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!

23 - 25 March 2012: Kapar power station.4. Shanks etc.

Here are all the Tringas, or shanks, on offer at Kapar. Four species - have a go at identifying them, then see how you got on at the bottom of the post.



Well, obviously this is a (Common) REDshank!



This is a mix of Common Redshanks, Terek Sandpipers and Curlew Sandpipers. The redshanks and Tereks moved off before it got light.



A Common Greenshank (front) with three Nordmann's.



The thin white line! Remarkably, there were periods during which the commonest Tringa in view was Nordmann's Greenshank. I counted 46 birds, the joint highest count at Kapar over the years (46 were also counted on 3rd Jan 2010). 40 are in this video - see if you can find them all! I think it illustrates well how easy it is to underestimate/undercount birds at roosts. They so easily get lost behind each other!





A couple flashing those pearly underwings!









Ever since I found my first one at Beidaihe in 1986, when we barely knew what one was supposed to look like, NGs have been special birds for me. So having this flock in view for three days was a great treat.











I still have some way to go on my flight shots!







Answer: (front to back) Marsh Sandpiper, Common Greenshank, Common Redshank, Nordmann's Greenshank (and Bar-tailed Godwit).

23 - 25 March 2012: Kapar power station. 1. Godwits

My annual pilgrimage to Kapar Power Station ashponds was a couple of weeks earlier than usual due to work commitments and tides, and this time I was accompanied by 5 keen members of the Nature Society (Singapore) who wanted a baptism of fire after attending the Advanced Wader Workshop there last autumn (come to think of it, I never did do a blog post on that, did I? I must get around to it!).

My favourite wader venue on the planet never disappoints, and after three days, we were left reeling with the abundance and variety of waders on show, many in stunning breeding colours.

I've already blogged several times on identification of the various species on offer, so if you're interested in getting a refresher, I refer you to those earlier posts (click 'Kapar' in the label cloud on the right).

Our first evening was spent working out where the waders were - there are usually several roosts in the ashpond complex and they tend to move from year to year dependent on water levels and other factors. It gave us useful practice in identifying waders at a distance!



Waders at roosts tend to group themselves into same/similar species flocks, so here the knots are in front, the Whimbrels at the far back, and the godwits in between. We spent a bit of time picking out a lone Black-tailed among the Bar-tails - can you find it (right click on the image and then left click 'Open link in new tab' to see a larger version)? (See Answer 1 below)



Telling godwits apart in flight can be rather easier than finding them on the deck; the black-bordered gleaming white underwing and black tail makes the Black-tailed Godwit at the top (right of centre) stand out even at this distance.



The next morning, having worked out the best place to watch from, we were in place before dawn. Roosting birds are always more vocal in the dark than in daytime, and it's always interesting to work out what's out there before you can see them! We were surprised to hear large numbers of Terek Sandpipers and Common Redshanks pre-dawn both days - by the time the sun rose, almost none remained. On the other hand, the Gull-billed Terns only arrived well after the sun was up, perhaps having slept overnight at sea? In this picture, the smaller waders are just blurred shapes as they fed busily in the foreground. Behind these are Bar-tailed Godwits and Whimbrels, and, in the further distance, a large flock of Eurasian Curlew.



I can't think of many places I'd rather be at dawn at the end of March!



An early scan in the gloaming picked out this leg-flagged Bar-tailed Godwit. The combination of white over black (Shanghai, China) was replaced in April 2006 by black over white, making this bird at least 6 years old.



The same bird later in the morning, closer, but also in deeper water.This was the only leg-flagged godwit we found (among 3,500 Bar-tails and 400 Black-tails), but we had better luck with the Great Knots (next post).





Bar-tailed Godwits (3,500), Great Knots (3,700) and Whimbrels (1,450) were among the most numerous species.





Early morning Barwits - those rich burgundy underparts in the warm dawn light make them irresistible for photography!



They're still pretty irresistible in full sunlight!

I've said it before, but it bears repeating that godwits are generally among the easier of shorebirds to sex, and Bar-tails especially. Note the compact lines and relatively short and tapered bill of this male, compared to the much larger, more bulky, and thicker and longer-billed female below.



Later on the flock started to bathe, and the light was good enough to capture some of the rapid movements even with the digiscoping set-up.







There's a video of this here.



Later on, when the birds flew around a bit, I was reminded of what I discovered with 'baueri' Bar-tails in Australia (and which is also true of these 'menzbieri' Bar-tails here), that many aren't 'bar-tailed' at all - more brown-tailed!



Some more Barwits in flight, but what about the four smaller waders with white underwings? (See Answer 2 below).





Black-tailed Godwits were relatively scarce (we found a larger roost of these elsewhere). This taxon - 'melanuroides' (considered a full species - Eastern or Asiatic Black-tailed Godwit - by some) is usually clearly smaller than Bar-tailed - males are not much larger than Great Knots. The longer tibia, rounder head, more prominent supercilium in front of the eye, straighter bill and, in breeding plumage, tiger stripes on the flanks and breast, further distinguish it from Bar-tailed.



This shot gives a good comparison of the differences in head and bill shape.



This likely female is almost as big as the male Bar-tailed on the right.



Take a careful look at the pattern of mantle, scapulars and wing coverts of the Bar-tailed (left) and Black-tailed here...






















... then see if you can work out which is which in this pic! (See Answer 3).



In non-breeding plumage, one feature not often mentioned in field guides is the vertical smudge mark down the breast - unique among waders to my knowledge. Ignoring the tail/wingtip on the extreme right, how many of each species are in this pic? (See Answer 4).



The black tail, visible here, is a fairly unhelpful field mark when the bird is not in flight, as it's usually hidden beneath the primary tips (which are dark in both species).





A couple more Blackwits (with blurry Barwits in the foreground!). Black-tailed Godwit is a Near Threatened species, with the population of 'melanuroides' estimated at less than 200,000 birds and declining (BirdLife).



I've noticed a lot of birders barely bother to lift their bins when waders take flight, considering them unidentifiable. That's really not the case, as can be seen here. In fact, scanning a flock of flying birds is the easiest way to pick out a Blackwit among the Bart-tails - easier than finding one when the flock lands! Last puzzle - what about the other bird here, bottom right - not too difficult surely? (See Answer 5).







Answers:
1.


2. If you identified Nordmann's Greenshanks you're doing well. But if you spotted that the lowest bird is a Marsh Sandpiper (apparently longer wing, darker under primary coverts, smaller head, finer bill and longer legs), go to the top of the class!

3. Clues to note are the pattern of the wing coverts on the left hand side, and the mantle feathers. Black-tailed top, Bar-tailed bottom.

4. Five "Blackwits", 2 "Barwits."

5. Nordmann's Greenshank again!