After the inevitable breakfast of hard boiled eggs and toast and jam (this hotel had a toaster) and fresh fruit we set off in the mini van to Danau Kaco where we transferred to the pickup for the short drive to the beginning of the trail whilst it was still dark.
At this point there was a bit of confusion. The previous night we'd been told we would be going to hide 1 where, apparently, someone from the 'Explore Kerinci' ground team had seen the cuckoo the previous day, but to our surprise Bobbi led us to hide 2. There were a few mumblings but a general acceptance that Bobbi knew what he was doing.
Settled in the hide we waited and waited. A Sumatran Ground Cuckoo was heard calling distantly and then it went quiet. Suddenly a movement caught our eye and the bird appeared on a fallen log. Cue a collective exhalation of breath!
What a stunning looking bird. Its beautifully camouflaged iridescent green plumage contrasting with the blue and pink bare skin around the eye. A friend of mine commented she was insanely jealous of the eye makeup when I sent her the photos!
Just listen to that call:
It was an unbelievable experience and we watched enthralled for a bout an hour before the bird melted back into the jungle.
Carrying on up the trail we heard but couldn't see the endemic Sumatran Bulbul but added species such as Dark Hawk Cuckoo and Orange-backed Woodpecker to the trip list as well as close views of Sunda Forktail.
A great day and it was a more relaxed team that headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner before an early start in the morning to try for Marbled Wren Babbler and Graceful Pitta on the infamous Tapan Road.
By now the mood in the team had changed dramatically from the first few days. Now we'd seen all the target birds everyone was much happier. We decided to split up again with Dan leading Mika and Kevin higher to try and get better views of the elusive Sumatran Wren babbler whilst the rest of us, with Bobbi, decided to try our luck with Salvadori's Pheasant at one of the hides. We'd still only seen roosting birds and this was one of the main birds we'd come to see.
Once again we set of from the accommodation in the dark in order to arrive at the hide at first light. We had until 10 am at which point we had to head back to the 'hotel' to check out and head to our next location. Hopefully doing some birding on the way!
Once settled in the hide we waited patiently hoping the pheasants would make an appearance. After about an hour the whispered message that they were coming in from the left was passed along and hardly daring to breath we suddenly found ourselves in the company of a pair of Salvadori's Pheasants.
After about 30 minutes with these fantastic birds we got a message through that the other half of our team, led by Dan, were on their way down so I decided to meet them on the main track as they would have no idea where the hide was! By this time the pheasants were roosting in a tree but still visible They came down to feed again and were joined by a Sumatran Mountain Phesant for a short while. Our Kerinci experience had definitely ended on a high note and we set off back to our 'hotel' to check out and drvie to our next location - taking in some urban birding on he way at a nearby park for Barred Eagle Owl and a marshy area where we padded out the trip list with Ruddy Breasted Crake, Yellow Bittern, Swamphen. White-headed and Scaly-breasted Munia's
Happy Ornis team at the base of Mt Kerinci
Our new hotel was a bit of a revelation after the previous one and we even managed to get some laundry done! I'd got the dreaded stomach bug so, dosed up with Imodium, I skipped dinner and had an early night. Tomorrow we'd hopefully be looking for the main target bird. Summatran Ground Cuckoo. It was a bit worrying that there'd been no report of any sightings for a few days but we were confident that Bobbi would find us one.
With the team splitting in two and half going up to Camp Cochoa and the rest, including me, taking the easier option of trying again for Sumatran Wren Babbler we set off up the by now all to familiar trail up Mt Kerinci. Again we set off in the dark and birded on the way up. Mika and Kevin headed straight for Camp Cochoa with Bobbi whilst, Fred,Tony, Steve, Dan and myself stayed at lower elevation picking out the various species of bird from roving feeding flocks as they passed through.
