Tag: Bali

photography

Indonesia West of Wallace’s Line

Posted on

As you may know, Wallace’s Line is the line which (in terms of flora and fauna) separates Java, Bali, Sumatra, and Borneo and their outlying islands from Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Timor, and the Moluccas. West of the line we visited Sumatra, Java, and Bali. Here are photos from that segment of our trip.

Our first stop in Sumatra was the village of Bukit Lawang, where we stayed at Green Hills Guest Lodge. Our first visitor was this Silver Leaf Monkey.
Bukit Lawang is situated right by a river, and a family of Crab-eating Macaques showed up on the opposite bank.
The day after we arrived we wen on a walk to see the famous Sumatran Orangutans, (Critically Endangered) and immediately saw this young male.
This baby orangutan seemed extremely proficient at climbing and foraging, here eating the orange fruit pictured.
After seeing the first orangutans we passed through a “carload” of Thomas Leaf Monkeys, some with babies.
The star bird of the hike was this Great Argus, a type of pheasant closely related to the peafowl. It boasts strangely elongated wing and tail feathers to aid in its spectacular display, and although this male did not display, it was still astounding.
This zoomed-out picture can offer a better perspective on the seemingly stretched body of this amazing bird.
This was one of the highlights of the hike: a fully grown male orangutan, sitting in a tree.
This is a White-handed Gibbon, one of the several we saw. Back at Bukit Lawang several times we heard the song of gibbons, a truly spectacular sound. This one was with several others.
Seen at the same time as the other gibbon, here you can see a baby’s head and hands.
Near Bukit Lawang we went to a cave system inhabited by many bats. This is one of the residents.
We had also signed up for a “jungle trek” which meant staying at another spot for a night before starting. There we got great views of this Little Spiderhunter, a relative of the honeyeaters.
Near the beginning of the trek we came across another troop of Thomas’s Leaf Monkeys. This is a mother and a baby.
This squirrel was Cedar’s favorite animal we saw on the trek, and he made me put it in this post.
For me the highlight was this White-crowned Hornbill (classified as globally Endangered), seen after our night camping. It is rare and only occasionally seen in Sumatra.
On the way back from our camp we came across this Diard’s Trogon, the bright red bird in the middle of the photo.
Just before we got back to the lodge we saw this Blue-throated Bee-eater, one of the star birds of the trek.
Just before going back to Bukit Lawang we saw this bright red and yellow Banded Woodpecker from the jungle lodge.
Before leaving Bukit Lawang we got great views of this Crested Serpent-eagle calling and displaying for seemingly no reason.
Our next stop was Lake Toba, where this Eurasian Tree Sparrow provided the perfect opportunity for a more artistic photo.
Also at Lake Toba we saw this White-breasted Waterhen walk past our table at a restaurant.
After Toba we stayed at Rimba Ecolodge on the west coast. This is a Stork-billed Kingfisher, one of the most distinctive birds we saw.
Here you can see some of the strange geometric patterns found in the some of the coral of the area.
This is one of the amazing sunsets we saw at Rimba.
Since we had to fly through Java to get to Bali we stopped at Yogyakarta and saw the famous Buddhist temple Borobudur. Here we found a carving of a chicken standing on top of a temple.
We also found this amazing carving of a Green Peafowl, the lesser known relative of the Indian one. Green Peafowls mainly live in mainland Asia, but there is a small population on Java.
Borobudur’s most famous attraction are the sitting Buddhas inside stupas lining the edge of the top level. Since the Buddhas are mostly enclosed, I just got a picture of the eye of one.
And here’s CEDAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our first stop in Bali was Ubud, where we went on a bird walk around the rice fields and few forests of the city. This is a Cattle Egret in a rice paddy.
One of our target species on the walk was this Javan Kingfisher, only found in Java and Bali.
Near the end of the walk we saw this snake attack a flying lizard and eat it. Here it is preparing to strike.
Later in Bali we went snorkeling off of Pulau Menjangan, an island where we saw a herd of deer resting under a building.
This Whimbrel we saw on the beach of the island. It is a type of curlew, famous for their long, curving bills.
After snorkeling we went on a walk to dinner where we saw this Racquet-tailed Treepie, a specialty bird of the region.
The sunset over the mangroves in West Bali was spectacular.
The reason for us going to west Bali was because of West Bali National Park, and the reason I wanted to go there was because of a single bird. The Javan Banded Pitta you see here is not the special one but was seen in the beginning of the desired birding trip.
This Green Junglefowl is also not the one we were looking for, although it was high on my list of birds I wanted to see.
This is the bird I had been waiting for. This is a Bali Starling, Bali’s ONLY endemic bird, Critically Endangered with a population estimate of only 50 left in the wild. It is so valuable on the black market pet trade that a captive breeding center was once robbed at gunpoint just for these birds! We saw around 17!!!!!!!
This pair of starlings sat and posed for us for almost ten minutes!
Here you can see the wispy crest of the starlings.
This starling posed for just a moment when I got this photo, then flew away.
This Island Collared-dove is the Indonesian equivalent of the Eurasian Collared-dove, widely introduced in North America.
After the forest where we saw the starlings we went to a plantation where we got this Chestnut-headed Bee-eater.
The final segment of our birding trip in Bali was going to the shrimp farms, where we saw this Small Blue Kingfisher.
After Bali we crossed over to Java again and went to Baluran National Park to look for the Endangered Green Peafowl. Here is an Oriental Pied Hornbill seen in the park
We eventually saw three peafowl, two male and one female. This male came the closest, and gave us amazing views. Most of the global population are found in mainland Asia, but there is an isolated group found in Java.
Here you can seen part of the famous train that male peafowl have. This was either a young male or something had attacked because it was missing most of its train feathers.
This is a fully grown male peafowl, with the completely developed train of iridescent green ocelli feathers.
This is the same male peafowl.
Baluran is also famous for its herds of water buffalo and deer.
poetry

