Birding at the Gap, Fraser's Hill - Feb 2012

There are many places where one could go for birding at Fraser's Hill. This time i started from base and walk my way up. The number of birds sighted were not too bad.

I started from this point and walk about 2 km up.

The first bird i saw was this Grey-Throated Babbler. This was the one and only shot of the bird before it flew quickly into the bushes and did not appear again.

This Blue-winged leafbird was seen nearby with a black crested bulbul

A Lesser or Greater Racket Tail Drongo? Need to check with the experts but it looks more like a Greater from the shape of its fork tail.

The all brown plumage separates this Ochraceous Bulbul from puff-throated.

These are Mountain Imperial Pigeons flying by.

This could probably be a Grey-Chinned Minivet but it also looks like a Scarlet - crumbs ! need to look at its wings the next time.

Lets see - pale grey wash across breast, broad base to bill, whitish lores and a prominent whitish eye ring - yup its an Asian Brown Flycatcher ! Most of the time Asian Browns are very silent but this time i heard its calls just like some of the sunbirds' call - a thin and loud zit.

This could be a juvenile Tiger Shrike.

Saw two of this Blyth's Hawk Eagles circling quite low- probably looking for a morning snack/prey.

This is a juvenile Crested-Serpent Eagle (id by Yang Chong) flying higher than the earlier Blyth. Saw this raptor just after the Blyths have left.

Saw 4 of these White-Hooded Babblers. They travel in groups, moving from the top of the slope down to the bamboo crops in the ravine and back again to the top. Due to this routine i was able to get some shots of these highly agile birds. From an angle they could be mistaken as a bulbul if not for its white head and believe me their short alarming calls are also similar with those of yellow vented bubuls.

Note: I just found out that these babblers are also known as: Collared Babbler !!

This is another flycatcher seen just after the asian brown on my way down. It was silent and still. It looks more like a Dark Sided, yes-no?

Saw this Large-Billed Crow near the base. At this point i must say my apology to the couple in a brown Nissan X-trail who was waving at me but i just could not recognise/guess who they are until today. My specs certaintly cannot see as far as my bins.

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Birding at Kampung Siam

After having seen too many mudflats and padifields, we visited a place which i have not been for the past 25 years. Kampung Siam is a village located on the same road to Bukit Hijau Recreational Forest where the occupants were generally Malaysian of Siamese origins. The village is located right in a middle of an oil palm plantation surrounded by matured rubber trees and fruit trees. There were plenty of bird calls here and certaintly this place is worth a visit.

This is a White-Rumped Munia.

A Scaly-Breasted Munia was also spotted.

This place was full of this bird - a Lineated Barbet and its sound of "poo-poh" was loud and clear !

Here is a Lineated Barbet excavating a hole on a tree.

This bird looks like a Brown-Throated Sunbird - female - id from its yellowish breast.

This Rufous Woodpecker (female) was presence here.

....and so as this Common Flameback (male).

  

This Greater Racket Tail Drongo was heard mimicking the calls of a black-naped oriole.

This is a group of Jungle Mynas. 

From my observations, Jungle Mynas seem to be more sensitive to human presence than javan mynas.

This is an Asian Brown Flycatcher - id from its pale grey wash across breast,  broad base to bill, whitish lores and a prominent whitish eye ring.

Saw this Changeable Hawk Eagle (dark morph) circling around a high tension electricity tower which was located close to the oil palm plantation.

On our way back we were sent off by this Dollar Bird.

Penaga, Tanjung Dawai and Yan

After visiting Teluk Air Tawar, we went searching for harriers in Penaga, Tanjung Dawai and then to a district named Yan. These places have huge ricefields but unfortunately there were no harriers.

At Penaga we only saw this Black-Capped Kingfisher and heard a few Zitting Cisticolas calling - that was all we had. 

This forest reserve is really huge, stretching from Sungai Petani right up to Tanjung Dawai. As indicated in the sign board its size is about 3,076 hectares. Although this location is a mangrove area but not many birds were seen here.

First bird seen was this Common Iora.

Next was this Collared Kingfisher.

When we reached Tanjung Dawai it was already late noon. As the tide was still high and covering the mudflats, we turned into a place called Kampung Nelayan and saw this Striated Heron.

The next bird seen was a Collared Kingfisher again.

When reaching Yan, i could see a huge mudflat area but unfortunately not many waders were present there. What a pity ! First bird seen was this Common Sandpiper.

Then we saw a couple of Pond Herons and a lone Little Egret.

Then a Striated Heron was spotted catching a cat fish.

Before we call it a day, this White-Bellied Sea Eagle was seen flying back from the sea towards its roosting place in the mainland.