Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis)

Asian Glossy Starling or previously named as Philippine Glossy Starling are one of the most common birds one could see in parks, gardens, plantations etc - especially where there are fruit trees. If there is a ripe papaya, a flock could finish it within a few hours. A flock of about 50 birds were seen recently at Templer's Park (Aug 2011) , feasting themself on ripe berries on a tree.

This is a juvenile grabbing itself a ripe berry.

This fellow is an adult looking at which berries to pick.

This is probably a sub-adult.

An adult deciding which of the two hungry mouths to feed!

A juvenile and a sub-adult together

Another sub-adult fluffing its feathers.

Common Flameback (Dinopium javanense)

Common Flameback woodpecker or previously named "common goldenback" is a woodpecker said to be widely distributed in Asian region (Bangladesh, India, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Borneo, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam). Its habitats ranges from lowland forest up to 800 m, rural gardens, plantations and mangroves. Despite that and although IUCN has listed it as "least concern", you would not be able to see it in every trail. It is a fully protected bird under the local law (Act 76/72) and locally called "belatok pinang muda".  Here are some of its photos taken recently in Kuala Selangor Nature Park (KSNP):

The pictures above are male Common Flamebacks. Male has red crown while female ones have black crown. There are 3 quick ways to differentiate between a Common Flameback and a Greater Flameback in the field. Here are the 3 distinguish features:

This first thing which you should look is behind its neck. Common Flamebacks have an all black hindneck while a greater flameback has whitish circles in the centre of its hindneck.

The second thing which you should spot is just below its red crown. A greater flameback has a thick black line below its crown. In this picture, you can't see any any thick black line below its crown side.

The third thing which you could spot is to see its bill. Greater flamebacks are said to have longer bills than this one.

Birding in Templer's Park

As today was a public holiday in the state of Selangor, i did some birding with a birder from Scotland (Tim Bromilow). It is supposed to be a reserve forest and its just about 20 minutes away from KL. Its one of those birding trips where you will see more mammals than birds. In addition, some of the trails were really in the bad shape (overgrown shrubs and fallen trees everywhere) which rendered some to be unpassable. Then there was an abandoned black magic altar which makes the trail a bit spooky. To top it up i have 6 leech bites ( 4 on the legs, one on the hand and one on the stomach!). The only consolation from this trip was this female Scarlet-Rumped Trogon.

and this Grey-Bellied Bulbul

This is a Gold-Whiskered Bulbul - a common resident in Templer's Park.

This is a Large-billed Crow flying by. A huge bird with wide wing span.

These are some of the many squirrels we saw on the trail.