Birding in Serendah

A couple of days back i decided to do some birding at one of my favourite spots. Birding started from 7.30am - 12.30pm. This time instead of the usual trail i decided to try a new trail which looks abandoned and deeper in the jungle. Besides been greeted with the sound of Great Argus calling and white-rumped sharma whistling, i have also encountered a black snake, squirrels and at least 3 types of monkeys. Here are some of the photos i have managed to capture:

A Male Asian Fairy-Bluebird - taken at abt 7.30am. It was still quite dark.

Its already late April and this fellow is still around! An Asian Brown Flycatcher.

Next up is this female Chestnut-Beasted Malkoha. Look at its shiny plumage.

Tis is a male orange-bellied flower pecker. Quite a lot of these birds here and they are quite friendly too.

A male buff-rumped woodpecker. Quite common here as well.

Looking for some worms in a dead tree-trunk. I saw at least two of them.

This is a male Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird - back view

Front view.

This is the female ruby cheeked sunbird.

A Dark-Necked Tailor Bird - taken at the heat of the late morning sun.

A Forest Wagtail - taken on my way back from the trail.



Birding at Malaysia's National Park (Part 2)

27 March 2011
On second day everyone were up very early and feeling very excited as usual. Our group leader just came back after having seen the large frogmouth. Now is our turn to get on the jeep (7.30am) and headed towards the foohill of Mount Tahan (Gunung Tahan).  After about a 14km (15 minutes) of cool ride we were dropped at a place where the Malaysian Mahseer (Kelah) fishes are rear. We were informed that they have a few kelahs weighting abt 8 kilo each in the sanctuary. That's big enough to feed an entire orang asli(aboriginies) family for a day! After some sight-seeing session, we were down to birding again and here are some of the fantastic birds which i have managed to capture on the LCD screen:

The breeding sanctuary for the Malaysian Mahseer.

This is a juvenile hairy-backed bulbul. It was actually flapping its wings when i took its picture.

 

This is one of his parent sitting nearby. That is why the flapping behavior of the juvenile which was actually begging for food.

This is a white-chested babbler. One of the many babblers seen and heard in this trip. I just managed to get two decent shots of this babbler.

This is one of the gem of the forest. One of my lifer of course. The flight of this male Asian Paradise Flycatcher (White Morph) is like some fairy dancing in the forest. Looks even better in real life and is reportedly harder to be seen than the rufous morph. 

This is a grey-headed canary flycatcher. Although seen a few times in my birding trips but never really had a decent shot of this bird.

This is a large wren babbler. It was actually singing close to the trail and near the forest floor. It was spotted on our way back from the kelah sanctuary. Again its one of my lifers.

This is the back view of the same bird.

This is the front view - it looks better in photo than real life - probably because it is well hidden under the dark forest floor.

This is a Dark-Throated Oriole. A really beautiful but elusive bird .

This is a male Scarlet-Rumped Trogon. If not for the twig, this would be a great picture. A much sort after bird for photography hobbist due to its beautiful plumage.

Not sure whether this is a female scarlet-rumped trogon or a juvenile male. To me it looks more like a juv male.

This looks like a purple-naped sunbird.

This looks more like a little spiderhunter than a thick-billed spiderhunter as reported by one of the birders in my group.  The color around its eyes are more whitish as compared to the yellowish of a thick-billed spiderhunter.

This is a grey-breasted spiderhunter. It was actually beside the little spiderhunter, trying to chase away a green snake which was trying to eat one of its mates.

This is a forest wagtail. It was reported as an uncommon migrant and a winter visitor (Allen J, 1993). As its name suggest, it is usually seen near small streams of forest trails. I wonder whether my fellow birders notice  its right leg ?

Not sure what had happened but its right leg - there are no toes - deformed? but certaintly not handicapped as he kept swaying its body and tail from left to right just like business as usual!

