Peninsular Malaysia 500 Club: Is 600 possible?

For a while now I've been wondering whether it is feasible to see 600 species in Peninsular Malaysia - that's 91% of the total list ever recorded (currently 661). I have 37 species more to go to hit that magic number. In case you want to help me get there, I'd be especially glad to receive any up-to date information on the following species in Peninsular Malaysia.

Phasianidae
Long-billed Partridge
Black Partridge
Chestnut-necklaced Partridge
Ferruginous Partridge
Crestless Fireback
Crested Argus

Anatidae
Northern Pintail

Procellaridae
Swinhoe's Storm-petrel 16 May 2012


Threskiornithidae
Black-headed Ibis

Fregatidae
Greater Frigatebird
Christmas Island Frigatebird

Falconidae
Amur Falcon
Eurasian Hobby

Accipitridae
Jerdon's Baza
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Common Buzzard
Mountain Hawk-eagle

Rallidae
Slaty-legged Crake

Heliornithidae
Masked Finfoot

Charadriidae
Oriental Plover

Jacanidae
Bronze-winged Jacana

Scolopacidae
Spotted Redshank
Green Sandpiper

Columbidae

Cinnamon-headed Green-pigeon

Cuculidae
Hodgson's Hawk-cuckoo
Himalayan Cuckoo
Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo

Strigidae
White-fronted Scops-owl
Oriantal Scops-owl

Upupidae
Eurasian Hoopoe

Picidae
Grey-and-buff Woodpecker

Pittidae

Giant Pitta

Oriolidae
Black-hooded Oriole

Monarchidae
Japanese Paradise-flycatcher

Timaliidae
Grey-breasted Babbler
Eyebrowed Wren-babbler

Sturnidae
Chestnut-cheeked Starling
White-shouldered Starling
Rosy Starling

Turdidae
Chestnut-capped Thrush
Eurasian Scaly Thrush

Muscicapidae
Brown-streaked Flycatcher
White-tailed Flycatcher

Dicaeidae
Brown-backed Flowerpacker

Estrildidae
Tawny-breasted Parrotfinch

Motacillidae

Richard's Pipit
















This is a selection, not every bird on the Peninsular Malaysian list I haven't seen. The photos  were all taken outside Pen Mal (obviously!), in Singapore, East Malaysia and Thailand. The list includes a few embarrassing misses, but most resident species on the list read like a who's who of the most difficult ones to see in the Peninsula these days.

So - can anyone help me plan my itinerary over the next twelve months?!

25 Dec 2011: Happy Christmas!!

To all long-suffering DigDeep readers, very best wishes for this season and the coming year.

I've been in the UK for the past month, doing almost no birding at all. I did take my family to see a party of Bohemian Waxwings one dull day, and here are a few shots taken through my Dad's scope.







While home, I've had a look through some old photos. Here's one from about 1989 with quite a few past and present birding luminaries from the Malaysian scene. How many can you identify?!



Lastly, congrats to Mun, whose been shooting up the 500 Club league in my absence with the addition of FOUR lifers - and all good ones: Oriental Scops-owl, White-throated Rock-thrush, Brown-chested Jungle-flycatcher and Oriental Darter. Three of those would have been new for me too. It happens every time I leave the country ... sigh!

500 Club New members

A belated welcome to two new members - Nina Cheung and David Lai - who gave me their totals a few weeks ago. In the meantime, recent seabird forays have seen quite a few lists growing rapidly, including those of James, Mun, Carol and Swee Seng. Another recent lifer for Seng and Carol was Eye-browed Wren-babbler, while I have added one more to my total, of which more later!

500Club: James Eaton in 5-tick day shocker!

James's Peninsular Malaysia list shot up with 5 ticks in just 12 hours on Wednesday! How was this possible, you may ask? Details in the next post!

PM 500 Club update

James is sneaking up the charts with two good additions recently - Crestless Fireback and Black-and-White Bulbul. With my schedule it looks unlikely that I'll be able to add to my PM tally this side of Christmas!

Revising a jaeger identification

I received a helpful email from Killian Mullarney pointing out that the jaeger I had labelled as Parasitic here was in fact a 2nd calendar year Long-tailed.

He outlines a number of pointers to the correct identification:

1. If you compare the underwing pattern [with this bird] you will notice that the Arctic [Parasitic] has a typically large, white 'flash' on the undersides of the primaries, whereas the bird in question has a much more restricted flash, seemingly barely extending to the outermost primaries. The restricted white flash is, as I'm sure you're aware, a strong pointer to 2nd calendar-year Long-tailed, reflecting the fact that, unlike Arctic, adult Long-tails lack the flash entirely [in adult plumage].

2. The Long-tailed also has a much whiter and apparently unbarred rear underbody.

Here are some more pictures of the bird:
























































In retrospect, a more careful inspection of my pictures would also have revealed the following pointers toward Long-tailed Jaeger:

1. Contrast between pale grey-brown upperwing coverts and darker secondaries
2. White 'flash' on upperwing restricted to the feather shafts of the outer two or three primaries
3. Strongly barred uppertail coverts
4. Slim, graceful appearance
5. Pale-headed appearance

Still, I learnt more by making a mistake than I would have done by getting the id correct first time!

Incidentally, the PM500 Club now has its first 5 members. Scroll down to the bottom of the page if you are curious to know who!

Introducing the "Peninsular Malaysia 500 Club"!

With the publication of the new Checklist of the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia, for a bit of fun, I am inaugurating the Peninsular Malaysia 500 Club, open to anyone who claims to have seen 500 species or more in Peninsular Malaysia!

The rules are simple:

1. A species can only be included in your list if you have seen it within Peninsular Malaysia (so, for example, I can't count Tufted Duck,even though it's on the list and I've seen thousands in the UK, because I've not yet seen one in Peninsular Malaysia).

2. The Club recognizes only the taxonomy followed by the 2010 Checklist of the Birds of Peninsular Malaysia. So if you haven't yet bought a copy, go and buy one!

3. If you see a species not yet on the checklist, you are allowed to count it provided you have submitted a description to the MNS-BCC Records Committee and the record has not been rejected.

4. Members are expected to be honest! No-one's going to check your list!

The logo of the 'PM500 Club' is the Grey-breasted Babbler. It's happens to be the 500th bird in the current checklist, and it's also a 5-star resident rarity, so is a fitting logo for the 500 Club. James Eaton has very kindly agreed to allow the use of one of his photos for the logo.

That's about all I can think of to say about it for now. If you'd like to be considered for membership in this exclusive club, please send me your Peninsular Malaysian list, provided it's over 500. Hopefully I can persuade all the 'sifus' to divulge their lists!

So, to kick off, my PM list currently stands at 547. Probably the easiest birds not yet on there are Common Buzzard, Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker, Brown-streaked Flycatcher and Thick-billed Flowerpecker. And, no, I've not seen Grey-breasted Babbler!

Now, who'll be next ...?