22-26 May 2012: Krau, Pahang

Krau Biodiversity Centre, set in Krau Game Reserve, isn't a bad place to be if you have to attend a training course! Even though the course kept us busy for most of the daylight hours, I still managed to squeeze a couple of hours in here and there at the beginning and ending of each day.

Early morning walks were productive for frogmouths, with this confiding Gould's perched about 5 feet off the ground...

And a splendid pair of Large Frogmouths put on a fantastic show. This was the brighter-plumaged and more aggressive of the pair, so I assumed he was the male. This rear view shows faint "ear tufts" and a prominent nape line.

 This is him reacting strongly when I played his call back.

 

The second bird was greyer and much less strongly marked. I judged this to be the female of the pair.

 

A comparison with the other bird.

In BirdingASIA 14, Tan Gim Cheong and Yong Ding Li mention the following plumage differences in a breeding pair:
1. The well-marked bird (presumed male) showed white traingular marks on the wing coverts with little or no black edging. The other (duller) bird showed more tear-drop shaped covert spots, edged with more black.
2. The scapulars were tipped black on the duller bird, but had black subterminal spots and buff tips on the brighter bird
3. The brighter bird had more well-defined pale buff brows than the other.

All three of these differences can be discerned in the two photos above, suggesting that these may be consistent plumage differences between the sexes.

Apart from the typical growling calls, both birds gave chicken-like clucks, which appeared to be alarm or threat calls uttered in response to my playback.

Also out and about early were swiftlets which were clearly different from the familiar pale-rumped Germain's which I see regularly at sea and around swiftlet farms. I assume that these were Black-nest Swiftlets. 

These birds were greyer overall (notwithstanding the lack of light), with barely notched tails. The wings appeared to be set slightly further forward on the body, with a longer tail projection (very thin when in profile) and a shorter head projection than on Germain's. The head was noticeably larger than Germain's - an impression in the field borne out by comparison of photos:

 

Black-nest Swiftlet. Note the neckless appearance and large domed head profile.

Germain's Swiftlet seen off Tanjung Dawai on 10th May. The wings seem more central, there seems to be more neck, and the head is small, typically with a flat head profile.

 

A few more birds of note - a blue morph Rufous-winged Philentoma.

  

An Olive-winged Bulbul.

 

And an overflying Large Green-pigeon at dusk.

I enjoyed a few days catching up with my old birding friend Mike Chong. On the morning after the course, we spent a fruitful morning birding along the road. After an hour's separation, I returned to find that Mike had been watching a family party of Grey-and-buff Woodpeckers over his head for five minutes! In case you don't know, G and B W is (and remains) my No. 1 bogey bird in Malaysia!

10 - 13th March 2012: Raptor Watch, Tanjung Tuan

Compared to last year, this year's pilgrimage was a decidedly low key affair. The weather conditions conspired against getting many good photos, so, for a better idea of the event and its birds, have a browse through 12-13th, 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th March 2011.



On the 10th, the entire day produced only 17 Grey-faced Buzzards, including this juvenile.



We were glad of the opportunity to watch any bird that would show itself, such as this immature Black-naped Oriole...



...and a Blue-throated Bee-eater.



After a while, even these disappeared, so we resorted to looking at pictures of raptors...






















...And people HOPING to get pictures of raptors!

Thankfully, the 11th was a lot better! We counted over 5,300 Oriental Honey-buzzards, though wind and lighting conditions were still not in favour of the photographers!









The best of a bad bunch - a male, two females and a juv. I got much better pics last year!

The star of the day was a dark morph Booted Eagle.





The pictures would have been a lot better if I hadn't had the camera on the wrong settings! Still - it happens, and there will be others...



This Barn Swallow seemed to think it was hilarious!

The 12th was a new low - just one OHB all day, but fortunately, we had made the decision not to sit at the lighthouse. Instead we had a lazy day in the garden and by the beach, when I trained my camera on some of the common birds I usually overlook.









Asian Glossy Starling, Brown Shrike, Spotted Dove and Yellow-vented Bulbul, all taken with coffee in John and Ting Howes' front garden!





A pair of Oriental Magpie-robins coming to take scraps as we lunched at the Yacht Club!



At dusk we went to check out a green-pigeon roost hoping for Orange-breasted. No luck, but we did observe this male Pink-necked apparently eating mud from the foreshore - can anyone explain it? Perhaps taking mineral supplements?





A female Pink-necked Green-pigeon preparing to roost in Rhizophora.

