Friday, March 05, 2010

4th March 2010: Chuping, Perlis

A spot of forest birding en route to Chuping netted me a nice selection of birds:



A flock of Great Slaty Woodpeckers were vocal and active, but never came very close. These are the largest woodpecker in the region.



The best I could do with a Malaysian Hawk-cuckoo - noisy but secretive!



A male Wreathed Hornbill flying overhead, showing the two odd-shaped outer primaries that cause the amazing whooshing sound as the birds fly.



The same bird in better light!



A blue-pouched female.






















A sleepy Bat Hawk roosting beneath the canopy.






















I noticed that the legs appear to be scaleless - the scales must be very small I suppose.



Chuping - so much habitat - where to begin?!





The skies were disappointingly raptor-free today. This Grey-faced Buzzard was the only exception.



Every pipit was carefully scrutinized, but all proved to be Paddyfields.



Another common inhabitant of wide-open spaces - Red-wattled Lapwing.



This tree reminded me of the famous Cree prophecy: "Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize that we cannot eat money."

There were very few harriers left at the roost site. I counted just 8 Eastern marsh and 4 Pied. Still, the few that came in were interesting!







A female Pied gave a nice close fly-by.





Then a male Eastern Marsh for comparison.



Two interesting subadult female Eastern Marsh arrived late. First this one.





Then this one.



Other birds coming to roost included Black Drongos...





...and Purple-backed Starlings. I couldn't find a Chestnut-cheeked in amongst them!



A typical Perlis sunset.

3 comments:

Jason Bugay Reyes said...

Lovely shots of the Harrier :)

wondersf said...

The gigantic Slaty - in your picture, looks like a scene from David and Goliath

Thomas C B Chua said...

Awesome pictures. Labour of love and patience. Thanks 4 sharing.