Dig deep

24 January: Perlis

2012-01-25T09:58:00.033+08:00

This morning we started at Kampung Tasoh to the sound of calling Great-eared and Large-tailed Nightjars and a Brown Hawk-owl. We spent the first hour of the day scanning the water's edge for jacanas - to no avail. No minivets either, but we did get a nice flock of 7 Racket-tailed Treepies grunting and wheezing softly to each other - a lifer for Hakim.

But our hearts were elsewhere, and it wasn't long before we headed back to Chuping, and that hallowed patch of earth!

This morning there were about 8 Asian Pied Starlings busily foraging - but it was hard to get them to stand still to have their photos taken in the early light.

A small clump of Mimosa in the middle was a magnet for the Plain-backed Sparrow flock, so we drove the car up and waited to see what else would show up.

I focused on the females today as I had got good pics of the males yesterday.

A male Eastern Marsh-harrier appeared distantly - perhaps the same bird as yesterday - and perched up on a ridge for some sun.

Our attention was drawn back to the bushes by the arrival of an Oriental Reed Warbler.

The white tips to the tail feathers , diagnostic of this species, are practically worn away on this bird.

A couple more pics showing the strong head pattern and faintly streaked breast.

Determined not to be upstaged, the Thick-billed Warbler popped into the same bush and performed outrageously! The distinctive feature of this species is the plain-faced expression, caused by the lack of eyestripe and pale lores. It is also markedly shorter-winged than Oriental Reed.

Shameless behaviour! Get back in the bush and start behaving like a proper Thick-billed!

That's better!

A smart Brown Shrike decided to forage on the ground.

A lone Eastern Yellow Wagtail - a male 'tschutschensis' type.

This prompted us to go back to the Citrine stake-out...

This is the track where it was yesterday, but where was it today? After a desultory walk round, we realized that the clouds of wagtails which had been here yesterday were absent, so we gave up and decided to search elsewhere.

It wasn't long before we noticed two tractors ploughing a strip of harvested sugar cane, and we realized we had hit the motherlode as far as wagtails were concerned!

The problem was, it was a case of 2 Fast 2 Furious, as hundreds of wagtails and other birds constantly moved around, chasing the freshly upturned earth. There was no time for leisurely study - we just had to get what we could before the birds moved off. Hakim spotted the White Wagtail in amongst this lot, but I didn't. Here's a selection of the birds I did get on to.

A couple of 'macronyx' types. Some of these had more of a supercilium than others, with the brighter ones being difficult to separate from 'tschutschensis'.

A couple which are closer to 'tschutschensis' in terms of the extent of the supercilium. The flying bird was the only wagtail we saw in two days which had anything like fresh wing feathers.

The 'taivana' birds, distinguished by having a yellow supercilium, were the ones we were especially interested in. Some of these 'yellow-headed' birds looked quite Citrine-like. This, and several other birds, had a rather pallid appearance.

This was presumably a male - with a much more marked head pattern (darker, olive coloured ear coverts and lores).

The pale bird again. It has several features suggestive of Citrine - an almost complete pale border to the ear coverts, a paler area in the ear coverts, rather grey upperparts. However, the green crown and forehead, reaching the bill, distinctly olive-washed rump and pale yellow vent all rule in favour of it being Eastern Yellow.

Another 'taivana'.

And another. On the left side, this bird appeared to have very yellow ear coverts. However, the combination of dark forehead and lores and very green crown distinguish these birds from yesterday's Citrine. Some pictures of Citrine on OBI appear to have dark lores. However, in all, as far as I can see, the pale superilium extends over the bill, creating the effect of a pale forehead.

This presumed male seems to be half way between 'taivana' and 'tschutschensis'.

As yesterday, pipits were scrutinized carefully, and this one caused a momentary stir, with its bright contrasty coverts.

However, the back and crown streaks were muted, rather than sharply defined (as in Blyth's) and we concluded that it was just a very fresh Paddyfield Pipit. Smart bird though!

The same Black-eared Kite as yesterday, and the same female Eurasian Kestrel were in attendance, creating further havoc for wagtail-watchers.

In the end, no Citrine today, but it was an instructional morning for all that!

23 January 2012: Perlis

2012-01-24T23:21:00.049+08:00

The sugar cane fields of Chuping, Perlis in January are the nearest equivalent we have in Malaysia to a Fair Isle or a Point Pelee in terms of ability to turn up mega-rarities. Over the past 4 years or so, this vast area has hosted three 'Firsts' for Malaysia - Asian Openbill, Long-legged Buzzard and Blyth's Pipit (see my post for 7 Jan 2010 for details of the latter).

I had been planning this year's January expedition for some time, and daydreams of what might be waiting to be found there had kept me going over the last few weeks of hard grind in the office! Now at last, it was time, and, as Hakim and I drove north in the early hours, we discussed what first we might like to find this time!

Our first port of call was a spoil pit not far from the sugar refinery, where Malaysia's 3rd Wryneck had been seen a few weeks back. In the half light of dawn I wandered over to a patch of sugar cane to relieve myself after the long drive and disturbed a Lanceolated Warbler, watching it scuttle mouse-like into cover at my approach! That felt like a good start to the day!

As the sun rose a male Eastern Marsh-harrier came toward us and then doubled back.

A male Eurasian Kestrel flew over, heading toward the sun.

On the power lines overhead, a flock of 25 Red Collared-doves were catching the first rays, along with flocks of Barn and Red-rumped Swallows and a number of noisy Plain-backed Sparrows. The doves are relatively recent arrivals in the area - we learned later that the locals call them 'terkukur api' - fire doves - which seemed appropriate as they glowed in the morning sun.

One or two male Plain-backed Sparrows were singing and evidently holding territory. I've not had such great views of this scarce species before.

A few Asian Pied Starlings were feeding in the dirt. Like the doves, these are likley colonizers from across the Thai border, and they seem to be doing well here.

The Red-rumped Swallows were now coming down from the wires to drink in the stream, giving great photographic opportunities.

I would have liked to stay longer and improve on these shots, but there was too much else to look at!

Pallas's Grasshopper Warblers were chasing each other around in the aquatic vegetation, and a Thick-billed Warbler popped its head out of a Giant Mimosa bush. The latter species used to be thought of as a vagrant, but since birders started making regular visits to Perlis, small numbers are found annually.

The Thick-billed Warbler shared the bush with a snake, which was warming itself up at the start of the day. Hopefully someone will identify it for me! [Apparently, this is Ptyas korros, or Indochinese Ratsnake. Thanks a lot, Muin!]

While watching the swallows, I noticed the Wryneck fly out of a tree on my right, round in an arc in front of me, and land in a bush to my left. I got the bird in the scope and called Hakim over. However, by the time he arrived, the bird had dropped into cover. A few moments later it flew out of the bush and this time, went away from us down the valley and over some trees. Frustratingly, I had missed getting a photo as well! My field sketch will have to do!

Malaysia's third (and my second) Wryneck. See this post for my first.

Hakim's disappointment was moderated somewhat by the appearance of a second Lanceolated Warbler - a lifer for him. It obliged by giving both a front and a back view!

This was rapidly followed by the arrival of a White Wagtail of the 'ocularis' race. The only one I'd seen previously in Malaysia was a 'leucopsis' - about a kilometer away from this site!

We decided to try to reach the area where the Wryneck had flown to and began walking through a ploughed field. It immediately became obvious that it was full of Yellow Wagtails, and, since Citrine Wagtail was one of those 'dream firsts' we had talked about on the drive up, we began scrutinizing them.

Almost immediately I got onto a promising-looking bird which appeared to have a yellow face. However, no sooner had I spotted it than it first ducked behind a clod of earth, and then took off and flew several hundred metres away up the field. I managed to get three frames of the bird which were moderately sharp...

Hmmm! Looking at the LCD on the back of the camera, it DID look interesting. But it was now gone, and that seemed to be that. I couldn't be sure from what I was looking at on the screen whether I had got 'enough' of the bird to make a claim. For one thing, I had been expecting huge white wingbars, and this bird showed almost no white in the wing at all. Oh well - one that got away... I reasoned with myself that it was probably a Yellow Wagtail - after all, what are the chances that you look for a first for the country and straight away find what you're looking for?!

