Having just had 10 days working in Java, I had an opportunity for a morning out in Bali on the way home, so I decided to head for the The Water Treatment Plant at Nusa Dua. For any birder visiting Bali, this place is a must. Now via the new toll road, it only takes
10-15 mins from the airport. The toll is IRp 10,000 or approximately $1.
Sunrise is around 5.30am and I was there at 6.
It was still a little dark for photos but that changed in the next half hour.
Upon arriving you are greeted with an amazing
sight of tree lined ponds and a myriad of birds. Not your normal sewerage
treatment plant.
Here you can scan through the birds and get up
to 10 species in a single view.
Cattle, Great, Little and Intermediate Egret,
Black-crowned and Rufous Night Heron, Little Pied and Little Black Cormorant , with the accompaniment of Collared and
Small Blue (Cerulean) Kingfisher, Pacific Swallow, Pink-necked Dove and the
ever present Linchi Swiftlet doing constant flybys. Nice!
The paths are easy walking but take shoes. It
may look spectacular but it still is a treatment plant. I did it once in flip
flops and questioned myself the whole time. I survived fortunately with no side
effects!
As the Plant boarders the mangroves, it is
also a great location for bush birds and waders in the mangrove mud flats where
I saw Common Redshank.
Small birds are easy to find in the bordering
tree such as Golden-bellied Gerygone, Olive-backed and Plain-throated Sunbird,
Bulbuls and Pied Fantail.
This is also one of the best places to see the Sunda Teal with its unusaly shaped head.
I would allow a good 3 hours to do the whole
place properly. More if you wish to take photos.
Keep your eye on the sky as you usually get
good views of Brahminy Kite and occasionally Frigatebirds.
A place I highly recommend.
Steve Potter.
List from this occasion.
- Wandering Whistling-Duck
- Sunda Teal
- Little Black Cormorant
- Little Pied Cormorant
- Purple Heron
- Great Egret
- Intermediate Egret
- Little Egret
- Cattle Egret
- Javan Pond-Heron
- Black-crowned Night-Heron
- Nankeen Night-Heron
- Brahminy Kite
- White-breasted Waterhen
- Common Sandpiper
- Common Redshank
- Black-naped Tern
- Spotted Dove
- Pink-necked Pigeon
- Linchi Swiftlet
- Small Blue Kingfisher
- Collared Kingfisher
- Golden-bellied Gerygone
- Common Iora
- Black Drongo
- Malaysian Pied-Fantail
- Slender-billed Crow
- Pacific Swallow
- Sooty-headed Bulbul
- Yellow-vented Bulbul
- Bar-winged Prinia
- Scarlet-headed Flowerpecker
- Plain-throated Sunbird
- Olive-backed Sunbird
- Eurasian Tree Sparrow
