Back to Bukit Rengit - Sept 2013

Despite its isolated location, Bukit Rengit is located at the fringes of the Krau Wildlife Reserve which spans across 76,000 hectares of pristine jungle. This time the birds were generally quiet and it took some hard observation to spot movements in the canopy. But some of the birds were drawn out from the jungle by flying termites which came out from the ground in hundreds.

Greater-Racket Tailed Drongo

Dark-Throated Oriole

The male was really a beauty and it was seen hawking for the flying termites the flycatcher's way.

Scarlet-Rumped Trogon - Male

This trogon was located from its soft calls. Although its bright reddish body sets it out against the dark forest background but i would have miss it if not for its calls.

Dusky Broadbill

Usually seen alone but this time i saw 5 of them and they were rather noisy when in a foraging group. Despite its chunky size its calls were rather like the calls of a mice.

Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker - Male

Banded Broadbill

I have initially thought that this bird was a Black-and-Yellow Broadbill as its first call did not start with an explosive bang which you would usually associate it with this broadbill. Only when it flew into view that i realised it was a different bird. How amazing it was.

Chestnut-Rumped Babbler

The babblers were rather quiet this time - probably because i have only started birding at 10.30am but they were certainly there to be found. 

Rufous-Crowned Babbler

Sooty-Capped Babblers

Spectacle Bulbul

The Hairy-Backed Bulbuls (no photos here) make up the most bulbuls sighted this time.

This is my lifer bird for this time - a "Bar-Bellied Cuckoo Shrike" (see pix below). So i will give it a little more coverage. 

Bar-Bellied Cuckoo Shrike

Its yellowish/whitish eyes and dark bars on lower breast area are quite diagnostic. It was seen foraging with some Chestnut-Breasted Malkohas and a Red-Bellied Malkoha.

Now what you reckon of this bird - a Lesser Cuckoo Shrike? It was seen together with the above Bar-Bellied Cuckoo Shrike,

Once again Bukit Rengit never cease to amaze me. As one Malay villager once told me: "tengok burung ini kira nasib, lah". Who knows one day i may just spot the Great Argus and Garnet Pita which were also heard calling near one of the trails.

Exploring Kampung Jergoh, Lanchang

My great outdoor adventures continued with a trip down to a road less traveled. This time i have decided to explore the unknown or rather a new place named "Kampung Jergoh" which is located quite near to Bukit Rengit. Going there was a breeze as the road is well maintained and tared all the way. Zipping through several villages you will see lots of plantations along the way i.e. rubber trees and oil palms and only a few patches of jungle in between them. Despite the location being a "kampung" area you could stop near a bridge before Kampung Jergoh and watch the traffic in the sky. You can see birds crisscrossing and i believe the birds were probably using this area as one of their routes to another location. However i did not stayed until sunset to record whether the same birds have used back this same route to roost.

Here is one the few patches of jungle seen from the road side. From here i could see the brown-backed needle tail, wreath hornbills, blue-rumped parrots, asian glossy starlings, blue-crowned hanging parrots flying by.

Before this signage there is a bridge where i flushed a bird which size resembles a turkey. It perched quite low inside one of the bushes and i believe it could be a barred eagle owl. The road after this signage will actually lead you to someone's home and since there were no barriers on the road i actually drove straight into his compound. Luckily there were no kenduri at that time otherwise i would be like gate-crashing a party.

Birding was done basically from the road side but i found this trail along the way. There are not many birds inside this trail - probably due to the over night shower which drenched much of this area. One of the many advice from the old folks when exploring a trail or jungle as i could remember until today was not to take home or remove any objects which are never meant to be in a place - for example a nice looking round pebble inside a tree hole or under a tree, a nice looking insect which suddenly appear on the trail or stepping on tree shoots or ant mounts which grow under a tree etc. These were some of the "pantang larang" one need to observe or be aware of. The best thing to do is to follow this well known quote: "Don't Take or Leave Anything Behind Except Your Footprints" !

Here are some of the birds seen at this location. Photo were more for id purposes rather than for its aesthetic values.

Black-Winged Flycatcher Shrike

Brown-Backed Needletail

This was one of a few winter visitors seen here although some field guides also indicated that some of them could be common residents as well.

Spectacle Spiderhunter

Tiger Shrike

This fella was certainly a winter visitor. It was very skittish - probably just arrived after a long haul.

Arctic or Eastern Crowned?

