31 March - 1 April: Gunung Telapa Buruk, Negeri Sembilan

I took a 'slight' detour on my trip back from KL to Penang to visit Rafi at his dream-home near Gunung Telapa Buruk. Though I didn't really need an excuse to pay him a visit, the offer was 'sweetened' by the frequent presence of a Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker in his garden, which is my No 1 'Bogey Bird' in Malaysia, as well as regular sightings of Eyebrowed Wren-babblers at nearby Telapa Buruk.

To cut a long story short, I didn't see either of them, but we did enjoy some very pleasant 'armchair birding' from his verandah!

Not close, but then how many of us can boast any kind of views of Wreathed Hornbill from our back garden?!

Brown Shrike - a commoner garden visitor, but not to be sniffed at, especially when acquiring really smart breeding plumage.



















While staking out the top of his woodpecker tree, I was amazed to see this flowerpecker land at eye-level. I'd only ever seen one Thick-billed Flowerpecker before, and that certainly wasn't at eye-level, so I was initially a bit puzzled by this bird.





















For one thing, the bill didn't seem that thick, certainly not compared to the illustration in Robson. It also seemed deformed, as if the upper mandible had overgrown the lower. Later digging around revealed that the race 'remotum' that occurs in Peninsular Malaysia has a bill "no thicker than Yellow-vented, Yellow-throated [sic] and Crimson-breasted Flowerpeckers" (Wells 2007). Furthermore, by looking at photos in OBI, I realized that the bill is always this rather unique shape, with the lower mandible fitting inside the upper. This must be an adaptation to facilitate piercing of fruits. Con Foley's recent amazing photos of Brown-backed Flowerpecker show that Brown-backed shares this bill characteristic.




















The streaks on this bird were rather less-well demarcated than those apparent on photos of nominate and 'modestum' races, and that olive wing patch really does stand out! Unfortunately, this was a fleeting view, as the bird was chased out of the tree by a Yellow-vented Flowerpecker! Still, it was a new 'garden tick' for Rafi!
























This pic of an obliging Silver-breasted Broadbill was my only fruit from our early morning trip up Gunung Telapa Buruk. The place seems pretty 'birdy', but both Eyebrowed and Marbled Wren-babblers remained resolutely silent and invisible!

16 - 18 Sept: Ulu Muda

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!

20th October 2010: Danum Valley BRL, Sabah

It's light by 6am in eastern Sabah, so the birds are up early too!



I managed to snap a few shots of a flock of Bold-striped Tit-babblers foraging along the river bank in the early morning. Babblers are always worth a close look (and listen to) in Borneo, as their forms almost invariably differ from those found in Peninsular Malaysia (as you might expect for a group of sedentary birds predominantly confined to forest). In the case of this taxon, it has already been recognized as distinct to species level from the now renamed Pin-striped Tit-babbler (formerly simply Striped Tit-babbler) of West Malaysia and elsewhere. Other splits are bound to follow in the babbler group.



Flavour of the morning in the Indian Coral tree was Little Spiderhunter - the third spiderhunter species I'd seen in the same tree in a few days.



Later on, the Spectacled showed up again.



The Chestnut-necklaced Partridges were in good voice today, with their defeaning duets on full volume. Photographing them is another matter though, as they are always concealed in thick undergrowth except for the split second when they dash across a clearing or the trail. This one was too close to get the whole bird in shot!



An adult Dark-sided Flycatcher in moult. The brown Muscicapa flycatchers can be a confusing group. I find that the very small bill of Dark-sided (visibly shorter and narrower than Asian Brown), is a good pointer in the field. Darker centres to the vent feathers are diagnostic of Dark-sided if they are present (which they aren't always).In East Malaysia, there is also the chance of Grey-streaked, which appears long-bodied and long-winged and has more distinct brown streaks on a white background, especially on the flanks.



More migrants! A research team from MNS HQ - Glenda, Maye and Eileen, with Edmondo (resident!).



Another endemic race - the 'borneensis' form of Asian Paradise-flycatcher.



And another...the 'brookei' race of Banded Broadbill. This is the female, and she sat overlooking a large nest on a tree from which the canopy walkway is suspended. Most broadbills build hanging nests, so I was surprised to see this one had been constructed in a fork in a huge mengaris (tualang) tree.



Black-throated Wren-babbler. This was one of my target birds for the trip. Nothing wren-like about these at all! Like the other large wren-babblers, Large and Marbled, this reminded me more in size and shape of a laughingthrush. They were more arboreal than other wren-babblers I've seen too.






















The 'Jacuzzi Pool'. When we arrived at this pool along one of the trails, we discovered that a picnic had been laid out for us - chicken wings, dragonfruit,tuna and lettuce sandwiches, ice-cold apple juice...























...no I wasn't dreaming! BRL hospitality at its best! Pic courtesy of Alan McBride of Wildiaries



Crystal clear water and lots of fish!























Some Lantern Bugs at a Lantern Bug convention. They seem to have got their head gear design idea from Rhinoceros Hornbills!



Another Bornean puzzle! All resident 'Ceyx' kingfishers in Borneo appear to have at least a rufous mantle, distinguishing them from the migrant 'Black-backed' Kingfisher. So this is the resident form. Some authorities claim that hybridization between the resident 'Rufous-backed' form and the migrant 'Black-backed' form is widespread in Borneo, leading them to conclude that there is only one species - Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher - involved. However, there is another possibility - that the Bornean taxon is simply variable! In that case, there could be three forms in Malaysia- the Rufous-backed of Peninsular Malaysia, the migrant Black-backed, and a third taxon resident in Borneo, currently recognized as a race - 'motleyi'.



White-crowned Forktail. This one's already been split from a neighbouring form which occurs in the highlands of Sabah - now called Bornean Forktail (cf the extent of white on the crown on this bird photographed on Gunung Kinabalu).



Another babbler, another puzzle! It's a Short-tailed Babbler ('sordidus' race). Here's another from Peninsular Malaysia ('malaccensis' race), and one from Sarawak ('saturatus' race). I'm not an expert on babbler vocalizations, but the birds in Danum have a song which I've not heard in West Malaysia.



A Spotted Fantail. This one is also a forest resident, yet it's monotypic, showing no variation over its range. Work that one out!



Stormbringer! A Wreathed Hornbill flies under some threatening clouds. Rain usually arrived after lunch!










































On this particular day,a brilliant troupe of Maroon Langurs also arrived after lunch! I'd had some rather unsatisfactory views of some in treetops, but this bunch seemed reasonably happy skirting the fence outside the restaurant by the river. Much better! The young are whitish, and seem to remain dependent on Mum till they're pretty large!



You'd think this might affect their mobility, but apparently not!



Supermum!





Adult and adolescent!






















Look-out!



This Western Tarsier was the highlight of the night drive.












































Tarsiers are primates (check out those fingers!), and have the largest eyes relative to body size of any mammal. They feed on insects,which they catch by acrobatic leaps from tree to tree.