So that was it for Raptor Watch this year. We were fortunate to have one 'big day', and it made us realize what exceptional fortune we'd had last year!

26th July 2011: Sungai Perdik, Ulu Langat, Selangor

This was my first visit to Sungai Perdik, which lies in the foothills of the main Titiwangsa range near Gunung Nuang. I was very impressed with the variety of birds there, with activity continuing well into the late morning.

Frustratingly, I couldn't identify potentially the best birds of the visit - a pair of partridges which scuttled off into the undergrowth without me getting my bins onto them. A pair of Jambu Fruit Doves eluded my camera, as did a male Green Broadbill. Some of the species I did manage to capture are below.



I glimpsed the partridges while photographing this Black-capped Babbler.



For my second consecutive trip I managed to photograph Siamangs - these ones were definitely undomesticated!









Rufous-fronted Babbler is a species I rarely see and have not photographed in the Peninsula before. I was surprised to see the bright pink base to the lower mandible, as it's not shown in any of the books I looked at. Perhaps it only occurs during peak breeding time, like on some herons?



One of a few Black-and-Red Broadbills which were active.







Numerous fruiting trees attracted a variety of bulbuls, including Black-headed.

New digiscoping camera: Canon S95

Our house was burgled 10 days ago! The thief broke in while we were asleep and took my laptop and digiscoping camera - my beloved Nikon CP8400. On the plus side, I had just reformatted the hard drive on the laptop and had cleared everything off prior to that, so I lost nothing on the laptop. And of course, he left us alone, so I'm extremely grateful for that!

Still, with coastal surveys in Sarawak looming, I really needed to replace my digiscoping camera quickly, and after a bit of reading, plumped for the Canon Powershot S95.

My first shots out of my open bedroom window, taken in the late afternoon:





Yellow-vented Bulbul





This particular Yellow-vented is paired with an escapee Red-whiskered Bulbul! It'll be interesting to see if they produce any offspring.

The camera is tiny compared with my old CP8400, and much faster and easier to use too. I miss the Electonic Viewfinder and angled LCD screen, but this one seems quite promising.

15th October 2010: Borneo Bird Festival, Sepilok, Sabah

Today was the start of the Festival and RDC was a hive of activity...



The unveiling of the Borneo Bird Club logo.The BoBC has just become an officially registered society, so is now well and truly open for business. Kudos to Cede Prudente, the pro tem Chairman, and his band of merry (and hard-working!) men and women for having achieved so much in the club's young life.



The BoBC stand, and some serious Big Boys Toys on show!



The launch of the Bird Race, just before the heavens opened and everyone ran for cover!

Apart from attending the formalities, I had no other responsibilities today, so plenty of time for birding!



Our first good find of the day was a pair of Slow Lorises and a baby, apparently happily feeding at ten in the morning!

Some more bird images from my walks around the Rainforest Discovery Centre today



Banded Woodpecker



A Blue-eared Kingfisher (I didn't see the Ruddy Kingfisher which everyone else photographed by the way!)






















I'm not quite sure what this is! If it was in West Malaysia I'd have called it a Crow-billed Drongo without a second thought, but in East Malaysia the Greater Racket-tailed Drongos are heavy-billed, lack much of a crest, and have a deeper tail fork than the West Malaysia birds. I'm not familiar enough with East Malaysian GRTs to feel confident that this is or isn't one. The fact that the bird is in tail moult doesn't help - as it's difficult to be sure what the tail shape would look like in fresh plumage. Compare with this pic of a Greater Racket-tailed I shot in Kubah recently. Any ideas?






















A distant White-fronted Falconet, endemic to northern Borneo.



A small party of Rufous-winged Philentomas foraging just above the ground along the Pitta Trail was the highlight.





Perhaps it was a family group - there was one adult male and several female/juvs.

Back at the Nature Resort, the fig festival was still in full swing!



A female Black Hornbill - one of the regular crowd.



And the female of the neighbourhood Rhino family.



Streaked Bulbuls are always good to see.



Puff-backed even more so - a shame that this was such a mangy individual.




When a flock of Asian Glossy Starlings flew in I started looking for some Chestnut-cheeked, and was soon rewarded! This female/juv could easily be overlooked among Purple-backed Starlings if it was in Peninsular Malaysia. Note that it lacks the whitish lower scapulars and pale greater covert tips of Purple-backed, and is generally browner.





Males are easier to spot. This one has more extensive 'chestnut cheeks' than any illustration I've seen!

My second new bird in two days, and both in the same tree!