Bali August 2014, Pulau Serangan

Again a site that was suggested by Burung Nusantara, a website I'm starting to value more and more. This website suggested that Pulau Serangan is the best spot to see migrant waders in Bali and perhaps one of the best spots in entire Indonesia. Therefore we just had to pay this island a visit. We still were based in Ubud due to a visa extension and so we organised a half-day trip (we had another appointment that day) to this site. We paid 400.000 IDR for the transport including two hours waiting time, which seemed very fair to me, as it is still 1.5 hours driving from Ubud. Once you reach the island by car or motorbike (the island is connected to the Balinese mainland by a bridge) you should take the first gravel road to the right. Here is a small ticket booth were you have to pay 10.000 IDR to get in (or at least with by car). After that you can explore the area by your own. Burung Nusantara gives good advice were the best places are to search for birds.

As most decent birding sites are located in the South and South-east of the island we drove directly to the South-eastern part of the island, where two tidal lagoons can be viewed well. From here we simply started walking to the South and followed some causeways to areas that looked interesting. This method paid off, but two hours proved to be very insufficient time to explore and bird the area properly.

As soon as we got out of the car it was clear that the area was filled with birds. We walked towards the most promising-looking lagoon and it was filled with several hundreds of Little Pied Cormorants with some Little Black Cormorants mixed in between, dozens of Little and Gull-billed terns were resting on the sandbanks in the lagoon and loads of waders were flying past us including Far-eastern Curlew. We scanned the area properly and found several Javan Plovers just next to the causeway. We continued to walk further southwards and got better and better views of all the species mentioned above including more common species like Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew and Common Greenshank. However many birds were still to far away to be checked by binoculars only.

Little Pied Cormorant (Microcarbo melanoleucos)

Little Black Cormorant (Phalacrocorax sulcirostris) (photographed by Anna van der Kaaden)

A pair of Javan Plovers (Charadrius javanicus) (photographed by Anna van der Kaaden)

The next lagoon looked even more promising, with more mudflats present in this one instead of gravel- and sandbanks. The mudflats were filled with Red-necked Stints, Curlew Sandpipers, Black-tailed Godwits, Greenshanks, Greater and Lesser Sand-plovers (in all possible plumages) as well as resting Gull-billed Terns. We started checking the waders and eventually some scarcer species were found like Terek Sandpiper, Malaysian Plover and Marsh Sandpiper, but again many waders were just to far away to be identified without a scope... We also noted that large numbers of plovers were resting in a dry grass field, just next to this lagoon. Hundreds of Greater and Lesser Sand-plover could be seen together and in the hope of finding an Oriental Plover we started to check them. In the end we found one or two Oriental Plovers in between the other plovers, but most likely many more remained unseen...

Lesser Sand-plovers (Charadrius mongolus) in varius plumages and a Red-necked Stint (Calidris ruficollis)

Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) with Red-necked Stints (Calidris ruficollis) (photographed by Anna van der Kaaden)

A group of fly-by Sunda Teals drew our attention, for they seemed to land on the next lagoon, so we walked to the West and towards that lagoon. Once arrived we saw several hundred Sunda Teals swimming on the far side of the lagoon. We managed to find four Pacific Black Ducks among them, but again a scope would have yielded more and would also have given us the opportunity to check for Grey Teal. Luckily the two Australian Pelicans flying over could hardly be missed.

Australian Pelican (Pelicanus conspicillatus)

After this lagoon it was already time to head back. We walked back the way we came and enjoyed the same waders again as well as the many Small Blue Kingfishers that perched above the channels. Back at the place were we started it turned out we had some more time and so we walked the causeway, dividing two large lagoons, towards the sea. Closer to the sea we got some views of Grey-tailed Tattlers and Ruddy Turnstones as well as many Greater and Lesser Crested Terns before heading back to Ubud.

Small Blue Kingfisher (Alcedo coerulescens)

Burung Nusantara is absolutely right. Pulau Serangan is a grand site for wader watching. However the area turned out to be much bigger than I thought and 2.5 hours is definitely not enough to bird the area properly. Furthermore bringing a scope to this site will greatly enhance the birding here, as many birds are just too far away. Also, don't forget sunscreen or maybe even an umbrella, as it gets scorching hot here during the middle of the day.