24th July 2010: Fraser's Hill

As soon as the workshop in Kuantan was done I hit the road - at about 6pm on Friday evening. I was determined to make it to Fraser's Hill in order to be in my hide the following morning to try to get better pictures of the peacock-pheasant! About 5 hours later I rolled up at the Puncak Inn to collect my keys, feeling like a zombie and just thankful I had made it without driving the car off the road!

By 6.30am the following morning I was installed in my hide where I'd seen the male pheasant twice on the 20th. However, due my extreme fatigue I was battling a migraine, and I gave up after a couple of hours, having seen nothing.





On my way back to the car I found a Mountain Imperial Pigeon sitting on a fairly low perch.

While I was watching it it suddenly slipped off the perch and dived for cover. Looking up, I saw a Black Eagle skimming the tops of the trees!

Unfortunately for photography, the clouds were low and rain was imminent - in fact it started to fall while I was watching.



Excuse the weird colours - I've had to lighten the images up quite a bit to get any detail on the underside of the bird at all!







As Terence commented on a previous post, this bird looks older than a juvenile. In fact it seems to have begun primary moult, with the three innermost looking fresh and the outer 7 quite worn. So perhaps it's last year's or even a third-year bird. Note the epiphyte it is sitting on at the top of the pine tree.


























While I was photographing the bird perched on the pine tree, it started looking up and I was surprised to see a second bird approach and knock the first one off its perch!





The new bird was also a subadult, but was clearly larger than the first, making it a female, the smaller bird being a male.



It wasn't easy to tell them apart unless a direct size comparison could be made.





Which it could sometimes!



Note that the female has grabbed a chunk of the epiphyte from the pine tree. I noted this behaviour by a juvenile last year, when it was suggested that the observation might refer to the bird having robbed a nest. These photos show otherwise. The bird has ripped off a chunk of epiphyte from the tree and appears to be carrying it 'for the fun of it', or maybe to practice seizing and carrying prey?
























There was quite a bit of sparring between the two birds.



Eventually, I had to walk away from the two birds and head for something to eat, followed by a few hours sleep!



A few photos from the afternoon - this female Black-and-crimson Oriole had found the most enormous caterpillar, and was roundly smashing it against a branch. Unfortunately she flew off before I could see how she would go about swallowing it!





I spent some time at the Glossy Swiftlet breeding colony in the garage on Telekom Loop trying to get flight shots. These were my best attempts.



A photogenic male Grey-chinned Minivet.



Little Pied Flycatchers are common but always good to see!



I came across this juvenile snake, which I believe is a Speckle-bellied Keelback. Please let me know if I'm wrong!

On Bishop's Trail I had the good fortune to see two Rusty-naped Pittas. They were two males, and they were chasing each other in an apparently territorial dispute. I was surprised to see that they perched on low vines as well as on the ground. No photos unfortunately. This is the first time I have actually set eyes on this species at Fraser's Hill in 22 years! I saw a Malaysian Partridge also along the same trail, but briefly!



My final shot of the day was this female White-thighed Surili with her baby. Now I know where the idea for the Teletubbies came from!