Bali Bird Walk

A highlight of our trip to Bali was the Bali Bird Walk. These walks take place several times a week and start at Beggar’s Bush on the main Udud to Campuhan road. The trail takes you off road behind the hustle and bustle of Ubud town, into the surrounding rice paddies. The Lonely Planet Bali guide mentions these walks, which cost about A$35.

Bali Bird Club (BBC) was started by Bali bird watcher and butterfly enthusiast Victor Mason

We headed off road and into the paddyfields with our very knowledgeable guide, Sumadi. Having grown up in a rice farming family Sumadi has great local knowledge of the lifestyle and wildlife.

As well as being a bird walk, the BBC walk provides an insight into the life in the rice paddies. I noticed there were few young people working in the paddies and most were old men. Sadly the rice paddies around Ubud are disappearing, as tourism expands and rice farmers take the easy money offered by land developers. Most young people prefer to work in tourism rather than choosing the hard life of the rice farmer.

Sumadi pointed out all the plants along the way which all serve a purpose: ginger, tumeric lemongrass, citronella and cloves. The rice paddy must be continually be flushed with water and Sumadi explained the complex network of levels and the maps that exist to show who owns what. The continuous water flow is critical for the paddy at the lower terrace.

All the bird species we saw were birds of the rice paddies. Javan Pond-Herons and Cattle Egrets are common, feeding on the many frogs and insects. The rice eating species such as the Scaly-breasted Munia and Javan Munia, gather in flocks around the grain and are not favoured by the farmers. We also saw many colourful butterflies, insects and a snake

The walk finished with a beautiful lunch at Murni's Warung on the main road. While there the heavens opened and we were treated with a massive tropical downpour that lasted several hours. The nearby Campuhan River was still roaring the next day.

In all we saw 20 species:

Javan Pond-Heron
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
White-breasted Waterhen
Wood Sandpiper
Spotted Dove
Plaintive Cuckoo
White bellied Swiftlet
Javan Kingfisher
Barn Swallow
Pacific Swallow
Striated Swallow
Yellow-vented Bulbul
Pied Bushchat
Zitting Cisticola
Bar-winged Prinia
Olive-backed Sunbird
Javan Munia
Scaly-breasted Munia
Tree Sparrow