Tag: orangutan

photography

Indonesia West of Wallace’s Line

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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

Bukit Lawang sketches

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Bukit Lawang sketches

i

is it raining?
 Alex asks
no
we are just surrounded
by river and stream

ii

explosive crash
onto tin roof
monkeys making
typical trouble

iii

barefoot=chicken-leg
when Cedar’s legs tire
he sighs
my baby cows are crying

every day for me
the quandary:
insufferable heat
or offensive thigh display?

iv

mixed fruit drink
and ginger tea =
exotic refreshment

by day 3:
back to Coke & Sprite

v

mama/baby orangutan appear
vivid orange against the green
of the cave’s gap

you are unlucky
 our guide says sympathetically
you already trekked yesterday
 (=made unnecessary payment
for extraneous orangutan viewing)

you mean lucky
 we say
our orangutan economics
quite different

vi

better to trek Saturday
 our guide says
on Sundays local people come here
to photograph tourists
they scream too much
when they see you,
frighten orangutans

will they lure us with fruit?
 I ask

today on the bridge
a father suddenly throws
his son’s arm around Cedar
snaps a photo
what will his story be?

Thanks to Cedar for helping type this poem.

poetry

forest man

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Owen took this photo.

forest man

sun turns thick tufts of fur to flame
stretched arms casually clasp
tree limbs slowly bending to forest floor
a long face looks down
at the baldish ape-men
with a modicum of curiosity
munches a leaf a nut a fruit
holds a trunk with feet-hands
tosses his arms this way and that
jointless as a Muppet

gentle orange man
forgive us for what we unthinkingly do
greedily eating blue packets of greasy Oreos
that probably burned your cousins in their nests

like all the endangered ones
you’re sentenced despite your innocence
you never asked for trouble
just a leaf umbrella from the rain