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!

12-13th March 2011: Raptor Watch Weekend, Tanjung Tuan, Melaka

Raptor Watch Weekend has become, over the past number of years, the most popular bird-related event on the calendar in West Malaysia. It takes place at Cape Rachado, an enclave of Melaka State deep inside Negeri Sembilan, on the second weekend of March.

This year, for the first time ever (confession is good for the soul!), I attended the event, along with my family. The plan was to stay on after the weekend for 4 more days to help out with counting the raptors, which choose to cross the Straits of Malacca at this, the narrowest point between the landmasses of Indonesia and Peninsular Malaysia.



















At the Ilham Resort below the lighthouse is where all the stalls and people were - an impressive gathering of birding afficionados and interested people from all walks of life.



















The face-painting booth was popular, as usual!
























Selangor Bird Group were doing a brisk trade in a nice variety of merchandise!




















The Suara Enggang booth had plenty of interested visitors too!
























"So those are what we're looking for?!"
























Right on cue - there they are!



















Fantastic! The headline act put on a great live performance right over our heads!
























"How many did you say? A hundred? I can only see fifty!"
























So that's where they're going!



















Up at the lighthouse was where the serious business of counting was going on.



















Totting up the totals every hour. About 15,000 Oriental Honey-buzzards passed over during the two days of Raptor Watch Weekend 2011!



















Not for the faint-hearted! A narrow ledge outside the lighthouse wall, with the sea down below!



















A pair of resident Changeable Hawk-eagles and their juvenile made regular patrols along the cliff top. This is one of the adults - a dark morph bird.

The other adult. Obviously, opposites attract!

And the juvenile - a mixture of both parents!
















But their airspace had to be shared with the migratory raptors. There were a few Black Bazas, migrating high overhead.


















And one or two Grey-faced Buzzards.





















These could be surprisingly falcon-like in shape - a trap to the unpractised eye.

















But the days belonged to the Oriental Honey-buzzards - better known as OHBs!

















Nine and a half thousand on the Saturday and about six thousand the next day.



















As a complete beginner when it comes to the finer points of sexing and aging OHBs, I picked up a few tips from the seasoned pros at the lighthouse. A thick black trailing edge to the wing, a thick subterminal tail band, dark eye, grey face and pale, black barred primary tips all indicate that this is a male.


















As is this.






















And this, though they all look very different from each other!























This bird, with its dark, unbarred open primary tips and fine-barred tail is, I think a subadult. It has completed a moult of the secondaries (note the nice rounded tips cf the ragged ends of the inner primaries). The grey face suggests it may be a male.

















A closer view reveals a brown iris.Notice that this bird has its bill open. Most birds were panting on arrival. Some showed sputum-like liquid exuding from their bills. All of this suggests that the birds are at the point of exhaustion after the hour-long sea crossing.



















Sadly a few didn't quite make it. This one ditched in the sea about a kilometer offshore and floated off. It disappeared later. Perhaps it became lunch for one of the reef sharks cruising around just below the surface.




















A few birds were very dark. This one is a juvenile I think (it had a yellow eye but I caught it in mid-blink!).




















While this superb creature is an adult female.
























Adult females show a thin terminal bar along the trailing edge of the wing and thinner tail bars than males. The open primary tips are pale with thin bars.


























































 Another female.






















I think this is an adult or near adult female as well, despite the dusky-tipped open primaries. The uneven trailing edge of the wing suggests that the remiges are of several age classes.








































A couple of juveniles, with dark outer primaries, darker secondaries, and nice evenly-aged wing and tail feathers.



















Another juvenile with some damaged flight feathers. A few showed similar damage, which is probably caused by being shot at.






































 This bird, an adult female I think, had very noticeable secretions from the bill, and was panting heavily.














A lucky shot of a male (left) and female, showing obvious differences in size and shape.