Common Household and Garden Birds

Over here in West Peninsular Malaysia we do have a variety of beautiful common birds. Depending on where you stay, some birds can be uncommonly common while some you will see and hear them almost everyday. The nice thing about these household and garden birds is that they allow us to approach them closer for photography.

The top photos show a Black-Naped Oriole. They can finish a ripe papaya like this one within half a day.

This is another common bird - a Yellow-Vented Bulbul. Also a papaya ripper.

Some books called this bird an "Edible Nest Swiftlet". I would just call it a "Common Swift". One of its diagnostic field features are that its primaries are longer than its secondaries feathers and has a buffish brown body.

This is a Pied Fantail which can be very friendly to you as well as your "friendly" cats and dogs.

This is a very common bird - a Eurasian Tree Sparrow (adult).

This picture was taken in January 2013



A Peaceful Dove walking along the road side.

The juvenile Peaceful Dove can be seen here (left bird)

Another common bird - a Philippine Glossy Starling with its glossy greenish sheen not so conspicious here due to lighting condition.

Here is another commmon bird - a House Crow or Raven as most Brits would be fond of calling them. An alert bird which would not hesitate to fly away even if you point a broom stick at their direction.

At times you can find this bird in your garden - a Common Tailor Bird

Looks like he has managed to grab a bottlefly by its legs.

If you are staying around Klang Valley, you will most likely to meet a Javan Myna like this one.

Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)

A Rock Dove. Now one could find a variety of colors due to its "inter-clan" marriages.

At times this bird may also drop by at your garden - a Coppersmith Barbet.

This is a Blue-Tailed Bee-Eater. At the peak of their migrating season, they can be found everywhere.

If you have trees in your garden you will most likely to encounter this bird - a Scarlet-Backed Flowerpecker.

This is a very common and friendly Oriental Magpie Robin.

This is the most common sunbird you can find in your garden - an "Olive-Backed Sunbird". This one is a male.

Plain Throated Sunbird

Formerly known as Brown-Throated Sunbird, this sunbird is also common in the gardens and parks. 

This is a bird way of saying thank you for visiting this site.

Birding at FRIM, Kepong - Feb 2012

Frim, Kepong is a well managed forestry area with a variety of nice looking birds to see . It is located not too far away from KL city and has a pond area which is frequently visited by star birds. I was already at the pond area by 7.30am. Making my way there i stumbled and startled a snoozing wild boar - yup it was fat and whithish grey in colour.

A Blue-Winged Leafbird (Male) - the first bird seen.

This is a Crow-Billed Drongo and not an ashy drongo as verified by Yang Chong. Here is what he has to say: "a 1st winter Crow-billed Drongo because of heavy bill, up-turned tail tips and spotting on underparts and of course habitat. Ashy Drongo prefers somewhat more open country and secondary brush, usually away from forest: mangroves, mangrove edge, plantations and village gardens are prefered habitats. Incidentally, the Crow-billed is a migrant and will not be found after May, returning only in Aug/Sept. Only first winter birds show the white spotting, the older birds are all black so you would need to look for the forked up-turned tail tips and the heavier, crow-like shaped billed. Juvs. of Black Drongos etc.. will all have white spotting on the vents and sometimes breasts"

Hawking for insects nearby was this Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo.

Finally i managed to get a photo of this illusive resident of the pond area - a White Breasted Waterhen.

A Large-Billed Crow? was seen flying across shortly.

(note: after further review and having spoken to some experts, this crow looks more like a Slender-Billed Crow)

Followed by these two "twins" - same flight pattern as well as bleached wing shoulders.

I sneaked up below this White Throated Kingfisher after it called.

Than this Blue-Eared Kingfisher appeared out of no where.

This is a flycatcher alright but not sure which type it belongs to?

These are juveniles Banded Bay Cuckoo. Saw two of them.

This must be one of its parents.

This is a Common Iora. After seeing this bird i left the pond site and went into the jungle trails. 

Saw at least 3 of this Crested Serpent Eagle.

This is a resident Giant Black Squirrel doing some acrobatic maneuvers between the twigs to get to a ripe fig. The last time i saw him was with the SBBG bird outing a few years back. So it looks like he is doing well here.

The first bird i saw in the jungle trail was this Grey-Bellied Bulbul.

The next was these Stripped-Throated Bulbuls.

This is a Javan Myna perched on top of a roof.

I also saw a Red-Eyed Bulbul.

This is a Brown Barbet which came down to eye level.

In one of David Wells book, it was said that if its bill is redish pink, it means that it is either a female or a juvenile. So could this bird be a juvenile/female as its bill is slightly brownish?

Saw this Pin-stripped Tit Babbler trying to rip apart a stick insect.

This is a Dark-Necked Tailor Bird.

On the way back i stopped by at the pond area again hoping to see whether i miss out any birds. Nope i only saw this Common Tailor bird.

...and this common tortoise basking in the hot sun.

Overall this place was not too bad for a half-day birding trip.

Birding at the Gap, Fraser's Hill - Feb 2012

There are many places where one could go for birding at Fraser's Hill. This time i started from base and walk my way up. The number of birds sighted were not too bad.

I started from this point and walk about 2 km up.

The first bird i saw was this Grey-Throated Babbler. This was the one and only shot of the bird before it flew quickly into the bushes and did not appear again.

This Blue-winged leafbird was seen nearby with a black crested bulbul

A Lesser or Greater Racket Tail Drongo? Need to check with the experts but it looks more like a Greater from the shape of its fork tail.

The all brown plumage separates this Ochraceous Bulbul from puff-throated.

These are Mountain Imperial Pigeons flying by.

This could probably be a Grey-Chinned Minivet but it also looks like a Scarlet - crumbs ! need to look at its wings the next time.

Lets see - pale grey wash across breast, broad base to bill, whitish lores and a prominent whitish eye ring - yup its an Asian Brown Flycatcher ! Most of the time Asian Browns are very silent but this time i heard its calls just like some of the sunbirds' call - a thin and loud zit.

This could be a juvenile Tiger Shrike.

Saw two of this Blyth's Hawk Eagles circling quite low- probably looking for a morning snack/prey.

This is a juvenile Crested-Serpent Eagle (id by Yang Chong) flying higher than the earlier Blyth. Saw this raptor just after the Blyths have left.

Saw 4 of these White-Hooded Babblers. They travel in groups, moving from the top of the slope down to the bamboo crops in the ravine and back again to the top. Due to this routine i was able to get some shots of these highly agile birds. From an angle they could be mistaken as a bulbul if not for its white head and believe me their short alarming calls are also similar with those of yellow vented bubuls.

Note: I just found out that these babblers are also known as: Collared Babbler !!

This is another flycatcher seen just after the asian brown on my way down. It was silent and still. It looks more like a Dark Sided, yes-no?

Saw this Large-Billed Crow near the base. At this point i must say my apology to the couple in a brown Nissan X-trail who was waving at me but i just could not recognise/guess who they are until today. My specs certaintly cannot see as far as my bins.

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