Then came a moment of sheer unexpected grace - the bird flew back to where it had originally flown from! I hastily got the scope on it and took as many digiscoped pics as I could. Amazingly, the bird left the ploughed area, where it would have been practically impossible to photograph, and walked across the grassy track in front of us. Just a few moments later it was flushed, along with every other wagtail in the vicinity, by what I later discovered was our second Eurasian Kestrel of the day!

With the bird gone, I started examining my shots. I knew that the head pattern was a key id feature. The pale supercilium should completely encircle the ear coverts - check! The ear coverts should have a pale centre - check! The lores should be pale - check! But what about those blotches of pale yellow all over the body? Not sure... The vent should be white - check! The rear flanks should be grey - check!

I was struck by the grey crown and upperparts, although worried by the faint olive tinge to the mantle visible on one or two shots.The bird was moving up the scale from 'possible' to 'probable' to 'I really think it IS one!' But to be fully confident, I wanted to check out some photographic references and explain those apparent anomalies of the plain wings and olive tinge to the mantle.

On reflection, I realized that, like all the other wagtails present, this bird was an adult in very worn plumage. That meant that it must be a female. Looking closely, I could still see the remnants of white tips to the median coverts on the right hand side, something that none of the Yellows showed.

A search of Citrine images on OBI revealed that birds can occasionally have a olive tinge to the mantle, and quite often show patches of pale yellow on the underparts. On the only shot I took of the left side I could see a single fresh inner median covert with a gleaming broadish white tip. I wasn't able to find any photos of similarly worn birds, but I can't see anything inconsistent with this bird being a Citrine in exceptionally worn plumage.

The culprit - a female Eurasian Kestrel clutching its prey - a Calotes versicolor (Garden Fence Lizard).

About an hour or more later the wagtail reappeared once more, this time in the sun, and it quickly flew off. Despite two long waits in the afternoon, we failed to see the bird again.

(Eastern) Yellow Wagtails received close attention for the rest of the day! They included a few of the dark-headed, bright yellow below 'macronyx' race...

and many 'tschutschensis' types.

There were some 'taivana' types too, and these looked most similar to the Citrine. I'll post some pictures of these in tomorrow's post.

Some other birds we saw!

Pipits were well 'grilled'but we could find only Paddyfields.

A very square-tailed Black (eared) Kite.

Some 'Pin/Swin' Snipes.

In the early afternoon we drove up to Timah Tasoh in the hope of tracking down the recently reported Rosy Minivet.

Being the hottest part of the day, it was pretty quiet, though we did manage to see a Yellow-browed Warbler - not a commonly seen bird in the lowlands.

We returned to have another go for the wagtail in the afternoon, to no avail. This singing Plain-backed Sparrow was some compensation.

We couldn't find a House Sparrow this trip, so that 'first' will have to wait for another day!

We ended the day at the site of last year's harrier roost. The few harriers we did see headed over the horizon, so clearly the main site has moved.

We were entertained by a pair of 'short-tailed' Long-tailed Shrikes and their recently fledged young. This is a very worn adult.

And a Brown Shrike catching the last rays of sun.

What a day! At the end of it, we could say that Chuping has now turned up FOUR firsts for the country!

Suara Enggang December 2011 issue

2012-01-17T18:10:00.005+08:00

Sorry for the long wait, and thanks for being patient! It's not out yet, and won't be till after Chinese New Year, but it is on the way!

The covers of the four issues from 2011. Thanks very much to all contributors, photographers and subscribers, not forgetting our proof-reading team, printer and sponsor, Schmidt Marketing. Most of all, a huge thank you to our superb designer - Chin Pik Wun. Take a bow Pik Wun - you've done an awesome job!

We'll do our best to keep improving this year, so please join us - subscribe and contribute. This is your magazine!

14th Jan 2012: Pulau Burung, Penang

2012-01-15T18:11:00.028+08:00

Rubbish dumps the world over are known to be magnets to both birds and birders, and the landfill at Pulau Burung is no exception!

The best time to be there is just as the sun pokes its face through the early morning murk, which seems to also be an alarm call for the birds to wake up!

Suddenly the place transforms from a serene backwater to a hive of activity, buzzing with birds!

The Black-capped Kingfisher was in its usual corner - timid of photographers but bold in chasing off other occupiers of its favourite perches!

Bee-eaters and mynas scattered before it as it made its regular circuit of dead trees, though it did veer off at the last moment when faced with a pond-heron perched on its branch.

Black-winged Stilts breed here, but their numbers are augmented at this time of year by migrants, some of which show variable blackish head and neck markings.

Whiskered Terns suddenly appeared in droves as the sun came up.

I would have driven past the Garganeys if BK Lim (aka the Point and Shoot King!) had not pointed them out to me, much nearer than I'd seen them before, perched together on a log. Hubby was having a snooze while the missus looked a little more alert.

She decided it was time to do her make-up while he slept on (the brown forewing is how we know she's a she).

All this activity proved too much of a disturbance to his slumbers, so he told her to push off!

Ah - that's better - a guy needs a bit of elbow room to stretch - check out those beautiful lavender grey epaulettes!

Now that's just showing off!

Heading for breakfast, with the female (who has a much brighter face pattern) leading the way.

A nearby Little Grebe caught my attention. A recent paper on grebe taxonomy in South-east Asia (Mlíkovský 2010. Systematic notes on Asian birds: 74. A preliminary review of the grebes, family Podicipedidae. BOC Occas Publs 5: 125-131.) proposes splitting the Little Grebes in South-east Asia from those in parts of Indonesia on the basis of bill size and belly colour (the newly proposed Tachybaptus tricolor having a dark belly; T. ruficollis having a white or whitish belly). So I was keen to see if this bird would show me its belly!

It duly obliged, revealing a gleaming white belly, but when it did so, I got a surprise - the bird was moulting feathers left and right, and had practically no flight feathers!

You can see that all the primaries and some secondaries are growing out at the same time. I knew that many duck species undergo a simultaneous moult of flight feathers, when they become briefly flightless, but I hadn't realized that this also happens with Little Grebes. A quick internet search on getting home revealed this to be the case (e.g.here).

There goes another one! This bird seemed really keen to get all of those old feathers out as soon as possible!

After all that action the bird decided to 'put its feet up', revealing the rather finger-like toes (which even have nails rather than claws).

A Wood Sandpiper provided a brief distraction, and enabled me to improve on the landing shot I took the other day.

However, all thoughts of Wood Sandpipers were pushed aside by the appearance of a snipe by the roadside. Long-term readers of this blog will know that these interest me a great deal, and the chance of a close encounter with one was not to be missed!

This turned out to be an EXTREMELY close encounter, with the bird allowing me to park my car less than 3 metres away, forcing me to zoom out to 250mm to get the bird in frame! This is a Common Snipe (I've covered how to tell these from Swinhoe's/Pintail Snipes in other posts).

The interesting thing about this bird was that the 'macro range' enabled me to take a good look at the coverts. There were clearly two age classes visible. The lesser coverts (circled in white and labelled 1) were much more heavily worn than the medians (pink and numbered 2). The lesser coverts (or most of them) show an unbroken buff fringe and are juvenile feathers. The median coverts show a clear dark wedge at the tip, separating the buff into two spots either side of the central shaft. These are adult-type feathers. So this bird is a '1st winter' (hatched last year).

This was the nearest I got to a clear shot - always a challenge with snipes!

Last bird of the day was this pale morph Changeable Hawk-eagle. By now the light was against me, but I don't have many decent shots of this species, so thought I would try my luck.

Migratory Birds in Plantations

2012-01-12T11:13:00.008+08:00

In my work with Wild Asia I recently helped produce a guide to migratory birds in oil palm plantations. The aim of this guide (three others will follow this one) is to inform plantation managers of the value of the wild spaces in their plantations for migratory birds, and what can be done to enhance these.

If you want to download a pdf version of the guide and posters, you can do so at this link. If you'd like hard copies, please contact Wild Asia (not me!).

Yellow starlings - mystery solved!

2012-01-09T09:19:00.002+08:00

Thanks to Ayuwat for sending this link. Obviously these birds have been deliberately dyed.

This is a known practice among pet traders, who dye birds such as munias to increase their trade value. The explanation of how they came to be released is perhaps the practice of 'merit releasing' of birds, whereby people buy and then release captive birds to gain 'merit' or blessing.

7th Jan 2012: Kampung Permatang Nibong, Penang

2012-01-08T20:26:00.030+08:00

Still getting back into the swing of things, so I decided to check out the paddyfields today.

