Common Birds of Hill Stations - Oct and Dec 2015

Recently i went up to two (2) local hill stations which are well known to birders down here. Both locations do offer a variety of birds for every birders. From the photos below i believe you can roughly guess where these birds have came from although some of them can occur at both locations.

Black-Browed Barbet

Red-Throated Barbet

Streaked Spiderhunter

These are OHBs

Red-Headed Trogon

White-Throated Fantail

Lesser Racket-Tailed Drongo

Black-and-Crimson Oriole - male

I would go for a 'Mountain Fulvetta" on this one.

I would call this one a "Barn Swallow"

This one is a toss between a 'Himalayan Swiftlet' and a 'Black-Nest Swiftlet' but on current description of the species i will go for a 'Black-Nest Swiftlet' instead (95% sure)

Rufous-Bellied Swallow

The last time i saw this swallow was in 2011.

These are really large pigeons but i believe they were just 'Thick-Billed Green Pigeon'

Blue-Winged Leafbird

A sub-adult bird.

Spectacle Spiderhunter

It looks more like a goggle and it is probably looking for a spider i believe.

Blue-Throated Bee-Eater

This one is a male but majority seen were either females or sub-adult. 

Buff-Vented Bulbul

This bulbul has become increasing difficult to find and its status should be changed to a localised resident bulbul instead.

Gray Wagtail

These 'Gray Wagtail' are easier to identify as compared to the one i saw at Sungai Chongkak recently.

Tiger Shrike

This shrike was waiting patiently for insects inside a very low undergrowth.

I saw this female 'Greater Green Leafbird' screaming something at her partner

"Get down here before that branch breaks"

Greater Green Leafbird - female

What a feminine looking leafbird !

HAPPY BIRD WATCHING !

Common Birds and Winter Visitors of Sungai Chongkak - Nov 2015

The recent sightings of 3 mega birds by Noah Strycker here had activated my curiosity hormone yet again. I have planned to reach the location at the same time as his but was caught up a bit in the morning rush hour. It was about 8.00am by the time i set foot at the site and immediately i scanned the area which was still dark. After an hour i gave up but i did saw some birds for the very first time (first time here unfortunately did not mean a lifer but more of a first sighting of such birds at this location by myself). Let me start with the winter visitors.

Korean Flycatcher aka Yellow-Rumped Flycatcher

This flycatcher had remained silent through out. Not a single whisper.

Gray Wagtail

It looks like it has a tinge of yellow on its supercilium which resulted of me thinking that it could be a "flavissima" initially. Luckily Dave Bakewell has corrected its i.d before i could raised more unfortunate eyebrows.

This bird is believed to be a Siberian Blue Robin - probably a juvenile. If the i.d is positive then it looks like we do not have to travel up to highlands anymore to see this bird species.

Eastern Crowned Leaf Warbler

 This was the first time i have heard an Eastern Crowned Leaf Warbler calls which i believed was more of an alarm call rather than a song. Unfortunately i was too engrossed to take its photos than to record its calls.

You can see the faint stripe on its crown.

Here are some of the local birds seen.

Chestnut-Naped Forktail

The current raining season had raised the water level in the streams which might have resulted in this bird to forage outside its usual habitat. Despite her striking colors it was actually well camouflaged among the jungle litter.

OK i had enough. Time to run. 

This is a Crimson-Winged Woodpecker !

Checker Throated Woodpecker

Ha ! caught you there.

Olive-Backed Woodpecker

It was lying low as the Wallace Hawk Eagle was seen flying just above the tree canopies.

A look at a Buff-Rumped Woodpecker from the back.

Chestnut-Breasted Malkoha - male

I was really glad to see this malkoha again.

Little Spiderhunter

This usually noisy Little Spiderhunter had remained silent too.

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher - male

Some parts of this jungle was so well covered that sometimes you might just have to use a flash lite even at 11.00am !

Could this finally be Taylor Swift? In my wildest dream i guess.

Gray-Rumped Treeswift

This Purple-Naped Sunbird was trying to do a humming bird stunt.

Initially i thought i might have seen a lifer.

But it just turned out to be a male Lesser Cuckooshrike. Anyway its not everyday that you would see a male lesser cuckooshrike if you do agree with me.

