Introducing the "Peninsular Malaysia 500 Club"!

With the publication of the new Checklist of the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia, for a bit of fun, I am inaugurating the Peninsular Malaysia 500 Club, open to anyone who claims to have seen 500 species or more in Peninsular Malaysia!

The rules are simple:

1. A species can only be included in your list if you have seen it within Peninsular Malaysia (so, for example, I can't count Tufted Duck,even though it's on the list and I've seen thousands in the UK, because I've not yet seen one in Peninsular Malaysia).

2. The Club recognizes only the taxonomy followed by the 2010 Checklist of the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia. So if you haven't yet bought a copy, go and buy one!

3. If you see a species not yet on the checklist, you are allowed to count it provided you have submitted a description to the MNS-BCC Records Committee and the record has not been rejected.

4. Members are expected to be honest! No-one's going to check your list!

The logo of the 'PM500 Club' is the Grey-breasted Babbler. It's happens to be the 500th bird in the current checklist, and it's also a 5-star resident rarity, so is a fitting logo for the 500 Club. James Eaton has very kindly agreed to allow the use of one of his photos for the logo.

That's about all I can think of to say about it for now. If you'd like to be considered for membership in this exclusive club, please send me your Peninsular Malaysian list, provided it's over 500. Hopefully I can persuade all the 'sifus' to divulge their lists!

So, to kick off, my PM list currently stands at 547. Probably the easiest birds not yet on there are Common Buzzard, Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker, Brown-streaked Flycatcher and Thick-billed Flowerpecker. And, no, I've not seen Grey-breasted Babbler!

Now, who'll be next ...?