Friday, June 01, 2012

26-30 May: Cameron Highlands

The idea was a few days of peaceful family holiday; the reality was that this was school holidays, when peace and Cameron Highlands are not words easily associated with one another!

A few photos from the four days away.


A couple of shots of not-so-easy-to-see Bay Woodpeckers - these were very vocal at the summit of Brinchang at dawn.


Snowy-browed Flycatchers are typical denizens of the shady mossy upper montane forest. They're completely fearless, and often the first indication of their presence is an awareness of a pair of beetling white eyebrows glowering at you from the side of the road as you walk past!
Lesser Shortwings are very common at the summit too, and come out onto the road to feed at first light.
I set up my hide at the roadside one day, and soon realized I was in the vale of the dinosaurs! First I found myself eyeball to eyeball with this juvenile Robinson's Anglehead Lizard.
 Quite a fearsome-looking beast!
 Then the Daddy dino turned up. Check out those teeth - enough to give a nasty nip!
This third one was missing the end of its tail - a subadult male I think. They all foraged a few feet in front of my hide quite amiably.
I also discovered I had parked myself near the home of a Three-striped Ground Squirrel. It provided me with regular entertainment as it darted in and out of the undergrowth collecting stuff.
 
 
Avian visitors were limited to a male Large Niltava (briefly) and a female White-tailed Robin (regularly).
Another day was spent in the hide at my favourite cuckoo-dove watering hole. Here are both species - Little on the left, a male Barred on the right.
A male Little.
And a female I think.

Male (top) and female Barred Cuckoo-doves. This is one of my favourite pigeon species - dunno why - perhaps it's because it took me so many years to see my first!
The female back-on.
Males of both species appear much larger than females, and are much bigger around the head and neck - perhaps the better to coo with!
 A female (front) and male.
The green gloss against the greys and browns of the rest of the plumage is one of the best colour combinations  I've seen in nature.


Later I moved my hide down to the stream to try to photograph the doves coming down. I wasn't successful - they were too wary I think - but I was rewarded by this juv Slaty-backed Forktail and male White-tailed Robin.

14 comments:

Tank said...

superb series buddy..well done - tank

digdeep said...

Thanks Tank!

Ron-Nature Adventures said...

Nice place for a family vacation ;)

Choy Wai Mun said...

Great shots of the Cuckoo-doves. Didn't have much luck with them the last time I was there.

Ayuwat Jearwattanakanok said...

Love the cuckoo-doves!
You're also really lucky to get photos of the Bay Woodpecker. They're always too shy around here. I even observed them foraging through lower bushes just like laughingthrushes at Doi Angkang.

ari said...

Great shots of the Doves, especially the Barred CD....I've yet to see one...

Erwin said...

stunning photos! Razor sharp!

Hey, are there more people who are having troubles opening your blog? Every time I open the website, the browser gets stuck and it has troubles to scroll down. This is only very recently.. maybe you changed something in the last couple of weeks? Could it be that video bar that is giving troubles?

digdeep said...

Hi Erwin

Sorry to hear about your problems. I find that the new larger photo at the top takes longer to load, but after that, it seems to work OK. The only thing I changed was the template, which I immediately regretted doing, but by then it was too late - no going back unfortunately! Hope your problems resolve themselves!

Zul Ya Birder said...

cantik-cantik

Erwin said...

so strange! had this problem only on your site so far and yes, it has something to do with that new template.. before I didn't had the issue. Well, guess I just need to be more patient when opening the site!

Always enjoy reading your work and watching those impressive shots!
Take care

Avtoprokat said...

What a fabulous foto!

Olga said...

Nice pictures!

jytou said...

Great comparison of the size for the two cuckoo-doves

Anonymous said...

Super images, Dave. I love the Bay Woodpeckers, especially. Terry