Sunda Coucal in Jakarta (1 Viewer)

Have been to Murray A. In Jakarta twice now in the last year and not had a sniff if this bird. Has anyone seen in the past 12 months and do you have any tips ? Cheers Roger

Sorry...Muara Angke...bloody predictive txt.

TheMcNeills said:

Has anyone seen in the past 12 months and do you have any tips ? Cheers Roger

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Hi Roger,

Just come across this, so probably way too late to be of any use to you, but I saw one at Muara Angke on 7th August 2012 (8 days before your post!) with Indra Ferdinand (of Freddy's Guesthouse fame). Untypically spent at least 5 minutes sat in full view near the top of a large, vine-covered tree in the marsh, just where you emerge out of the wooded area and get your first view of the lake. Got sick of looking at it in the end and walked away. Sorry!!

HI Roger,

I was there a couple weeks ago and didn't find any. I came too late to this area and the weather was extraordinary hot. But i think it still occur here, together with black-winged starling. Worth to try

Thought Id add a recent update to the access at Muara Angke.

I was present on 09 October 2015. The boardwalk is still closed by the looks of it.

Onsite at dawn I met a local ranger type who was around the entrance buildings and prevented me from accessing the boardwalk. I think he suggested I required a permit, available from somewhere else in Jakarta.

I birded the roadside and entrance area and saw both Sunda Coucal and Black-winged Starling from the road. I would recommend doing this at dawn when traffic is at its lowest, as the road along the southern boundary (Jalan Pantai Indan Utara II) is very busy, even at 05:30am. I didnt attempt to access the western boundary road (Mediterania Boulevard), which has a security gate.

After hanging around for an hour a second ranger turned up, and after chatting to him for 20mins, he did let me access the boardwalk. It is still in a bad state of repair and requires careful balancing to get anywhere along it. In the first open area Bar-winged Prinia were frequent.

In order to get to the site at dawn I stayed at the nearest hotel i could find - the Ozone Hotel, which is a 20min walk away. The cost of a room was 500,500 IDR for a twin/double. http://www.ozonehoteljakarta.com/

Google Earth Screengrab attached.

Out of interest is anyone able to provide a reliable history of the Black-winged Starling at this location?

Hi Gareth,

I believe the Black-winged Myna's were not present for a number of years until around 2008 (I might be wrong here but I didn't record them at all till 2007/2008, when I had 3 birds), since then the numbers have increased to a maximum of 12 I believe. Whether or not they are truly wild birds I can't say, but in all likelihood they are (though Iv'e seen several escape species here over the years, Ruby-throated Bulbuls, Spectacled Laughingthrush for example!).
It is the only known resident site for the west Java race of the myna now unfortunately, though it's been reintroduced at a relatively secure site in south-west Java (a gold mine).

Permits for Muara Angke are acquired from the parks office in Jakarta.

Regards,

James

Thanks for that information, James. I read your co-authored piece on the OBC website in the summer, a depressing state of affairs for yet another species. Glad to hear they are holding on in Jakarta, I was probably more pleased at seeing these birds - I saw 4 together - than the Coucal.

Cheers,

The coucal is not doing great either unfortunately - habitat disappearing fast and I've encountered it several times in trade in 4 different Javan markets in the past year, so it's difficult to know whether this or the myna in a worse condition. At least the myna is breeding well in a captive breeding program!

Java is a very depressing place for birds and wildlife unfortunately

Yes, very depressing. i wasnt aware the Coucal was suffering so badly, guess i shouldnt be surprised though.

cheers,