Belated BY - 6th year! Herman&Kit

[Kitsafari]

354. Olive-backed Tailorbird, Bali

 

More locally known as the Javan Tailorbird, the tiny bird is distributed from Java to the Sunda region. It is very similar to the Ashy Tailorbird which is found in a wider range that includes the same regions as the Javan cousin. The Javan spots a light olive-green tone on its upperparts and has a yellowish tinge on its belly. 

 

[Kitsafari]

355. Rusty-breasted Whistler, East Java

 

Herman missed this medium-sized species as it was skulking in the trees when I was resting at the vehicle while he and Dian walked further down the mountain. I only saw the female but the male is a bright yellow with a black head while the female is duller in brown with paler underparts, whitish throat and a yellow vent. 

The species is endemic to the lesser sundas and far eastern Java, plus Bali.

 

[Peter Connan]

Such magnificent birds! A real pity so many of them seem to be under immense pressure.

[Kitsafari]

356. White-shouldered Triller, Bali

 

the white-shouldered triller looks like its cousins the Sulawesi and Pied Trillers but has an even thinner white eyebrow and less extensive white on the wing. The white-shouldered is found only in Java, Bali, Sunda isles and the Sulawesi areas, while the Sulawesi triller is found as its name suggests while the pied has a larger range that extends to Peninsula Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra and the Philippines.

 

Male

 

female

 

[Kitsafari]

357. Yellow-eared Barbet, Bali

 

Also called the Little Barbet locally, the yellow-eared barbet is restricted only to Java and Bali. The tiny barbet has sky-blue patches on iits face, shoulders and under its tail, and spots bright yellow patches beneath its eyes. It likes to forage in lowland and foothill forests, as well as at forest edges. 

 

[Kitsafari]

21 minutes ago, Peter Connan said:

Such magnificent birds! A real pity so many of them seem to be under immense pressure.

 

@Peter Connan

It's a tragedy in Indonesia - the poaching and hunting of wild birds in Indonesia is intense - there is practically little enforcement and the steep rate in deforestation (for big and small-scale palm oil plantations) has affected the birds and mammals as well. The helmeted hornbill is a sign of such pressures - once abundant in Sumatra, it is almost extinct in there and that's to feed the north Asian demand for the ivory-like horns (an alternative to rhino horns and elephant tusks). There's practically little enforcement in the country. It's all lip service. 

Really very sad. I have a defeatist attitude to nature in Southeast Asia - extinction of wildlife and most bird species is inevitable and will come sooner than we expect. 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

358. Javan Kingfisher, Bali

 

A resident in the rice fields, this particular Javan Kingfisher provided the birding tour operator an opportunity to set  up a hide (with permission from the rice farmer which will surely get a cut). This wasn't a lifer for me although Herman doesn't recall seeing it during our bird walk over 10 years ago.  This is a large and brightly coloured kingfisher with a very large bill that is bright red.  It is one of those species that is very difficult to photograph without a hide and feed. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

359. Javan Banded Pitta, Bali

 

At the top of my target list, mainly because pittas are one of top favourite species. Another species that requires a hide for an extended viewing but only in silence and stillness, the Javan Banded Pitta is surprisingly on the least concern list.  Both the males and females are stunning. The male has a bright yellow supercilium with a blue bib and a black crown with brightly striped underparts while the female has a duller supercilium with a brown crown, but no less beautiful. Both males and females have a blue tale and a white stripe that runs along the wings' edges. 

 

 

 

female

 

in the typical pitta stance

[Kitsafari]

360. Grey-breasted Partridge, East Java

 

The rotund and shy partridge is as Grey-breasted Partridge in eBird but as White-faced Partridge in IUCN Redlist with the same latin name Arborophila orientalis. It is also known as the Horsfield's Hill Partridge. Hunting pressures and a sharp decline in suitable habitat has reduced the partridge's range to only two mountains in eastern Java, one of which is Mount Ijen while the other is inaccessible - thus putting the partridge on the Vulnerable list. That makes feeding stations or hides really the only way to reliably see this species but we had to stay really silent and still. The partridge favours primary forest at over 500m over seal level and up to 2000m high. It is dark grey generally with a distinctive white face. 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to capture in a video clip their odd churrying calls. ebird describes it as "Song is a slowly rising series of “whew” notes that eventually become a rapid, feverish, seemingly endless chant"  

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Kitsafari

[Kitsafari]

361. Java Sparrow, Bali

 