After a brief early morning check of the pylons - no raptors surprisingly - perhaps they were already up and on the hunt, I went to the 'openbill ponds.' This is a fantastic spot just oozing with potential for something rare, but it's also extremely difficult to watch, as there's so much dense vegetation for things hide in. It would make the perfect spot for a ringing station I reckon.

A selection of birds flying over, which is about the only way you can see birds here! Black-crowned Night-herons.

Little Egret.

Great Egret.

A pond-heron of uncertain nationality. Now there's a good project for someone - work out how to identify pond-herons in non-breeding plumage!

A fly-over Eastern Yellow Wagtail.

What do think this is then?

An Asian Brown Flycatcher flying across the paddyfields!

Here's the same individual in more familiar pose!

This should be easier!

Brown Shrike.

Barn Swallow.

I spent a long time grilling the Purple-backed Starlings, hoping for something else in with them. In any case, they're really smart birds, reminding me in flight of Bohemian Waxwings which I had been watching not so long ago!

My heart did skip a beat when this odd yellow bird popped its head up! Nothing rang a bell for a moment, till it turned round...

...when I realized it was 'just' a Purple-backed Starling, but a golden-yellow one!

The colouring looked like natural pigmentation rather than any artificial staining or dye. It was strongest on the rump, which was bright golden-yellow. A very smart bird - too bad I couldn't get any closer.

Here are some more normally-coloured birds.

I drove over to the Permatang Pauh side and managed to sneak up to this confiding White-throated Kingfisher.

There were good numbers of waders in the pools where paddy hadn't grown. There was a flock of over a hundred Black-winged Stilts, including 4-5 with dark necks (which some claim to be White-necked). Most birds were a little too distant for photography and the light was getting harsh.

There were good numbers of snipe about.

Common Snipe.

Swinhoe's or Pintail Snipe. The most obvious differences are in the wings - Common has a much blacker, more pointed outer wing and a broad white trailing edge to the secondaries, compared to 'Pin/Swin' Snipe's browner and blunter outer wing, and lack of clearly demarcated white trailing edge.

Telling Swinhoe's and Pintail apart is much harder, you need to get a good view of the tail to be sure, and this is where photography helps!

When they fly, as the bird above eventually did when flushed by a passing motorcycle, they often fan the tail when braking as they come in to land. This bird shows broad white tips to the tail and fairly broad outer tail feathers (though the outermost may still be hidden). I think Pintail should show much less white in the tail than this, and should show a least a suspicion of fine pin-like outer tail feathers. So I reckon this is a Swinhoe's (I've yet to see a definite Pintail in Penang!)

There was even a male Greater Painted-Snipe sitting quietly on a bund. When I checked him out, I realized why he was being so cautious - he had a brood of four chicks in tow!

I like their chestnut back stripe!

There were a few Red-rumped Swallows around. They had almost no pink or reddish tones at all - practically white on the rump. Perhaps they were worn birds; I didn't get a good look.

The usual loose flock of about 30 Grey-headed Lapwings was dotted around here and there, and this bird remained long enough for a few shots.

I can't remember a day at this location when I saw so few raptors - just one Brahminy! But once the rice is harvested the place should be good for waders and raptors alike. Something to look forward to!

28 December 2011: Batu Kawan and Pulau Burung, Penang

2012-01-03T14:42:00.016+08:00

Two days after we arrived back from holidays in the UK, a small window of opportunity became available, and there was only one place to go; Batu Kawan, to see whether Mun's superstar visitors had waited for me, as he had promised they would! Getting up early wasn't a problem, courtesy of jetlag, so I was on site as first light dawned.

Sure enough, a quick scan soon located a solitary Oriental Darter roosting in a dead tree, and not long afterwards, the second bird flew in, having apparently been fishing in the floodwater beneath the tree.

As the light improved, I was joined by Mun himself, so was able to congratulate him personally on a memorable find (his finder's account is here).

Having had a good look at the darters, I decided to make my way to Pulau Burung. Mun was a bit shocked when I announced that I was moving on so soon, and in retrospect, I probably should have hung around longer, as his superb shots testify, but it was my first time out in over a month, I only had a few hours, and was anxious to get better views of the Garganeys, and whatever else may be lurking at Pulau Burung.

My first port of call was the temporary pools where the Little Stints had been last time. Since then, there've been White Wagtail and Pectoral Sandpiper, so I gave it a good grilling. There were now fewer birds, and all were were much more distant. Just one Little Stint was in evidence, and no rare wagtails or waders!

As I drove along the track I disturbed a pair of foraging Barred Buttonquails. This is quite a familiar scenario. The birds run along the track directly in front of the car. They are wondering how they can escape into the foliage either side, while I am wondering how to avoid the windscreen, get my eye to the viewfinder out of the side window (pointing forwards!) while keeping my foot gently on the gas and the car from meandering off the road! As usual, I largely failed, but the male did dither long enough for me to get one or two acceptable shots.

Next up it was time to focus my attention on the Garganeys. Oddly, they didn't associate with each other the whole time I was there. This rather bright bird turned out to be a female (you can check out the forewing colour in Mun's blog here.)

The male (told by the bright blue-grey forewing) kept much more distant, and hung out with the Lesser Whistling-ducks most of the time.

The other birds present were the 'usual suspects', but, even though I have filled my memory cards many times over with their images, it's hard to resist them when they pose so beautifully!

Blue-tailed Bee-eater.

A subadult (and subtly colourful) Common Moorhen.

Common Sandpiper (and friend!).

Wood Sandpipers.

So, thanks to Mun and those Oriental Darters, I managed to pick up my 560th species in Peninsular Malaysia on my last birding outing of the year! What surprises will 2012 turn up? Bring it on!

Every best wish for 2012.

25 Dec 2011: Happy Christmas!!

2011-12-25T04:57:00.006+08:00

To all long-suffering DigDeep readers, very best wishes for this season and the coming year.

I've been in the UK for the past month, doing almost no birding at all. I did take my family to see a party of Bohemian Waxwings one dull day, and here are a few shots taken through my Dad's scope.

While home, I've had a look through some old photos. Here's one from about 1989 with quite a few past and present birding luminaries from the Malaysian scene. How many can you identify?!

Lastly, congrats to Mun, whose been shooting up the 500 Club league in my absence with the addition of FOUR lifers - and all good ones: Oriental Scops-owl, White-throated Rock-thrush, Brown-chested Jungle-flycatcher and Oriental Darter. Three of those would have been new for me too. It happens every time I leave the country ... sigh!

End of year clear-out 2011!

2011-11-22T15:18:00.011+08:00

Here are some pics taken at various points over the year not published at the time.

Dusky Eagle-owls.

Malaysian Honeyguide.

The best I could get of the yellow shoulder patch.

Two birds together briefly.

The resident 'torquatus' race of Oriental Honey-buzzard.

Bits and pieces, Penang, Nov 2011

2011-11-22T14:41:00.011+08:00

Another Riparia martin at Kampung Permatang Nibong on 20th Nov. Until these can be trapped and measured, I fear we won't be able to say with confidence whether Pale Martin, Sand Martin or both are occurring in the Peninsula.

20 Nov 2011

12 Nov 2009

It was at a remarkably similar stage of moult as a bird photographed 2 years ago on 12 Nov.

One of a couple of Malaysian Hawk-cuckoos which put on an amazing eye-level performance at Penang Botanical Gardens on the morning of Nov 18th. I didn't have my camera with me (didn't expect to see much - oh me of little faith!); both these pics are courtesy of Peter Harris.

Little Stint References

2011-11-21T18:04:00.005+08:00

18th Nov 2011: Pulau Burung Landfill Site, Nibong Tebal, Penang

2011-11-21T16:06:00.031+08:00

A visit from friends Peter Harris and Mel Ong of A Rocha (check out the website - they're doing some GREAT work around the world) gave me the excuse to take a couple of days out showing them around the famous sites of Penang, which include a landfill site (oh - I meant famous BIRDING sites!).

The usual birds were on their best behaviour, giving point blank views and photo opps in the golden early morning light. I mostly just enjoyed the scene, but occasionally deigned to point the camera in the direction of a bird.

A Wood Sandpiper posing in front of a blue studio backdrop (actually a metal fence).

A Paddyfield Pipit giving 'field guide views'in front of the same backdrop.

A Purple Heron contemplating the mysteries of life (in front of an actual blue sky).