drinking the Kool Aid

Posted on

drinking the Kool Aid

after months of being careful
the boys froze
as I took water from the priest’s bowl
and brought it to my lips
I nodded to them
it’s okay
they hesitated
then did the same

why? they asked later
it’s Besakih, the Mother Temple
the blessing’s worth the risk

today floating in the bottle green depths
of the pelucid Pelorus
that once held dwarves afloat
they asked me
can we drink it?

here we were
in a space sacred to them
I hesitated then nodded
just a little I said
and we all took a bit of magical river
into our very selves

poetry

Jalak Bali

Posted on

Owen took these photos.

Jalak Bali

until I saw it
against sky
I thought its whiteness a liability
its blue face gaudy

but up in the canopy
it dissolves into air
insubstantial as cloud
as embedded in the
broad blue canvas
as leafbird is to tree
disappearing like
siang supplants pagi
and sore whisks away siang

you never know
who beauty might save

poetry

on inadvertently failing to write

Posted on

on inadvertently failing to write

the * in the record book
imperfection makes us real
fallible human distracted

why is it that I
didn’t sing the day last night?
so many reasons
with so little merit

it is what it is
keep calm and
as Cedar would say
be awesome

poetry

paradise

Posted on

paradise

blue white green
an endless looping cycle
nourishing itself
expiring
decaying
feeding the next
eating well
sleeping soundly
surrounded by
other beautiful life

poetry

thank you for prayers answered

Posted on

thank you for prayers answered

my life like every other
one string of miracles awaiting notice

my genesis two unlikely souls entangling

my first heartbeat echoing
her warm thrum of love
that has borne me through all my days

the luck of having a sister
of being not-alone growing up
growing older

the two loving grandfathers
who saw me whole
and hugged me at every chance

the teachers who cared for me
who made my wandering path seem
a matter of course

the creek and lake and ocean water
that dissolved any bits of world-weariness

my high school friends who claimed me gladly
innocently swinging under a circle of moon

my college friends
who I didn’t need to explain myself to
the kind of people I had hoped existed

especially that tall skinny boy with steady hands
calm competence
flashing mischievous eyes
and a romantic calculator
who pulled me close
and hung on through everything
through uneventful years
and life-altering moments

for the soft warm fur of a clever loyal dog
and the home I always dreamed of
lace curtains books on shelves and peace

and the children I couldn’t have dreamed up
so their own incomparable souls
and I so lucky to live beside them

for my friends today
these real raw devoted fierce compassionate endlessly-giving
beings I trust and turn to and emulate

for the luxury of time to be not do
the great joy of purpose and belonging to all that is
the unasked for beauty strewn about us all everyday

and, today, our son’s sweet journal
with its sincere silly sketches
and inscribed delible memories
returned to him by a kind stranger’s hand

for all these gifts seen and unseen
Lord, I am not worthy to receive them
but only say the word
and I shall be healed.

poetry

Plea for Saved Memories

Posted on

Plea for Saved Memories

Dear Saint Anthony
Saint Francis de Sales
Our Lady of Perpetual Help:

let the little notebook
of earnest words

the cheerful sketches
of intrepid animals
visiting unthinkable actual places

the carefully curved letters
and the ones scratched in an angry rush

the endless synonyms
hand-spun for awesome

the good days and bad
sunrises lions waterfalls pufferfish sunsets

be found

and if it be not found

let all those days sights feelings smells hopes dreams
settle in deeply
to the heart-home that gathered them
and let him bring them out
when they are needed
for he worked so very hard
to note the magic as it was made

poetry

Prayer to End Bickering

Posted on

Prayer to End Bickering

3 ways to hurt:
 silence
ridicule
selfishness

3 ways to heal:
 communication
kindness
generosity

Our Father
who art I-know-not-where
hallowed be all your manifestations
o place within my fumbling grasp
the sword of wisdom
and guide my hand
to carve peace
in our little 4-roomed home
in the 4 chambers of our hearts
in our 4 doubting minds
so that we each
first do no (more) harm

poetry

volcano

Posted on

volcano

we land creatures
move our eyes
across the earth’s
folds and dimples
taking in texture
thinking we know
where we are

meanwhile
its ponderous girth
squats sumo-style;
a loincloth of
white cloud severs
the cone from
our lived world

it’s only when
we remember and
look up beyond
where we expected
that we see

poetry

moving on

Posted on

moving on

old grey pixelated photos
line up against today’s backdrop
same person? same place?

smoking grey coconut hulls
shower us with magic, danger
either way, too close

red lines barely tie these islands together
and dollar signs drift in and out of focus:
how to get to point B when point A resists?

all I want to do is sleep now to the echo of gamelan
but we must keep moving on