Pelagic Birding off the Coast of Kuala Selangor - Nov 2013

This trip (16 November 2013) was arranged pursuant to the earlier one held on 21 September 2013. This time however there were 7 people on board and most of them were the committee members from the Selangor and Malaysian Bird Group/Council. It was certainly a high profile team who has joined us this time. So the expectations must have been very high. We arrived at the jetty in Bagan Sungai Buloh, Selangor as early as 7.00am and boarded the boat at about 7.45am. At that time the tide was already receding quite fast. So we wasted no time in requesting the boatman to set "sail" to Pulau Ketam. The map below shows the distance we have covered.

Trip from Bagan Sungai Buloh, Selangor to Pulau Ketam

This Great Egret's photo was taken before we board the boat - it was just around 7.15am. Water was fast receding but the sky was still dark.

Juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron

Adult Black-Crowned Night Heron

As the light of dawn emerges so did the Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax). This adult bird would have make the kungfu masters proud.

Now you know who wants to be at the top of the hierarchy in the birds' kingdom. 

Whiskered Tern

As we headed out to sea more birds were seen criss-crossing above our heads.

No this is not a painting but a real grey heron's photo taken just as the boat passes it.

As we came across a tower just after the river mouth, we saw a Peregrine Falcon tearing its victim apart. Another victim lays dead at the top.

The unfortunate victim laying on top of a water tank could have been a juvenile purple heron. From the colors of its feathers and legs it could also possibly be a bittern or perhaps a white-breasted waterhen.

Eurasian Curlew

Bar-Tailed Godwit

More birds were seen heading out to sea and this was probably a flock of sand plovers. Photo was taken near Pantai Remis beach front.

More waders were seen near Kapar area. It was certainly a misty morning.

Common Tern

As we were half way to Pulau Ketam, the "outriders" finally came. This time there were 5 - 6 of them.

Watch out ! they might just hit your telephoto lens.

Common Tern

Beside the Common Terns, Lesser Crested Tern was the second most numerous terns encountered. They have occupied/perched on almost all the poles in the sea leaving other terns to "float" in the sea. This one has a ring band on one of its tarsus. Hope some researchers out there could identify the origins of the ring band. According to the IUCN's record, this bird can be frequently found in the following countries: 

"Algeria; Australia; Bahrain; Bangladesh; British Indian Ocean Territory; Brunei Darussalam; China; Comoros; Djibouti; Egypt; Eritrea; Gambia; Guinea-Bissau; India; Indonesia; Iran; Islamic Republic  of Iraq; Isreal; Italy; Kenya; Kuwait; Libya; Madagascar; Malaysia; Maldives; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mayotte; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Oman; Pakistan; Papua New Guinea; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Seychelles; Singapore; Somalia; South Africa; Spain; Sri Langka; Sudan; Tanzania;Thailand; Timor-Leste; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates; Yemen"

Lesser Crested Tern - Adult

Lesser Crested Tern in Flight

If only its bills has a black tip on it then everyone will be jumping for joy for seeing the first Chinese Crested Tern in Malaysia. Nevertheless this was Ang's lifer.

This time there was nothing much to see at Pulau Ketam except for this two Brahminy Kites perched on a kelong.

There was a saying that if you happen to see a dolphin some of your dreams may just come true. Based on its dorsal fin which was short, blunt, triangular and located far behind its back, it could probably be either an "Indo-Pacific Humpback" or an "Irrawaddy Dolphin". However based on previous sightings in Port Klang area, this dolphin could have been an "Indo-Pacific Humpback" (Chinensis-type).

As we headed back, the boatman took us near one of the islands and what seems to be like a common tern actually turns out to be a lifer for most of us.

Aleutian Tern - 1st Winter

Initially i knew that i am seeing something different but could not just identify the bird until the experts on board informed me that it was an Aleutian Tern. Although IUCN has listed it as "Least Concern", only a few sightings of this tern have been reported in the waters of Peninsular Malaysia. Thus making it a very uncommon winter visitor from the region of Alaska, East Russia (Kamchatka and Sakhalin) and the Aleutian Islands.

Here is the map of the breeding and non-breeding areas of the Aleutian Terns. (ref: IUCN data).  

