We have been visited by friends from England during his research in Java, Indonesia. He accompanied by local teams drove to our base-camp in Batu city, East Java. Suddenly the next day (July 7th 2018) we went to the Cangar hot spring part of Tahura R. Soeryo, indeed for birding!
With 9 people in the group, we started looking at the birds around the Cangar hot spring. The weather was so good and very cool for us, but not for Harry.
Any tourist attractions would be visited by many visitors. We also experienced that condition on that day. So we tried to hike in a jungle track behind the hot spring.
The length of the circular track is about 1 Km, with a fairly steep incline at the beginning and before half the length of the track.
We stopped for a while in front of a Japanese cave, scanned all directions and paid attention to every movement of leaves or twigs, hoping there was a bird behind the movement.
The pace of the trip was so dynamic, at the beginning we just saw a few bird species then after leaving the Japanese cave, we were stopped by a mix flocks. Then when we are at the half of the track, the birds become low again until the end of the track.
Orange-breasted Trogon was the main target for Harry, but only 3 of us successfully encountered it and made Harry Jealous.
This happened when I invited Harry and 5 other friends to chase the bird’s sounds, while three other friends waited on the main track. When we were near the source of the sounds, the bird even went out to near 3 of our friends.
Highlights of the day were:
1. Four individuals Javan Yellownape Chrysophlegma mentale.
– Saw around Japanese Cave, possibly 2 young and a pair of adults.
2. Pink-headed Fruit-dove Ptilinopus porphyreus
– Single female bird near the Japanese Cave
3. Black-banded Barbet
– Single bird near the Japanese Cave and 2 before half of the jungle track.
The rest of bird-list is below.
I invited the groups for lunch in Sendi, to taste local food called Nasi Jagung (corn rice) equipped with salted fish, tofu, tempe, water spinach and sambal. Then we moved to jembatan Cangar (Twin Bridge) for dessert, which was Tape Ketan (fermented black sticky rice).
While we enjoyed the dessert, we waited for the Javan Hawk-eagle. Sadly the birds was not shown, only a single male White-flanked Sunbird seen by me.
At around 2.30 pm, we agreed to finish the trip and head back home.
Although birding this time was quite chaotic, at least Harry got 3-4 lifers and enjoyed the birding and also the food on the sidelines of his research.
Bird List of Cangar Hot Spring – July 7th 2018
| No. | English Name | Scientific Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Sooty-headed Bulbul | Pycnonotus aurigaster |
| 2. | Eastern Spotted Dove | Spilopelia chinensis |
| 3. | Long-tailed Shrike | Lanius schach |
| 4. | Javan Grey-throated White-eye | Heleia javanica |
| 5. | Lesser Shortwing | Brachypteryx leucophris |
| 6. | Horsfield’s Babbler | Malacocincla sepiaria |
| 7. | Ashy Drongo | Dicrurus leucophaeus |
| 8. | Sunda Cuckooshrike | Coracina larvata |
| 9. | Javan Yellownape | Chrysophlegma mentale |
| 10. | Pink-headed Fruit-dove | Ptilinopus porphyreus |
| 11. | Cave Swiftlet | Collocalia linchi |
| 12. | Flame-fronted Barbet | Psilopogon armillaris |
| 13. | Black-banded Barbet | Psilopogon javensis |
| 14. | Javan Warbler | Phylloscopus grammiceps |
| 15. | Javan Bulbul | Ixos virescens |
| 16. | Javan Whistling-thrush | Myophonus glaucinus |
| 17. | Ruddy Cuckoo-dove | Macropygia emiliana |
| 18. | Javan Banded Pitta | Hydrornis guajanus |
| 19. | Orange-breasted Trogon | Harpactes oreskios |
| 20. | White-bellied Fantail | Rhipidura euryura |
| 21. | Little Pied Flycatcher | Ficedula westermanni |
| 22. | Indigo Flycatcher | Eumyias indigo |
| 23. | Sunda Minivet | Pericrocotus miniatus |
| 24. | Blue Nuthatch | Sitta azurea |