Thursday 18 September 2014

Birding in a Swampy Area - 16 Sept 2014

I had an opportunity to go birding recently but i have to choose between one of these three locations which i have yearn to explore i.e Bagan Belat mudflat, Sungai Sedim or Swampy Forest. Making this swampy forest my choice was easy as it was not too far away and i have always wanted to see and photograph the brown hawk owl. 

After having a quick breakfast i reached the location at 8.15am and went straight to the dense foliage which i thought the owl would be roosting. After having waited and scanning around for about 30 minutes, not a single owl appeared. So the next best thing to do was to venture out to look for other birds. Not many birds were seen this time around but i did witnessed a spectacular aerial display by a flock of Asian Openbills of a colossal proportion. Here are some of the birds photos:

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis turcosus) - male


Lineated Barbet (Megalaima faiostricta)
Saw both of them foraging together and the above one looks like a dominant male (the one with more brownish color on its chest).

White-Throated Kingfisher (Hylcyon smyrnensis)

Ashy Tailor Bird (Orthotomus ruficeps)

Pied fantail (Rhipidura javanica)









Black-thighed Falconet (Microhierax fringillarius)
Saw three of them. The individual in the above two photos has more rufous color on its under belly as compared to the earlier two birds.

Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea) - Male

Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradisues)
Look how close it resemble an Asian Koel without its trailing rackets.



Black-Naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) - sub adults



Laced Woodpecker (Picus vittatus) - Male

You certainly don't want to get too near to this hornet's nest.



Most likely these swifts were from the Collocalia/Aerodramus family. Their numbers were few though.

Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans)
First they came with just a few numbers.

Then they flew in with greater numbers. 

White-Bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) - juvenile

More posting on the Asian Openbill coming your way soon.





2 comments:

Choy Wai Mun said...

You still managed a good collection here. Looks like you made the right choice.

Ron-Nature Adventures said...

Watch out for the hornet's nest in your next trip there.

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