South-East Asia Part 2 - Mt Kerinci in central west Sumatra

 

Schneider's Pitta

After our successful foray to the Mentawai Islands off the West Sumatra coast, we were picked up at our hotel in Padang for the next chapter of this journey – a 10-day trip to the central west mountains of the famed Mt Kerinci area. These mountains host the lion's share of Sumatra's endemic birds so is top-of-mind for visiting birders.

A pleasant if sometimes hairy 7-hour drive south through inland footfalls took us to the town of Kersik Tua and our hotel, Swarga Lodge. This was a handy base from which to explore the trails of Kerinci Seblat National Park around the base of Mt Kerinci, South-East Asia's largest volcanic peak which dominates the landscape in spectacular form. This trip was organised by Wild Sumatra, whose services I can highly recommend.

Mt Kerinci (above and below)

I was assigned a guide, Sandra, for the whole of the visit to the Kerinci region. He was a hard young worker and keen to please, with excellent eyes and ears. Sandra was especially adept at tracking down specialties and skulkers, though a little rusty on non-target species. We left Swarga Lodge a night earlier than planned because the steep staircase to the attic bedroom was daunting, and wedding ceremonies at a venue below the hotel featured extremely loud music and singing which didn't end until the early morning hours.

Guide Sandra

I birded only until lunchtime most days (not wanting to leave my non-birding partner alone all day) but this had little or no impact on our birding success. The first morning saw us at the trail entrance at 1600m. Shining Whistling-Thrush was the first endemic and it was common wherever we went.

Shiny Whistling-Thrush

That was followed soon after by a female Sumatran Niltava - the only one we saw on the trip.

Sumatran Niltava

Some distance up the track we saw our first Sumatran (Brown-winged) Whistling-Thrush. This is supposedly one of the more difficult endemics but we saw it several times.

Sumatran Whistling-Thrush

We had calling Pygmy Cupwing and several Eye-browed Wren-Babblers in view, including a couple of juveniles.

Eye-browed Wren-Babbler juvenile

I was happy to connect with a pair of beautiful Sumatran Trogons close to the trail.

Sumatran Trogon

Rusty-breasted Wren-Babbler was vocal and reasonably approachable at all elevations on Mt Kerinci.

Rusty Wren-Babbler

Late in the morning I had a female Sumatran (Bronze-tailed) Peacock-Pheasant on the trail. A male was seen the next day. We heard this species frequently. Sumatran Flowerpecker and Sumatran Green-Pigeon were seen briefly.

Sumatran Peacock-Pheasant

The next morning saw us going higher up to 2200m at Panorama Post. Sunda Bush-Warbler showed well during the ascent. Less co-operative was Sumatran Cochoa. Two individuals called loudly at different sites but despite an intensive effort, a brief flight view of one bird was all we managed.

Sunda Bush-Warbler

Sumatran Wren-Babbler (Rimator) was calling loudly in small numbers and it took a while to eventually snare a brief view of a bird. Mammals included Niobe Ground-Squirrel and Sumatran Mountain Squirrel. Red-billed Partridge can be notoriously difficult to see but Sandra was good at finding these skulkers and we saw them on three occasions, sometimes very well, with others heard. High up the mountain, Sumatran Shortwing was calling commonly and seen a couple of times.

Niobe Ground-Squirrel

Sumatran Mountain-Squirrel

We left at 3.30am on our third morning for a bit of night work. We had 3 or 4 Sumatran Frogmouths calling close to the trail entrance but frustratingly didn't manage to see one. Salvadori's Nightjar was flying about but there was not a sniff of Wallace's Scops-Owl. The owl and Salvadori's Pheasant were the only two Kerinci area specialties that I had a reasonable chance of connecting with but failed to do so; neither had been encountered by other birders for several weeks.

Schneider's Pitta

The fourth and final morning at Mt Kerinci saw us again on the lower track. This time the reward was excellent - close-up views of two separate Schneider's Pittas. A female and an immature male showed nicely at different sites. This is one of Sumatra's most sought-after endemics and one that is easy to miss - a fitting end to our time on the mountain.