15th November 2011: Tanjung Tokong, Penang

I finally made time to go down to the Swinhoe's Plover site today - and the birds didn't disappoint - there were four present.



There's a bird just to the left of the post, on the water's edge.









Bird 1.



Bird 2.



Bird 3.







Bird 4.



I had a hard time trying to age these birds as they all seemed pretty worn. Eventually I managed to see that the bird with the brightest cap (on the left) was in primary moult and therefore must be an adult.



All the others showed uniform flight feathers and I therefore aged them as 1st winter birds.



A solitary minivet was flying around, so I had to check it out in case it was my second 'Swinhoe's' of the day - nope - just an Ashy!



The other highlight of the afternoon was a group of 8 Smooth Otters. I never managed to photograph them when every head was up, but 7 out of 8 ain't bad!

11 February 2011: Tanjung Tokong, Penang

A quick trip to Tanjung Tokong in an attempt to take pictures of "White-feaced/Swinhoe's" Plovers was foiled by the absence of plovers of any kind. There were a number of people fishing on the beach, and the clouds were threatening to dump large quantities of rain at any moment.



There were twenty Whimbrel and a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits - easy to overlook when they're asleep.



After seeing adult 'baueri' Bar-tailed with plain unbarred tails in Australia, I was especially keen to get a look at the tails of these birds. Only one obliged, and, as far as I could see, this 'menzbieri' adult had an unbarred, plain brown tail!



Common Greenshanks were the most numerous species after Whimbrel.



The flock was rushing about in the shallows chasing fish - mudskippers by the look of this one.



This is a still from a video clip. I was surprised at how white the lesser underwing coverts were on this bird. White underwing coverts are a feature of Nordmann's Greenshanks. Common usually has well-barred underwing coverts, as here, but this is obviously more variable than I had realized.

So, after all, a not unproductive visit to my old birding haunt!

5th November 2010: Tanjung Tokong and mainland Penang

Trevor Ford had been planning to come to Penang to see White-faced (aka Swinhoe's Plover) for about two years, and today he finally arrived en route between the UK and Australia. I hadn't even been to Tanjung Tokong this autumn to check if the birds were here, so it was a bit of a risk from his point of view.

In the event, we needn't have worried. Six birds put on a great show for us at high tide!





A female type.



A first-winter male.





This female Swinhoe's definitely wasn't getting along with a nearby Kentish Plover!



This male, on the other hand, seemed quite companionable with the nearby Kentish.

Later on they did a bit of synchronized head-turning!







Some flight shots...



With a Kentish Plover (front)



And Greater Sand Plover



Apart from the Swinhoe's Plovers there was a nice selection of other waders present, including a Little Stint (no photo). As the tide rose I got lots of opportunities to photograph flocks flying back and forth.



There were three Broad-billed Sandpipers...



A first winter Kentish Plover - one of 7 or 8 birds present.

There were plenty of opportunities to practise sand plover identification.


Lesser (second left) and three Greater Sand Plovers. 'Schaeferi' race Lessers are so long-billed that the bill thickness is sometimes a more useful differentiating factor than bill length. Note also the difference in leg length and colour. Of the two right-hand Greaters, the rear bird is an adult, the front one is a first winter.



A surprisingly tricky bunch! How many Lessers do you think there are here?



A mixed flock of sand plovers and a lone Pacific Golden.



Note the Greater (bottom) and Lesser (bottom right) which both appear to have white 'collars'.



Another 'white-collared' Greater (left) with a Lesser Sand Plover.

Some more WIFs (waders in flight!)



Lesser Sand Plover





Common Greenshanks (juveniles)



Common Redshank



Pacific Golden Plovers.



So you should be able to name the four species in this flock...?

After Tanjung Tokong we took a quick look around some potential roost sites on the mainland and drew a blank in each case. We then called in at Air Itam Dalam, where our attention was soon attracted by the distinctive call of a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher.











































We later saw a cracking male, but he was not for having his picture taken!



Over 60 Black (eared) Kites were soaring low over the swamp, at one point flushing a roosting Spotted Wood-owl.



Among them was this bird in wing and tail moult, showing only five primary 'fingers' and an unfamiliar tail shape (see last blog entry). Such birds are occasionally misidentified as Booted Eagles (which should show a much more square-cornered tail), so it's always worth bearing in mind this possibility.









A small selection of an estimated 500 Eastern Yellow Wagtails on show at Kampung Permatang Nibong in late afternoon.



There was a couple of thousand egrets too - Cattle, Little, Intermediate and Great.



A poor photo, but a good bird to end the day with - an adult Greater Spotted Eagle back on last year's roosting pylon.