23rd July 2009: Whistling Thrush Project: Perlis State Park

The aim of this trip was to see, and if possible, catch the Blue Whistling Thrushes that are seen around the chalets in Wang Kelian State Park in Perlis. These birds are supposedly the northern resident crassirostris race, which differs from the dicrorhynchus subspecies in being smaller, longer-tailed, having more prominent pale spangles on the plumage, and a yellow culmen to the bill.

Perlis State Park is a substantial area of forest set among limestone hills. The forest crosses into Thailand, where it forms the Thaleban National Park.

Some forest birds seem commoner here than further south (Grey-cheeked Bulbul, Rufous-collared Kingfisher and Red-crowned Barbet were three we found relatively numerous), while other forest birds common further south are notably absent here (we didn't record Striped Tit-Babbler, Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot or any flycatcher-shrikes, for example).



Birds were hard to photograph on our first day, but there were plenty of other interesting subjects. This is Bassarona dunya.



Lebadea martha.



Neorina lowii. This one also has an English name - Malayan Owl (!).



A fairly common damselfly, Prodasineura laidlawii.



I think this may be Gonocephalus grandis - Anglehead Lizard - but will need to have that confirmed by Muin. [Edit: No, I'm wrong - it's a juvenile Acanthosaura armata!]






















White-handed Gibbons were calling well into the afternoon - singing might be a better description. Gibbon song is one of the most evocative sounds of South-east Asian rainforest - haunting, beautiful and funny at the same time. It's just hard to imagine that they aren't having a lot of fun! If you've never heard them, try listening to the sound sample (first part) at this link. Eventually a small party came into view, and this male spent some time taking a long hard look at us!

Later in the evening, after dinner, we did some spotlighting along the road outside the Park HQ and came across a Slow Loris on a long stretch of telegraph wires a long way from any trees. Knowing that Slow Lorises are notoriously s-l-o-w, we took our time getting our camera gear and flashlights set up, only to discover, when we were all ready, that the loris had disappeared! It had legged it along the wires and found an isolated tree which it proceeded to shin up at quite a speed. It successfully managed to hide itself in the uppermost foliage, leaving us feeling slightly sheepish and without any photos! Lorises maybe slow, but we were slower! Or maybe we could rename the species the Surprisingly Nippy Loris? Oh well, next time!

Planning an overseas birding trip?

I was told recently about an innovative way to offset my carbon emissions when I travel. This website calculates the value of your carbon emission on any given flight or journey by car, and then provides a way to donate an equivalent sum to projects which involve local communities in native-tree-planting projects. For a breathtaking two-minute explanation of why we should be doing this, see this movie trailer.

16th July 2009: Air Itam Dalam, Juru, mainland Penang

A visit to Penang by Vincent van der Spek gave me a good excuse to spend an afternoon birding.

Not many photo opportunities but lots of good birds, including three Streak-breasted Woodpeckers at Air Itam Dalam.





A worn-looking male Mangrove Blue Flycatcher, probably a result of working hard to raise a brood! These two are digiscoped pics...



This one was taken with my DLSR set-up.


Digiscoped






















An unusually obliging Green Crested Lizard (Bronchocela cristotella).






















Finally, at Juru, this juvenile Crested Serpent-eagle was decidedly camera-shy! Apparently this bird is about 10 weeks old.

15th July: Pelagic trip off Tanjung Dawai, Kedah

I must want to see petrels and shearwaters VERY much! How else can I explain the suffocatingly rancid smell of fish guts left in the boot of my car under the sun for three days (which permeated the entire neighbourhood)? This was the preparation for making 'chum' supposedly irresistible to petrels, shearwaters and albatrosses(!).

Once aboard the ikan bilis boat, this would be transferred to a laundry basket generously donated by my wife (come to think of it, she must love me VERY much too!), and rounded off with a bottle of cod liver oil, before being suspended over the side of the boat to attract great flocks of tubenosed seabirds.

That was the plan. The chum was as spectacularly stinky as we could have hoped for, but the birds were sadly absent - yet again!

A small handful of Bridled, Black-naped and Common Terns, and couple of early returning Barn Swallows were the only reward for our hard labour.



According to all the bird books I can find, Bridled Terns either look like this, if they are adults, or else are juveniles. However, this was the only Bridled Tern in about 60 birds which looked like it should in the books.



Here's the same bird (upper right) with birds in more typical plumage.





The presence of extremely worn inner secondaries, outer primaries and a line of lesser coverts, with other feathers at different stages of wear show that this must be a first summer bird I suppose (ie one that is around a year old, and still retains some of its original juvenile wing feathers).



A similar-looking bird, slightly more advanced in wing moult.



