1 May 2012: Pelagic off Tanjung Dawai, Kedah

Labour Day, but the fishermen weren't taking a day off, so Choo Eng, Hakim and I decided we shouldn't either! (Hakim's account of the day is here.)

First thing in the monring as we left the estuary, we passed these two fishermen in their cheerfully-coloured boat.

Two Indo-pacific Humpbacked Dolphins raced us right under the bows as we left the river. Taking these pics involved hanging over the prow of the boat and staring at the water surface rushing past about 2 metres away! Not good for the stomach! The pink-nosed one has a dorsal that looks remarkably similar to the one I photographed last September. I guess there's a good chance it is the same animal.

The sea was completely windless, a sure sign of approaching rain (and those clouds were an extra clue!). A lone Great Egret migrating north was trying to get ahead of the storm.

 A rare waterspout - only partial and momentary, but a remarkable sight while it lasted.

And then the inevitable! Rain on the sea's surface transforms its appearance totally!

Just before the storm, this 'flock' of Long-tailed Skuas flew past. Rather neatly, they were a first year, a second year and an adult!

 

After the storm, the weather brightened considerably, but there was still no wind and... what's wrong with this picture?? The nets are out, but ... NO BIRDS! This was the first time in all my trips that I had experienced completely bird-free nets! So - very hot, no wind and no birds - wonderful! Oh well, the crew still seemed to be having fun!

I've never met a nicer bunch of hard-working, happy blokes as the crew of this boat. In all my time on the boat I can't remember an angry word being spoken, and there's always lots of laughter, joking around and singing.

Maybe they're laughing at each other's choice of headgear! But at least it keeps the fish-scales out of your hair!
 

Control centre. This is where the captain sits, 'drives' the boat and detects the fish, using a combination of high-tech equipment and experience.

There were a few Short-tailed Shearwaters about, always distant. It was amazing what a difference lighting conditions made to the colours. I do think the bird in the water was genuinely pale - whether as a result of bleaching or pigment aberration I couldn't say.

An Aleutian Tern put in a typically fleeting appearance in the heat of the day. I'm thinking of renaming the species Aloof Tern - it seems they never hang around the boats. Even when seen distantly, there's something very distinctive about the shape - short head and long tail projection, coupled with a more bouyant flight style than Sterna terns.

OK, so a few terns did start showing up around the nets later in the day. Numbers of Bridled Terns are starting to build up. The majority are 1 and 2 year old birds, but there were a few smart breeding plumaged adults, like this one.

Long-tailed Skuas put in appearances throughout the day, mostly distant. I'm beginning to think that a strangely pale vent (and a prominent breastband) is a feature of 2cy birds, after seeing a similar bird on the last visit.One Long-tailed Skua did come a bit closer, and in doing so, made the day worthwhile, but I'll save that for another post.

At least someone found fish! Our boat only let the net out twice today, and headed back to port early.

Tanjung Dawai in the late afternoon sun. It's not often we come back in daylight, but today was a public holiday!

As we came into the estuary, there was the same colourful boat and the same men we'd seen on the way out that morning! Good to see they'd changed their shirts! We saw the dolphins again too. A strangely symmetrical day!

9 and 17 April 2012: Teluk Air Tawar, mainland Penang

I made a couple of trips to the mainland this past week to try to catch up with the Brown-headed Gull flock before they leave. The first visit was in the afternoon - forgot that the sun would be in my eyes, and the tide was too high to boot, so only saw half a dozen birds distantly.

The next trip, the light and tide were perfect, but the birds forgot to show up - perhaps they're already on their way north. Below are some bits and pieces from the two visits.

There were around a hundred Common Redshanks at the mouth of the river - this was one of the few in any semblance of breeding plumage. Most of the breeders are gone by now.

Most birds look like this - very washed out colours. These are immature birds that won't be breeding this year. Check out the leg colour!

Great Egret at full stretch!

I'm taking more of an interest in these since Chris Kehoe pointed out a possible 'alba' Great Egret in Wong Tsu Shi's blog here (the gigantic one!). This is potentially a new taxon for Malaysia. In Birds of East Asia, Mark Brazil notes that alba is perhaps specifically distinct from modesta (which is the one we get here in large numbers) and is an increasingly observed winterer in Japan and Korea, while modesta winters further south. Alba is larger than modesta and, in the non-breeding season, has pale or bright yellow tarsi and toes, as opposed to the all black legs and feet of modesta. So a bigger-than-usual Great Egret in these parts should be scrutinised, and if possible, photographed alongside others.

A Little Egret sporting groovy pink lores! This is a breeding condition feature, interesting, given that the bird lacked head plumes.

And an Intermediate Egret with breeding-coloured black bill. This species is Malaysia's most recently discovered breeding species. Take a look at Amar's fantastic series of photos documenting this extraordinary find on OBI (here and following).

This is the best time of year to tick off the pond-herons, and the Teluk Air Tawar area is one of the best places to do so in Malaysia. Top to bottom - Chinese, Javan and Indian Pond-herons.

The latter was only recorded for the first time in the country in 1999, but now it's a regular, and has appeared in west coast states as far south as Selangor. Something is definitely afoot with these herons!

This lone Red-wattled Lapwing is probably a sick bird, as they rarely occur singly, and it's largely lacking the  vibrant colours, including the beautiful purple and green iridescence on the scapulars and coverts, of a healthy bird.

I think this is a male 'confusus' Brown Shrike. 'Confusus'  is apparently an intergrade between cristatus and lucionensis. Anyway, it's a good description of my state of mind after reading Tim Worfolk's 2006 paper! I recently came across this extraordinary record of Brown and Tiger Shrike hybridizing in Korea (scroll about half way down). No wonder they confuse us!

Talking of confusing polytypic taxa, here's a stunning male Eastern Yellow Wagtail - tschutschensis. It positively glowed in the low evening sunlight, and made my otherwise abortive afternoon visit worthwhile.

 

It's interesting to see that there are old unmoulted marginal coverts on the leading edge of the wing, and that only the inner 'half' of the greater coverts are fresh feathers. However, I'm not sure what this means, and am hoping that someone can enlighten me!

Where the wagtail was - sunlight under thunder clouds over paddyfields - a visual treat!

7th Feb 2012: Kampung Permatang Nibong, mainland Penang

My first trip out after the fever, I managed a few hours at the end of the day in the padifields.



I don't know what this grass is called, but it is stunningly beautiful in the late afternoon sun.



I guess this is the flower of the kapas (or wool) tree. It's used to stuff pillows locally.



Sometimes shooting into the sun can produce some pleasing results, like this pond-heron in the padi stubble.



Or this Intermediate Egret, caught at the critical moment!





The cloudless blue sky gave way to a peachy sunset as the egrets gathered to roost.



And a perfect full moon rose in a velvet dusk.






































There can only be one caption for these photos - Over the moon!

A few days after this, I took some more shots of the moon over my house.





Looks like it could do with some acne cream!