We were recently visited by a local indigenous community member with the exciting news that a hornbill nest had been found. This is part of a scheme that pays local community members for providing information on hornbill nests so we can then monitor their breeding behaviour.  Thanks to Pak Ajer we were taken to a nest tree that turned out to contain a female Bushy-crested Hornbill  Anorrhinus galeritus and at least one chick.  When ready to lay eggs, the female will seal herself into a tree hole using mud, leaving a small hole through which she can receive food. Female hornbills must rely on their mate to provide food for her and the chicks. However, for the Bushy-crested Hornbill, it is not only the male that provides food but also offspring from previous years.

Camera trap images are often of large charismatic mammals, but during the last 14 months of camera trapping surveys we have come to realise the value of this equipment for collecting information on birds too, specifically the galliformes or ‘gamebirds’. So far we have recorded the globally-threatened Crestless Fireback Lophura erythropthalma, the near threatened Great Argus Argusianus argus and Crested Partridge Rollulus rouloul, and Red Jungle Fowl Gallus gallus, the wild ancestor of the domestic chicken. Interestingly we have yet to record the near-threatened Crested Fireback L. ignita, which is less rare than its crestless cousin.

More than sixty members of our nearest Pramuka troupe recently visited Harapan Rainforest. Pramuka is the Indonesian scouting movement. They got to experience rainforest close up on the forest trail – where there are regular sightings of hornbills (including two of the nestboxes erected for them), giant squirrels, leaf monkeys, and the sounds of bearded pigs snuffling and grunting in the undergrowth. They also enjoyed spectacular forest views from our new viewing platforms.

Harapan Rainforest is located on fairly flat land, which means we have few vantage points for viewing the site. To address this, our trained climbing team and representatives from Indonesian climbing organisation IndoRope are installing five viewing platforms this month, at the dizzying height of nearly 30 metres above the forest floor, with more planned for next month. These platforms are important for helping our fire fighting team detect any fire outbreaks and as lookout points that ensure the security of the forest.

Working with local communities and collaborating with local partners is key to Harapan Rainforest’s success. A film just released by a project partner, Jambi NGO KKI-WARSI, shows some of the activities that have been going on in villages around Harapan Rainforest over the past 3 years or so. Follow this link to view the film on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFLq-K9pdAE

The complete film is about 15 minutes long, and is split into three parts. The link above is to the first part, and links within YouTube will let you view parts 2 and 3.

Despite the long dry season we are experiencing in Sumatra, a few hours of rain can have a dramatic affect on the forest landscape, as I discovered on the research team's latest forest trip.  On one of our first nights, very heavy rain left many of our survey transects impassable the next day, with small streams having risen by up to two metres in some cases. Our eight transects are chosen before the trip and are used to survey mammals, birds and habitat. If we come across an obstruction to our planned route, we must find a quick way around.

Deep in the forest, I woke at 4.30 in the morning to walk to our gibbon survey points under the cover of darkness, itself an exhilarating experience. Arriving at the survey spot, I prepared for a morning of recording calling gibbons. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of bright colour in the first morning light and turned quickly to see what is always a wonderful forest sight: a pitta! In this case, the near-threatened Garnet Pitta. Pittas are elusive, rainbow-coloured birds of the forest floor. They flick over the leaf litter to search for snails and worms. If disturbed, they often hop away rather than flying.

A recent trip down the Kapas River through the centre of Harapan Rainforest gave me fantastic views of the wild bee colonies hanging below the branches of the tall trees towering above the forest canopy. One tree may have dozens of combs. Being so high up, the combs are protected from most of the predators who would like to get to the honey and bee larvae. But some creatures specialise in feeding off these colonies including bee-eaters and honey buzzards, and humans of course.

With no systematic surveys to date, adding a new butterfly to the Harapan Rainforest list is easy. But imagine my surprise when, after sending photographs for identification to a colleague at the RSPB (Martin Davies - who is compiling a list from published sources of ‘potential’ butterflies at Harapan Rainforest ) one of them would seem to be a new species for Sumatra!

In an earlier post, we mentioned the visit to Harapan Rainforest by Tony Whitten - senior biodiversity specialist at the World Bank. As well as his brief clip of a passing sun bear, Tony caught on film the evocative 'great call' of the Agile Gibbon, which is a duet, with the female accompanied by the male. He also got shots of the family of four swinging their way through the tree canopy with ease. So sit back, turn the volume up, and immerse yourself in the sights and sounds of the rainforest.