Waders of Teluk Air Tawar, Penang - 23 Oct 2011

One of the most interesting thing about watching waders is the thrill of searching and identifying the different types of waders amongst the hundreds of them on the tidal mudflats. This is where the every essence of birding techniques come to play, which are:

i) to watch waders you need to have a scope - this is because most of time these waders are stationed quite a distance away on the mudflats.

ii) If you do not have a scope, then a good pair of bins would be handy esp 10x42 onwards.

iii) Then the next thing you really need is a note book to jot down the details of the waders you see.

iv) You may not need a note book provided that if you have a DSLR camera with a 800mm lens to record those details like head patterns, bill size, colors of wing bars etc. But then how many people can afford a 800mm lens? Digiscoping could be a good alternative to this limitation.

One of the worst times to watch waders are during their wintering colors and before an incoming thunderstorm. Their wintering plumage blends really well with the colors of the mudflats but it certaintly did not help much in easing the pain in identifying them. So in between the only time i had and the evening thunderstorm occuring each day, i went to look for waders during my recent vacation back home (23 Oct - 24 Oct 2011). It took me a few days just to sort out and look for oddballs in the hundreds of their pictures. Then it took me another day or two to identify them but with the help of the more season and experience birders like Dave Bakewell, the headaches goes away faster. Here are some of them which i managed to see and id:

This is what i call blending with the mudflats. There are actually 8 birds in this picture alone. That is why you really need a scope or a pair of bins to differentiate the birds out there in the mudflats.

One can see Penang Island out there and the birds are really sticking to the shoreline which is quite far out.

A congregation of waders, not many but enough to satisfy me.

From the first picture if you zoom in, you could see a Curlew Sandpiper (top) and a Common Redshank, walking side by side.

You could also see a pair of Terek Sandpiper.

I think that is a Greater Sand Plover (left) and a Lesser Sand Plover (right)

Is this a Javan or a Chinese Pond heron?

Could this be a Great Egret or an Intermediate Egret? Looks more like a Great Egret from its longer and sharper bill.

Occasionally one could see marshland/coastal birds such as this smaller Little/Striated Heron.

A flock of heavy B52 bombers (Eurasian Curlews) escorted by the faster Spitefires (2 Greater Sand Plovers). What a magnificant sight!

A closer look at E-Curlews and Plovers. 

A Common Redshank taking a stroll on the mudflats. Saw close to about 150 of them.

Waders (mostly Common Redshanks) taking a bath at the pool side.

A lone Common Greenshank.

This is a Grey Plover. Said to breed in the Artic and Canada and makes non-stop transcontinental flight in its winter migration season. Certaintly has great stamina to fly over the Atlantic to this region.

and it certaintly deserves a splashing good time.

Another shot of the bird.

According to Dave Bakewell, this is a Juvenile Grey Plover.

This is a Lesser Sand Plover.

A squadron of Cattle Egrets returning to roost.

A majestic Great Egret with its long wing span. It just flew silently from behind above my head.

This picture illustrates how Common Redshanks look for sea worms ("pun-pun" in Malay language). It would first dip its bill into the mud and feel for the worms. The bird on the top right hand corner of the picture has got some sea worms.

...and there he goes off with the sea worms.

Birds of Pulau Burung - Pt 2 (25 Oct 2011)

On our way back to KL, we decided to stop at this great marshland again, hoping to add more birds we saw earlier on. Yes indeed we did saw more birds including some new ones.

The first bird which greeted us was this White-Throated Kingfisher.

This time we saw more Little Grebes

This Little Grebe swam quite close to us.

Today we saw only this single Black-Winged Stilt.

We also saw plenty of this Lesser Whistling Duck.

We also saw some of its ducklings.

Here are some of the ducklings image been magnified.

Then we came across a group of Red-Wattled Lapwings. This fellow is one of them.

We continue to see more Wood Sandpipers including this one.

We also saw many more White-Breasted Waterhens...

....including its chick.

This is a Common Sandpiper looking for earthworms to eat for breakfast.

Could this possibly be a Chinese Pond Heron? You will not be able to distinguish it from the other two pond herons (i.e Javan and Indian) by just looking at it while stationary. According to Craig Robson (2007) field guide, it tends to have more obvious dusky tips to its outermost primaries feathers than Javans.

....from this picture you could see a tinge of dusky color on the tip of its primaries. We saw close to 5-6 of this Chinese Pond Heron.

This is a handsome Brown Shrike/Long-tailed shrike?

We concluded our outing by passing by this Yellow Wagtail.

Birds and Fauna of Bukit Hijau and Sedim Recreational Forests

I took my father for some bird watching recently. Bukit Hijau is located about 45 minutes drive from a town called Sungai Petani, Kedah. One needs to drive pass another town called Kuala Ketil before reaching the place. Today Bukit Hijau was rather quiet as compared the last time we visited the place.

The first birds we encountered are this pair of Common Flameback - male (at the top) and female (below).

Then we came across this handsome Giant Squirrel which was quite funny with its tree antics.

Besides the common Gold-Whiskered Barbet and a Red-Eyed Bulbul, the only other bird we saw was this Grey Wagtail.

We only spent about an hour at this place and since it was low in bird activities we decided to drive to Sedim which is another 18 km from Bukit Hijau. As we reached at the post where we need to pay RM2/- to enter, we saw this flycatcher:

It could be a Dark-sided Flycatcher as it was quite small as compared to the usual Asian Brown.

The next flycatcher we saw near the car park is this Ferruginous Flycatcher.

Not so sure whether is this a Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo ?

(Note: expert has confirmed that this bird is a Crow-Billed Drongo !)

While walking we saw this colony of jungle bees and we were informed by a local boy that usually in the afternoon there was a bird which likes to disturb the bees - could it be a bee-eater? or honey guide?

Then we saw and heard this Oriental Honey Buzzard (as id by Seng)  circling just above the tree top - i believe it has caught something.

This male Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker was the last bird we saw.