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Published: June 18th 2012
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So, up bright and early at 0630, there is a cool breeze and lots of bird activity. There is a school a few houses in front of the hotel and the kids are having a great time. Lots of chattering and laughter floating up to the 3rd floor. It then goes completely silent and a young boy leads a sing song chanting prayer, then silence, then it descends quickly back into play time. We sit on our balcony surveying the scene and wait for our pineapple pancake. Today is the day to do the Bali Bird Walk.
We had done this a few years ago and really enjoyed it so decided to do it again. Booked pre-departure through the website.
http://www.balibirdwalk.com/ The walks were started over 15 years ago by Victor Mason, birder and author/illustrator. He also founded the Bali Bird Club back in 1990. Sumardi is his Balinese relative through marriage and is his partner in this enterprise. We had the pleasure of meeting both of them last time. Su has been a good resource over the past few years in that she has identified several emailed bird photos for us so we were looking forward to
meeting her again. The Ubud walk runs 4 days a week and costs USD $37 which includes water, snacks and lunch (at Murnis Warung).
Met up with Su at Murnis for 0900, there were 2 other couples- a couple from california and a couple from South Australia. Su provided us with a list of likely sightings to check off as we went, before we even left Murnis we had seen a chameleon perched on a coconut tree as well as an
olive backed sunbird. Then off we went, sunscreened, binoculars at the ready. Short walk into the rice fields and we were spotting left, right and centre. It was a very entertaining meander through the padi, Su has eagle eyes and is really enthusiastic. She has also started studying butterflys so you get a commentary on those as well. Apart from birds we also saw dragonflys, damsel flys, spiders, frogs and lots of flowers and plants. We had a short stop at a little warung to have some coconut milk and snacks- cassava chips and boiled peanuts.
Birds spotted Javan Pond Heron
Little Egret
Zitting Cisticola
Spotted Dove
White Bellied Swiftlet
Sacred
Gate in Ubud
Love my gates KingfisherJava Kingfisher
Pacific Swallow
Yellow Vented Bulbul
Sooty Headed Bulbul
Pied Fantail
White Headed Munia
Javan Munia
Scaly Breasted Munia
The actual walk is easy, flat and partially shaded in the morning. As the day wore on it become warmer and more sunny- definitely hat and sunsceen weather. Part of the walk was then through more dense jungle with some small water runoffs and streams. We finished near the
Subak headquarters. The Subak is the organization responsible for the irrigation of the rice fields. Every Balinese village has one of these so called irrigation organizations and all rice field farmers are obliged to join and do what this organization asks them to do. Su explained the function and roles of the Subak which was quite interesting. Around 1230 we started making our way back into town and ended up back at Murni's Warung for lunch.
Lunch was great- you can order from the menu and soft drinks/tea/coffee are also included. Good Indo menu, great ginger ice tea. We had a pleasant hour or so together eating and chatting before saying goodbye around 2.30. Highly recommended. *** You can also request bird
Damsel Fly
24 hr life cycle- they were very prolific tours in other areas of Bali ie- west bali National Park, etc
http://www.murnis.com/warung/warung.htm Back to Narasoma late afternoon, slow stroll back through the streets of Ubud. It was very busy- lots of tourists and even more guys offering transport. Had an average coffee somewhere on Monkey Forest Road and hit the pool for a couple of hours.
**** The photos would seem that we had done the bug and plant tour! Alas, my camera is not one for bird shots.
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