Red-Whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

I was observing some yellow-vented bulbuls in my hometown recently when i heard a familiar call. When i look up i saw a bird which is more often seen in the cage rather than outside on a coconut tree.

Red-Whiskered Bulbul



 Despite been skittish and wary of my presence, the bird could still been an escaped caged bird.

It was nevertheless an enjoyfull sight to see the bird singing from outside a cage.



Kuala Muda Mudflats - Nov 2012

I went to the same mudflats again to see whether there are different birds in November. I started in the afternoon and here are some of the birds seen:

Collared Kingfisher - with a meal

A Great Egret, an Intermediate Egret and a Little Egret foraging together on the mudflats.

A juve Brahminy Kite (left) chasing away a juve Osprey (right)

Tired been chased around, the juve Osprey landed not too far away.

  

The juve Brahminy continued to patrol his territory.

Common Sandpiper

Not satisfied with the photo qualities and curious about more birds led me to return to this mudflat in the following morning.

 Some of the birds were still far away. These are Little Egrets foraging on the opposite bank. Its feets are black due to the mud.

A Great Egret swallowing a big fish

Hard to tell whether this fellow is a little egret or an intermediate. A good topic for a prolong debate.

A mean-full stare from a Little Heron.

On the way back, we stopped at a small patch of paddy field.

A Pond Heron (unidentified)

Another unidentified Pond Heron

This fellow is most likely a Little Egret - it has a slight pinkish color at its lower mandible.

So the conclusion is that morning is still the best time for birding.

Bagan Belat Air Tawar Mudflats - Nov 2012

I arrived at the mudflats at about 16.30hrs.. The weather was very hot and harsh on the body and photography. As the tide was still high i decided to look for other birds in the surrounding area.

Asian Dollar Bird





 The first egret which came in and waited for the tide to recede.

Great Egret

 This is probably the only bird which could "wade" in knee deep water.

Brahminy Kite

Black-Capped Kingfisher

The first batch of waders came in when the water started to recede at around 17.15hrs. They were mainly Common Redshanks.

Whiskered Tern i believe

It was fun to see them skimming over the water surface. Here you can see a white winged tern has managed to grab something from the water.

Probably a Common Tern.

Could this be a Gull-billed Tern or a Whiskered Tern?

Whiskered Tern

Verified by a MNS Bird Group Co-ordinator.

Common Redshank

Common Sandpiper

Besides the redshanks, common sandpipers are some of the birds which would dare to come close to humans.

From the horizon, i saw a silhouette of a big bird flying in.

It circled around the waders looking for a suitable place to land.

Brown-Headed Gull

Some of them are still in their first winter clothing as you can see from the bird in the middle of this picture (the black band on its tail).

As you can see there were 9 Brown Headed Gulls in this picture alone - probably more as i saw one or two with other group of waders.

 More birds flew in when the sea water receded further away.

Whimbrel

Un-identified wader? Finally this bird is

confirmed as a Great Knot by Dave B.

Little Egret

The photo above shows a little egret with a complete breeding plumage. I do not know whether this bird was here for breeding or came here just after its breeding season.

Redshanks taking off.



So did myself. I bade farewell to this mudflats at about 18.30hrs.



Air Itam Dalam Forest Reserve - Nov 2012

Since most of the paddy fields in Kedah and Penang were not ready to be harvested so we headed to a forest reserve area which has quite a similar setup like KSNP. Saw a number interesting and also familiar birds here:

Lineated Barbet

Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa Ketupu)

At 47cm it can be considered quite a large owl. It has a white forehead which separates it from the uncommon brown fish owl. I needed to use flash here in order to determine that feature.

Streak-Breasted Woodpecker

Although it looks like a laced woodpecker but i believe they were streak-breasted woodpeckers.

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher - Juvenile

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher - Female

Black Kites

There were three of them up on this tree. Probably waiting for thermal to built up. Looks like juveniles from the streaks on their wings.

Saw at least 5 of them circling up above me.

Olive-Winged Bulbul

Probably one of the sharpest image i had of this bulbul so far.

Greater Coucal

Ashy Tailorbird

Beside the pied fantails, ashy tailorbirds also featured prominently at this place.

Pin-Stripped Tit Babbler

Although its body color is quite whitish but it will be difficult to determine whether this is a germain's swiftlet without seeing its rump band. So this swift may have just been an edible-nest swiftlet.

Arctic Warbler

Not an easy bird to photograph as it never stays still.

This place is certainly conducive for birding or simply just to chill out. If i have stayed a little longer i might just be able to see more birds at this location. Perhaps i will save it for another day.