Birdwatching Walk in Bali

It took a bit of finding, but I finally managed to get past the sponsored post advertising the Bird Park and Safari Park and found details of a birdwatching walk in Bali, organised by Bali Bird Walk. The website promises enthusiastic walk leadership from Su, and she certainly didn't disappoint - this trip was one of my highlights of our 3 month trip to Asia.

As we were still arriving at the start of the walk in Ubud, Su rushed out in great excitement because she had heard the call of a Chinese Sparrowhawk. At first I wondered how on earth she had heard it above the ever-prevailing sound of motorbikes, but I soon picked the call up too. Sadly we did not manage to catch a glimpse of the hawk above the trees. It was probably hunting the cave swiftlets which were flying high above us, occasionally joined by house swifts, identified by their longer wings, more like the swifts that we see in the UK every summer.

With all participants ticked off the list we were taken up to the start and set off on the walk, Su's route taking us on a maze of footpaths alongside water courses, through rich tropical vegetation, around the rice fields and back to Murni's Warung for lunch.

Nature Galore

Su is an absolute font of knowledge - pointing out damselflies and dragonflies, spiders and beetles. She spotted a St Andrew's spider (named after the supposed St Andrew's Cross on its back - couldn't see it myself) and later a golden orb spider. Both were huge females commanding the stage in large webs, attracting miniscule males playing their suicidal mating game.

This area is part of a rice field collective and Su's family is involved with this, so she was able to tell us about the different phases of rive cultivation and how the collective works. I loved the domestic flocks of khaki campbell ducks that roamed the fields as natural pest control and also provide food for the village. It is this natural, sustainable management of the rice fields that makes the area so rich in bird life.

Brilliant Birds

As soon as a bird came into view Su became even more animated. She was able to give really good descriptions of where to see each bird, often a tricky task. First up was a spotted dove on a nest, both it and the delightful zebra dove which we saw later are introductions and do very well in Bali. Then up through the houses where we saw a male ornate sunbird. Just a glimpse, but we had a better view later when one came to feed on a bird of paradise plant - a real chance to see how it's curved beak is adapted for nectar feeding.

Then a lovely flock of Javan munia feeding on ripe rice. Later we saw a mixed flock with the scaly breasted munia which were feeding fledglings. Then a shout: "Javan kingfisher", a species endemic to Bali and Java. Initially it was on a distant post, but Su made sure everyone had a good view. Over the duartion of the walk we had some better views of it flying, really showing it's beautiful bright blue plumage and its almost comically oversized red beak, perfect to catch its prey of reptiles and amphibians.

Walking around the rice fields gave us plenty of close encounters with various egret species: Javan pond heron, Eastern cattle egret in breeding plumage  and non-breeding plumage, plus little egrets. Also in these damp areas were a small flock of wood sandpipers. As we watched the egrets Su got got still more excited as a black-winged kite flew over - probably the rarest bird of the day - and we all got a good view. On the wires above the field we had an excleent view of a singing zitting cisticola (my favourite name for a bird ever) and a golden-headed cisticola.

At the edge of the rice fields, back towards the hotels, was a beautiful garden owned by a restaurant (warung) for it's own use. Su showed us tamarind, turmeric, ginger and various greens. The small garden was edged by orchids and bird of paradise flowers. As we sat on a shaded platform overlooking a carp filled ponds we watched sunbirds, munias and Javan myna birds at our leisure. It was from this spot that I was finally able to identify the striated swallow - Su had been trying to point them out all walk and I had just not been able to see their identifying feature of long tail feathers earlier. After the rest and a water share we set off on the final stretch of walk. It started to rain so we walked quickly back to the Warung for a very tasty lunch and to talk about birds even more.

This was such an excellent start to our trip - in total over the 3 months I recorded 105 bird species - 93 of which were "lifers." This birdwatching walk certainly got me up and running! It was good value for money too at £30 per person including lunch (as of November 2024). I would highly recommend.