 28th March 2011
The last day was rather slow as compared to the first two days and yielded only a few interesting birds. Did some birding for only about 1 hour before turning back to pack and head for home. Here are some of them:

This is a male Raffles Malkoha

This is a Common Iora but look at its bright plumage which most of the birds here have.

This is a black-thighed falconet

A male Buff-rumped Woodpecker. Look at its claws!

There are also a few unidentified birds such as these ones:

The one on the right.....pigeon? malkoha? female Asian fairy-blue bird?

This one is thought to be a maroon-breasted philentoma.... quite a difficult bird to spot.

And this is thought to be a black-naped monarch.

In total we have seen and heard about 119 birds for the three days. Here are the list of birds:

Arctic Warbler

Ashy Minivet

Asian Fairy-bluebird

Asian Glossy Starling

Asian Paradise-flycatcher

Banded Bay Cuckoo

Banded Broadbill

Banded Kingfisher

Banded Pitta

Barn Swallow

Black Hornbill

Black Magpie

Black-and-red Broadbill

Black-and-yellow Broadbill

Black-bellied Malkoha

Black-capped Babbler

Black-headed Bulbul

Black-naped Monarch

Black-thighed Falconet

Blue-crowned Hanging-parrot

Blue-eared Barbet

Blue-throated Bee-eater

Blue-winged Leafbird

Bronzed Drongo

Brown Barbet

Brown Fulvetta

Brown Shrike

Buff-rumped Woodpecker

Buff-vented Bulbul

Changeable Hawk-eagle

Checker-throated Woodpecker

Chestnut-bellied Malkoha

Chestnut-breasted Malkoha

Chestnut-naped Forktail

Chestnut-rumped Babbler

Chestnut-winged Babbler

Common Iora

Common Myna

Cream-vented Bulbul

Crested Fireback

Crested Jay

Crested Serpent-eagle

Crimson-winged Woodpecker

Dark-necked Tailorbird

Dark-throated Oriole

Diard's Trogon

Drongo Cuckoo

Eastern Crowned-warbler

Emerald Dove

Ferruginous Babbler

Fiery Minivet

Finsch's Bulbul

Fluffy-backed Tit-babbler

Forest Wagtail

Garnet Pitta

Gold-whiskered Barbet

Great Hornbill

Great Slaty Woodpecker

Greater Coucal

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

Grey-breasted Spiderhunter

Grey-cheeked Bulbul

Grey-headed Babbler

Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher

Grey-headed Fish-eagle

Grey-rumped Treeswift

Hairy-backed Bulbul

Helmeted Hornbill

Hill Myna

Horsfield's Babbler

Japanese Sparrowhawk

Large Frogmouth

Large Woodshrike

Large Wren-babbler

Large-billed Crow

Lesser Cuckooshrike

Lesser Fish-eagle

Lesser Green Leafbird

Long-billed Spiderhunter

Malayan Peacock-pheasant

Maroon Woodpecker

Maroon-breasted Philentoma

Mountain Imperial-pigeon

Orange-backed Woodpecker

Oriental Honey-buzzard

Oriental Honey-buzzard

Oriental Magpie-robin

Plain - throated Sunbird

Plain Sunbird

Plaintive Cuckoo

Purple-naped Sunbird

Raffles's Malkoha

Red-bearded Bee-eater

Rhinoceros Hornbill

Rufous-bellied Eagle

Rufous-crowned Babbler

Rufous-tailed Tailorbird

Scaly-crowned Babbler

Scarlet-rumped Trogon

Short-tailed Babbler

Silver-rumped Spinetail

Slender-billed Crow

Sooty-capped Babbler

Spectacled Bulbul

Spotted Fantail

Straw-headed Bulbul

Streaked Bulbul

Striped Tit-babbler

Stripe-throated Bulbul

Sultan Tit

Whiskered Treeswift

White-chested Babbler

White-crowned Hornbill

White-rumped Shama

Yellow-bellied Bulbul

Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker

Yellow-crowned Barbet

Yellow-vented Bulbul

Yellow-vented Flowerpecker

Birding at Malaysia's National Park (Part 1)