Peregrine Falcon

This is an ultimate predator - mean and aggressive. Once it locks its sight on its prey it will certainly gets it. I have seen it snatching a pink neck green pigeon from mid air. This falcon was still hanging around at the same location since morning. According to the experts the female has a bit of pinkish color at its belly. So i guess this must has been a male bird.

And its unfortunate prey can still be seen.

 "May Your Soul (whichever species you may be) Rest in Peace in the Palace of the Golden Birdies" !

While waiting for the tide to rise, we stopped in front of the mudflats to watch some waders up close. They were mostly scattered around in loose bunches. 

Broad-Billed Sandpiper - in flight

Although it has a peculiar black band behind its eys etc, i suspect it was just a Greater Sand Plover.

Greater Sand Plover

Here you can see its more prominent features - big eyes, longer bills, longer appearance as compared to the Lesser Sand Plover below:

Lesser Sand Plover

Germani or Black Nest Swiflet?

Overall i believe this trip was not too bad. Unlike the inaugural trip, the sea was much calmer this time without much of the rock-and-roll stuff you might encounter in high sea. Although there were not many birds seen as compared to the initial trip but most of us have at least one or two lifers from this trip.

As the Liverpool FC anthem plays: " You will Never Walk Alone", i bid you farewell for time being.

HAPPY BIRDING AND HAVE A GREAT YEAR AHEAD!

The Kites of Bagan Sungai Buloh, Selangor

We have just finished birding at Sekinchan and since the place happens to be along our way home so we decided to drop by to see what it has to offer at the worst time of the day. We reached the place at about 13.00hrs and as expected there were just a handful of birds around.

Little Terns and Whiskered Terns were the most birds seen - flying to and fro along the river.

As we were scanning the river banks, the Grey Herons started to make a lot of noise and that was when we realised that a raptor was flying nearby. Looking up i knew it was a black kite.

Black Kite

Not to be outshined, this juvenile Brahminy Kite join in the fun.

Being a visitor at this place the Black Kite (bottom right) got some close attention from a resident kite.

Both the kites were juvenile and it was fun to see them thermaling just above our heads. The kites left the scene at about 14.00hrs and so did we.

Harriers of Sekinchan - 2013

In Peninsular Malaysia, harriers has been sighted from the state of Perlis right down to Melaka and Sungai Balang in Muar, Johor with an odd case in Kelantan since 1988. However i am not sure why there were no data of harrier sightings in East Malaysia todate (i.e. based on B.i.W records).

Over at Sekinchan, there were also numerous reports of harriers been sighted way back in 1996 and the latest was just last year (2012). If you have been to Ulu Dedap, Perak before, you will realised that the harrier numbers here are fewer and located further away. Nevertheless i was delighted to sight not only one but possibly 3 Eastern Marsh Harriers (EMH) at this place on 4 November 2013. We were there at about 8.45am and the first EMH was only sighted at 9.25am. They were seen circling casually around a patch of the rice field before landing on it again. We could only hypothesized that they were probably waiting for the thermal to build up before rising to the sky again. Here are some of the shots i have managed to take:

I presumed this could be a female EMH based on the following diagnosis: pale buff head, bright rufous underparts, thin bars on the tails.

Other EMHs later followed closely behind.

The blotchy marks like a disease bird from the above photos show both are possibly a juvenile EMH.

In addition to the EMH, we had another surprise later on. I had initially reckoned the harrier below (ambitiously) as a juvenile Hen Harrier and AunTiah subsequently thought it could be another juvenile EMH. Have a look at its photos below:

(Broad white rump, darker brown, banded wings, dark patch on secondaries). All those features at a glance point to a juvenile Hen Harrier, right?. But alas, according to the experts the white rump is not a reliable indicator for a hen harrier. Well i have later read that there was one prominent feature which was missing from this harrier i.e the narrow whitish collar. This feature i have noticed was almost presence in all hen harriers. So what can it be then? According to Dr Chaiyan (from Thailand) the above bird was a juvenile Pied Harrier!

If you study Robson's field guide, you will note that the description given for a juvenile Pied Harrier fits the bill - "darkish rufous-brown body, indistinct paler bands across blackish secondaries and more rufous-brown than EMH". You may also noticed that the white rump and the white spot on the nape of the above harrier can also be seen in EMH though less conspicuous.  So there you go again another harrier in the bag.