It has been 2011 since I targeting this bird in Baluran. It was 2nd Annual Baluran-PLN Birding Competition event when the bird was sighted for the first time. And what is the interesting thing of its first record? There were two bules who has it! They were the abroad participants of the event. They came from Czech Republic. Pter Karmizec and Katerina Parakova.

So, where I been for these long time then even bule who must found it?

The site where I got the picture is the same place where the bird was sighted. It’s Curah Uling, end north of Evergreen Forest. It makes me feel so stupid. Curah Uling is the place where I always passed it to Bekol. Then the rain-fed pool where the bird hunt its prey is just under the bridge! And I passed it everyday for more than three years! How goblok I’m!

But, in spite of it all, the bird is definitively rare in Baluran. And she likes dense canopy of lowland forest with a water pool on the understorey. Of course Baluran doesn’t have this kind habitat much. To find a dense canopy in Baluran we must go to the mountain or combing the path along the coastal forest. And dense canopy with water pool? Then we must wait until the next rainy season to find. Curah Uling is a name of a rain-fed river. When the rainy season is coming over, there will be puddles along the river. These puddles are where the water is trapped.

Did I mention of this bird’s name? Looks like I didn’t. Sorry yo cak hehehe…

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (Ceyx erithaca) is the name of this bird. It was Rufous-backed Kingfisher (Ceyx rufidorsa) until ornithologists agreed to include this species as a sub-species of the first one as they both hybridize in several parts of its range. She feeds aquatic insect and small fishes. She does the same technique to pursue the prey with other kingfishers: perching on lower branch or root above the water surface with eyes keep on the water. When she gets the vision of prey movement (usually fish), a quick of a single lunge of her body grab it under the surface. Hleb.. nyam-nyam…

The last, how did she get the fish? It’s a rain-fed river? Where is the fish come from?