Birding at Malaysia's National Park (Part 1)

After obtaining approvals from my "Home Minister" and the organisers, i joined about 17 die-hard birders for a 3 day-two nights (25 - 28 March 2011) birding excursion to our very own National Park (Taman Negara). We pushed out about 7.30am from KL heading towards Karak highway and passing through 3 towns, Bentong, Raub and Kuala Lipis before reaching our destination at about 11.30am. Along the way we saw some breath-taking views of the rainforest such as this:

A typical tropical rainforest

The signboard before the entrance of the trail

After a hefty lunch and unpacking and then rigging our gears, we were already out for a warm-up hike along the trail from 2.00pm to 7.00pm. Here are some the birds seen on the first day of our tour-de-Taman Negara:

A Stripe-Throated Bulbul

A male yellow-breasted flowerpecker

A buff-vented bulbul

These are Oriental Honey-Buzzards (OHBs) on their migratory passage. Despite so high up, my fellow birders were able to id them (close to 90). They certaintly have eagle-eyes !

26 March 2011
On the second day, most of us are already awaken by 6.00am. Some were up even earlier(5.00am) trying to catch a glimpse of the near-threatened Large Frogmouth.  While having our delicious western breakfast at 7.15am, three Rhinoceros Hornbills gave a flypast just right in front of our canteen. That was certaintly a great start of the tour ! After dividing the tour into two groups, the first group were taken deeper and further on the trail by a jeep. My group have to start from the "base camp" which was a blessing in disguised. Here are some of the birds which my group saw on our first outing:

This is a female Rhino Hornbill.

This fellow is a male Rhino Hornbill. How to differentiate them? Well just look at their eyes !

A close-up of the female Rhino Hornbill. Look at the gorgeous eyes !

We were able to observe both the Hornbills close to 20 minutes before they flew off to another place. The first group were a little unlucky as they were not able to spot any perched Rhino Hornbills for the entire three days except during their flypast on the 2nd day.

This is a surprise sighting of the trip. Actually i saw a bird going up a trunk but can't figure out what the species it represents cos i did not bring along my bins. So i decided to take a snap shot and enlarge it. Wahla its a male Blue-rumped Parrot ! It flew off before my fellow birders were able to spot it. Never mind guys, there shld be plenty more in the next trip. We were informed that another group spotted 5 which flew by at their trail. It is considered as a near threatened bird but glad to know it is doing well here.

This is a male banded kingfisher. A forest denizen and much sort after kingfisher for its photographic values.

This could be a Malaysian female blue-crowned hanging parrot cos it lacks the red color patch on its throat and a black bill of a male. We saw close to about 8-10 of these parrots on this single tree. Glad to know they are thriving well here.

This a male black-and-yellow broadbill . Although a fairly common broadbill but its not easy to see them. This fellow stood up there silently but luckily our group leader was able to spot it. 

This is a large woodshrike. Likes to hang around high up on the trees and this fellow is one of them. My fellow birders were able to spot it even before using their bins.

This should certaintly be the highlight of the trip - a male crested fireback ! It is also happens to be a lifer for some of the much experience birders.  It gave us a good 10-15 minutes view of what its doing by the trail.

This is a dark-necked tailor bird. Although a common bird but it is not easy to be photographed due to its high mobility.

This is a Finsch's bulbul.  It lives in broadleaved evergreen forest. Although it is considered as scarce but we have spotted quite a number of this bulbul here. Hope the figures would remained or higher in the future for this bird.

The same Finsch's bulbul - front view. Quite a friendly bird as it allows close observation.

This is a rufous-winged philentoma - a typical male morph as compared to the elusive male blue morph. At one glimpse it could be mistakenly id as a female Asian Paradise flycatcher for a new birder like me. Although said to be fairly common but i seldom seen it on my many birding trips.

.............. to be continued in part 2

Arctic vs Eastern Crown

There are many birds out there which are very similar in their features and some are only separated by a tiny  bit of difference between them. One of them which intrigues me to find out more are the Arctic and Eastern Crown Wablers. An Eastern Crown is quite similar as an Arctic Warbler (Robson, 2007) but there are several features which can be identified to separate them from each other. Through numerous field trips, comparing notes, photos and listening to the experts, i have managed to distinguish them based on these features:

This is an Eastern Crown Warbler. Like Arctic Warblers, Eastern Crowns are winter visitors/migrants originating from as far as Siberia. Robson (2007) has listed several differences between them but there are a few "fast" and "easy" ways to determine their presence.  (1) An Eastern Crown has pale crown stripe and (2) a yellow vent !   In this picture you could see a faint white stripe on top of its head while its vent is yellowish.

This is an Arctic Warbler i believe. It has no crown stripe and certaintly looks much duller (3) than an Eastern Crown. So those are the three quick references one could use to determine whether you are looking at an Eastern Crown or an Arctic warbler in the field. The rest of their differences including their calls can be found in Robson (2007). Hope the above explaination would be of help to new birders and if you have a better and faster way to id these birds please do drop your views here.

According to the experts like Dave and Seng, this bird looks more like an Arctic Warbler and not a Dusky Warbler. This picture was taken more recently in Serendah - Nov 2011.