A Blue-tailed Bee-eater in a typically photogenic pose.

While my friends were purring over these sumptuous delights, I was feeling pretty relaxed about everything, until I noticed a smaller duck among a flock of flying whistling-ducks...

Casting off my laid-back smugness, I sprang into action!...An eclipse male Garganey - long-awaited and much-looked for, my 559th species for Peninsular Malaysia.

It landed distantly, and before I could set up the digiscoping gear, had secreted itself in thick vegetation, not to be seen again that day (but it has behaved better since, see Muin's blog).

Much closer at hand was a nice selection of waders and wagtails in some muddy pools next to the road.

Some Eastern Yellow Wagtails...

...Little Ringed Plovers...

and stints...

Long-toed Stints - they're such beauties I'm not going to apologize for OD'ing on these!

And then, four other stints, which, much to the disappointment of Peter (from the UK), turned out to be ALL Little Stints! I tried to explain that these are really rare here compared to Red-necked, which is by far the commonest calidrid, normally, but this didn't seem to cheer him up much!

Two Little Stints with a Long-toed (bottom left).

Why are these Little rather than Red-necked? It's a combination of features rather than one stand-out.

Firstly, the 'bare parts'. The legs are long, both below and above the joint, but especially above (the tibia). (The legs are dark by the way - the yellowish colouration is due to the mud). The bill is finer and slighter than on Red-necked, both at the base and the tip.

They have a distinctive 'round-shouldered' shape when feeding, the legs are usually well bent and the tail-end tends to be slightly angled upward.

The head and neck of Little Stint (LS) are subtly different from Red-necked Stint's (RNS) - smaller, narrower head-on, and with more 'neck'. The back of the head (rear crown-nape area) often seems to slope away rather than being strongly angled (as it often looks on RNS).

The head seems to be 'stuck on' the top of the body, while on Red-necked it seems stuck on the front (I guess this means that LS tends to stand more upright, while RNS has a rather horizontal stance usually). The body itself is rounder on LS (especially in the chest area) and more slender on RNS.

Plumage-wise, there's not much to go on in adult non-breeding plumage. Most LS have rather dark-centred upperpart feathers in fresh plumage (with whitish tips on very fresh feathers), whereas most RNS have much plainer and paler upperpart feathers. One of the four (seen left here) was clearly more worn than the others, and was distinctly brownish above.

Some more shots showing the typically 'hunch-backed' appearance.

Some of the differences I've mentioned above are easier to assess on still photos than on fast-moving birds. Anyone interested in this tricky pair of stints should make the most of this opportunity to familiarize yourself with Little Stints (at least if you live in Malaysia!). They seem to be hanging around.

A late morning visit to Kampung Permatang Nibong yielded three Great Spotted Eagles (two of which are shown above).

15th November 2011: Tanjung Tokong, Penang

2011-11-15T22:58:00.012+08:00

I finally made time to go down to the Swinhoe's Plover site today - and the birds didn't disappoint - there were four present.

There's a bird just to the left of the post, on the water's edge.

Bird 1.

Bird 2.

Bird 3.

Bird 4.

I had a hard time trying to age these birds as they all seemed pretty worn. Eventually I managed to see that the bird with the brightest cap (on the left) was in primary moult and therefore must be an adult.

All the others showed uniform flight feathers and I therefore aged them as 1st winter birds.

A solitary minivet was flying around, so I had to check it out in case it was my second 'Swinhoe's' of the day - nope - just an Ashy!

The other highlight of the afternoon was a group of 8 Smooth Otters. I never managed to photograph them when every head was up, but 7 out of 8 ain't bad!

19-22 October 2011: BRISC, Pulau Tengah, Johor

2011-10-26T23:25:00.043+08:00

If you've been keeping track of this blog through the year, you may remember that BRISC stands for Batu-Batu Reef and Island Study Centre. It's part of a new boutique resort development on Pulau Tengah, about 9km east of Mersing in Johor. I documented my two previous visits here and here.

Part of my work has involved collecting baseline data on the birds and other marine and terrestrial fauna of the island and its environs. In particular, we've wanted to explore the potential of the island as a migrant trap, especially during southerly migration, and to find out what pelagic birds are in the area. For the past 3 weeks or so, Simon Buckell, an experienced island and pelagic birder, has been stationed on the island, assisted by Hakim, so I have been getting vicarious pleasure out of seeing what they turn up, since I've largely been stuck in my office! You can keep track of what's been happening 'at the coalface' by checking Simon's blog - Waderworld - what a year he's had!

Last week I had the chance of spending a few days with them, and arrived just after a pelagic trip on which they had had 5 Bulwer's Petrels, Christmas Island Frigatebird and a bunch of other goodies (which you can read about here). Simon promised me an overnight pelagic so I was pretty excited about the whole thing!

Looking North-east from Pulau Tengah toward Pulau Rawa.

Migrants have been few and far between so far on the island, but on my first morning there we collectively had a couple of Arctic Warblers, a Purple-backed Starling and a Brown Shrike. Bird of the morning for me was not a migrant however, but an unexpected encounter with three Nicobar Pigeons feeding on fruit in the canopy. I got good views of one, but didn't have the camera ready, so missed getting a shot. This is a tricky species to catch up with in West Malaysia, so I was very pleased indeed to bump into them - a world 'lifer', and number 558 for Peninsular Malaysia!

This was just the appetizer for the main course of the day however, as we set out on our boat trip at around midday. We chugged eastwards for about 4 hours to a point about 48 miles off the coast, beyond Aur, Pemanggil and Tioman Islands, to where Simon and Hakim had chummed the previous week.

Hakim and Simon preparing the chum. I would have loved to help of course, but someone had to do the hard job of recording the occasion on camera!

Seriously, it's a good job that photos don't capture smell - the stuff reeked terribly, a mix of fish left in the sun for 4 days and oil which we called Chanel No 9!

Great Crested and Bridled Terns were the first to come and check out the slick spreading behind the boat.

This adult Long-tailed Jaeger was next to arrive. The light was difficult, as the slick was drifting into the setting sun, and the relatively small boat was moving up and down considerably in the swell. This made getting the bird in frame, let alone in focus, was quite a challenge - a lot different from the relatively stable anchovy boat I take off the west coast.

Not the best views, but this was the first Long-tailed I've seen in autumn, so I was pleased with it. The photo shows some fresh non-breeding plumage feathers coming through on the scapulars and rump.

There were a few Lesser Frigatebirds about, as well as another couple of jaegers - one a Long-tailed and the other not, but not identified to species.

At dusk we headed for the relative shelter of Tioman.

Simon and me settling down for the night to the fragrance of Chanel No 9!

Tioman's own 'twin towers' greeted us next morning.

Our boat tied up at the jetty while we went in search of breakfast!

Heading out from Tioman to the chumming point.

We came across a small pod of about 7 dolphins, including this mother and calf. I think they were Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins - can anyone confirm or correct that?

There were several distant Lesser Frigatebirds - truly gothic birds!

Once we got the chum slick going, several came in for a much closer look.

Most were adult males.

The sense of latent power and menace in these birds was almost tangible as they drifted lazily over the ocean. Once they kicked into gear, their speed and agility was breathtaking (and pretty impossible to photograph!)

Who'd be a tern? Being harassed by a jaeger is bad enough, but when a frigatebird has you in its sights it must be downright terrifying!

Evil pirates or enviable beatniks?!

I think this is a 4th year male.

Adult females. I'm not sure what the significance of the different bill colour is.

Two juveniles.

But that was it really! We waited in vain for about 3 hours for the chum to draw in something a little more exciting, before finally giving up and heading for home. On the long 4 hour journey back we remained alert enough to see a couple of Red-necked Phalaropes on the sea, followed by a flock of at least 12 birds, which we lost as soon as we got onto, frustratingly. I don't think anyone's ever seen 14 phalaropes in a day in Malaysia before, but the chances are we only saw a tiny fraction of the true number out there.

The following morning was my last on the island. I hoped to find the Nicobar Pigeons again, this time with camera at the ready, but the birds were not in the same tree as two days previously.

I sat on the rocks at the northernmost point of the island, and watched a juv Japanese Sparrowhawk migrating south overhead.

Wanna check my mesial stripe? Here you go!

I noticed about 100 Pied Imperial Pigeons decorating some of the trees on the adjacent island, Pulau Hujong, like some strange fruit.

Soon some of them started flying over to Pulau Tengah.

