Birding at UNiSZA, Kuala Terengganu - Mar 2013

While attending the "All Souls Day" back at my in law's place, i decided to visit UniSZA again. It was nice of Con. Annuar McAfee (the man who make this place famous) to drop by (albeit a short while). He was also kind enough to briefed me on the entire ecosystem of the lake, its resident birds as well as the projects which have kept him busy/quiet for 2 years. This time i saw more birds and some "difficult" ones (difficult in identifying that is).

This was the first "difficult" bird i saw. It was rather fat for a swift and it flew quite slowly - flapping its wings and glide - unlike swift-like. That was probably why i was able to take a photo of its rump. Nevertheless i believe it could have just been a German's Swiftlet or previously known as Edible-Nest Swiftlet.

  

A Little Egret which had just passed by and did not land.

Intermediate Egret

Although i was at the lake at around 16.30hrs but the birds only started to appear or flew in at around 17.30hrs. It may be due to the heat of the sun or perhaps they flew back to roost.

White-Breasted Waterhen

Unlike the White-Browed Crake, this waterhen had just make a brief appearance before disappearing into the thick weeds. 

White-Browed Crake

Initially it was quite wary of its surroundings, waging its tail up and down (like in the first photo) but once it was comfortable it will casually wander around.

Lesser Coucal

This Lesser Coucal make a sudden appearance and perched at the highest shrub. Only its head was moving just like on a watchtower 

Striated Heron

Red-Wattled Lapwing

From a distance i could hear its alarming calls which sounded like: "Ti-ti Tiu, Ti-ti-tiu". 

Red-Wattled Lapwing in flight

At this place you could also see Chinese Pond Herons at various moulting stages which may be due to the asynchronous development of the hatching eggs. Here are some of its photos:

Chinese-Pond Heron - Adult

In the above photo you could clearly see a tinge of black patches at the tip of its outer primaries which was described by Robson (2007) of this bird.

Yellow-Bellied Prinia

Yellow Bittern

Barred Buttonquail

Not sure whether this fellow is wild or a domesticated bird as there is a quail barn nearby.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater

At this place these fellows are fewer in numbers than the Blue-Throated Bee-Eaters.

Blue-Throated Bee-Eater

Blue-Throated Bee-Eater in flight

A breeding report of the Blue-Throated Bee-Eaters as well as some its splendid photos can be seen in "Suara Enggang" - Vol.20/3 Sept 2012 issue.

Brown Shrike

The above photos actually show two different birds but both i believe were just Paddy Field Pipits.

There are many experts' description out there on the differences between Pintail Snipes and Swinhoe Snipes but most of them would end up with a suggestion of counting the number of its tail feathers to be exact or 100% sure. Thank God they did not suggest DNA sampling. However there are also experts out there who are confident that the differences can also be determined in flight. I was lucky to have these photos as it was rather difficult to spot them let alone id them. Using the matrix checklist procedure i will attempt to identify the above snipe which has made its appearance at this place.

I have earlier id this bird as a "Pintail Snipe" but after having read more books and its details, i would like to review back my earlier decision. 

                                                                                Pintail         Common       Swinhoe

Characteristics: 

i) Zig zag flight patterns                                         Yes                  Yes         More direct

ii) White trailing edge to secondaries                Almost none      Yes         Almost none

iii) Belly - white and unbarred                            More barred       Yes        More barred

iv) Brown on top with cream lines                      Pale brown        Yes         Pale brown

      down their back

Since there were more "Yes" / ticks on this bird, i believe that it could just have been a "Common Snipe" instead of a Pintail Snipe.

This unique skink ends my wonderful trip at this lake. Hope to be back again if there are any opportunities in the near future. Happy Birding Everyone !!

(Note: finally i have found the id of this reptile ! It looks like a Common Butterfly Lizard (Leiolepis belliana) or also known as a Malayan Butterfly Lizard ). Literature has reported that this lizard is a parthenogenetic species which means that it has both male and female organs in it. Amazing!

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.