Kemensah - 2 Nov 2013

What would you do if you have just 2 hours of birding time? Well i was a bit lucky that my home is near to a secondary forest which was just about 30 minutes drive. Knowing that the day will be full of people due to the festive holiday (Deepavali), i parked my car further down the road and birded along the road. True enough there were lots of "Valentino Rossi" and "Sebastian Vettel" going to & fro the area but the birds can still be seen.

Stripped-Throated Bulbul

Grey-rumped Treeswift

House Swift

A common White-throated Kingfisher on an unusual perch.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker

Drongo Cuckoo

Until today i have not seen the white patch on the nape of this species as described by some field guides.

As the day was quite sunny, the butterflies also did appeared on the trail.

Chocolate Albatross

Yamfly

This was the first time i was able to take a decent photo of a butterfly in flight.

Mapwings - C.nivalis

Here is what a butterfly expert (Mr LiewNL) has to say about this butterfly: "Mapwings are usually found at a certain elevation in the hills in Malaysia and are decidedly insects of the forests - meaning it is unlikely to be seen in a town park or wooded area in a housing estate. That having said, it should be considered a common butterfly and they are most common throughout the months of April - July"

Despite the crowded area, i believe i have heard the calls of a trogon. It has just called twice and then went quiet. This certainly gave me more reasons to visit this place in the near future.

Birding at Tanjung Karang Mudflats

This was the first time i have done birding at this place. It has huge mudflats which are spread out as far as your eyes can see. I thought i have reached the place early i.e. about 8.45am but the tide has already started to go down rapidly. So most of the waders were wading quite a distance away. The birds spotted were common though.

Common Sandpiper

I was contemplating to id this bird as a spotted sandpiper

Until i saw its wing bars.

Juvenile - Striated Heron

Adult - Striated Heron

Grey Heron

Interestingly only two was seen here as compared to Bagan Sungai Buloh which  has more.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

A sub-adult i believe.

Eurasian Curlew

Whimbrel

They were the only ones which does not bother about my nearby presence.

A mixture flock of common redshanks and sand plovers flying out to the sea.

Terek Sandpiper

Barn Swallow

Most of the field guides over here recorded this bird as the nominated "Hirundo rustica". Unlike its close relative i.e. the Pacific Swallow (H.tahitica),  this swallow is a winter visitor in this region right down to Australia (Ref: Allen J & Pearson Field Guide, 2012). They are reported to breed in North America and Europe and this certainly makes them a strong migratory passerine. Saw loads of them here. Could the above bird be moulting into its non-breeding feathers?

Thinking that there may be something wrong with my camera when shooting waders as the colors of the above photos were quite pale, so i tried to shoot other common birds near by and it turns out that it was still functioning quite well.

Plain Throated / Brown Throated Sunbird

White-Throated Kingfisher

Zebra / Peaceful Dove

Blue-Tailed Bee Eater

Purple Heron

Its numbers here are fewer than the Grey Herons.

I have not seen so many Javan Mynah congregating at one place in such large numbers. Also having EGM kah?

Large-Billed or Slender-Billed?

Although not uncommon the two species can be seen in mangrove areas.

Didn't pay much attention to butterflies in the mudflats until this one came along.
Note: This butterfly was a "Tawny Coster"(Acraea terpsicore). Said to be common in India and Sri Lanka and this fella is a male.

There were lots of them here and if they have ever started to move en mass  they would have make the x'mas island crabs a run for their money.

Overall this place was not too bad. There were ample places to watch waders. Just need to reach there before the receding or during rising of the tide and you will certainly able to get a closer look at the waders.

Lesser Adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus)

Lesser Adjutant is actually a stork from the stork family named Ciconiidae and currently its range was said to be wide spread, ranging from India, South East Asia countries right to Vietnam, Cambodia and Java. IUCN has however listed it as "Vulnerable" and according to Birdlife International the world wide population of this bird is reported to be only between 6,5000 - 8,000 birds (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php). 

To me this bird looks almost like the marabou stork which can be found in Africa except that the latter has a long pink gular sac. In this region particularly Peninsular Malaysia, Lesser Adjutant can be found mainly near mangroves/mudflats although it was also seen near paddy fields before. Back in the days when i love to go fishing along the coast of Selangor i used to see one or two along the mudflats and i told myself "What a weird looking bird?". 5 years after that the figure has now risen to at least 11 or 12 of them. That was based on my recent trip along the coast of Selangor on 21 September 2013.  I have also managed to spent about 10 minutes watching them "wade" along the mudflats and took a few photos along the way. Here are some the photos taken.

Most of the time they are reported to be in single.

However during mating season they are reported to be seen in a group. In this trip i did saw 6 birds in a group. Here you can see three of them.

The bird on the right is said to be a juvenile.

I believe part of their diet would include baby crabs.

Being a big bird (about 130cm) i have observed that it would need to run a few feet before it could take-off.

Once airborne, it can be as smooth and gentle like a glider.

Although i have not seen its nest before but field reports have indicated that they would nest high up on trees and its nest are formed from twigs and sticks just like grey herons.

In Malaysia, Lesser Adjutant or locally named burung "Botak Kecil" is a fully protected bird. It was clearly stated in Schedule 2 of the Malaysian "Wildlife Conservation Act 2010" (Akta 716). Interestingly Milky Stork (Mycteria cinerea) is named "Botak Upeh" in the Act. And more interestingly the family "Ciconiidae" was label only as "botak". I guess all bald men can also be called "Ciconiidae" ka! ka! ka ! I wish that the authorities could come up with a better word/name then just "botak". Anyway joke aside i really hope that one day i could see more lesser adjutants in and around the entire Malaysian coast line/mudflats.

The photos below were taken from my subsequent trips to the mudflats.