A Day at the Rice Field - Feb 2013

While the big guys headed to Malim Nawar and Melaka to tick their lifers, i went up north to survey a small patch of rice field which was not too far away from the Bedong Raptor Watch site.

Rice Field at Dawn

There were less birds seen in the morning as compared to in the afternoon. Most of the birds seen (i.e Egrets, Herons, raptors and Pigeons) came from the coastal front which was just behind me when i took this photo. Except for the raptors and pigeons which zoomed past like rockets, others flew in and landed on this rice field and remained through out the day.

This was the first raptor seen at this rice field in the morning. This majestic Aquila is thought to be an Imperial Eagle or perhaps a Greater Spotted Eagle though its positive id is hard to ascertain due to its distance. It was seen at around 8.20am and circled a few times before heading eastward - most likely will pass through the Bedong raptor watch site.

Black Headed Munia

Pond Heron

Great Egret touching down

There were only pockets of Little Egrets and Great Egrets seen here.

Cattle Egret in Flight

Pond Heron in flight

Most of the birds were made up of Pond Herons and Cattle Egrets.

Other birds seen and heard in the morning was a Black Drongo (1), Yellow-Bellied Prinia (2), Z. Cisticola (heard calls only), Spotted Dove (4), Brown Shrike (1) and Common Iora (2).

A view of the rice field in the afternoon from a different angle. I only had a small tree for shade.

While scanning the rice field, i saw this Cinnamon Bittern.

Red Collared Dove

They were everywhere at this place.

Most of them were males i believed except for the bird above. The bird above should be a female Red-Collared Dove and not an Eurasian Collared Dove - id'd from a tinge of red color on its plumage as verified by an experienced birder, John Steed.

A tractor came in and started to work. Suddenly there were birds everywhere.

I believed these are Striated Swallows.

Allen J & Pearson's (2012) field guide however suggested that the best way to determine these swallow's genre is thru a DNA test. Until the test results are determined, together with Barn Swallows they were the only swallows sighted at this place.

Black Baza

A beautiful and distinctive underwings and body pattern which Nature has created for us.

Initially thought as a Chinese Goshawk from its undertail 3 bands but raptor expert KC Lim reckoned that it could just be a Crested Goshawk due to its more whitish underbelly.

These raptors were probably the few remaining ones in the tail-end of their migrating session. Most of them headed eastwards like the earlier Aquila. I left this baking hot place at around 6pm.



Javan Mynah at Nest

Have been observing this Javan couple for almost a week now. They were actually building a nest at the roof top of my neighbour's house.

It is rather difficult to differentiate between the two. Head nodding behavior were observed and carried out by both birds. You can also see the eye membrane of the bird on the left - it's certaintly not an eye defect.

They can be seen fetching nesting materials ranging from plastics, dry twigs, fresh lalang leaves and dry grasses. At printing time they were still busy fetching the materials.

The fetching time ranges from every 15 minutes to 30 minutes - usually occurs in the morning until late noon. Lesser or no nest building activities towards evening.

At times it can be really hot inside the roof. Although its hard to distinguish between the birds but i believed both of them did fetched some nesting materials.

Couple #1

A closer look at Couple # 1

Here you could clearly see the "tomium" feature located at its upper mandible palate.

Couple #2

A closer look at Couple # 2

Here is what i meant. They are almost identical. Note the color of the beak and roof of the beak on  "Couple #1" bird. They look a bit more orangey on the beaks and has a darker ceiling on the upper side of the beak.

A sign of a new life has just started. This photo was taken on 9 March 2013 i.e. almost 1.5 mths after they were last seen fetching nesting materials into the roof. The food carried above looks like a piece of fish. I have seen them taking bread and a stick insect into the nest.

The evergreen Javan couple. Hope one day i could take their family photo.