A single Nicobar Pigeon (a juv with an all dark tail), also flew overhead.

So I got my pictures after all - not as close as I might have hoped - but then again, there aren't too many pics of Nicobar Pigeons in flight around!

An island 'regular' to finish with - a Pacific Reef Egret.

13th Oct 2011: At sea, off Tanjung Dawai, Kedah

2011-10-14T15:12:00.042+08:00

Work-wise, this has definitely been my busiest southward migration season for some years, which has meant very little time in the field. However, I'd had an email or two from Gerry Brett in Thailand asking if I would take him on a pelagic trip off Tanjung Dawai in October. Well, I couldn't refuse a request like that, so, with the excuse of offering some good Malaysian hospitality to a visitor, I quieted my conscience sufficiently to put the office work on hold for a day.

We were on a roll from the get-go, with first a brief sighting of an Irrawaddy Dolphin, and then a nice feeding Whale Shark, which the captain obligingly steered over to so we could take a good look!

Just a 'baby', but still an impressive beast!

It was feeding on a shoal of small fish which formed a crescent in front of the vacuum-cleaner-like mouth, so it looked as if was wearing a fishy smile!

Shortly after this fine display, I picked up a tiny white dot flying above the waves. As I got my bins onto it and shouted "Phalarope!" it pitched down; I managed to locate the dot in the camera LCD screen, rattled off a few frames, and by 'chimping' the bird on the LCD, was able to see that it was a juv Red-necked Phalarope - a new Peninsular Malaysian bird for me. Gerry wasn't able to get onto the bird (well, you try giving directions to a tiny bird on the surface of the sea!), but, having seen them far closer in Thailand, was well able to contain the disappointment.

For me, this was a minor triumph - having been on the look-out for the species from the boat for some time now. I knew they must be out there, it was just finding one!

It was obvious that terns numbers were up in a big way compared to last month, and once the net went out, it was Tern Central, giving us superb opportunities to observe the species present from all angles and in most plumages.

White-winged were arguably the most abundant, with 1-2,000 birds present. As soon as the net went out these birds would materialize seemingly out of thin air and descend on the yellow floats holding the net up. It was as if they were just waiting for a place to perch!

Most were adults at various stages of wing moult.

There were a few first winters, but I was especially pleased to photograph this bird (top) still in full juvenile plumage. You don't often see this plumage here.

Common Terns had also arrived in numbers - at least 1,000 of these were present.

There were still lots of Bridled Terns about - at least 600 - and I spent a lot of time scrutinizing juveniles, especially the head patterns, after the occurrence of a strange dark-backed tern in Singapore recently (which I'll post more on anon).

I was especially interested in the variation in the pattern of dark and white on the forehead and supercilium, and also in the variation in extent of dark colouration on the throat. This is a fairly standard 'text-book' juv with a well-marked supercilium and plain white throat.

This was a particularly dark individual, which had extensive darker smudging on the flanks and a lightly streaked brown wash on the throat.

It had a typical white 'V' on the forehead, extending over the eye as a short supercilium, and a pale collar.

This much fresher-plumaged bird had a far less obvious supercilium and apparently more restricted white on the forehead.

And this one had nothing you could really call a supercilium at all. It had a fairly large and diffuse white forehead blaze, and a hint of streaking extending down the sides of the throat. This was the darkest-headed bird I could find among the hundreds of juvenile Bridled. None of the juveniles had yet started their body moult into 1st non-breeding plumage.

In fresh plumage, the crown is clearly streaked brown and white. However, when the white edges wear away, the overall effect is to make the crown plainer and darker.

There were more Black-naped Terns than usual - around 50 or so.

Juveniles were plentiful - very smart-looking in black and silver!

In-flight entertainment - Crick-naped Tern!

The scarcer terns were represented by Lesser Cresteds - never more than one in view at any time, but, as these photos show, at least three different birds were present.

There were a few Little Terns around, as well as a solitary and brief Whiskered.

So there were LOTS of terns, but not a great deal of variety. By the time the net was put out for the third time toward 5 o'clock, we were both feeling somewhat hot and weary, having been scanning for 10 hours pretty much constantly. I decided to go up top to get some more juv Bridled Tern pics, and Gerry was one deck down digiscoping (I kid you not, and he got some very respectable pics!) the terns on the net buoys. As I was scanning with my bins, suddenly a familiar but wholly unexpected bird appeared - a LITTLE GULL!!

The first frame!

My mind refused to take in what I was seeing for a split second, before instinct kicked in and I reached for the camera, at the same time shouting - :Little Gull - first for Malaysia!" hoping that this would alert Gerry to the importance of the message. There followed the usual comic miscommunication - "A what?.... A what?" Followed by, "Never mind, just get up here!" Gerry got onto the bird briefly as I got a few more shots, and then the bird vanished into the melee of other birds and into the sun. Confidence that the bird would reappear gradually evaporated as repeated scans drew a blank. Looking at the timing on the camera, the bird had been present for less than a minute, and it had now apparently vanished without trace!

Once we realized that the bird was not among the terns milling around the boat, we stopped to take stock. The bird had been in almost full juv plumage. Although I've seen lots of Little Gulls in the UK, most have been in first winter or adult plumage, and it's been over 15 years since I've seen one. I'd brought Brazil's Birds of East Asia with us, so was able to do a quick check. About an hour after seeing the bird, I had just sat down to write up my notes when Gerry looked up and found the bird again, almost over our heads! By now the light was going, but we were able to make a more leisurely observation, as it hung around for about 10 minutes, before being lost in the wake of the ship.

Spot the Little Gull!

So my second Malaysian lifer of the day was one that was not on my wackiest prediction list! Little Gulls have a northerly breeding and wintering range in Asia (see this map). Brazil reports: "most winter well to the west of [East Asia], but has strayed to coastal Hebei and Jiangsu, Taiwan and several times to Japan; reported Korea." The species sneaked into the latest (2008) edition of Robson's Birds of South-east by virtue of a record in Central Thailand, so, as far as I know, this is the second South-east Asian record, and the most southerly.

Some Common Terns followed us till dark. Thanks to Jerry for forcing me to get out of the office for the day - not a bad result!

Little Gull! Second record for South-east Asia

2011-10-14T00:50:00.001+08:00

Seen today off the Kedah coast. More details to follow...

Sept 21 2011: At sea, off Tanjung Dawai, Kedah

2011-10-09T20:42:00.035+08:00

This was my first trip out in September (we have between us now covered all the other months of the year), so I was somewhat hopeful, especially as there had been a count of 510 Swinhoe's Storm-petrels off Singapore the previous weekend!

The weather was nice too - proper seawatching weather, with a succession of rain squalls pushing birds toward the coast. Things looked good!

Great Crested and Common Terns vying for space on the fish-traps close inshore in the early morning. There had been rain overnight and more looked likely!

Rain coming.

Rain arrived!

Before one of the squalls hit, I was rewarded by the magnificent sight of three Brown Boobies arcing high over the sea heading toward the coast!

I've seen Brown Boobies closer than this before, but never so much 'in their element' like this, enjoying the wind and behaving like real ocean-going birds - fantastic!

This is one of the other birds - looking rather heron-like with almost no tail. All were subadults, perhaps from Pulau Perak, which is about 200km to the south.

Later on, one of the birds came to feed around the net.

Point of entry. Amazing how thin they make themselves as they enter the water! Whenever I've seen Brown Boobies fishing, they always dive at a shallow angle like this, and from only a few feet above the water. Maybe this is because their prey is near the surface, but it is different from how I remember Northern and Australian Gannets hunting; I only recall seeing them diving from much higher above the water and almost vertically.

That was pretty much it, as far as interesting seabirds was concerned. No petrels sadly, though plenty of Bridled Terns - I estimated over 400, including many fresh juveniles. The Singapore pelagic had recorded about 500, clearly on passage. In our case, it's harder to see that birds are migrating, since we mainly see them milling around the nets and feeding, but a quick calculation of maximum numbers we've recorded by month reveals that September is one of the two peak months in the year.

Adults.

Juveniles.

A study in contrasts. A 1st winter Common Tern (left) with an adult Black-naped Tern.

Black-naped seem to shine against the dark rain clouds!

Numbers of Common Terns have not built up yet, with only about 200 in evidence, and, as last month, most were the red-billed 'tibetana' race.

I tried my hand at photographing them from the stern as the birds followed the boat. Pretty tricky!

