South-East Asia 2025: Part 1 – Siporo Island off West Sumatra

 

Mentawai Scops-Owl

Our 7-week trip to Sumatra in Indonesia and Thailand kicked off with a visit to the delightful island of Siporo in the Mentawai island chain, 150km west of the Sumatra coast, on May 30, 2025. We travelled to Jakarta for a couple of days before flying to the bustling West Sumatran city of Pedang for a bit of sight-seeing. From there it is a 4-hour ferry ride to Siporo. Our coastal West Sumatra visit was capably organised by Wild West Sumatra.

Markets in Pedang

The Mentawais are known for their decent selection of endemic bird and mammal species and subspecies. Quite a few distinctive taxa await elevation to species status. Our package included a driver and vehicle for two mornings and a nocturnal excursion. The driver, Hen, could not speak English but knew where to go for the birds, and all endemic species and subspecies were seen without difficulty.

Driver Hen

That started off with a 20-minute drive to a forest patch on the first night. Mentawai Scops-Owl was calling and one was seen in flight. Eventually another landed close by and a total of 7-8 birds were heard. The other avian target – Sunda Frogmouth – is not a Mentawai specialty but is a potential split, and a species I'd not seen anyway. We saw one and heard 5-6 calling - both nightbirds are not uncommon. The rarely encountered Mentawai Flying-Squirrel was a welcome addition for the evening.

Mentawai Scops-Owl

Our accommodation was the Crows Nest Mentawai Homestay, nicely located right on the beach at the far end of the island's main town, Tuapajat, where the ferry lands. Accommodation was basic but rooms were large, clean and air-conditioned.

Crows Nest Mentawai Homestay

Beach at Crows Nest

 The manager/cook here, Ica, was marvellous, serving some of the best food of the trip, while no requests were too much trouble.

Cook Ica

The first morning I was out with Hen at dawn. I cleaned up all but one of the endemic species and subspecies within three hours. In addition to the scops-owl, Barusan Cuckoo-Dove and Mentawai Malkhoa are the other two regional endemic species; although the cuckoo-dove was around in small numbers, just one malkhoa was seen.

Barusan Cuckoo-Dove

Mentawai Malkhoa

Those endemic taxa awaiting elevation to species level include the distinctive Mentawai population of Olive-winged Bulbul with its pale eye, which has yet to be afforded even subspecific status.

Olive-winged Bulbul on Siporo

The local subspecies of Hair-crested Drongo looks and sounds nothing like that species. The regional subspecies of Ashy Drongo, Asian Glossy Starling and Thick-billed Green-Pigeon are up for promotion. The sole endemic missed on Day One, the Crested Serpent-Eagle - with the Siporo population a potential split from equally distinctive birds on other Mentawai islands - was seen on my second morning out with Hen.

Crested (Siporo) Serpent-Eagle

Asian Glossy Starling, Siporo

Even better on Day Two, a single Silvery Wood-Pigeon was found among a flock of 70+ Pied Imperial-Pigeons feeding in a large fig tree behind a village on Siporo's north-west coast. The distinctive colouration and other features of this bird were seen several times but no photograph unfortunately, before it disappeared as pigeons came and went. I had not expected to encounter this species as although it once occurred locally, it has been very rare in the region for many years. However, there are a couple of recent records, including a bird seen recently at the south end of Siberut Island, relatively not far from this site. The habit of the species of feeding with Pied Imperial-Pigeons is well-known.

Pied Imperial-Pigeon

Many more widespread species were nice to catch up on again. They included Cinnamon Bittern, Pink-necked Green-Pigeon, Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot, Blue-rumped Parrot, Stork-billed Kingfisher and Grey-rumped Treeswift (along with plenty of Plume-toed and Black-nest Swiftlets).

Grey-rumped Treeswift

Pink-necked Green-Pigeon

Stork-billed Kingfisher

Critters aside, the visit to Siporo was well worthwhile. Its productive snorkelling, a relaxing boat trip to check out nearby islands, and sitting back and absorbing the superb and interesting surroundings did not disappoint.

Siporo satellite island

On the downside, other than two squirrels, I missed some interesting endemic mammals, which evidently have suffered from habitat loss and hunting. Most of the rainforest I visited had been heavily logged and chainsaws could be heard in many places, as is the case unfortunately in much of Indonesia. In several places, including where the owls and frogmouths were encountered, I saw the last large trees in remnant forest patches being removed.

Logging on Siporo