Emblematic of how bad protection is for wildlife, especially the better looking ones, is the Java Sparrow, also known as the Java Finch. Trapping pressure is very intense such that the beautiful songbird is now estimated to number only less than 2,500 adults in its natural range in Java and Bali. The bird is on the Endangered list. The population is also very much an estimate as there is plenty of breeding of the species to meet burgeoning demand from the songbird trade. This is a small and plump finch with a very distinctive face that is marked by a pink bill topped by a black head and white patches on the cheeks. Of all places to see this bird, we were brought to a bus terminus which serves the region. It was quiet when we were there but there were small groups of the sparrows, which have learned where to get water supplies at a safe height. 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

362. Bali Myna, Bali Barat National Park

 

But there is still a glimmer of hope in Indonesia, as Bali's star bird showed. The Bali Myna was so badly poached that less than 50 mature adults were estimated to remain in the wild population by 2020 in Bali, the only natural place the myna is found. To counter the sharp declines, captive birds were released to boost the numbers and better protection and feeding stations in the national park have helped prevent widespread poaching, allowing the population to recover to about 100 birds. IUCN will count re-introduced adults in its estimate only when they have produced viable offsprings, hence its estimate remains at under 50 wild mature adults, landing the species on the critically endangered list. 

 

This is the last species in our Bali-EJava count, and the topmost target for us, a reason why we honed into the national park.  The beautiful white bird has a distinctive bare blue facial skin with long plumes that hang down the nape and sometimes form a crest. it was tough getting good shots of the wild birds as they vanished quickly as soon as the car stopped. Instead, we headed to a spot near the cafe we had lunch at. There, the ranger and the local villagers feed the habituated free-ranging birds and watch over them. Later in the Plataran grounds, we managed a shot of the wild-ranging Bali Myna. It was great to see the wild ones. 

 

 

 

convening a conference

 

 

 

We saw over 60 species in Bali and East Java over a 4-day trip - not that many but with so many lifers in the near endemics and endemics that we saw, we're quite satisfied with the results. 

Next up - a 1-day trip to HK!

 

[BRACQUENE]

Marvelous collection of Bali and East Java birds and then that couple of Banded Pitta ! 

1 hour ago, Kitsafari said:

Really very sad. I have a defeatist attitude to nature in Southeast Asia - extinction of wildlife and most bird species is inevitable and will come sooner than we expect. 

Sorry to hear that Kit !

[Peter Connan]

So that's probably nearly 10% of the population in one photo? What a scary and horrifying thought.

[michael-ibk]

Depressing to hear about the speed of the destruction of such a wonderfully rich ecosystem. But you got a lot of exquisite birds - and photos, a pleasure to follow your thread Kit.

[Galana]

An excellent set of photos despite the appalling information on numbers.

[TonyQ]

Beautiful birds, and a good addition to your total.

The Fruit Dove is stunning!

[Kitsafari]

17 hours ago, Peter Connan said:

So that's probably nearly 10% of the population in one photo? What a scary and horrifying thought.

 

@Peter Connan I didn't think of it that way, but now that you've put it into perspective - yikes. 

[Kitsafari]

Thank you @BRACQUENE @michael-ibk @Galana @TonyQ

[xelas]

A fine collection of endemics which sadly we might not see in the nature if poaching does not slow down significantly. Luckily Myna shows how resilient Mother Nature can be. Thanks for showing them!

[Zim Girl]

What a stunning collection of birds from your trip.

Such a shame they are under so much pressure.

[offshorebirder]

Bali Myna is a gorgeous creature!

 

I hope they continue to increase from such dangerously low levels.

 

[Kitsafari]

Thank you @xelas @Zim Girl @offshorebirder

[Kitsafari]

I had a family trip to Hong Kong at end-October spilling into early November and took the chance to do one day of looking for forest birds in HK. The main island of HK is very urbanised and developed like Singapore, but the northern territories still contain some forest cover although as in all forests, the thick cover and foliage make it that harder to spot, let alone photograph, the small agile ones. So this group of photos will have its fair share of EBCs and given that Herman didn't come along, of poor photos as well. But the sighting even with record shots is what matters!

 

363. Red-whiskered Bulbul

 

Numerous and easy to see in many of the parks in HK, the songbird is a major poaching target for caged bird trade in Singapore. It is an introduced bird in Singapore as its native range is from Indian subcontinent to southern China Indochina, Thailand and Malaysia.

 

 

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

364. Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

 

 

 

[Kitsafari]

365. Verditer Flycatcher

 

a distant and backlit shot