After obtaining approvals from my "Home Minister" and the organisers, i joined about 17 die-hard birders for a 3 day-two nights (25 - 28 March 2011) birding excursion to our very own National Park (Taman Negara). We pushed out about 7.30am from KL heading towards Karak highway and passing through 3 towns, Bentong, Raub and Kuala Lipis before reaching our destination at about 11.30am. Along the way we saw some breath-taking views of the rainforest such as this:

A typical tropical rainforest

The signboard before the entrance of the trail

After a hefty lunch and unpacking and then rigging our gears, we were already out for a warm-up hike along the trail from 2.00pm to 7.00pm. Here are some the birds seen on the first day of our tour-de-Taman Negara:

A Stripe-Throated Bulbul

A male yellow-breasted flowerpecker

A buff-vented bulbul

These are Oriental Honey-Buzzards (OHBs) on their migratory passage. Despite so high up, my fellow birders were able to id them (close to 90). They certaintly have eagle-eyes !

26 March 2011
On the second day, most of us are already awaken by 6.00am. Some were up even earlier(5.00am) trying to catch a glimpse of the near-threatened Large Frogmouth.  While having our delicious western breakfast at 7.15am, three Rhinoceros Hornbills gave a flypast just right in front of our canteen. That was certaintly a great start of the tour ! After dividing the tour into two groups, the first group were taken deeper and further on the trail by a jeep. My group have to start from the "base camp" which was a blessing in disguised. Here are some of the birds which my group saw on our first outing:

This is a female Rhino Hornbill.

This fellow is a male Rhino Hornbill. How to differentiate them? Well just look at their eyes !

A close-up of the female Rhino Hornbill. Look at the gorgeous eyes !

We were able to observe both the Hornbills close to 20 minutes before they flew off to another place. The first group were a little unlucky as they were not able to spot any perched Rhino Hornbills for the entire three days except during their flypast on the 2nd day.

This is a surprise sighting of the trip. Actually i saw a bird going up a trunk but can't figure out what the species it represents cos i did not bring along my bins. So i decided to take a snap shot and enlarge it. Wahla its a male Blue-rumped Parrot ! It flew off before my fellow birders were able to spot it. Never mind guys, there shld be plenty more in the next trip. We were informed that another group spotted 5 which flew by at their trail. It is considered as a near threatened bird but glad to know it is doing well here.

This is a male banded kingfisher. A forest denizen and much sort after kingfisher for its photographic values.

This could be a Malaysian female blue-crowned hanging parrot cos it lacks the red color patch on its throat and a black bill of a male. We saw close to about 8-10 of these parrots on this single tree. Glad to know they are thriving well here.

This a male black-and-yellow broadbill . Although a fairly common broadbill but its not easy to see them. This fellow stood up there silently but luckily our group leader was able to spot it. 

This is a large woodshrike. Likes to hang around high up on the trees and this fellow is one of them. My fellow birders were able to spot it even before using their bins.

This should certaintly be the highlight of the trip - a male crested fireback ! It is also happens to be a lifer for some of the much experience birders.  It gave us a good 10-15 minutes view of what its doing by the trail.

This is a dark-necked tailor bird. Although a common bird but it is not easy to be photographed due to its high mobility.

This is a Finsch's bulbul.  It lives in broadleaved evergreen forest. Although it is considered as scarce but we have spotted quite a number of this bulbul here. Hope the figures would remained or higher in the future for this bird.

The same Finsch's bulbul - front view. Quite a friendly bird as it allows close observation.

This is a rufous-winged philentoma - a typical male morph as compared to the elusive male blue morph. At one glimpse it could be mistakenly id as a female Asian Paradise flycatcher for a new birder like me. Although said to be fairly common but i seldom seen it on my many birding trips.

.............. to be continued in part 2