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!

16th May 2012: Pelagic off Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan

Having sent out the challenge for people to get out on the water at the southern end of the Straits of Melaka to look for Swinhoe's Storm-petrel and Aleutian Tern last week, the opportunity arose for me to go and test my own theory this week, courtesy of John Howes organizing the very first pelagic charter out from Port Dickson on Wednesday.

The pioneering team consisted of John, myself, Rafi, Swee Seng and Carol, and Merijn, and John was anxious to set expectation low to minimize any potential disappointments! It was impossible not to feel a slight twinge of eager anticipation as we set out however, not to say trepidation, once we saw the size of the boat!

Big boat, small boat! We were heading out into the most congested shipping lanes in the world in a 30-footer - but hey - that's what pioneers do...isn't it??

The bow-wave alone of this behemoth was about 4 times the height of our boat. We actually got the full horn treatment just before taking this picture - I guess it was easier for us to move out of the way than for him!

There goes a forest. Mind-boggling to imagine the number of trees which are on this ship alone. But did you notice that little bird skimming the waves this side of the ship? A case of a lot of fuel and a little petrel (groan)!

 

I can't remember how many times I've watched Germain's Swiftlets skimming across the waves at sea and wished they were Swinhoe's Storm-petrels. At last, this was the real thing, looking surprisingly like Germain's Swiftlets!

Fortunately, the birds pitched down on the sea and we were able to approach them slowly. Being very near the water surface ourselves, it was difficult to get a clear view of the birds as they frequently dipped out of sight beneath the wave-tops. Getting the birds in focus was another challenge, as both we and they were moving up and down asynchronously!

 Not a sharp shot, but it gives a clear view of the tail shape.

The birds were in pristine plumage, with nice clear upper wing covert bars and white flashes at the primary bases. Their flight style was languid, keeping very low (following the wave troughs) and banking from side to side as they went. Sadly, this time they kept going, and we didn't see any more. Still, I was more than chuffed. Mission accomplished!

Being in such a small boat, spray was a real problem, so I mostly kept my camera well under wraps. I did risk taking a few shots of this first year Arctic Skua as it flew over, and a few were sharp. Compared to the Tanjung Dawai boat, this one was much less stable, making photography much more of a challenge. 

Other than these, we saw a single 1st year Long-tailed Skua, a Short-tailed Shearwater and 121 Bridled Terns. Though relatively modest totals, they more than met expectations, with everyone on the boat getting at least one 'lifer' (and one got an absurd FIVE new birds in just half a day!).

 It did get hot though!

 

 A couple of pirates? Oh no - Seng and Carol doing a good impression!

 

Cape Rachado, Tanjung Tuan lighthouse from the sea. This is where we do the Raptor Watch from every March. The gap between Sumatra and Malaysia which the OHBs fly across looks very much wider from sea level!

This wasn't at sea! I spent the night at Rafi's place, and was rewarded by great views of a female Little Green-pigeon in his back garden this morning! Thanks Rafi, and thanks to the PD Pioneers, including Raja, our enthusiastic and sharp-eyed boatman (he got us several birds), especially John for organizing everything. 

PD Pelagics have great potential I think, especially if we can get a bigger, higher boat. That, and a chum bucket in September should be quite something I would think.

Oh - and congrats to John on reaching 550 for Peninsular Malaysia with the addition of Arctic Skua and Short-tailed Shearwater!

14th March 2011: Tanjung Tuan, Melaka

After the weekend, this was our first full day at the lighthouse. I was keen for my kids to experience the awesome spectacle of thousands of raptors pouring overhead, as they had in the past two days, but it was not to be! Fewer than a thousand OHBs today, and most of them passed distantly rather than overhead. Fortunately, the local fauna did not disappoint!



The local juv Changeable Hawk-eagle went for its regular morning exercise!



In the sea below us, four or five Green Turtles surfaced regularly.



In mid-morning a number of Pink-necked Green-pigeons preened and generally put on a fine show for an appreciative audience. Coming from the UK as I do, there's still something wonderfully bizarre about a 'green' pigeon!







Sometimes you need a beginner (like my kids) with you to to fully 'see' the beauty of a common bird!



Best of all for me were a number of Van Hasselt's/Purple-throated Sunbirds feeding on coconut flowers below us. These birds seem to descend to flowering plants in Singapore, but in Peninsular Malaysia, I've only seen them in forest canopy high overhead. So this was a rare opportunity to watch them at eye level.







Females are quite subtly plumaged. The bright yellowish-olive wing panel and blue-glossed tail stand out from the relatively featureless plumage.



"Subtle" is not a word you would use to describe the males!



We were observing the birds feeding on the coconut nectar at some distance , while below us were some other videographers quietly filming the birds. Suddenly the male flew from the coconut straight at the people below, whizzed just past them and landed on a wire next to the lighthouse wall, about 10 feet away, spitting fire! No-one was using flash or playback, or doing anything untoward, but there was little doubt that this little bird was 'mad' at us, and came to give us a piece of his mind!



He was also vigorously defending 'his tree' from other sunbirds in the area, so I can only assume he saw us as potential competitors, after his nectar! He was probably also super-hyped from all that pure sugar!





His stunning plumage and fearless 'cili padi' behaviour made him an instant favourite!