10 - 13th March 2012: Raptor Watch, Tanjung Tuan

Compared to last year, this year's pilgrimage was a decidedly low key affair. The weather conditions conspired against getting many good photos, so, for a better idea of the event and its birds, have a browse through 12-13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th March 2011.



On the 10th, the entire day produced only 17 Grey-faced Buzzards, including this juvenile.



We were glad of the opportunity to watch any bird that would show itself, such as this immature Black-naped Oriole...



...and a Blue-throated Bee-eater.



After a while, even these disappeared, so we resorted to looking at pictures of raptors...






















...And people HOPING to get pictures of raptors!

Thankfully, the 11th was a lot better! We counted over 5,300 Oriental Honey-buzzards, though wind and lighting conditions were still not in favour of the photographers!









The best of a bad bunch - a male, two females and a juv. I got much better pics last year!

The star of the day was a dark morph Booted Eagle.





The pictures would have been a lot better if I hadn't had the camera on the wrong settings! Still - it happens, and there will be others...



This Barn Swallow seemed to think it was hilarious!

The 12th was a new low - just one OHB all day, but fortunately, we had made the decision not to sit at the lighthouse. Instead we had a lazy day in the garden and by the beach, when I trained my camera on some of the common birds I usually overlook.









Asian Glossy Starling, Brown Shrike, Spotted Dove and Yellow-vented Bulbul, all taken with coffee in John and Ting Howes' front garden!





A pair of Oriental Magpie-robins coming to take scraps as we lunched at the Yacht Club!



At dusk we went to check out a green-pigeon roost hoping for Orange-breasted. No luck, but we did observe this male Pink-necked apparently eating mud from the foreshore - can anyone explain it? Perhaps taking mineral supplements?





A female Pink-necked Green-pigeon preparing to roost in Rhizophora.

So that was it for Raptor Watch this year. We were fortunate to have one 'big day', and it made us realize what exceptional fortune we'd had last year!