Sunda Warbler
Sunda Forktail
Sumatran Trogon
Fire-tufted Barbet
That all rapidly changed when a WhatsApp came through from the Cochoa team! They'd found not one but two Sumatran Cochoa's. We were just below camp 2 at this stage and, knowing that the birds would probalby stick around if they'd found a good fruiting tree to gorge in, decided to set off up the trail. We were told we were 30 minutes away. In reality it took us 55 lung bursting and heart pounding minutes with the sweat pouring off us to reach Camp Cochoa. The steep track and altitude made for hard going and my heart rate peaked at 166 bpm!
Arriving at Camp Cochoa we found it empty and realised we'd have to climb even further up the trail. By now I thought I was in serious danger of a heart attack but 25 minutes later we reached the rest of the group and another group who were nearby and heard about the Cochoa.
There were two birds - an adult male and the female type juvenile bird below. We watched them for about 15 minutes before they moved out of sight.
Unfortunately Tony arrived just as the birds disappeared out of sight but we hung around for another hour or so and could hear them calling. He and Bobbi disappeared only to reappear from the dense undergrowth having successfully relocated the Cochoa for Tony to get brief views.
This Jackdaw sized thrush like bird is classed as vulnerable due to habitat loss and is only found in forests between 1,000 - 2,500 m. It's secretive nature makes it hard to find and it's a bird many visitors to the region fail to see. Buoyed by our success we headed back down the mountain for a late lunch only to arrive at camp 2 to hear that, due to imminent rain, our lunch was now at camp 1 which had a rudimentary shelter. And rain it did as it can only do so in the tropics.
It was a tired but happy team that headed back to the accommodation for a quick shower before heading out for dinner of, you guessed it, rice and chicken......
Tomorrow would be our last day in Kerinci before heading to Danau Kaco and, hopefully, a chance to catch up with Sumatran Ground Cuckoo.
On our third day in Kerinci the weather changed for the better and we made the most of it by getting up early and doing a bit of 'thermalling' looking for frogmouths and owls before trying again for the elusive Sumatran Peacock Pheasant in the hide.
As well as the weather our luck changed with Sumatran Frogmouth at last responding to calls and coming to take a look and providing us with decent views.
We moved to a higher elevation near Camp 2 (2,020 m above sea level) for the scarce Rajah Scops Owl named after James Brook, Rajah of Sarawak. We'd heard one calling on a previous foray in the dark but failed to see it. Almost immediately one responded to the playback tape and descending into a dry river bed we all enjoyed good views when Dan picked it up on the thermal.
Realising we were very close to the endemic Salvadori's Pheasant roost picked our way quietly along the boulder strewn dry river bed and obtained much better views of this near threatened species roosting above us.
Buoyed by our success we returned down the trail to one of the hides to try again for the Bronze-tailed Peacock Pheasant at 1st light. Entering the hide we made ourselves comfortable and settled in for the long wait. Unfortunately for us a couple of Chinese photographers arrived who had absolutely zero field craft or common sense - sticking long lenses through the hide opening and trying to set up a tripod in the confined space whilst his wife was outside continually standing up and making a noise. Fortunately for us they decided to move before one of us committed an assault and wrapped the tripod round his head! Chinese photographers are universally disliked because of the appalling fieldcraft and rudeness and I had several run - ins with them in Thailand earlier this year.
Even more fortunately, after a further wait, the pheasants made an appearance with two separate birds being seen! Success at last.
Sumatran Robin
After breakfast in the field and a hot sweet black tea we headed back up the trial towards 'camp cochoa' where we hoped to catch up with the endemic Sumatran Cochoa. Our luck continued when several Schneiders Pitta's crossed the trail in front of us. I felt happy for fFred as we'd managed to catch up with all his target birds in Kerinci despite the poor start.
Our climb towards 'Camp Cochoa was punctuated by the fantastic calls of the worlds largest gibbon the fabulous Siamang and we stopped to watch these primates move effortlessly through the trees. The noise they make is incredible.
Moving higher we tried several times for Sumatran Wren- Babbler but despite hearing them several times we couldn't see them. A pair of Snowy-browed Robins feeding a youngster were unconcerned by our presence and even tolerated the young Indonesian hikers that passed in groups heading towards the summit of Kerinci.
