Gallinules

Dusky Moorhen - distinguished from Common Moorhen by its reddish legs and absence of white flank lines. There are historical records from south-east Borneo, so another one for East Malaysian birders to watch for?











Purple Swamphen - noisy, aggressive, common, and looks nothing like the form we get in Malaysia!

10th February 2010: Bidor, Perak

Another trip back to Penang from KL, and another 'twitch', this time after a pair of Wandering Whistling Ducks that had been sighted and photographed the previous evening at Bidor.



I found the pond, but the only ducks on view were Lesser Whistling Ducks, which are somewhat commonplace. Never mind, Bidor has plenty of other avian attractions!



Or it used to have. Not sure what is going on here, but it looks like the ponds at FRIM, Bidor are on the way out.



There were a few Grey-headed Lapwings around here and there.















































Purple Herons can usually be relied upon at Bidor, and today was no exception.





Yellow Bitterns too.



I have a soft spot for Purple Swamphens (or Black-backed Swamphens as this one should now be called). Everything about them is absurd - their proportions, their colour scheme and their trumpet-like call, which they utter while flapping their wings incongruously! This one had junior in tow.







When the light catches them they are a riot of blues, mauves and greys.



A scarcer, but duller Common Moorhen.

Opposite the FRIM ponds there's a rather unique open field that looks just perfect for something rare, like a lark, a Thick-knee or an Oriental Plover. Every time I check though, it has the same customers...



Pacific Golden Plovers...







...and Oriental Pratincoles. It was interesting to see that these showed a thin buffish trailing edge to the secondaries, from above and below. They were obviously in very fresh plumage. The lack of a white trailing edge to the secondaries on Oriental is one feature which distinguishes it from Collared Pratincole.











Of course, there were also lots of Paddyfield Pipits. Since they were song-flighting, I tried to get some flight shots. They are noticeably and obviously short-tailed in flight, although they can give the impression of being longer-tailed when on the ground.

Australia Trip: Friday 20th October

Most of my wife's family live in Sydney, so every couple of years of so, we pay a visit, usually to coincide with a wedding or two! Although it's primarily a family holiday, there are many opportunities to get out to see some of Australia's fascinating wildlife, so I'll showcase a sample of what I got to see over the 19 day visit.

Although we've been to Australia 3 times as a family, we have, until this trip, only spent time in Sydney and the immediate surroundings. This time we had a week or so between family commitments in Sydney, so we took the opportunity (graciously enabled by the loan of a car by my wife's sister and husband) to travel up to Brisbane and spend a few days with some old friends.

Our first free day was today, so we went to a favourite haunt from previous trips - Olympic Park. It's a great place for kids to play, and there is also a superbly managed wetland, complete with a functioning tidal mangrove system, and a complex of brackish lagoons and lakes. There's a mangrove boardwalk and an education centre which offers a variety of hands-on learning experiences for kids and adults.

Many of the city's common birds can be seen well there - birds in general seem much tamer than in Asia.



Purple Swamphens are a common sight in almost any marshland. This race - 'melanotus' - is much darker than the birds we see in South-east Asia.



Little Black Cormorant is another common wetland species. They have a beautiful deep ocean-green eye.



A family of Australian Wood Ducks. The male is on the right.


Magpie-Larks are everywhere! They have lots of other local names too. I heard them called 'Mud-lark' and 'Pee-wit'. This one, a female, is interested in the bread our kids were feeding the ducks.



A drake Chestnut Teal. These can look quite dark and dowdy in dull light, but the sun really makes them light up!



Royal Spoonbills are aptly named in my opinion - magnificently regal birds with one of the coolest hairstyles in bird-dom! This is one of a pair that frequented a quiet backwater in the park and spent much of their time displaying to each other, which meant the head-plumes were put to good use!



Willy Wagtail is another ubiquitous urban garden bird. It's actually a kind of fantail rather than a wagtail, but its habit of swivelling its tail constantly from side to side suits the name.



Fairy-Wrens are an Australasian speciality that I've always looked at in bird books and drooled over! Superb Blue Wren is the commonest of these occurring in the Sydney area, and the males really are superb! The song is amazingly like that of the Wren that occurs in Europe (Winter Wren), so, with that and the characteristic way the tail is often held cocked, its easy to see how the family name arose, even though they aren't closely related.