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

Australian magpie songbird extraordinaire

The glorious song of the Australian Magpie more than makes up for its anti-social behaviour.

Here’s a good example, recorded in Denmark Western Australia

Willie wagtail

It was 43 C. degrees when this photo was taken, but this willie wagtail doesn't mind the heat. He's still merrily chasing flying insects.

Osprey Revisited

Again today the osprey was around North beach. These photos show how close he is to the the beach front houses.

Osprey of North Beach

This osprey is a frequenter of the rocky headlands around North Beach in Perth Western Australia.

A pair of osprey established a nest around Trigg Island this year. This individual is one of that group. I've seen him there several times in the last week, often on this same stump which is not far from the bike and walk path along West Coast Drive.

Bobtails in suburbia

With the warmer weather the bobtail lizards wake from their hibernation. This year we have 4, 2 adults and 2 younger ones. They divide the time between us and our neighbours and the vast amounts of un-swept gum leaves provide an insect haven.
This guy looks fierce, but give him a piece of banana and we have him eating out of our hand....well almost

Rainbow Bee-eaters are back in Perth this summer

Oh glorious sight. The Rainbow Bee-eaters are back "down south" around Perth.

In fact they have been back since mid October, around Karrinyup and the northern suburbs.
At Lake Gwelup they are busy making their tunnel nests in the open fields and sandy banks.

Last year 4 or 5 pairs started nests on a road verge in suburban Karrinyup. There was a lot of building works going on in that street, so it wasn't long before a cement truck parked right over their nest holes. Next day they were gone, but I'm sure they found another spot as they are pretty persistent.

Rainbow bee-eaters hang around in Perth until late February, early March