This one looks like the 'longipennis' race.

Sometimes the birds got a bit close!

Juvenile/first winters have noticeably shorter and more paddle-shaped wings than adults (rear).

A couple of more mature first winters.

Younger birds still have some brown on the forehead and a red bill base.

A couple of Great Crested Terns briefly came to check us out.

They have a jaeger-like, somewhat predatory head-on profile.

This bird appeared to have an almost completely white head.

It didn't hang about.

The last noteworthy sighting of the day was a small pod of dolphins which appeared briefly near the boat. I think these were Irrawaddy Dolphins (I'm happy to have someone confirm or correct this). The pink on the dorsal is either a wound or lack of pigmentation.

16 - 18 Sept: Ulu Muda

2011-09-20T22:42:00.022+08:00

I finally made a trip to the forests of the north of the Peninsula, with the main aim of seeing Plain-pouched Hornbill.

I went as part of a group staying at Earth Lodge. We had no electricity due to someone helping themselves to a length of cable over the recent holidays, but this proved a very minor inconvenience, as the forest was cool by day and night.

The hornbills didn't disappoint, with regular flights to and from the roost morning and evening; 379 was the best count.

The biggest flocks were over 30 birds, but most were in the 6-16 range.

Photographing them in good light was a challenge due to mist and low sun, but I finally managed to catch this flock on the last morning.

The other highlight was the outstanding number of night-birds around the camp. I estimated 3-4 Reddish Scops-owls, 2 Collared Scops, 1 Brown Hawk-owl, 2 Buffy Fish-owls and one other large owl which called once briefly. Another frustrating once-only call was a probable White-fronted Scops. There were also 3-4 Gould's and 2 Javan Frogmouths in the area. The Reddish Scops, seen briefly and close-up at dawn on our last day, was my second lifer of the trip, and brought my 500 Club list to 555 - which has a nice ring to it!

This male Gould's Frogmouth perched much lower than my only previous sighting.

Some other birds seen crossing the river while waiting for Plain-pouched Hornbills...

One of a party of Great Slaty Woodpeckers.

We counted 27 Large Green-pigeons flying to roost the first evening.

Oriental Pied Hornbills were noisy and obvious!

Oriental Honey-buzzard (top)and Crested Goshawk were among the six raptor species seen.

A Ferruginous Babbler on a rare open perch! The bird activity on the forest trails was good, but the leeches were plentiful and ferocious, and I didn't have adequate protection, which meant I probably spent less time on the trails than I could have!

I am pretty confident the swiftlets which came down to drink in the evening were Black-nest Swiftlets. They had virtually no tail notch, the plumage lacked the warmer brown tones of Germain's, and there was no obvious darker cap, which can be seen on Germain's with good views.

Here's something you don't see every day...a leucistic swiftlet - very cool bird!

A serene sunset on the Muda River. Something tells me I'll be back - once I've got my leech socks sorted!

Sneak peek - September Suara Enggang!

2011-09-20T21:25:00.004+08:00

Coming soon!

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22 - 25 August, 2011: Pulau Tengah, Johore

2011-09-18T22:17:00.035+08:00

Apologies for the long delay in publishing this post - I've been snowed under work-wise for the past month.

This was my second trip to the island, where Batu-Batu Resort and Wild Asia are working closely together to promote the study and protection of flora and fauna of this small island, located about 9km off Mersing. For more on the project and the island, see this post.

The main purpose of this visit was to see how intern/volunteers Jyun and Hakim have been getting on collecting baseline information on various aspects of the biodiversity of the island and surrounding area. It was still a bit early for passerine migrants, but returning waders were already in evidence.

A view looking at the north-east coastline. Plenty of cover for southward-moving migrants here!

A few more shots from around the island.

The Kraken awakes?

Stunning beauty everywhere you look!

Even the fish 'heart' Pulau Tengah...!

...for infinity!

A Black-naped Tern in front of an approaching storm.

I spent the last morning at the north end of the island trying to photograph the Black-naped Terns there. The low morning light was challenging!

There was a single newly-fledged juvenile being attended by 2 adult birds, including the very abraded individual here.

The juvenile had short, rounded wings, and reminded me of a Little Gull in flight.

The blood vessels in the wing showed pink as the sunlight shone through the wings.

One of the adults showed up with a fish, but was it for the chick or its mate?

The other adult didn't believe in queuing!

In pole position!

This time the juvenile had to wait. Well, they say the best way to love your kids is to show them you love your spouse!

After the fish was exchanged the giver engaged in some sky-pointing, courtship behaviour associated with several birds such as terns and boobies.

A few more terns.

An interesting rock near the terns. It appeared to have a map of England (or is that a mermaid washing her hair??!) and a light bulb etched upon it!

On our return to the mainland, it was good to see that wader migration was already well under way,with over a thousand birds visible, though most were extremely distant. Among the Lesser Sand Plovers, the most abundant species, were good numbers of juveniles, such as this one.

The peach wash on the breast soon fades. When present, it can make juvs look reminiscent of adults in breeding plumage. However, note the broad buff fringes to all the upperpart feathers, which are lacking in adults at this time of year.

Three juveniles and an adult (second from the right). The adult has much more uniform upperpart feathers and is also in wing moult.

A different group, three adults and one juvenile (far right) this time.

15th August 2011: Air Itam Dam, Penang

2011-08-15T23:06:00.011+08:00

I decided to follow up a tip from Hor Kee, who wrote that Brown-backed Needletails were coming down to drink in the evening at Air Itam Reservoir.

The needletails did eventually arrive - but when it was already far too dark for photography. However, this was made up for by the presence of 10-20 Grey-rumped Treeswifts flying low to and fro along the dam, which gave me a good opportunity to try and capture some flight shots.

Males.

Females.

This seems to be the inter-breeding period. Most birds were in wing and tail moult, with some having lost their longer outer tail feathers altogether, which made them look quite odd in flight!

Toward dusk they went to roost in some small trees near the guard house. This was a challenge photographically, as they were against a colourless sky, and I was very limited in my viewpoint options (mostly directly below!). Hope to go back and improve these shots on a better day.

Very fluffy!

A Brahminy Kite provided a considerably simpler challenge!

12th August 2011: Swiftlets, USM

2011-08-13T14:27:00.012+08:00

As I've said before on this blog, give me the chance to photograph swifts or swiftlets in decent lighting conditions, as I'm as happy as Larry, and can easily lose all track of time...and memory cards!

Yesterday I was at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) campus in late afternoon, and many Germain's Swiftlets were coming down to drink and bathe. Here's the final cut from several hundred efforts to capture them in pixels. It was a lot of fun!

4th August 2011: At sea off Tanjung Dawai, Kedah

2011-08-07T21:00:00.035+08:00

For a week or so my old friend Harom had been reporting a 'large' skua/jaeger from the boat, so I was tempted to go check it out, in the hope that it might be one of the southern hemisphere Catharacta skuas. Brown has occurred in Sri Lanka,and South Polar has been seen in several North Asian countries.

At the nets there were fewer birds than I can remember seeing - the commonest being Bridled (c50 birds).

This non-breeding plumaged bird has recently moulted the outer 4 primaries (p10 is still growing). The inner 6 are significantly older, indicating that wing moult was suspended at some point.

This breeding plumaged bird is just starting to replace the inner primaries. P1 (the innermost) is new, along with its equivalent primary covert. The tips of the older primaries show some unusual patterns of wear, and make me wonder whether these were caused by abrasion against rocks on the breeding grounds.

There were a dozen or so Common Terns, a mix of first and second summer birds and a few adults, the latter of which I took to be genuine returning migrants. In midwinter off Malaysia, the black-billed 'longipennis' ('Eastern Common Tern') is overwhelmingly the most numerous race, with perhaps only 5% of the many thousands of birds seen being of the red-billed 'tibetana' race ('Tibetan Common Tern'). What was interesting about today's birds was that all the adults I saw were 'tibetana', suggesting that they have a distinctly earlier southerly passage period than longipennis off Malaysia, which is something I hadn't realized before.

Adults are very attractive, with their bright postbox red feet and bill base and lavender grey underparts. All three pics are of the same individual.

Another bird. Note how distinct the dark tips to the upper primaries are on this one.

This one has a Forster's Tern-like rump and tail pattern (grey tail, white rump).

A second summer 'tibetana'.

