Asian Fairy Bluebird (Irena puella)

Asian Fairy Bluebird is a beautiful bird. Male has sapphire-blue feathers on its back while its front from neck to belly region are predominantly black. Despite its deep rich blue feathers, it may be difficult to spot these birds in the jungle.  According to Wikipedia, Asian Fairy Bluebird are close relatives to ioras and leafbirds.  It can be seen in plantations, rural kampungs and forest up to 1900m but more often at regions around  850m - 1200m. Locally named as "burung dendang gajah" is a fully protected bird. Although listed as "least concern" by Birdlife International,  you won't be able to see this bird in all trails or all the time. Here are some of its pictures (all are males) which i have managed to shoot when it came down from its usual canopy home for its morning breakfast of wild berries...

If it stays put this way it will be difficult to spot this bird in a dark forest due to its jet-black frontal feathers.

Unless it moves to show its blue shinning feathers.

This is another male lurking nearby.

A simply magnificent bird.

Asian Glossy Starling (Aplonis panayensis)

Asian Glossy Starling or previously named as Philippine Glossy Starling are one of the most common birds one could see in parks, gardens, plantations etc - especially where there are fruit trees. If there is a ripe papaya, a flock could finish it within a few hours. A flock of about 50 birds were seen recently at Templer's Park (Aug 2011) , feasting themself on ripe berries on a tree.

This is a juvenile grabbing itself a ripe berry.

This fellow is an adult looking at which berries to pick.

This is probably a sub-adult.

An adult deciding which of the two hungry mouths to feed!

A juvenile and a sub-adult together

Another sub-adult fluffing its feathers.

Common Flameback (Dinopium javanense)

Common Flameback woodpecker or previously named "common goldenback" is a woodpecker said to be widely distributed in Asian region (Bangladesh, India, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Borneo, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Vietnam). Its habitats ranges from lowland forest up to 800 m, rural gardens, plantations and mangroves. Despite that and although IUCN has listed it as "least concern", you would not be able to see it in every trail. It is a fully protected bird under the local law (Act 76/72) and locally called "belatok pinang muda".  Here are some of its photos taken recently in Kuala Selangor Nature Park (KSNP):

The pictures above are male Common Flamebacks. Male has red crown while female ones have black crown. There are 3 quick ways to differentiate between a Common Flameback and a Greater Flameback in the field. Here are the 3 distinguish features:

This first thing which you should look is behind its neck. Common Flamebacks have an all black hindneck while a greater flameback has whitish circles in the centre of its hindneck.

The second thing which you should spot is just below its red crown. A greater flameback has a thick black line below its crown. In this picture, you can't see any any thick black line below its crown side.

The third thing which you could spot is to see its bill. Greater flamebacks are said to have longer bills than this one.