Malaysia's Premier Birding Site - Part 2

After having seen the splendid Mugimaki up close, we went to Telekom Loop where we met up with a group from Thailand. These guys seem to know the place quite well as they were able to locate the residence of the elusive Pygmy Wren Babbler. We saw two this time.

Pygmy Wren Babbler / Pygmy Cupwing - Pale Morph

Previously there were only two morphs i.e the dark morph and the pale morph then it was called "lesser scaly breasted wren babbler" and now i was made to understand that it is called a "Pygmy Cupwing". All these names must be the work of an overworked ornithologist who probably likes to eat cupcakes.

Golden Babbler

Fire-Tufted Barbet

Rufous-Browed Flycatcher

Mountain Fulvetta

Chestnut-Crowned Laughingthrush

Stripped squirrels seem to be quite a familiar sight in the hills over at Peninsular Malaysia.

Sunda or Oriental Cuckoo? - juvenile

The cuckoo could have just swallow this little Chestnut-Crowned Warbler.  A quick look at the literature out there shows that the genus Cuculus is now split into three separate species i.e. i) C. lepidus (Sunda) , ii) C. saturatus (Himalayan) and iii) C. optatus (Oriental)  -  describing Sunda Cuckoo as having a more blackish tail with white spots and thicker black bars while our local birding experts (Khoo Swee Seng & Dave) confirmed that "Sunda" is our resident Oriental especially the one found in Fraser's Hill. Meanwhile according to Allen J & Pearson field guide (2012), chestnut-crowned warbler is a commonly known brood host and this photo helps to confirmed the statement.

The juvenile cuckoo calls are different than the adult. Its calls (which were more like calling for food) are high-pitched and continuous.

Some cuckoo birds especially juveniles can sometimes make one become cuckoo just to id them but nevertheless its another splendid looking bird. A similar juvenile Sunda Cuckoo was spotted by Dave Bakewell at Cameroon Highlands in 2009. Here you could also see the orange gape at the based of its bill.

Mountain Bulbul

We had a great time as always in Fraser's Hill and it proves that anytime is a good time for birding at this hill.

Malaysia's Premier Birding Site - Part 1

This year i decided to skip Raptor Watch at Tanjung Tuan and drove straight up to Fraser's Hill. Met a couple of international birders/photographers from Thailand and Japan. We had splendid views of some birds although most of them were quite common up here.

Little Cuckoo Dove

Mugimaki Flycatcher - male

Javan Cuckooshrike - Male

Javan Cuckooshrike - female

Lesser Racket-Tailed Drongo

At a glance you may think that this could be a bronze drongo but alas it was just a Lesser Racket-Tailed Drongo without its streamers.

You can see Nihon san is smiling here as he has just "shot" his fellow namesake country bird - the Mugimaki Flycatcher.

Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush

Some books have named this bird "Spectacled Laughingthrush" but its scientific name remained the same at the moment i.e. "Garrulax mitratus"

Silver-eared Mesia

International birders/photographers have taken probably a few thousand shots of this bird alone. A beautiful bird from front to back. A good subject to test your photography skills as it is quite friendly as well.

Little Pied Flycatcher - male

Little Pied Flycatcher - female

A female Little Pied Flycatcher after taking a hot bath.

Streaked Spiderhunter

Orange-Bellied Leafbird - male

You can find more photos and information from this trip in part 2.