Compared to a second summer longipennis - the only one of this race I noticed. Longipennis always looks a heavier-set, heavier-billed bird in the field.

A first summer Common. The presence of so many adult tibetana, and the fact that this bird had bright red legs made me wonder whether leg colour may be a reliable indicator of this race in 1st year birds.

And another.

This first summer Common has a grey rump AND tail - supposedly a distinguishing feature of White-cheeked. Not the first subad I've seen showing this feature, but I've yet to see an adult like this.

My first returning Barn Swallow of the year!

Since there were no birds about for much of the day, I turned my camera to other things, and was especially taken by the two different types of flying fish we caught. This one is surprisingly bird-like in shape!

This one is more typically fish-shaped.

Cool colours!

I took some pics of the crew.

All good men and true - we've become good friends over the years.

These are my favourites!

I was deeply touched when the Captain Anwar presented me with a painting of the boat he'd done for me. Awesome colours! Note the (Black-naped!) Terns just visible on the rock at the top left of the picture!

After the trip I met up with Harom and showed him pictures of various skuas/jaegers. He unhesitatingly pointed to a pale phase Pomarine Jaeger as the bird he'd seen, thus putting my mind to rest that I hadn't missed a 'first' for Malaysia!

The passing of a great man

2011-08-02T21:29:00.008+08:00

I just learned today of the death of John Stott. I've never had an obituary on my blog before, but I felt I couldn't let this moment go by unmarked. Though I only had the privilege of hearing him speak once, John Stott's books and lifestyle have had a great impact on me, and I can truly say that his was a life well-lived.

John Stott was the one who pointed out to me in his book "The Birds Our Teachers" that Jesus actually commands us to study birds!

Photo: John Yates

John Stott 1921 - 2011

You can read The Guardian's obituary here.

26th July 2011: Sungai Perdik, Ulu Langat, Selangor

2011-07-30T22:41:00.010+08:00

This was my first visit to Sungai Perdik, which lies in the foothills of the main Titiwangsa range near Gunung Nuang. I was very impressed with the variety of birds there, with activity continuing well into the late morning.

Frustratingly, I couldn't identify potentially the best birds of the visit - a pair of partridges which scuttled off into the undergrowth without me getting my bins onto them. A pair of Jambu Fruit Doves eluded my camera, as did a male Green Broadbill. Some of the species I did manage to capture are below.

I glimpsed the partridges while photographing this Black-capped Babbler.

For my second consecutive trip I managed to photograph Siamangs - these ones were definitely undomesticated!

Rufous-fronted Babbler is a species I rarely see and have not photographed in the Peninsula before. I was surprised to see the bright pink base to the lower mandible, as it's not shown in any of the books I looked at. Perhaps it only occurs during peak breeding time, like on some herons?

One of a few Black-and-Red Broadbills which were active.

Numerous fruiting trees attracted a variety of bulbuls, including Black-headed.

24th July 2011: Fraser's Hill to Kuala Kubu Bharu

2011-07-30T14:03:00.012+08:00

As this was my last morning, I decided to start at the top for a change and wait for the Malaysian Whistling-thrush.

My efforts from before dawn till about 8 o'clock yielded neither sight nor sound of them. This Rufous-browed Flycatcher was typically obliging in the early morning light.

As I was packing up my hide, I noticed a young Siamang feeding quietly right next to the road. Since this species is usually extremely shy, I could barely believe my luck as I stealthily reset up my camera and crept closer. A man was walking down the road so I beckoned him over, urging him to be completely quiet. "Oh", he said in an unnecessarily loud voice, I thought, "That's Bobby - he likes candy very much!" The man held out a sticky sweet and rustled the wrapper, and sure enough, this shy denizen of the forest came down and took the sweet from his hand! My sense of disappointment was palpable, and I was also left feeling pretty foolish with my stealth approach! It turns out that this is an orphan, and it was either raised, or at least fed, one of the guards at the Top Gate, so it is semi-domesticated.

Of course, it would be nice if folks could be educated not to feed it junk food, but it's still a very fine looking beast, and will hopefully provide visitors with the thrill of seeing a 'wild' Siamang at close quarters for many years to come. Actually, I think that hairstyle might really catch on...!

Down at the Gap, I had to wade my way through the Bamboo Woodpecker hordes once again, and as before, they evaded my attempts at getting a clear shot.

On my way back to civilization, I couldn't resist stopping at the swift bridge again. The light was less favourable than last time, and I only got this head-on House Swift.

Rufous-bellied Swallows were in hunting mode (I noticed 2-3 nests beneath the bridge) and provided me with some good photo opps as they glided around.

Very fine-looking creatures indeed, and a near-endemic taxon into the bargain!

23 July 2011: The Gap - Fraser's Hill

2011-07-30T10:47:00.009+08:00

By now I was seeing a regular pattern of birds. Starting at the Gap, knee-deep in Bamboo Woodpeckers again (how did I manage to miss these before?!), but the same old problems getting good light and a clear perch. My best efforts below.

At my Ferruginous Partridge 'stake-out' - the same blank result. There were two Rail-babblers calling today, and one briefly walked across the track, but didn't stay long enough for a photo.

Back at the Gap, a small group of Black Laughingthrushes were obliging, but the light wasn't, as thick fog swirled in.

The weather wasn't much better at the top, and I spent some time on Bishop's Trail photographing a pair of Buff-breasted Babblers in the gloom, before rain stopped play. These are a surprisingly common bird at Fraser's Hill, as you realize once you learn their calls, but they can be quite difficult to get good views of. I was lucky with this pair, which came down to feed on the trail as I was waiting quietly to see what would turn up.

22nd July 2011: The Gap - Fraser's Hill

2011-07-30T00:01:00.008+08:00

Much the same routine as yesterday, with a dawn start at the Lower Gate.

Today I was fortunate to get great views of Marbled Wren-babbler in a somewhat exposed area just below the road, and managed a few reasonable pics.

These are just great birds, though why they are called wren-babblers I can't quite work out - they look more like laughingthrushes to me!

The same fruitless result waiting for Ferruginous Partridges (one heard calling), but this was somewhat compensated for by the brief appearance of a Rail-babbler!

Rain rather curtailed activities in the afternoon!

21 July 2011: The Gap - Fraser's Hill

2011-07-28T21:39:00.017+08:00

I started at the Lower Gate before dawn, being surprised to hear a Javan Frogmouth near the gate. Once it was light I soon located three Bamboo Woodpeckers - one of my Fraser's Hill 'bogey birds' finally laid to rest!

Getting good photos was another matter! Over the next few days I encountered this species daily, usually more than once, but never got a decent chance of a clear shot in good light.

A flock of Black Laughingthrushes was obliging, but I failed to get any sharp shots.

Having finally got the woodpecker, I now only have two Fraser's Hill residents left to see, both of them partridges (Ferruginous and Long-billed)! The first of these was my target for the trip, and I spent much of the morning sitting in my hide and waiting...! Two birds were calling further up the hill, one above the road and one below, but none came close, so I gave up the hunt towards midday.

This White-bellied Yuhina (Erpornis) was one of several species still active at the Lower Gate as I left.

At the top I headed for some lunch and an iced strawberry juice, but I met Ahli Chung and a group he was guiding, who told me they'd found a roosting Mountain Scops-owl on Hemmant's Trail. The drink was hastily postponed as I got precise directions and headed off to try to locate the bird. It wasn't where they'd seen it, but incredibly, while I was searching for it, a bird started calling close by, and, in response to my whistled imitation, flew straight in to perch about 5m away! It sat there oblivious to my attempts to manoeuvre myself to get a unobstructed shot and continued calling, stimulating a second bird to respond not far away!

While watching the bird, I noticed it peering over my shoulder at something behind me. On turning I saw two Yellow-throated Martens coming down the slope toward me. At about 3 metres away, they finally noticed me and ran off up the slope. No chance to move, still less photograph them, but it was an unforgettable moment nonetheless!

Here's a video of the bird calling. Thanks Ahli!

Eventually hunger pangs kicked in and I walked away from the bird, still in view and still calling!

The afternoon was a bit of an anticlimax after that. This female Black-and-Crimson Oriole was part of a bird wave.

20 July 2011: Kuala Kubu Bharu, Selangor

2011-07-28T19:41:00.010+08:00

I had a few meetings to attend in KL last weekend, and recent sightings of Ferruginous Partridge near The Gap below Fraser's Hill enticed me to head south a few days early. Usually the family visits Fraser's over Chinese New Year, but we missed it this year, so I figured I was due a visit!

