With Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker having finally fallen, I have been badly in need of a new bogey bird to give me something to complain about! Well, the search is over and I can proudly announce that my new bird-I-should-have-seen-by-now-but-haven't is...
White-tailed Flycatcher
Although not in the same league as the woodie (which drew astonished gasps from even novice birders when I let slip that I hadn't yet seen one) - the flycatcher is a genuinely difficult bird to see in Peninsular Malaysia - it does have the essential 'bogey bird qualification' of having been repeatedly searched for and not seen. I've searched for it at the Gap and Ulu Gombak, and more recently Penang Hill, where rumours of a pair tempted me to scale a fiendish set of steps in the forlorn hope of seeing them.
My latest failure was today, when I set off pre-dawn to Lata Bukit Hijau, Kedah - a once-scenic series of waterfalls cascading through some secondary forest.
Leptospirosis anyone? Another ecotourism success!
Sadly, no sight or sound of the aforementioned flycatcher, or indeed, almost any other birds - just two male Rufous-winged Philentomas chasing each other round the forest.
The highlight of the morning was this gathering of butterflies on a pile of ... er, poop. I love the little guy with the red wings and funky blue topknot - if anyone knows what it is, please do tell! [This helpful reply is from Tou Jing Yi:
"The large ones should be Amathusia phidippus (Palm King).
The lovely small ones are some skippers, but being so colorful, should belong to the subfamily that are collectively known as "Awls", this particular one I believed is the Burara etelka
(Great Orange Awlet), I should have seen these once....
The yellow ones are actually moths, but being colorful and day flying, could easily be confused as butterflies, a few similar species occurs together, this one should be Dysphania subrepleta, hard to be certain from this angle but the wings seemed to be reasonably well marked, at least 2 other similar species occurs in the same habitat." Thanks, Tou!
White-tailed Flycatcher
Although not in the same league as the woodie (which drew astonished gasps from even novice birders when I let slip that I hadn't yet seen one) - the flycatcher is a genuinely difficult bird to see in Peninsular Malaysia - it does have the essential 'bogey bird qualification' of having been repeatedly searched for and not seen. I've searched for it at the Gap and Ulu Gombak, and more recently Penang Hill, where rumours of a pair tempted me to scale a fiendish set of steps in the forlorn hope of seeing them.
My latest failure was today, when I set off pre-dawn to Lata Bukit Hijau, Kedah - a once-scenic series of waterfalls cascading through some secondary forest.
Sadly, no sight or sound of the aforementioned flycatcher, or indeed, almost any other birds - just two male Rufous-winged Philentomas chasing each other round the forest.
"The large ones should be Amathusia phidippus (Palm King).
The lovely small ones are some skippers, but being so colorful, should belong to the subfamily that are collectively known as "Awls", this particular one I believed is the Burara etelka
(Great Orange Awlet), I should have seen these once....
The yellow ones are actually moths, but being colorful and day flying, could easily be confused as butterflies, a few similar species occurs together, this one should be Dysphania subrepleta, hard to be certain from this angle but the wings seemed to be reasonably well marked, at least 2 other similar species occurs in the same habitat." Thanks, Tou!
3 comments:
The White-tailed Flycatcher - I want one too!
Nice butterflies, sad scenes....
The large ones should be Amathusia phidippus (Palm King).
The lovely small ones are some skippers, but being so colorful, should belong to the subfamily that are collectively known as "Awls", this particular one I believed is the Burara etelka
(Great Orange Awlet), I should have seen these once....
The yellow ones are actually moths, but being colorful and day flying, could easily be confused as butterflies, a few similar species occurs together, this one should be Dysphania subrepleta, hard to be certain from this angle but the wings seemed to be reasonably well marked, at least 2 other similar species occurs in the same habitat.
It saddens me upon looking at the rubbish scattered at Lata Hijau. The municipal should do something about it. Back then, it was my favorite picnic spot.
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