Bali August 2014, Bedugul (Gunung Mangu)

We wanted to do some birding outside the Botanical Gardens (Kebun Raya) of Bedugul, mostly in search for better forest, we started to walk the road leading East from the Strawberry Hill Hotel (which is located just South of lake Beratan). This road is part of the lake Beratan pariwisata site and so we had to pay 15.000 IDR entrance fee. We kept following this road and kept taking the left turns, making sure we were walking the ridge along side the lake. Eventually this road led us up to Gunung Mangu and into very good forest.

Along this road we saw a lot of birds that can also be seen within Kebun Raya, but we found some things that we did not find there. At the beginning the road is surrounded by agriculture, where Striated Grassbirds are common and fly-by Yellow-throated Hanging-parrots were a nice addition. when scrubby forest appeared the road divided and we kept to the left and entered reasonable secondary forest where Javan Grey-throated White-eyes, Sunda Warblers,Crescent-chested Babblers, Indonesian Honey-eaters, Chestnut-backed Scimitar-babblers and Blood-breasted Flowerpeckers were common. 

Male Blood-breasted Flowerpecker (Dicaeum sanguinolentum), taken with a 50 mm lens. Yes, we were close!

A bit further into the forest the road divides again and we kept to the left again. The road becomes a small track leading up to the mountain. The further we followed the road, the better the forest got and consequently different birds appeared as well. We enjoyed good views of Snowy-browed Flycatchers, Lesser Shortwing was very common and a Sunda Thrush which we flushed from the track was a most pleasant finding. Further up the mountain it became very misty and sightings of birds became scarce. However Collumbids were very common here and we heard Dark-backed Imperial Pigeons, Banded Fruit Doves and Ruddy Cuckoo-doves everywhere. We also managed one sighting of a Banded Fruit Dove. A calling Javan Owlet, was harassed by small Passerines, but this little owl managed to stay out of sight again... We followed the track almost to the top, but in the end we did not reach the summit as it started to rain heavily.

Male Snowy-browed Flycatcher (Ficedula hypererythra)

We enjoyed this walk/hike a lot and we can recommend it to everyone that is reasonably fit and interested to do some birding in Bedugul outside of the Kebun Raya. You don't need a guide for this track in our opinion, but you can take on anyway if you are afraid of getting lost. A guide might also show you some of the temples along the way, which we missed.