Gunung Nuang - Jan 2013

Hulu Langat area never fails to produce interesting birds for birders. Although the area is getting a bit of traffic lately but if you avoid the morning rush hour you can reach the place in about 30 minutes from KL. Today i went to look for birds at the base of Gunung Nuang and saw a pair of Red Jungle fowls. Before i could lift my camera they were gone - ran straight into the jungle and vanished. That was the first time i encounter a red jungle fowl in the area. The birds seen today consisted mainly from the bulbul family. Here are some of them:

Black-headed Bulbul

Red-eyed Bulbul

Olive-winged Bulbul

Black-crested Bulbul

 They (the bulbuls) were seen eating these berries.

Here are some other birds seen beside the bulbuls:

Oriental Magpie Robin

 This was actually the first bird which has greeted me. Quite a friendly fellow.

Pacific Swallow

All his friends flew away when my camera was aimed at them except this fellow.

Rufous Piculet

Located this miniature woodpecker from his calls rather then its drumming sounds. You can see that it has managed to make a little round circle on the tree trunk. Certainly a long way of making a hole as the tree trunk was probably too hard for this little fellow.

Grey-breasted Spiderhunter

This is a female Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker.

Another tiny flowerpecker at this place- this one is a common Orange-breasted Flowerpecker which can be found more often then the rest of the other flowerpeckers.

I believe this flycatcher is the Dark-sided Flycatcher.

This is a Chesnut-winged Babbler. It was seen with two others foraging in a dark undergrowth. They were virtually operating on silent mode.

Large Woodshrike

I believe this fellow is a Plain Sunbird (Male)

Baya Weaver (Male)

If it had some bold streaks on its chest and flanks this bird could have been a Streaked Weaver.

Concluded this birding trip at about 11.30am. Quite satisfied with the birds sighted although i wished i could have gotten the image of the red-jungle fowls.



A Late Morning Birding along Old Gombak Road

At the very last minute i decided to look for birds at along the old gombak road with Mr CY Tan who was kind enough to join me at a very short notice. We reached the location i.e the first rubbish dump at around 11.00am and as expected you don't see many birds at this time. The cloudy day makes the trip a bit dull but nevertheless we did saw some birds albeit mostly common ones.

  

Oriental White-Eye (Zosterops palpebrosus)

Blue-winged Leafbird (Chloropsis sonnerati) - a male

Asian Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa dauurica)

A usual winter visitor at this time of the year



Chestnut-breasted Malkoha (Zanclostomus curvirostris)

Whiskered Treeswift (Hemiprocne comata)

As both male and female have white patches on its tertials, it would be difficult to ascertain this bird's gender without seeing its ear coverts.



Spectacled Bulbul (Pycnonotus erythropthalmos)

Buff-vented Bulbul (Iole olivacea)

Other birds heard and seen were as follows:

i)  3 White-bellied Erpornis (Erpornis zantholeuca) - previously known as Yuhina.

ii) 1 Dark-necked tailor bird ( Orthotomus atrogularis).

iii) 1 Rufous woodpecker (Celeus brachyurus)

iv) 1 Blue-eared Barbet (Megalaima australis) - heard call only.

The birds sighted on this trip will just be recorded as general information since the trip was for a very short time.







Birding in JB - Jan 2013

For the brand new year i went to a new birding spot which is located at Janda Baik (JB) :-). Although there were no lifers but a few interesting birds did appear at this place.

Red-Eyed Bulbul (Pycnonotus brunneus)

Stripped Throated Bulbul (Pycnonotus finlaysoni)

Red-eyed bulbuls and Stripped throated bulbuls were the most common bulbuls spoted here.

Black Hornbill (Anthracoceros malayanus)

According to Robson (2007) field guide, black hornbills are quite rare while Allen J & Pearson (2012) reported that it belongs to a Near Threatened category. This could be a female as most guide books described females as having smaller and blackish bill/casque. However do note that it has a broad white supercilium which usually points to a male bird ! So could this be a juvenile male bird then?


Bamboo Woodpecker (Male)

Bamboo Woodpecker (female)

Mountain Imperial Pigeon

Scarlet Minivets (male & female) were presence here as well.

Its only early January however this White-rumped munia (Lonchura striata) is already in the midst of building a nest.

Rufescent Prinia (Prinia rufescent)

Although its a common bird but it is more often heard than seen. This fellow seems to be in a breeding mood as illustrated by its greyish color head.

According to an old folks tale a righteous person could see fairies flying or dancing around lily flowers like this one in a moonlit night.