Birding in Sekinchan Ricefields - Nov 2013

The place is huge alright but unlike Ulu Dedap in Perak, this ricefield is well demarcated with boundaries of land ownership. We reached the place about 8.45am and my aim was to see as many migrants birds as possible. Indeed we saw more migrant birds then local/resident birds. Let me start with some common birds which you might just able to see in a paddyfield.

Little Egret

Some how Little Egrets numbers are significantly higher than any other egrets which you can find in a paddy field. Not sure why this egret species can do so well as compared to other egrets - for example Great Egrets.

Here you could see a mix group of cattle egrets, little egrets and some intermediate egrets.

Great Egret in Flight

It has longer legs, longer bills and neck as compared to Intermediate Egret below

Intermediate Egret in flight

Cinnamon Bittern

Here is another common sight which you might find in most paddy fields - a long neck and beak sticking out among the paddys.

Yellow Bittern in flight

Cinnamon Bittern in flight

Another typical scenario which you could see where a bird suddenly burst out from the undergrowth and glide for a short distance before abruptly dove down into the paddys again.

Cinnamon Bittern?

Another Yellow Bittern or Cinnamon?

Schrenck's Bittern

Experts have confirmed that this was a Von Schrenck's Bittern ! Yahoo! another lifer in the bag. There were probably a healthy population of bitterns here.

Black-Winged Kite

This kite was seen waging its tail non-stop just like a wagtail.  This was the first time i have seen this phenomenon. 

Black-Naped Oriole

Zitting Cisticola

I think this is the only bird which likes to do such a spliting pose.

Here are some of the common and not so common wintering birds. 

A Blue-Tailed Bee-Eater with a huge moth

An unidentified Pond Heron. Got this shot from a car otherwise i would not be able to get so close. It eventually flew off but not until i got this great photo.

In Flight

Common Kingfisher

You can only see this kingfisher in greater numbers during the wintering season.

And here are some of the birds which are reported to be from Siberia, Mongolia and Far Eastern China.

Brown Shrike

Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler/Rusty-Rumped Warbler (Locustella certhiola)

This was my other lifer. Most of the time you might just see part of its tail or heard its calls which are reported to be quite similar with the "tik" "tik" "tik' calls of a zititng cisticola.

Here is the same warbler in flight.

This was probably the highlight of this trip. I was scanning the paddys when i saw a big black bird slowly flapping its wings. Immediately i screamed HARRIER ! without realizing that my partner Mr CY Tan was actually looking at another Eastern Marsh Harrier (EMH). He was probably too awe to see the harrier until he has forgotten to open his mouth.

It circled around for awhile before making a land fall. 

Here is another significant discovery - at least to me! The above two photos actually show a different harrier. Want to know what it is?  More of its photos will be put up in my next posting.

For such a huge place you would certainly need a big machine such as this one.

Last but not least we saw a number of Golden Apple Snail eggs. Although its numbers may not be significantly higher than other places like in Penang but who knows one day the Open Bills may just drop in at this place.