Whistling-thrush final report now available in pdf!

If you'd like a copy, email me at digdeep1962atyahoodotcom.

Here's the Exec Summary from the report:

Three whistling-thrush Myophonus spp. taxa occur in Peninsular Malaysia; the endemic Malaysian Whistling-thrush M. robinsoni, and two near-endemic races of Blue Whistling-thrush, M. caeruleus dicrorhynchus and M.c.crassirostris. The status and population of both species is clouded by uncertainty over field characters which can reliably differentiate them. The IUCN Red List status of Malaysian is currently Least Concern, a classification which may in part be based on inaccurate reporting of the species’ abundance in the Cameron Highlands.

The assessment found that the range of the dicrorhynchus race of Blue Whistling-thrush overlaps substantially with the known distribution of Malaysian Whistling-thrush. The latter is best distinguished from Blue in the field by its much smaller size and by differences in head and bill structure, rather than by plumage features.

The assessment found healthy populations of dicrorhynchus Blue Whistling-thrushes occurring in the Kinta Valley, Perak and the Cameron Highlands, Pahang, and crassirostris Blue Whistling-thrushes were widespread in suitable habitat in Perlis. Field characters differentiating crassirostris from dicrorhynchus Blue include brighter, more spangled plumage and greater extent of yellow on the bill of the former.

Malaysian Whistling-thrush was only recorded at one site – Fraser’s Hill, Pahang. It was notably unrecorded in the Cameron Highlands. The findings of the assessment suggest that the IUCN Red List status of the species should be re-evaluated.

Threats to whistling-thrushes in Peninsular Malaysia include clearing of forest and degradation of streams in montane areas and limestone quarrying at lowland sites.

18th September 2010: Ipoh, Perak

I finally managed to get a couple of hours birding in on my drive back from KL to Penang yesterday.

I had two goals. One was to try look for nests of mystery swiftlets Kim Chye, Connie and I caught while doing the whistling-thrush project field work in May 2009.













































In May 2009, we caught a number of these birds in nets we had set up to catch whistling-thrushes in caves. They are very dark - the rump is blackish and concolourous with the rest of the upperparts, and the underparts are dark brown. The extent of tarsal feathering and measurements all indicate that these birds are most likely Mossy-nest Swiftlets Aerodramus salangana, a species which breeds in West Sumatra and Borneo but has yet to be recorded in the Peninsula. The nest is, as the name suggests, made of mosses and other vegetable matter, and is usually sited on a ledge in a cave, since the saliva is not sticky enough to attach the nest to the roof of a cave. For an idea of what the nest site looks like, have a look at this pic.

Anyway, frustration - no sign of either swiftlets or nests. Despite my own personal blank, the birds continue to be seen regularly, so I am quite sure they are breeding somewhere in the Ipoh area. So - Ipoh birders - your mission, should you choose to accept it - is to track down this potential new breeding species for the Peninsula! In the field they should be easily distinguishable from the typical Germain's Swiftlets by their all dark rump and dusky underparts (so they may appear all black).

My other goal was to check up on the Blue Whistling-thrushes we colour-banded back in May 2009. I have been busy over the last month writing up the final report on the project, so I've been thinking a lot about these birds lately!



It was good to see one of our colour-banded males and his mate busily feeding young. We sexed him on the basis of his brighter, richer plumage colours and more extensive metallic spangling compared to his mate.





I found that he was regularly returning to the same spot to collect... fish for his offspring! Looks like I need to re-edit that report to add another food item!







Serving up sushi!



And here's the lucky recipient!

I got a lifer today - not a bird, but a dragon!





What a beauty! This is Camacinia gigantea, which looks like several much commoner Neurothemis species but is much bigger. Apparently it's quite rare.



There were also some Java Sparrows about. Before I got married (in fact, as a condition for getting married!), my wife-to-be insisted that I show her a Puffin. I had to take her all the way to Anglesey in Wales, UK, to meet this condition. Just in case there are any other poor fellows out there in a similar predicament, and short of cash, you could try taking her to Ipoh and showing her a Java Sparrow...



...she might just be fooled! Thanks to George Diko for permission to use his great Puffin pic. More of George's pics can be seen here































































Finally, I had the good fortune to photograph this roosting Large-tailed Nightjar. From the size of the whitish tail tips, comparing them with this pic, I would say that this bird is a female.



