrubfowl on the way down, and I was able to add a good number of butterflies to my Lombok list. Surprisingly they were all species I'd seen elsewhere in Asia- apparently the Wallace Line doesn't mean much to butterflies. Back at the hotel we found a cute pair of Javan Munias building a nest just outside our room.

I guess this sort of counts as a picture of Orange-footed Scrubfowl

Javan Munia

Common Crow Butterfly

Common Sailer

Cornelian

Boschma's Flying Dragon, a nice Lesser Sundas endemic

We had a relaxed afternoon on the beach, but shortly after sunset we were back at Karandangan once again. This time the target was Rinjani Scops Owl, currently Lombok's only recognized endemic bird. The owl was formerly considered a subspecies of Moluccan Scops-owl, until it was recognized that it has a completely different call. It looks exactly like about 15 other species of scops owl to me, but all owls are good and an endemic is an endemic. 

We walked up the river valley once again searching for scops owls, and it quickly became clear that they're perhaps the most common bird in the forest- we heard about a dozen Rinjani Scops Owls calling at the same time! It reminded me a little of how common Mantanani Scops-Owl had been on Tablas- I guess small owls love small islands. We eventually got a good look at a couple of owls high in a tall tree, but the photo opportunities weren't spectacular. Thankfully Dennis knew a different spot for them, and he took us to a resort next to the national park where we eventually had spectacular looks at a pair glowering angrily down at us from a nearby. Owling isn't really my favorite type of birding, but if it consistently led to experiences like this I wouldn't mind it so much...

Rinjani Scops-Owls

Sunday was our second and final day of birding on Lombok before Phil had to go back to lead a tour and I had to start actually working. Our destination for that day was Gunung Tunak National Park, located all the way over on the southeastern tip of the island. Dennis and a driver he had found picked us up at our hotel before sunrise, and we made the 2-hour drive to Gunung Tunak, traveling on Lombok's surprisingly high-quality roads. 

Gunung Tunak occupies a small peninsula sticking south into the Indian Ocean, and is home to some good-quality coastal forest that has a few species that are hard to find on north Lombok. We spent an hour or so birding around the parking lot near the ranger's station, which was surprisingly birdy. Many Ornate Sunbirds and Scaly-crowned Honeyeaters were feeding in the trees next to the car, and there were several Blue-cheeked Flowerpeckers higher up in the trees, a lifer for me. There were some Mangrove Whistlers singing from the scrubby forest nearby, and after a bit I saw another one of my main targets, a huge Helmeted Friarbird- definitely a sign we were across the Wallace Line. There was also a White-bellied Sea-Eagle soaring nearby, and a singing Long-tailed Shrike, nowadays an uncommon bird in Indonesia thanks to the caged bird trade.

Scaly-crowned Honeyeater

Ornate Sunbird, The Sunbird Formerly Known as Olive-Backed

Blue-cheeked Flowerpecker- I have to admit those cheeks did not live up to my expectation

Mangrove Whistler

Helmeted Friarbird- found from Lombok all the way to Australia, although it may be split into a few different species

Long-tailed Shrike

Ixias reinwardtii

Common Birdwing

Great Orange Tip

Dry forest in the national park

Once we were satisfied with birding in the forest, we got back in the car and headed to the coast for the real highlight of visiting Gunung Tunak. The road led through dry forest to a picturesque beach, then up a surprisingly steep and dodgy road to the top of a small hill. We crested the hill and were greeted with one of the most spectacular vistas I've seen anywhere in Indonesia: a rugged headland jutting out into the ocean, with precipitous cliffs and sea stacks that made me think of coastal California, or perhaps Australia. Watching the swells break on the cliffs it was easy to see why Lombok is a world-famous surfing destination.

The headland at Gunung Tunak

As Phil says, just two island birding aficionados

The vista wasn't the reason we were there though, or at least not the only reason. It took some scanning, but we soon found the star birds of Gunung Tunak- dozens of White-tailed Tropicbirds that call the cliffs home. Tropicbirds are usually found far out to sea and rarely make it to land, but the exception is when they visit their breeding sites on steep ocean cliffs. Gunung Tunak is one of those places, and we enjoyed multiple close flybys, even though they mostly remained fairly distant. This was my first time getting a proper look at a tropicbird, and I'm pleased to report that they really are stunningly beautiful in person- blindingly white and ethereally graceful. Watching them soar below past the cliffs and over the pounding surf was one of my favorite birding experiences of this year. Interestingly most of the birds we saw were of the "golden" variety, with gold-tinged plumage. Those ones supposedly only breed on Christmas Island, several hundred kilometers to the south, but they certainly seemed to like these cliffs too.

White-tailed Tropicbird

We spent an hour or so on the cliffs with the tropicbirds, getting our fill and filling our memory cards. Eventually we headed out, as Phil was flying out that afternoon and we had a couple more stops to do. In contrast to the gorgeous headlands, our next stop was about the least picturesque birding site imaginable- a muddy ditch and some dusty fields next to an inexplicably fancy motorcycle racing track. It really didn't look like much, but apparently that's the preferred spot for Timor Zebra Finches, the Lesser Sundas subspecies of Zebra Finch. 

Prime Lombok bird habitat

It took a while but we were finally able to find a flock of Zebra Finches- in fact, perched on the walls of the race track. They look fairly similar to the Zebra Finches in Australia but for the lack of streaks on the breast, but apparently some think they deserve to be made their own species. Regardless it was my first time seeing one, so I was happy especially since their gorgeous little birds. There were many Cerulean Kingfishers, also gorgeous, hanging out around the little muddy pond although of course they were devilishly hard to get close to. Paddyfield Pipits running around on the dry grass were a nice addition to my Indonesia list.

Zebra Finch

Cerulean Kingfisher

Apparently Edible Nest Swiftlet is the only Aerodramus swiftlet on Lombok, meaning that this is one of those rare occasions where this photo can be IDed to species

Our final stop was at the edge of the large, shallow reservoir in central Lombok, near to the airport. It was mostly a wide expanse of water hyacinth-choked marshes with locals fishing and harvesting snails, but Dennis had seen Australian Pratincole there recently which both of us needed. We didn't find any pratincoles, but the flocks of Pale-headed Munias were another lifer for me at least (sadly I didn't get any pictures).

The reservoir

That was all we had time for, as Phil was flying out that afternoon to go back to leading tours, and I had to return to the hotel to prep for work the following day. It had been a relatively low-key weekend of birding by both of our standards, but a successful one, with all of the Lombok specialties and some other great birds, plus absolutely spectacular scenery and great company. I can't imagine I'll be back in Lombok (at least not for birds), but I do highly recommend it as a quick getaway for those with a weekend to spare in Indonesia. Sometimes bite-sized birding trips are a refreshing change from the chaotic, endemic-filled extravaganza that is Southeast Asia.