Day 2
Again we hit the trail first thing. Our intention was to have a go at both the Great Argus and the Rail Babbler. We had spent some time a few months ago finding a Great Argus’s lek and had set up a hide from where we had seen it a few times. Early morning was the best time as it called every few minutes. The Rail Babbler was best seen from the main trail in the afternoon so we knew we were in for a long day.
As we were putting our equipment together a pair of Blyth's Hawk-Eagle were flying around the camp site.
We heard a Diard's Trogon as we entered the trail but could not see it. Along the trail a Black-capped Babbler was calling and hopped towards us. Moustached Babbler and Scaly-crowned Babbler were seen on the way up too. A Maroon Woodpecker was flying around the steep part of the slope. At the top a White-crowned Forktail flew down the path towards us, saw us very late, slammed on the brakes and did a u-turn back up the path.
At the “basketball court” we had a painful 15 minutes calling in some Banded Broadbill. A little further down we had fun photographing Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler and Black-throated Babbler as they tried to out-shout each other.
We next moved off the trail into the forest towards the Great Argus lek. Our bird was calling but only sporadically. We could see from a distance that the lek was untidy which meant it was no longer displaying. We waited around for a while and although it was within fifty metres at times we couldn’t see it. We will have to wait until January or February before it spends much time at the lek again.
Rufous-collared Kingfisher Scarlet-rumped Trogon
In the area we did get some great views of Scarlet-rumped Trogon and heard an Orange-breasted Trogon nearby.
In the area we did get some great views of Scarlet-rumped Trogon and heard an Orange-breasted Trogon nearby.
As Games walked around a corner she disturbed a male Rufous-collared Kingfisher which sat very still for us until a troop of Pig-tailed Macaque started throwing chunks of trees at us from the canopy.
Over lunch at Sala 2 a group of Yellow-bellied Warbler were seen.
A bird wave passed by twice which included Violet Cuckoo, Chestnut-breasted Malkoha, Raffles' Malkoha, Asian Paradise-flycatcher, Grey-bellied Bulbul and Crimson Sunbird.
We walked the trail for the next hour or two listening out for the Rail-Babbler but unusually it didn’t show.
As we were leaving, a troup of very noisy Black Hornbill called from both sides of us but also didn’t show. A pair of Green Broadbill did however sit nicely for us.
A group of six or seven White-crowned Hornbill were spotted flying below us at sala 1 and were seen perching in a tree further down the trail.
In the failing light on the way out we heard Red-bearded Bee-eater, Banded Pitta and Fulvous-chested Jungle-flycatcher.
We came across a bat highway. Every twenty seconds or so a bat or two would come out the same spot in the forest and dash over the path. Paul played chicken with them by standing right in their path. We all had a good laugh as they flicked away from him just inches from his nose. He actually got some good photos of them by aiming his camera at the spot they were coming out from and hitting the shutter button when he saw one coming.
That evening we were all exhausted after our eleven hour stint in the forest and decided not to return for night birds but instead to have a look around the resort. Good thing too. We heard a faint warbling sound coming down off the hill and chased a White-fronted Scops Owl along the road for a few hundred metres. We couldn’t get onto it but we will try again next time we visit. |