I got waylaid en route by a colony of House Swifts breeding below the bridge over one of the arms of the KKB Reservoir. Give me eye-level views of swifts and I can quite happily waste hours trying to get that perfect shot - it's an addictive pass-time!

All birds photographed were adults, and all seemed at an identical stage of moult, with fresh tail feathers and inner primaries. Many were carrying feathers and bits of straw, so were presumably gearing up for breeding.

There's always one that just has to be BETTER than all the others!

I've not managed to photograph the iris colour of a House Swift in flight before!

There were a couple of swiflets too. I felt these were darker and greyer than the usual Germain's, with a subtly different jizz, looking long, sharp-winged. Possibly the nominate race of Black-nest?

A few bits and pieces

2011-07-28T18:15:00.007+08:00

Things have been a bit quiet on this blog of late, but I've been up to plenty!

Nice bird, shame about the background! Black-winged Stilts bred at Pulau Burung Landfill again this year. I saw at least a couple of family parties.

I finally got my Racket-tailed Treepie near Alor Setar - thanks for the tip-off Muin!

And some decent views at last of Streak-breasted Woodpecker at Air Itam Dalam.

My 15 minutes of fame happened at last; a well-written feature in The Star, just here. A sidebar to that story gave a bit of a plug to the 500 Club.

29 June - 4 July 2011: Poring, Sabah

2011-07-07T15:08:00.035+08:00

Just back from a relaxing few days in Sabah, initially to do a survey of bird life around a new Jungle Camp, entrancingly called "Lupa Masa" (Forget Time), and then to spend a few days in the more familiar Poring Hot Springs park area.

The dining area. The place really blends in with its surroundings, and it is not difficult to indeed forget time there. The story of the genesis of this place can be read here. It's not long before the only clock you take notice of is the natural rhythm of the dawn-day-dusk-night.

You sleep in 'sulaps' - ingenious structures housing cozy hammocks complete with mosquito nets. From one of these some lucky visitors had wonderful views of a Yellow-throated Marten family at play.

I wasn't quite as lucky, but was fortunate enough to photograph this male Purple-naped Sunbird while laying on my sleeping-bag!

It was only a few metres away, yet completely oblivious to my presence! Very nice!

Not a bad place to cool off after a hot day in the jungle! Complete with fish which nibble your toes, and the occasional Bornean Forktails and Bornean Whistling-thrush.

The endemic Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker was a common visitor to the dining room verandah.

Black-winged Flycatcher-shrikes were also seen there daily.

If you visit the camp, look out for this fellow - I think he's wanted for rustling!

Lupa Masa offers some exciting possibilities for exploring the quieter areas behind the national park. I spent the last few days of my stay in the park proper, trekking up to the spectacular Langanan Waterfall.

You can't go to a place called "Poring' and expect not to get wet, it is RAINforest after all! The rain was fairly predictable, however, usually arriving around midday or early afternoon, giving me clear mornings.

On my first day I decided to reacquaint myself with one of the Park's more well-known residents - Blue-banded Pitta.

This was a markedly brighter bird than the one I photographed at Kubah in Sarawak - too bad I didn't quite get the same photographic opportunities!

The red on this bird is far more intense and 'pure' than on the Kubah bird, and the blue chest-band is broader (cf these pics and these.

I spent a lot of time on the trails hoping for a shot of Bornean Banded Pitta, but a single call was the closest I got for my efforts!

I was pleased to get a look at the Bornean melanops race of Banded Kingfisher. This one was wrestling with a large stick insect. As I watched, it flew to another branch where a juvenile was waiting quietly.

Too bad my camera's autofocus popped out at the critical moment, but I was interested to see that the fledglings are sexually dimorphic - this one is clearly a male.

A bit late now, but a sharp shot at last!

Another juv Banded,another endemic subspecies (brookei), but a Broadbill rather than a kingfisher - rather overflashed! This and Black-and-Yellow were my only broadbills of the trip. Despite much searching, the Hose's remained elusive.

A few non-avian images. The second butterly was huge, and in flight had exactly the colour scheme of a White-crowned Shama (and it was nearly as big!).

Some friendly frogs!

A Plain Pygmy-squirrel...

...which was not only cute...

...but also fascinating! As it moved around it constantly rotated the rear of its body to rub itself against the bark of the vine - whether to scent-mark, alleviate some itch, or for another reason I couldn't tell.

OK, so sometimes I was bored!

This Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher seemed to be permanently stationed on this particular dead branch at all times of day and every day. This enabled me to try out every possible variation of ISO, flash setting and shutter speed, and still only come up with a rather mediocre series of photos! I'm hoping one day someone will help me understand how to use flash properly!

I'll finish off with two hard-to-photograph species:

Olive-backed Woodpecker (juv?) male.

Female.

And a rather fine White-necked Babbler.

Some new paintings

2011-07-06T19:59:00.002+08:00

Actually, one old and one new. The old is this comparison of Black and Bare-headed Laughingthrush for the most recent issue of Suara Enggang, illustrating an article by James Eaton.

The new is a rendition of a Chestnut-capped Thrush seen pre-dawn at Poring, Sabah, two days ago - my latest lifer.

More photos from there to follow...

16th June 2011: At sea, off Tanjung Dawai, Kedah

2011-06-18T17:56:00.040+08:00

I had made arrangements to take a Star reporter and photographer on the boat today, so it was a good excuse to go out and see what was still around. There had been a major storm the previous day and there was still quite a swell for most of today, and I think it brought the birds in too!

The first interesting bird of the day approached the boat from the rear, and for quite a while I had no idea what it was!

Fortunately it kept coming closer, and eventually revealed itself to be an immature Sooty Tern. What was interesting was that the bird apparently showed white in areas where even adults don't normally show white. For example, the extent of white on the forehead and crown was way more than would appear on an adult (being suggestive of a Noddy sp).

The white colouration on the outer primary coverts on the distant shots proved, on closer inspection, to be light reflecting off dark feathers.

The apparent pale grey on the inner primaries visible on the distant shots was the effect of light reflecting off freshly moulted adult-type inner primaries, which are covered with a lustrous silvery sheen (see the pics of adults on this post). I judged this bird to be a different individual from the one seen last on 4th May, as that bird was in pretty fresh plumage - I doubt so much wear could take place in the space of just over a month.

When the net was put out, I saw what I initially took to be another imm Sooty.

On getting better views, I realized that it was a Bridled, unfortunately oiled on its head and underwing.

Bridled Terns were overwhelmingly the commonest species in evidence today - around 200 at the net.

There was an interesting array of plumages on view; the lower of these two has lost most of its greater coverts and some lesser and primary coverts, exposing the white bases of the feathers beneath, leading to a very piebald appearance. Glad to see it has started to moult - otherwise it might soon be flightless!

Adults breeding-types had all but completed wing and tail moult (p10 and the outermost right hand tail feathers were still growing).

Most of the non-breeding plumaged Bridled were at a similar stage of wing moult to this bird, with all but the outer one or two primaries replaced (compared to 5-6 unmoulted on 4th May).

I was very surprised when the Brown Booby showed up again! Undoubtedly the same bird as the one first seen by me on 27th April (but probably present since February according to fishermen's reports) and last seen on 10th May.

It put on a superb show today, doing several close fly-pasts and joining the terns to feast on the fish in the net.

It has started its tail and wing moult, and seems to have replaced the central pair and the outermost pair of tail feathers - odd!

It's replacing some nape feathers too by the look of it.

A few more!

Two of the Short-tailed Shearwaters were still around - perhaps they'll stay to complete their moult.

The adult Roseate Tern was another 'old friend'. It still seems very much warier than the other terns, but it did come a little closer today.

Check out the out-sized conk and long black mane!

There were three Common Terns today - one of each age class. This is an adult - showing surprisingly dark underparts.

A 2nd summer...

And a 1st year bird.

The biggest surprise of the day was not one, but four jaegers! I thought that these would have long departed, but there were two first year Long-tailed Jaegers and 2 2nd yr or adult Parasitic. This is the first Long-tailed.

A second, pale-headed Long-tailed.

The first Parasitic, with tail extensions!

The second, with none.

The last jaegers of any description were seen on 10th May, so these are pretty late.

So all in all, an excellent day, with a surprising variety of birds on show for so late in the northern spring migration season.