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.
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