Birds of Bali

On my recent trip to Nusa Lembongan, a small tropical island off the east coast of Bali, I squeezed in some incidental birding. Although this deviates from my self-imposed mandate of Western Australian birds, it is interesting to see how the Indonesian birds compare with their southern relations.

Nusa Lembongan was a revelation in terms of bird sightings. When I returned home I discovered it is part of the Nusa Penida Bird Sanctuary which went some way in explaining the island's diverse birdlife.

The most common bird on the island must be the Spotted Dove closely followed by the Sooty-headed Bulbuls which behaved much like the gregarious New Holland Honeyeaters from home. The Spotted Doves here seemed to have fancier flying manoeuvres and more energy than the docile ones in Perth.

The Scaly-breasted Munias are small finches that generally seem to move in flocks, although I did see a solitary bird near the hotel. A large flock of hundreds was feeding on the muddy ground near Devil's Tear and would fly up into nearby trees together when startled. I have yet to see the WA Zebra Finches in such numbers. While I was off looking at these birds, our guide was off looking for me no doubt thinking I had slipped into some hole or off some cliff as I'd proved my clumsiness on several occasions earlier in the day.

Initially, we stayed at Lembongan Sanctuary Villas which is fairly close to the main town site.  After a brief sojourn on Bali, we returned and stayed at Lembongan Cliff Villas. The former accommodation afforded us a sighting of a Coucal which the manager said has a beautiful song. The latter accommodation was further from town set above dense forest. I watched Black-naped Orioles, Olive-backed Sunbirds, Bulbuls and Lemon-bellied White-eyes from the verandah restaurant while sipping a cocktail. (A spot of glam birding is not to be shied away from.) The Olive-backed Sunbirds are similar in shape and behaviour, but not colour, to the Western Spinebill.

Amongst the mangroves we spotted a Collared Kingfisher having it's lunch; a bird very similar to the Sacred Kingfisher. There were Long-tailed Shrikes around the island whose the intelligent eyes and solitary ways brought to mind Rufous Whistlers and in the jungle, there were White-breasted Waterhens.

On the mainland and with mixed feelings, we visited Bali Safari Park. Here, we saw the critically endangered Bali Mynas which are beautiful, inquisitive birds, and read about the valuable work that is being done to increase their numbers. The Orioles looked despondent compared to the energetic ones I saw in the wild - or perhaps that was my feeling in seeing them caged instead of flying across the canopy below the hotel. It was, however, a treat to see the Lesser Birds of Paradise up close. One convincingly defended his banana from me through the wire.

A trip to Nusa Penida and more investigation of mainland Bali is definitely on the cards in the future - if only my family didn't see through my "holiday" plans quite so quickly.

Scaly-breasted Munia

Lesser Bird of Paradise

Macaw 

Noisy Friarbird

Bali Myna 

Bali Myna

Barred-eagle Owl

Muscovy Ducks

Coucal

Olive-backed Sunbird

Unknown #3

Bali Myna

Black-naped Oriole

Long-tailed Shrike

Javan Plover

White-breasted Waterhen

Sooty-headed Bulbuls

Bulbul

Scaly-breasted Munias

Scaly-breasted Munias