Birds of Lembongan

In my last days of vacations in Indonesia, stayed in Nusa Lembongan. Diving there was one of the (acomplished) objectives, but since I'm always on the lookout for the bird fauna as well, there were two species that visited the hotel quite a few times and provided some cool photos.

^{Sooty-headed Bulbul / Bulbul de barrete preto (PT) - Pycnonotus aurigaster}

Bulbuls are a family of medium sized songbirds, with over 150 species. This species is found in south east Asia, and is also know as golden-vented Bulbul.

The golden coloration of the vent can be seen on the photo above, and along with the black head and short crest, can be used for the identification. They seems to be used to human presence, approaching and showing some curiosity about us... either that or checking for food :P

The other common visitor at the hotel belongs to a group of birds that I particularly like... kingfishers!

^{Collared kingfisher / Guarda-rios de colar (PT) - Todiramphus chloris}

There are four species of kingfishers in Lembongan, and was only able to see this one. I think they didn't missed a day visiting while I was there... probably they were hoping some fish would miraculously appear in the swimming pool!

They are medium sized birds, and the name is derived from the white collar that surrounds their neck. There are a few different races, with some variations in the plummage pattern. Here I only saw this one, with a distintive white spot between the eye and the beak.

I did spot a few more species there, but these two were by far the favourites... and the more regular visitors!

Photos taken with Canon SX50 HS