April 18 Ubud birding

Java Kingfisher

We met our guide, Su, at 9AM and she took us on a bird and butterfly walk until about 1PM, when we had lunch overlooking a stream,providing more opportunities to see local birds. we walked through a jungle area, then through the edges of a village, then along the dyke's separating rice paddies.

It became progressively hotter toward noon, and we were quite happy to get a ride back to Ubud. during this time we saw 22 different bird species, and probably an equal number of butterfly species. We saw the Java Kingfisher which is indigenous to Bali and is in the rice fields hunting eels rather than fish in a stream bed. The rice fields have small temples dotted throughout them for each family plot dedicated to the Rice Goddess.

Su is unusual in that she knows the local butterflies as well as the birds --This is because her brother caught the butterflies in order to paint them as the illustrator for a book on Bali's butterflies.

Newly planted rice

The afternoon was spent with a nap and then out taking the laundry to the shop again followed by dinner with our friends Maria and Joe.  They had rented a motorcycle and driven around the area a little bit stopping at a couple of museums etc.  They advised that the Ubud Botanical Gardens was not worth a stop. Tomorrow we are out biking with them on a tour to an old volcano and riding down to the lake in the middle from the the rim.

There is a shop here on Monkey Road that has the most fabulous gelato ice cream! So creamy and the flavors they do include lemongrass sorbet, passion fruit, chocolate and chili. Yummy!

Chocolate Pansy