Note its color which looks more like some Philentoma rather than dark greyish colors as depicted by some field guides.

In poor light and thick foliage, these white-rumped munia can be easily mistaken as a dusky munia if you are not careful enough.

HAPPY BIRD WATCHING !

Backyard Birding - November 2015

Bird watching in your backyard usually does not produce many rarities but the common birds here can certainly give you some decent account of themselves. My 'backyard' birding was just a 15 minutes drive away from my home. Reached the site recently at about 6.55am, hoping to catch a glimpse of some nocturnal birds if possible. Well i actually did saw a nightjar flying from one thick foliage into another thicker foliage down the ravine. Can't really tell which species it belongs to except that it was a nightjar (i did caught a glimpse of its two white patches on its wings though).

In the early hours of the morning, things were a bit slow and quiet except for the sounds from some crickets and frogs which sounded like some ducks quacking. The birds were really not out from their siesta. As i was walking slowly along its trail, a brownish bird suddenly dashed across the trail. Heck! my heart did skipped a few beats as i reckoned it could have been a ferruginous babbler. So i stopped and waited for a moment hoping it would reappear or at least make some noise. The bird actually did reappear and it turned out to be a "Tiger Shrike".

Tiger Shrike

The first few photos were blur. So i decided to use some light to ensure that it was a tiger shrike. It hunted the insect right down to the ground as depicted from the above photo.

This was a record shot of the tiger shrike. From its size and its brownish color, it can put you in the spot if you don't identify it correctly.

The next bird you will see would surely make you freeze for awhile.

In poor light every bird would look like a mega lifer especially with such pose.

Before your imagination runs wild like mine, let us first see what the field guides / books have to say. If you are familiar with "The Handbook of the Birds of the World" which i believe uses del Hoyo's classification and Clement's checklist, this old world flycatcher has been divided into several subspecies:

i) Muscicapa dauurica dauurica - non -breeding in S.E.A

ii) M. d. poonensis

iii) M. d. williamsoni - breeds in Peninsular Malaysia

iv) M. d. siamensis

Dr Wells (1982) recently added another subspecies i.e M.d umbrosa which supposedly only occurs in Borneo. The classification of the above subspecies apparently were mainly hypothesized from the differences in their breeding grounds and not so much on their morphological characteristics. Who knows there may be a superfamily or supersubspecies be created in the near future should their breeding ground overlaps. Nevertheless, according to Allen.J & Pearson (2012) field guide, M.d Williamsoni has a tinge of rufescent on its upper tail. From the second photo above, you could see there was a tinge of rufescent on its upper tail. Hence i believe that the above Asian Brown Flycatcher is most likely a W. d. Williamsoni which is reportedly to be less common than W. d. dauurica.

Now how about this Asian Brown Flycatcher which was also seen nearby?

Looks more like the common M.d. dauurica with its whitish underparts.

Lurking nearby was this Tickell's Blue flycatcher

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

This flycatcher was located from its usual calls which ends with a "tuck". This is most likely a female Tickell's Blue.

Eastern Crowned Warbler

You do not need to bring out your field guides or scratch your head on this warbler. It has a crown stripe shown on another photo but unfortunately the photo was not publication worthy.

Now you can relax a bit as the next few birds are as common as your dandelions.

Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo

It looks like it has a butterfly or a swallow attach to its extensions.

This is a pair of Little Green Pigeon (Treron olax)

A half asleep young Pacific Swallow.

A fast asleep Stripped-Throated Bulbul. Probably did some
odd jobs the night before.

A pair of Olive-Winged Bulbul.

Chestnut Munia

Ruby-cheeked Sunbird (male)

Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker (male)

Long body shape, notch tail and pointed wings = Germain Swiflet?

Ashy Minivet (male)

This was only the second time i have seen a male Ashy Minivet.

Ashy Minivet (female)

A female Ashy Minivet from the back.

This Asian Paradise Flycatcher was playing peek-a-boo with me.

A look from the back of an Asian Paradise Flycatcher

Black-Winged Flycatcher Shrike

So there you go - a host of common winter visitors and local common birds for your viewing pleasure. Hope you have enjoyed viewing the common backyard birds as much as i have enjoyed showing their photos.