Some old shots

I just had chance to download some pictures from my digiscoping camera, so here are some random shots from last month.




This Paddyfield Pipit was my only source of amusement during several hours in the hide in the hot sun while waiting for waders to arrive at a high tide roost on 15 August (they didn't!).

It was in the process of moulting from juvenile into first non-breeding plumage. The inner three greater coverts and all visible median coverts are adult-type feathers, while the outer greater coverts are old juvenile feathers (compare with this pic). The body moult is already more or less complete. The bill is typically rather 'weak' for a large pipit.






















In fresh plumage the entire underparts are a fairly uniform peachy-buff.

























Some more shots from the 18 August trip to Sungai Sedim

18 August 2010: Sungai Sedim, Kedah

Playing catch-up on my blog postings!

I took a visiting birder, Frank Smith, from New York, out today. His primary target was night birds, so we started pre-dawn at Sungai Sedim, where we had frustratingly brief views if a Gould's Frogmouth and heard Malaysian Eared-nightjar, and finished off the day at Air Itam Dalam, where Great eared-nightjar, Large-tailed Nightjar, Spotted Wood-owl and Barn Owl all performed well.

There were other birds of course, but not many pictures, as I was mainly focusing on finding the birds for Frank.



The much-photographed White-crowned Hornbill family stole the show! Here's the female, with her all-white tail.






















And this is the juvenile, with vestigial dark markings on some tail feathers.





No mistaking Dad, with his glistening yellowish-white head and front half of the body.



This is what they were after, now if I can just...reach... a bit further..!



Nope - too far! What are YOU looking at?



This is how it's done, son... forget you're a hornbill and think hummingbird thoughts!






















There was also a troop opf Dusky Langurs enjoying the fruit. I call this picture "Contentment", because that's what it is - a picture of contentment!






















And this one has to be "Happiness is...!"

16th July 2010: Sungai Sedim and Penanti, Kedah

I made an early start to get to Sungai Sedim by dawn. I haven't been back for a while, and the road to the car park has been fully upgraded. Still, they've done a good job of it and the forest is still largely as it was.

A fruiting tree near my parked car was attractive to several bulbuls at dawn. Red-eyed and Black-headed were regular visitors. Finsch's were calling but never put in an appearance sadly.



A Red-eyed Bulbul drops in for breakfast!



A young male Scarlet-rumped Trogon arrived in the clearing unannounced. Unfortunately I had accidentally knocked the dial on my camera to Auto, so this was taken at ISO3200 - so not as good as it might have been, but not bad for that ISO speed!



This Red-eyed Bulbul was taken at ISO1250.



Several Agile Gibbons were calling, and I spotted this lone male feeding in the tree tops. He looked really huge - big beefy arms and very woolly fur.

DS650560.mp3

Agile Gibbon's call is quite different from the more fluid, sustained calls of White-handed Gibbons. Agile Gibbon has a very small range in South-east Asia, being confined to northern Peninsular Malaysia and Southern Thailand.

After Sungai Sedim I visited the Small Buttonquail site near Kulim. The area is still undeveloped, though a lot more overgrown than before. An extensive walk over the area produced no buttonquails at all.

On the way home I paid a short visit to Penanti, which is a favourite site of bird photographers in the State, due to the fact that there are usually bee-eaters and pratincoles breeding. Not today however. The only Oriental Pratincole I could find was one with a damaged wing.



Common Ioras are extremely common at this site.



I came across a juvenile Paddyfield Pipit still partially dependent on the parent bird. It was a good opportunity to study the juvenile plumage of this species.



This was the adult, looking decidedly bedraggled!



Interestingly, it appeared to have some freshly replaced crown feathers.



Here's the juv, looking pristine by contrast!



It was interesting to compare this with the Blyth's Pipit I saw earlier in the year. Compared to that bird, this one shows a quite different median and greater covert pattern, a heavier malar and more strongly marked head pattern, predominantly dark-centred mantle and crown feathers, and boldly-streaked rear flanks.





The dark loral line is quite obvious in these views.



A very bold and contrasting head pattern!