Watching shorebirds: The closer they get, the better they are.

Watching wildlife can be a pleasant and peaceful thing to indulged. They are non-prejudiced (impartial), non-political and non-religious. A tiger will not ask whether you are a Republican or a Democrat nor will a Hippopotamus ask whether you are able to recite the holy scriptures before chasing you away. They are all 'created' here for a purpose - to live and to breed for their species existence. There is no secret or special formula to see nature - just respect their comfort distance and you can get to enjoy a decent view of their beauty and behavior.   

Recently I celebrated my 10th year adventures of watching shorebirds in Peninsular Malaysia (2011 - 2021). As the tide was still rising and without much cover, my only approach was to walk directly to them. I inched my way as close as possible. At times I have to bend low on my knees and I will stopped for a moment and then slowly move again. I repeated the process until I went close to their invisible security barrier and this is what I got. 

A duo of Curlew Sandpipers and Red-necked Stints basking themselves in the morning sun.

Kentish Plover

(Winter plumage)

Kentish Plover and Lesser Sand Plover

Another Kentish Plover but with less profound colors. So happy to see both of them.

Red-necked Stint

A Red-necked Stint with a "Yellow over White" flag or perhaps "Orange over White" flag

A Red-necked Stint in the midst of developing mature flight feathers.

Red-necked Stint in flight.

A rather plain looking Red-necked Stint

A Black-bellied Plover (previously called Grey Plover). Differentiated from the "Pacific Golden Plover" by its more robust and thicker bill as well as its stockier body. Saw just two of them this time.

An adult Terek Sandpiper (showing a bit of its breeding plumage).

Another Terek Sandpiper

A Curlew Sandpiper

A comparison between a Broad-billed Sandpiper (left) and a Curlew Sandpiper (right).

A Common Redshank

A lone Common Greenshank. 

Here comes one of my favourite plovers - Lesser Sand Plover

They come in many shapes, sizes and plumages.

Feeling on top of a coconut. These are some of the cute little Lesser Sand Plovers seen.

Another Lesser Sand Plover with a white face markings.

The Lesser Sand Plover on the left has a different face markings. How unique they are at times.

Another of my favourite plovers - the Greater Sand Plover (left). 

A pristine looking Greater Sand Plover (above).

Another Greater Sand Plover (middle) I think.

A Brown-headed Gull

A flock of Brown-headed Gulls. Some of them were seen shading their feathers. Probably some old feathers I believe.

A Brown-headed Gull is about to land.

Three Red-necked Stints having a morning walk

Finally in the flats you can literally dance where ever you like.

TILL WE MEET AGAIN ! ADIOUS AMIGOS

Celebrating 10 years anniversary of watching waders (2011 - 2021)

This year marks the 10th anniversary of my endeavour of watching waders in the mudflats. I celebrated it by watching the highest gathering of waders in my entire life - almost 5000 of them in total ! The location was in Kota Kuala Muda site. 

The waders gathered in 4 major clusters stretching almost 400 meters on the entire beach front. Each cluster consisted of almost 1K plus of waders.

Cluster # 1

Cluster # 2

Cluster # 3

Cluster # 4

The tide was just rising when I reached the site at 10.30am and I continued watching them until about 12.35pm. Although it was blazing hot in the middle of the flats but the strong northeast monsoon wind coming from the sea makes it bearable. Most of the waders were quite a distance away as the rising tide was not at its peak yet. Here are some of the closer ones.

Lesser Sand Plovers (mainly Tibetan race) make up the most of them - approx. 2K.

Most of the Lesser Sand Plovers are still in their winter plumage. Probably just 0.1% of them showed glimpses of their emerging breeding plumage. 

They were followed by Red-necked Stints - approx. 1.5K

 

The next numerous are the Curlew Sandpipers - approx. 800 - 1000.

Like most waders they too were in their winter plumage.

Broad-billed Sandpipers were the next most waders observed - approx. 500.

Most of the Broad-billed Sandpipers were in their bold winter plumage.

Up next are the Terek Sandpipers - approx. 100

Common Redshanks numbers were quite decent at approx 50 - 60.

The one in the middle has a bill curved down like a Curlew Sandpiper.

Some of the waders were stationed quite close to the bushes. 

Other individual waders sighted were Whimbrel, Eurasian Curlew as well as Ruddy Turnstone.

This Grey Heron could have just gobble up a wader anytime if it wishes too but it looks like it prefer to be their guardian instead.

Brown-headed Gulls (60 of them) makes up the most non-waders seen at this time. Here you can see them accompanying a group of Little Terns and Whiskered Terns.

Brown-headed Gulls cruising leisurely along the shoreline.

Here is a summary of the total water birds (including waders) seen in Malaysia from 2016 to 2020 collated from the Asian Waterbirds Censors (AWC). Looks like the numbers in Malaysia have increased almost 2x since 2016.

Source: EAAFP  website

THE RESILIENT AND PERSEVERANCE OF HUMANITY AGAINST A BIOLOGICAL ADVERSARY ARE NEVER REALLY TESTED UNTIL NOW !

TILL WE MEET AGAIN !

STAY SAFE AND HEALTHY !

Common Birds in January 2021

Looks like the common birds reigned during this pandemic lockdown. Here are some of the more photogenic birds seen recently.

Red-Wattled Lapwing 

This bird's calls can be heard from a distance and it's very distinctive and unmistakable. 

According to some birders who are familiar with Javan Myna, its white iris shows that it is still an immature bird. Once it gets older, the iris will turned yellowish.

Large Woodshrike

Dark-necked Tailor bird

I would put the above leafbird as a "Greater Green Leafbird" - from the size of its bill.

So glad to see it after a long absence.

Blue-winged Leafbird (Female)

An equally stunning leafbird !

Blue-winged Leafbird (Male)

At times they can come down quite low to feed.

Gray Wagtail (in breeding colors)

Their early presence usually marks the start of the migrating season in this region. But at this time and with this colors that means they are probably on the way back.

Mynas are quite versatile birds. These Jungle Mynas have decided to use the swifllets house as their home instead.  

They must have found something interesting to laugh at !

An Oriental Honey Buzzard (OHB) with a notched tail.

Sometimes their "fingers" are not necessarily six especially when they are molting.

It is equally fun to take photos of flying swiftlets.

The above swiftlet looks a bit different than the rest.

From afar these Asian Openbills can look like vultures. This small flock was seen thermaling higher than the OHB.

A resident "Blue-throated Bee Eater".

Grey-bellied Bulbul

This bulbul has quite a distinctive call if you are familiar with them.

Black-headed Bulbul

Another bulbul which can be found year round.

Spotted Dove

A very common caged bird in this region.

A pair of Red-collared Dove

Ruby-cheeked Sunbird

"THE RIGHTEOUSNESS IS AN EVERLASTING RIGHTTEOUSNESS AND THY LAW IS THE TRUTH"

"I AM SMALL AND DESPISED: YET DO NOT I FORGET THY PRECEPTS"