20 June 2012: Penanti

Having left the folly of flycatcher-hunting, I dropped into Penanti en route home to check on the Oriental Pratincoles.

 One was standing sentinel on the access road and wasn't that interested in giving way to my vehicle!

  

Interesting to see that post-breeding moult has already begun - those slightly greeny-glossed scapulars, wing coverts and tertials are new, as are the darker feathers on the head. 

 

 

 

The adults were all just starting wing moult - the inner four or five primaries and their respective coverts had been replaced.

 

 

I could only see two juveniles - suggesting that the season hasn't been a good one. Both were just fledged. Sometimes pratincoles will raise a second brood after the first is fledged - wonder if this may happen here?

The inevitable Red-wattled Lapwings making their disapproval of my presence known! I was surprised to hear a Blue-winged Pitta calling not that far away in the scrub. However, it didn't want to play, and I was unsuccessful in luring it into view. While searching, I did spook a Red Junglefowl - another species I was surprised to find at this rather open location.

20 June 2012: Lata Bukit Hijau, Kedah

With Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker having finally fallen, I have been badly in need of a new bogey bird to give me something to complain about! Well, the search is over and I can proudly announce that my new bird-I-should-have-seen-by-now-but-haven't is...

White-tailed Flycatcher

Although not in the same league as the woodie (which drew astonished gasps from even novice birders when I let slip that I hadn't yet seen one) - the flycatcher is a genuinely difficult bird to see in Peninsular Malaysia -  it does have the essential 'bogey bird qualification' of having been repeatedly searched for and not seen. I've searched for it at the Gap and Ulu Gombak, and more recently Penang Hill, where rumours of a pair tempted me to scale a fiendish set of steps in the forlorn hope of seeing them.

My latest failure was today, when I set off pre-dawn to Lata Bukit Hijau, Kedah - a once-scenic series of waterfalls cascading through some secondary forest.

 

 

 

 

Leptospirosis anyone? Another ecotourism success!

Sadly, no sight or sound of the aforementioned flycatcher, or indeed, almost any other birds - just two male Rufous-winged Philentomas chasing each other round the forest.

The highlight of the morning was this gathering of butterflies on a pile of ... er, poop. I love the little guy with the red wings and funky blue topknot - if anyone knows what it is, please do tell! [This helpful reply is from Tou Jing Yi:

"The large ones should be Amathusia phidippus (Palm King).

The lovely small ones are some skippers, but being so colorful, should belong to the subfamily that are collectively known as "Awls", this particular one I believed is the Burara etelka
(Great Orange Awlet), I should have seen these once....

The yellow ones are actually moths, but being colorful and day flying, could easily be confused as butterflies, a few similar species occurs together, this one should be Dysphania subrepleta, hard to be certain from this angle but the wings seemed to be reasonably well marked, at least 2 other similar species occurs in the same habitat." Thanks, Tou!

Apologies!

 

As the Editor of Suara Enggang, I apologize for the very late appearance of 2012 issues to date. This has been due to "unavoidable circumstances" which we hope have now been fully resolved. As you can see, the first proofs of the March issue are now in circulation. The cover photo of a Plaintive Cuckoo by Ingo Waschkies raises the bar yet again, and the contents will, we hope, offer something of interest to Malaysian birders from both East and West.

The Editorial Team and Designer are working extra hard to try to get both the March and June issues distributed by Aug 31. Thereafter, we'll be doing our best to get the final two issues of the year nearer to schedule.

Thanks for your patience and understanding!

13-14th June: Pedu Lake, Kedah

I stole a couple of days off work to accompany Choo Eng, Angie and James to the access road to Pedu Lake up on the Malaysia/Thailand border. Warning: there follow some of the worst photos you are ever likely to find on a bird blog!

 

A male Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker.

 

A typical view of a Raffles's Malkoha!

 

These two Red Junglefowl looked like a couple of old dears out for a morning stroll!

 

At last!! A flock of noisy, broad-winged and apparently tailless birds chasing each other around the treetops turned out to be...

 

GREY-AND-BUFF WOODPECKERS! Not the greatest views, but my #1 "Bogey Bird" laid to rest at last!  

  

If you have one of the older versions of Robson, you'll see that Whiskered Treeswift is illustrated with all dark wings. The 2008 edition corrected this oversight, but the rather obvious broad white trailing edge to the wing is still absent in other field guides. Odd how something so obvious can go unnoticed - but then - how many people really look at flying swifts/swiftlets/treeswifts?!

 

The sun setting beyond Pedu Lake.

Early morning Blyth's (Javan) Frogmouths were very active. Above is the female - plainer and more rufous; below is the male.

Hooded Pittas were rather numerous, easy to hear but difficult to see!

We watched a displaying Great Iora briefly. It's many, many years since I last saw one. When it was doing its fluttering parachute display, the bird showed a very obvious white rump (see lower picture). The photo shows that the 'rump' appears domed, as if fluffed out. When I got home and checked the books I was rather puzzled to find that Great Iora doesn't have a white rump! Further reading solved the mystery. The nominate race which we get here has "long, silky, white upper flank feathers" (Wells 2008), and it seems that it puffs these up when displaying, giving the impression of a white rump. Well - you learn something new everyday!

26-30 May: Cameron Highlands

The idea was a few days of peaceful family holiday; the reality was that this was school holidays, when peace and Cameron Highlands are not words easily associated with one another!

A few photos from the four days away.

A couple of shots of not-so-easy-to-see Bay Woodpeckers - these were very vocal at the summit of Brinchang at dawn.

Snowy-browed Flycatchers are typical denizens of the shady mossy upper montane forest. They're completely fearless, and often the first indication of their presence is an awareness of a pair of beetling white eyebrows glowering at you from the side of the road as you walk past!

Lesser Shortwings are very common at the summit too, and come out onto the road to feed at first light.

I set up my hide at the roadside one day, and soon realized I was in the vale of the dinosaurs! First I found myself eyeball to eyeball with this juvenile Robinson's Anglehead Lizard.

 Quite a fearsome-looking beast!

 Then the Daddy dino turned up. Check out those teeth - enough to give a nasty nip!

This third one was missing the end of its tail - a subadult male I think. They all foraged a few feet in front of my hide quite amiably.

I also discovered I had parked myself near the home of a Three-striped Ground Squirrel. It provided me with regular entertainment as it darted in and out of the undergrowth collecting stuff.

 

 

Avian visitors were limited to a male Large Niltava (briefly) and a female White-tailed Robin (regularly).

Another day was spent in the hide at my favourite cuckoo-dove watering hole. Here are both species - Little on the left, a male Barred on the right.

A male Little.

And a female I think.

Male (top) and female Barred Cuckoo-doves. This is one of my favourite pigeon species - dunno why - perhaps it's because it took me so many years to see my first!

The female back-on.

Males of both species appear much larger than females, and are much bigger around the head and neck - perhaps the better to coo with!

 A female (front) and male.

The green gloss against the greys and browns of the rest of the plumage is one of the best colour combinations  I've seen in nature.

Later I moved my hide down to the stream to try to photograph the doves coming down. I wasn't successful - they were too wary I think - but I was rewarded by this juv Slaty-backed Forktail and male White-tailed Robin.