Another winter visitors at this place and i have recorded it as an Arctic Warbler.

Little Green Pigeon - Female

Javan Myna

Orange-Backed Woodpecker - Female

Maroon Woodpecker

Spectacle Bulbul

Overall this place could spring a few lifers or two if you could reach there earlier than me. Just put a note in your travel log that this could be some of the new birding places which you might just want to explore in the near future.

Back to Sungai Lepoh - Aug 2013

There are a few locations which i have not visited for the past 1+ years since todate. So i started off my journey with this land of machetes. The birding conditions were perfect - the weather was fine, my camera functioned as it should be and the birds came out in numbers. Parked my car near the entrance and started birding at around 9.00am until about 1pm. All the photos taken were inside the trail and none from the car park area. Here are some decent shots taken.

The beginning of a journey. At this place you can see some common birds such as oriental magpie robins, white-rumped munias, doves, spiderhunters, varieties of bulbuls, flowerpeckers etc

A steep climb to birding location

The first bird which has dropped in on the trail.

Juvenile White-Rumped Sharma

It could already sing quite well.

Male Bamboo Woodpecker

Heard some soft knocking sound and was looking for the woodpecker when a pair flew and perched right in front. This male was following closely the female where ever she goes and both were enjoying "drumming" together.

A few field guides have illustrated a male bamboo woodpecker as having a red rump which isn't the case for this woodpecker. But then again this bird may not have reach the level of adulthood yet.

Yellow-Bellied Warbler

Most of the time this bird can be found close to bamboo crops.

Lesser-Cuckoo Shrike

The male bird is darker in color as pointed out by Allen J & Pearson (2012) which can be seen from the above photo. 

Male Rufous Piculet

The best photo i had so far of this tiny woodpecker.

Plain Sunbird

Could not really able to positively id this bulbul as there was no clear head shot. It could be a Puff-Backed or a Cream-Vented Bulbul.

Crested Serpent Eagle

Usually CSE will circle quite high up in the sky but this fella was quite near the ground. Its eerie calls actually silenced the forest momentarily. Took its photos from a huge clearing in the middle of the jungle and in my haste i have forgotten to reset my camera settings to daylight mode as it was in the jungle mode earlier. So the result was an overexposed pix.

Male Orange-Backed Woodpecker

It perched right in front of me just for a few seconds. Quite a huge fellow and its orange back could clearly be seen when it flew away.

Rufous-Tailed Tailorbird

This was the only second time i have seen this tailorbird. It moved inside the undergrowth just above the forest floor like a babbler would do.

Maroon-Breasted Philentoma?

Pale Blue-Flycatcher

Grey-Breasted Spiderhunter

Many articles and literature have written about this spiderhunter been seen near wild banana plants and this fellow was no exceptions.

Oriental Magpie Robin

Never really wanted to take its photo but it did tempted me with this pose.

Black-Thighed Falconet

This could be the same fellow which was seen by myself two years ago at the same tree.

An incoming raptor

It actually flew directly towards me but believe me i do not know where it went to after taking this photo.

Here are a combo photos of a Male Buff-Rumped Woodpecker - it was looking for ants to eat.

I believe this was a female Olive-Backed Sunbird

Javan Mynah in Nest Hole

Last year i have reported seeing two Javan Mynahs going in and out from a tree hole. This couple seen here could be the same couple. (the other bird was nearby at another tree trunk). 

In butterfly watching one could actually apply some of the birding principles. As some butterflies are also skittish like some birds do one should not approach the butterfly directly or point your camera towards them in a threatening manner. Butterflies also have their own comfort zone and one should be familiar/aware what should be the best distance to approach them. The best time i guess was when they are  busy "attending" to their favourite flowers or puddling. Like birds we could also "call" the butterflies to fly-in i.e. by introducing/placing their favourite fruits on their favourite resting place. There were quite a lot of butterflies at this place too. Saw some Malayan Birdwings and a Rajah Brooke flying around. Here are some the other butterflies seen.

Common Bluebottle

This was the butterfly which i have always seen in jungle trails but never had the chance to take its photo until this time.

Blue Glassy Tiger

Peacock Pancy

Nyctemera Coleta

Commonly known as "Marbled White Moth"

(Acknowledgement: all the butterflies identification in this blog were done one way or the other with the help from a SIG in butterflies which is based in Singapore) . I wished someone from MNS could also form one here.

Overall this place was always never short of birds and exitements.