7th September 2009: Teluk Air Tawar, Penang

Some more shots from the wader roost today. The heat haze unfortunately made getting sharp shots very tricky.







One of the first birds to arrive was a White-faced Plover - my first of the season. My earliest last year was 19th Sept. There was also a lone Kentish at the roost, but I never saw them near each other. Apart from the overall pallid upperparts and pale legs, the bright white nuchal collar (of even width, not bifurcated in the centre by brown extending down from the rear crown), the restricted extent of brown on the ear coverts (barely extending below eye level), and the white fringed wing coverts are the best distinguishing features from Kentish. Interestingly, when all the waders left the roost on the falling tide, the White-faced stayed.



Lots of Red-necked Stints today, but I couldn't pick anything odd out among them - not even a juvenile.



Uncropped. I had to wait till the bird bent forward so it would all fit in the frame!



Nice rock!





Interesting to compare the state of wear on the coverts of these two birds. Individual variation, or could the second bird be a 1st summer retaining its old juvenile coverts?





A couple of incoming Red-necks.



The distinctive white rump of a Curlew Sandpiper.



There were a few juveniles around today and I did manage to get a couple of shots. This is a very fresh bird with a delicate golden wash to the breast.



That wash soon wears away, leaving a much duller looking bird. The dark arrowheads or anchor-shaped marks on the upperparts are what identify it as a juvenile.



A Broad-billed Sandpiper arriving.



I managed to snap a fresh juvenile Broad-bill today. What cracking birds they are!



In the field there was quite an obvious size difference between these two birds, the right hand one being larger and longer-billed - so probably a female, with the one on the left probably being a male. Note that water drop again!



Very few Redshanks around today, though they always make themselves heard above the crowd!



Lesser Sand Plovers made up the majority of the roost as usual - I estimated around 2,000.





At this time of year, worn breeding plumaged Lessers are rather orange, similar to the colour of Greaters in spring. However, Greaters moult before leaving the breeding grounds, so are not in breeding plumage on southward migration. So any sand plover with some remnants of breeding plumage at this time of year should be a Lesser.



An adult Greater to illustrate the point! If want to know more about telling the sand plovers apart, there's a useful summary here.



Fearless or foolish? An ant decided to climb the sand plover's leg!



Presumably an early-hatched juvenile, already looking very worn.





A fairly fresh juvenile for contrast.



Next to a juv Lesser (with apologies for the crude Photoshoppery!).



There were three Ruddy Turnstones today, including the first juv of the season.





Two Tereks, one with fresh coverts and the other not.



Shade was at a premium!



Time to go - no pushing please!

5th September, 2009: Teluk Air Tawar, Penang

My main problem at the roost today was that the birds were too close! I had set up my digiscoping gear and at times I could not get a full bird in view.



A scopeful of Lesser Sand Plover! This is a juvenile, and at least this shot gives a clear view of feather wear. The feathers most exposed to the light seem to be the most heavily abraded. The lower tertials, greater coverts and secondaries look much neater and fresher than the relatively heavily worn scapulars, median coverts and upper tertials.



Another juvenile, a little further away!



I see the odd bird like this, where the old median coverts seem to have disappeared entirely, exposing the bases of the greater coverts. The lines of white-tipped feathers are the new lesser and median coverts growing. My guess is that this is a 1st summer bird moulting into 2nd winter plumage. I'm basing that guess on the extreme wear of the upperpart feathers. Odd that the outer primaries seem rather fresh though.







Many birds were panting in the extreme heat reflecting off the packed laterite, revealing the serrations along the cutting edges of the bill that help them hold onto their prey.



I was also intrigued to see that many birds appeared to be holding drops of water in their bills. The place has been bone dry, with no rain for days, so they hadn't just picked it up. At low tide the birds are feeding in saline habitats, where I doubt they can drink the water. So come to think of it, how do these birds survive without fresh water, and if they can't, where do they get it from when it doesn't rain?











I ODed a bit on Broad-billed Sandpipers!



I saw my first juvenile Broad-billed Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints and Curlew Sandpipers of the year today. The latter didn't hang around long enough to be photographed, and my shots of fresh juv Broad-bills weren't sharp. However, some of the young Broad-bills were already quite advanced in moult to first winter plumage, like this bird.



The strength of the breast band on these young birds varies from being quite heavily streaked to barely streaked at all, as on this bird.



Here's a nice angle on the juv-1st winter bird, with an adult to the right for comparison. The lines of grey feathers on the mantle and lower scapulars are the 1st winter feathers. Those beautiful pale fringes on the coverts will gradually wear away as the season progresses.



This adult has something wrong with the crown feathers, giving it a very odd head shape.



Here's something I learned today. Broad-billed Sandpipers have very long hind toes compared to most true Calidris sandpipers, as long as Long-toed Stint's! Here's a comparison with a Red-necked Stint (left).







Three adult Curlew Sandpipers at different stages of post-breeding moult.







There was another adult Little Stint today - my third of the southward migration. The bright chestnut fringes to the lesser coverts and inner greater coverts of this bird made it nice and easy to pick out. It's also long-legged and long-winged compared to Red-necked.





A couple of superficially similar Red-necked Stints at a similar stage of moult lack chestnut tones to the coverts. The blackish shaft streaks near the vent of the lower bird are diagnostic of Red-necked when present.



I noticed that the Red-necked Stints were looking unusually long-legged today. They seemed to be pulling themselves up away from the heat coming off the ground as far as possible!





A couple of plovers to finish. A nice freshly-moulted adult Greater Sand Plover - interesting how large the eye looks compared to the Lessers behind... (there are a few other Greaters in the video clip).



...and a lone Kentish - presumably the same bird as on 24th Aug.



I stayed till the birds set off for the mud as the tide fell. It was interesting to watch the build up to departure - increased restlessness and calling, and lots of wing-stretching and wing-raising leading up to take-off.

1st and 3rd September, Bukit Merah, Perak

I had to make a trip to KL, so took the opportunity to make a dusk (1st) and dawn (3rd) visit to this large freshwater lake in the hopes of seeing the Dusky Eagle-owls that have frequented the area over the last few years (though there are few recent sightings).





The view at dawn looking both ways from the causeway across one section of the lake.






















This Grey-headed Fish Eagle spent a long time sitting on this dead tree.








































Enabling me to get a little closer to it.









While I waited at the owl stake-out - a couple of pylons by the road - this Plaintive Cuckoo entertained me hunting for caterpillars.



As dusk approached on the 1st, a large, broad-winged bird flew out of the plantation onto one of the pylons. I put my scope on the bird, confident that I had my Dusky Eagle Owl, but was immediately disappointed to see the small head of a raptor - a dark morph Changeable Hawk-Eagle! It was soon joined by another. This pair roosted on the pylon both days I was there, and was the nearest I came to seeing an owl! My miserable run on owls continues...!