Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Whistling Thrush Project: Fraser's Hill 21st June 2009

More of the same today - down to Jeriau at dawn to the depressing predictability of the non-appearance of any whistling thrushes!



A juvenile Slaty-backed Forktail on the path at dawn. There are two pairs at Jeriau, both with one young.



The trogon party was still around.



At the fruiting tree I photographed this juvenile Blue-winged Leafbird, which lacks the obvious blue on the wing of adults.



A family of Yellow-eared Spiderhunters had been visiting the tree over the past two days, but had eluded my camera till today.



This bright yellow day-flying moth was sucking up the goodness from a pile of Forktail droppings - yummy!



I found this snake on the path near the entrance to Jeriau. It was quite docile and looked small and non-threatening. I assured some other birders that most snakes are non-venomous and that this one was probably quite safe. To prove the point I picked it up by the tail and with a small stick to move it off the path. When I got home I sent the pic to my herp expert Muin, and he wrote back: "This is a [Striped] Coral snake, Calliophis intestinalis. Lucky you didn't try to hold it. One bite can kill a man." Yikes! I shall be a lot more respectful around snakes next time!



A distant shot of the subadult Black Eagle.



A Mountain Fulvetta seen on Hemmant's Trail.

We packed up our nets mid-morning, having drawn a blank in terms of whistling thrush capture for the first time. Still, we did at least see and positively identify one bird, and establish that not all whistling thrushes seen at Fraser's are necessarily Malayan.

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