Here you can see that the middle claw is strangely curved and has what appears to be a comb along one side. This is not a deformity, but a special adaptation possessed by some birds, such as nightjars, herons and some owls. It's known as a pectinate claw, and is thought to be used to help with preening.


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July 19-20th 2010: Fraser's Hill

About a week ago I got news from Eileen Chiang, one of our keen volunteers from the Whistling-Thrush Project, that a Malaysian Whistling-Thrush was making regular dawn appearances near the top gate at Fraser's Hill. Apparently it was an unbanded bird, so not the one we caught there last October.

As it happened, I had a job in Kuantan last week, and Fraser's Hill just happens to be a convenient mid-point to break the long drive from Penang!

Having ascertained the exact spot from Durai, I set up my hide before dawn on the 19th and waited...



Pre-dawn, this Slaty-backed Forktail fed around the foot of one of the roadside lamp posts.

Several times I heard the thrush calling, but always from behind my hide! After two hours or so I gave up.

A short visit to Hemmant's Trail provided brief views of a pair of Malayan Partridges, and I heard this pair and another on Bishop's Trail duetting. No photos this time though! Leeches were out in full force after the recent wet weather - I collected 7 on one leg on a brief foray down Bishop's Tail!



I spent much of the rest of the morning on the lower parts of the road down to Jeriau Waterfall in the hope of finding Marbled Wren-babblers or Ferruginous Partridge. I found neither, and my best bird was this Speckled Piculet. Still room to improve my shots of this species!



Just over a year ago I photographed a presumed juvenile Black Eagle near High Pines. While I was birding in the garden I heard the familiar mewing call of a a juvenile and saw this bird - perhaps one from this year's brood?







Unfortunately , though the bird was flying low overhead, the clouds were also low and the light was awful!



The light got worse. This Silver-eared Mesia shot was taken just before the rain started!



And this one was during the rain - while I was sheltering under a convenient roof!



Eventually the sun broke through again over the stunning forested valley below High Pines.



As usual, Pine Tree trail was quiet, though I did see a pair of Chestnut-crowned (aka Malayan) Laughingthrushes feeding a fledged juvenile. This parent was wearing a Wildlife Department ring.



A night drive round Telekom Loop after dinner yielded no close calling Mountain Scops-owls, but this obliging Brown Wood-owl and a Common Palm Civet.

The following morning I was again at the top gate with my hide, but this time with a Cunning and Sophisticated Plan. This time I rotated my hide 180 degrees to face the other way!

As it got brighter and brighter I wondered whether I would be frustrated again, when suddenly, just before 7am, I heard the thrush call, and very soon it alighted on the road. I was treated to a full half an hour (on and off) of the bird feeding on the road in front of me, sometimes just a few meters away! Here is a selection of photos.













Here's a short video of the bird.



Sobering to think that this site is currently the only one in the world where this species can be reliably seen.

Once the thrush show was over for the morning, I hit the trails again, and almost immediately disturbed a male Mountain Peacock-pheasant which had been feeding on the trail. I left the place alone for about an hour, then revisited it, this time flushing a female from beside the trail, and finally, managing to spot the male back in the same place as before long enough to grab a few shots.





The second shot gives a more accurate impression of the tail length. Sadly he turned his head away at that moment!



A short visit to High Pines garden in the hope of a repeat of yesterday's performance in better weather provided some consolation for the absence of the eagle in the form of a Grey-bellied Squirrel...



... and an obliging singing male Little Cuckoo-dove.

Not a bad morning's birding, all before 9.30am. Now it was time to hit the road and start the long drive to Kuantan. However, I already had plans for the return leg of the journey, to try to get better shots of the obliging pheasants.



Shrinking forest. This scene was just a few kilometers beyond Fraser's Hill on the road toward Bentong - hill forest being cleared to make way for oil palm - it's still happening...

8th-10th April 2010: Whistling Thrush Project, Langkawi

With the help of Irshad Mobarak and his trusty team at Junglewalla Tours, Kim Chye and I finally made it to Langkawi to try to mistnet the Blue Whistling-Thrush there.

After a ferry trip from Kuala Kedah during which we saw 2 Pomarine and a Long-tailed Jaeger, we checked in to the Sugary Sands Motel in Pantai Cenang, right next to the even better named CD Motel (my wife warned me to stay away from those!).

The first evening we set up nets at the foot of Gunung Raya, the island's tallest mountain, where, we were assured, whistling-thrushes 'always' come out and feed in a roadside culvert.