The trail between cap 2 and Camp Cochoa was particularly gnarly with tree roots and mud and with the altitude approaching 2500 m we were soon out of breath and sweating profusely.
Camp Cochoa is one of the best places to see the endemic Sumatran Cochoa. Hard to see due to its secretive and sluggish nature it is one of the 'must see' birds of Kerinci. Camp Cochoa is also one of the best places to catch up with Sumatran Shortwing and Sunda Laughing Thrush. We failed with the Cochoa but saw both the other species well.
After a long but successful day in the field we headed back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes and a shower before heading out for dinner.
Arriving at our hotel in Kerinci well after dark we met our ground team of Bobbi and Yudi from Explore Kerinci - see here. Bobbi was the bird guide and Yudi was our driver and hot / drinks / food provider. Two great guys. We were all tired and hungry and the guys went out and got us nasi goreng which is fried rice and egg. Something we'd get very familiar with in the next 9 days. The rooms were very basic and not very comfortable. Our alarms were set for 5 am but there was no change of sleeping that late - jet-lag and the morning call to prayers at 5 am saw to that! Breakfast was hard boiled eggs and plain white bread with jam - no butter!
Today was to be our first day exploring the dormant volcano that is Mt Kerinci and we piled into the pickup for the bumpy drive to the trail entrance in the dark. We'd hoped to pick up Sumatran Frogmouth but despite hearing them we couldn't find any.
As it got lighter we moved to one of the hides where we hoped to catch up with Schneider's Pitta and Sumatran (bronze-tailed) peacock Pheasant. Unfortunately it wasn't to be with only a couple of people (including Fred) lucky enough to see the pheasant as it approached from beneath ha fallen log to the left of the clearing. Today was going to be a long day of near misses and rain! The weather certainly didn't help our cause and for the remainder of the day and the following day we struggled to find our target species. Using the thermal after dark on the edge of the forest, in the hope of picking up a Salvadori's Nightjar we, instead, found a cool looking Slow Loris. A new species of mammal for me.
However, we did manage to find a Schneider's Pitta roosting in the thermal and, unbelievably, a roosting Salvadori's Nightjar.
Despite the best efforts of Dan and Bobbi we continued to struggle. The weather really was appalling and the trail up Kerinci was slick with mud.
Bobbi pulled the proverbial rabbit out the bag when he found us roosting Salvadori's Pheasants but the views were restricted and although we could say we'd seen them no one was really happy with the views.
Patch list (walking distance from house): 136. Garganey
What this blogs about.
This is my blog about birding on the Wirral, in Cheshire and beyond. Its basically an online diary of my sightings and trips. It'll be updated regularly to include photographs of birds (and other wildlife) I've photographed both in the UK and abroad. Why a blog? It's a way of keeping memories of good birds. good trips and interesting ringing sessions for me to look back on when I get to old to be bothered going out in the cold and wet anymore!!#
All photo's are taken by me unless specified and I retain the copyright. Photos shall not be used for any other purpose without express permission.
Moved to Cheshire in 1983 and settled there after marrying in 1986. I've been birding since I was 7 or 8 - it was that long ago I can't remember!
My formative years were spent in Suffolk and birds became a passion in my teens. Started twitching when still at school but began seriously whilst at University in the late 70's and early 80's. I am old enough to remember Nancy's cafe!
Took a bit of a break due to other committment but now able enjoy getting out birding both locally and for long distance twitches and trips.
Married to my beautiful wife Janet since 1986 and have two grown-up children and 4 gorgeous grandchildren.
Trained as a ringer firstly in the 1970's but let it lapse after leaving University in 1982. Re-trained again a few years ago and now a regular with Hilbre Bird observatory and SCAN ringing group.
I first became interested in photography whilst still at school and used an old Zenith SLR with a Tamron 300 mm lens. I've rediscovered my earlier interest and have graduated to digital - much easier to use for an amateur like me!
