DAY 11 SUN 19 FEB SESSNI AND BOMPU CAMP AREAS

We were going to drop down to Sessni and Bompu camp area today and come back to Sunderview at dusk. Targets today were all skulkers...wren-babblers, tesias and Ward's trogon being top of the hit list.

After a lot of hard work in one particular overgrown gully, a candidate for bird of the trip gave itself up in the form of chestnut-headed tesia. A cutia soon followed but then I hit a bad patch! Try as I might I could not get decisive enough views of a white-gorgeted flycatcher which everyone saw multiple times except me.

Abid had set his mind on finding Ward's trogon for us today. The tape was played several times without any birds responding and I think we were all beginning to get a bit fed up with the repetetive 'klew-klew' of the tape.

Ward's trogon!

On one particular stop, Abid said he thought we should walk higher up the trail, so we set off on another trudge up hill.

All of a sudden Paul screamed out 'I've got one, I've got one' Looking right down at us from a tree over the trail, was a docile-looking female and all except Paul had walked right past it!

It was with trembling hands that I fired off the camera, eventually managing to calm down a bit and get some half decent shots. Well done Paul!

The French group were also out looking for the trogons, so we made an impromptu roadblock out of bamboo and attached a note telling them to stop and look here. We later found out they had stopped in the spot and nailed the bird.

The Ward's trogon roadblock!

Other birds seen today included black-throated sunbird, black-faced and grey-cheeked warblers, mountain imperial pigeon and a cracking emerald dove. The grey peacock pheasant which we could all hear refused to show. A thick mist came down mid-afternoon so we for once decided to call it a day early and head back to Sunderview.

Approaching the camp, we kept flushing a bird ahead of the vehicle. The mist was always too thick to see the bird well. It was a white-throated redstart, a bird I had really wanted to see but I had to be content with barely tickable views.

There is no image gallery for today.