While waiting for the thrushes we were entertained by the constant to-ing and fro-ing of hornbills, including this Great Hornbill, looking perfect in the low evening sunlight.











The red eye shows that this bird is a male.

Apart from the Great, there were numerous Wreathed Hornbills flying around.



A yellow-pouched male.





And two shades of blue-pouched females.






















A flock heading to roost.

We also headed to roost having caught nothing, and neither seen nor heard a thrush.

The morning of the 9th we returned and opened the nets, full of fresh expectation. By eleven o'clock the situation of the previous evening hadn't changed. We had planned to meet Irshad for lunch, after which he would take us to the Andaman hotel, where, he assured us, the thrush practically lives in the lobby.



The hoped-for Mountain Hawk-Eagle and Jerdon's Baza on Gunung Raya failed to appear, but some compensation was provided by this migrant Peregrine resting on a satellite tower at the summit.

Before lunch we headed down to the mouth of the Cenang river, where there is some nice marshland. We found a small plover roost, comprising 69 Pacific Golden, 40 Lesser Sand Plovers, 1 Greater and, best of all, 2 White-faced Plovers, a male and a female.




A rather distant White-faced Plover, showing the broad white collar, which tends to be fluffed up, emphasizing its width. This was the female. Not only was this the first record for Langkawi, it was also the latest ever spring date for White-faced Plover in Malaysia. Some great recent photos of White-faced Plovers and Kentish Plovers can be found at Jon Cheah's pbase site.



There were a few migrant passerines in the coastal scrub, including Oriental Reed Warblers and Asian Brown Flycatchers (pic).

After lunch Irshad took us to the Andaman, which is a mightily impressive hotel. We found that a National Geographic team were staying there while they shot a documentary on flying creatures - Colugo, flying lizards and flying frogs. We also met some of Irshad's team and heard some great stories of close encounters with King Cobras. Sadly though, no whistling-thrushes.

Undaunted, we went on to Kilim Geopark, where we were told the location of a whistling-thrush nest in a cave - surely we could not fail there!



At Kilim we saw this resident race of Peregrine, so dark that it could easily be mistaken for a Bat Hawk, or perhaps Oriental Hobby.

A short boat trip down a Brown-winged Kingfisher-infested stretch of river (according to the locals - we contrived not to see any!)brought us to the cave, where we quickly located the whistling-thrush nest...empty. A short vigil revealed thousands of bats, which we did not relish the thought of ending up in our nets, but no thrushes.

We decided to head back to Gunung Raya.

Some entertainment was provided by a flock of low-flying Brown-backed Needletails. These flying torpedoes zoom overhead with a loud whooshing noise. The only way I could get any pics at all was to point the camera in their general direction and press the shutter, hoping that I might catch one in frame and reasonably in focus. These were my best efforts!









The light was great...! I'll just have to keep trying for that perfect shot!

At dusk, while the National Geographic team retired to the five star comfort of the Andaman, we went back to our Sugary Sands Motel. Something wrong somewhere!

Our final morning, the 10th, we headed straight for the Andaman, determined not to miss the chance to at least photograph and record the thrushes.

For the second day, the birds were inexplicably absent, though all the staff we spoke to could show us exactly where they perch and feed 'practically every day'!



Blue-winged Pittas are extremely common on Langkawi. We heard 3 or 4 on Gunung Raya, and there were a similar number calling around the Andaman. This one would fly from one conspicuous perch to another, calling continually.



This one had some dark flecking on the throat.

Some trees outside the hotel were fruiting, enabling us to get close views of a number of species that are normally high in the canopy.



A female Asian Fairy Bluebird (I was hoping the male would join her but no such luck!)



One of the BBB (Boring Brown Bulbuls!) - this one is a Red-eyed.



An immature male Orange-belied Flowerpecker...



He should grow up to look like this!



A nice male Thick-billed Green Pigeon.

On our way to Kuah to take the ferry back to the mainland, we stopped at Kisap to search for Black-hooded Orioles. Our run of luck continued however, and we saw no sign of them.



A Red-wattled Lapwing.


So, not only did we fail to see or hear the whistling thrush, we failed to catch a single bird (our first blank trip), and we also failed to see all four of the Langkawi specialities - the hawk-eagle, the baza, the oriole and the kingfisher! Just goes to show - there are no guarantees in birding!

On the plus side, I discovered that I have managed to photograph nine of Malaysia's ten species of hornbill in the last three months, and eight of them in the last two weeks!