Jan van der Laan
Member
Between 21 and 30 March this year we (two Dutch birders) visited Sumatra.
We didn't want to visit Kerinci during peak time (July-August) and theorized March was a better time for e.g. Schneider's Pitta as this is the start of the breeding season.
And who is going to look for e.e Great Reed Warblers in August in Europe? We thought the same could apply for Schneider's Pitta.
It is difficult to say if this little theory is right, but on our first full day on the mountain (23 March) we thought we hit the jackpot. One of the first birds we saw on the trail were two Schneider's Pitta's, a male and a female! And when returning from higher levels later that day we saw a female just before Air Minum and heard two other birds between Base Camp and the entrance.
However on 23 March and 27 March we heard them only and on 29 March we heard or saw nothing.
But to cut a story short, we made a report and the first draft can be red on the following http://jnvdlaan.home.xs4all.nl/Sumatra2014.pdf
Tapan Road was different compared to other reports. There were hardly any feeding flocks and most birds seem to either nestbuilding or feeding young or were absent, e.g not a single Sumatran Trogon was found along the Tapan Road.
So is March a better time to visit Sumatra? I think for Kerinci it is worth to try, for Tapan Road the birding is harder. But we succeeded in finding all possible Sumatran endemic species, including seeing the most difficult ones like Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant, Red-billed Partridge and Sumatran Cochoa.
We didn't want to visit Kerinci during peak time (July-August) and theorized March was a better time for e.g. Schneider's Pitta as this is the start of the breeding season.
And who is going to look for e.e Great Reed Warblers in August in Europe? We thought the same could apply for Schneider's Pitta.
It is difficult to say if this little theory is right, but on our first full day on the mountain (23 March) we thought we hit the jackpot. One of the first birds we saw on the trail were two Schneider's Pitta's, a male and a female! And when returning from higher levels later that day we saw a female just before Air Minum and heard two other birds between Base Camp and the entrance.
However on 23 March and 27 March we heard them only and on 29 March we heard or saw nothing.
But to cut a story short, we made a report and the first draft can be red on the following http://jnvdlaan.home.xs4all.nl/Sumatra2014.pdf
Tapan Road was different compared to other reports. There were hardly any feeding flocks and most birds seem to either nestbuilding or feeding young or were absent, e.g not a single Sumatran Trogon was found along the Tapan Road.
So is March a better time to visit Sumatra? I think for Kerinci it is worth to try, for Tapan Road the birding is harder. But we succeeded in finding all possible Sumatran endemic species, including seeing the most difficult ones like Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant, Red-billed Partridge and Sumatran Cochoa.