This bird seems to have completed primary and secondary moult but to have retained some white-fringed median coverts. The broadly white-fringed mantle feathers are fresh and seem to be adult non-breeding type feathers. The extent of paleness on the mantle is quite variable.



This one seems to be an adult, but with some pale-fringed mantle feathers - the onset of post-breeding plumage?



The books say adults have white underparts, but this one shows quite strongly dusky-grey flanks.



Not the only one doing some head-scratching!



While there were no juvenile Bridled Terns around, suggesting that the flock was made up on non-breeding oversummerers, there were one or two fresh juvenile Black-naped, and the adults, like this one, were mostly worn, and had dropped their outer tail feathers.



The five or six Common Terns present were all first summer types which probably hadn't bothered to go north for the breeding season.

Environemental Education Programme

Here's a video of Wild Asia's EE programme "From the Hills to the Sea", which I helped to write last year. The hard work of teaching and facilitating was done by Ting Lang Chiee, John Howes and the Wild Asia team. Great work guys!

8th July 2009: Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

The last part of yesterday was spent sitting in a dark ravine waiting in vain for a sporadically calling Rusty-naped Pitta. It got darker and darker and then the heavens opened and we got thoroughly soaked making our way out of the ravine and back to the car!

This morning I was back, feet in soggy trainers, slipping and sliding in very wet forest, to stake out the pitta again. To explain this crazy and irrational behaviour, I can only say that I have tried to see one of these mythical birds since my first encounter with them at Fraser's Hill in 1987, without success. I can claim to have heard one's wingbeats, but have never actually set eyes on one! This bird was behaving equally unpromisingly - calling once or twice every hour or so, distantly.




















A pair of Rufous-browed Flycatchers were bringing food to an unseen nest near where I was sitting.

After a couple of hours I decided that I was on another wild goose-chase and made my way back to the road. As soon as I did so, I became aware of a second pitta calling loudly and persistently further up the road. I walked quickly to the spot and played the tape and the bird was immediately responsive. The only problem was that the undergrowth was well nigh impenetrable! Eventually, by standing almost on tiptoe and peering through the foliage, I could see a small amount of forest floor which was dappled with some sunlight. After about 20 minutes I moved away, and sensed that the bird had immediately moved to the place I had been watching. Creeping back, I got bare eye views of the male hopping swiftly up a thin trail. In the patches of sunlight I was surprised at how bright the blue-green back and orange-chestnut head were. YES!!

Over the next half hour I got three more views, and had the bird calling about three feet from me, but totally obscured. All I could see was a branch moving. Eventually the bird hopped into view pretty close and I got the bird in camera. I got one shot, and the flash failed to fire! Arggh! Here's the result - processed to the limit!























The back, tail and legs are clearly visible, and the bird seems to have raised its wings at the sound of my shutter. I think that the head is visible, turned three quarters away from me, but I guess that could be a leaf!

After calling solidly for over an hour the bird shut up. I set up my hide in the area and waited for most of the afternoon, but it didn't call or appear again. Oh well - I'm happy that at last I have actually seen one!




































 Some other birds seen while pitta searching were Malaysian Hill Partridge (up to four groups calling), and a pair of Lesser Shortwings.




















I gave myself a break from sitting in the hide for an hour or two and saw this juvenile (female?) Little Pied Flycatcher...

















...an adult Slaty-backed Forktail...
















...and yet more Barred Cuckoo-doves!



















My last bird of the trip - a Blyth's Hawk-eagle.

7th July 2009: Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

Back at the summit of Gunung Brinchang at dawn, Barred Cuckoo-doves seemed to be everywhere - how had I missed them before now?! The substation compound was busy with birds feeding on insects that had bashed themselves senseless on the lights in the night.









































Juvenile Large Niltavas (male above, female below)were all over the place, and I got a brief view of a female Rufous-vented Niltava, which was my second lifer of the trip (no photo though).




















Several Streaked Wren-babblers were hopping around on the grass in a most unwren-babbler-like fashion.





















A juvenile male Snowy-browed Flycatcher came to join the feast.



















Our latest endemic! Robson splits what was formerly Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush into several species. This one is now called Malayan Laughingthrush. Compare this with another, now called Silver-eared Laughingthrush, which I saw at Doi Inthanon last year.



































These were feeding on squashed fruits on the road.























The Golden-throated Barbet was on view again in much better light, and it seemed determined to demonstrate how it got its name!








































The joys of digiscoping!























I thought the crown pattern was pretty cool!

















A couple of efforts with my DSLR - this one without flash...


















...and this one with. You get more feather detail with flash, but it really messes up the greens in my view.



This video shows what a fastidious diner the barbet is. I was struck by the fact that it finished off each fruit before moving onto the next, never leaving part of a fruit uneaten. Waste not, want not!