Kuala Selangor Nature Park (KSNP) - Feb 2013

Here we go again. This time i was in KSNP with a Swedish couple where the husband is a fan of Mark Knopfler from a British rock group named Dire Straits - remember the song "Sultan of Swing" during the early 80s! Not bad for a 60+ year old guy. There were not many "white birds" at this time but this place was never short of surprises.

First bird seen was this raptor, perched quite low near the trail. By late morning it was seen circling up in the sky.

Crested-Serpent Eagle

Purple Heron in Flight

A nice flight formation from a group of Purple Heron

Great Egret

One of the only hand full of "white birds" seen.

Brahminy Kite

Quite an agressive raptor as we saw it disturbing some Pacific Swallows near the abandoned bird house.

Pink-Necked Green Pigeon (Male)

Saw plenty of them this time.

Pacific Swallow

Chestnut-Bellied Malkoha

There were many books out there describing its facial features around its eyes with words such as "orbital skin", "facial skin", "red skin around its eyes" etc. It was at this moment i realised that the facial "skin" was actually consisted of a group of fine and tiny hairs.

I was able to see the tiny hairs from my bins as well as from this photo as the bird was just a hand length away from us.

Little Bronze Cuckoo (Malayan Bronze Cuckoo)

This time i had the opportunity to view two resident cuckoo birds. The first cuckoo bird was the Little Bronze Cuckoo which was easier to id despite having a back-focus problem with my camera.

H. fugax or nisicolor?

When i saw this cuckoo bird i immediately knew that i had to take a few good photos in order to id this controversial bird.

From the many literature notes and photos taken, there was only one feature from the above photos which could differentiate this bird from H.fugax (Malaysian Hawk Cuckoo) i.e the greyer color on the top of this bird as compared to the more brownish color of H.fugax - Malaysian Hawk Cuckoo ). Other variations such as white patch on wings, and narrow/even tail bars seem to be similar with both birds. So for the moment i would think that the above cuckoo bird was a Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo (H.nisicolor). As compared to the little bronze cuckoo, this cuckoo bird was completely silent.

Note: From the photos in the OBC and the statement from Robson's field guide which stated that nisicolor is greyer above than the Malaysian Hawk Cuckoo as well as the absence of  the white patch on its nape and the rufous brown streaks (although the rufous color cannot be clearly seen here) i strongly believe that the above bird was actually a Hodgson Hawk Cuckoo. For a better understanding on the comparison of both the two cuckoo birds (H.fugax and H. nisicolor) you may refer to A write up by Con Foley dated October 6 2013 in his blog and some splendid photos and info  from Dave Bakewell from a post in his blog dated Feb 28, 2014 )

In addition to birds i could not resist taking photos of the other inhabitants of KSNP. Here were some of them. Enjoy :)

These are fiddler crabs i believe.

The eye of a dragon !

A sun bathing green lizard

Do visit this place once a while if you have the time as it could spring some surprises or provide something for all the possible wildlife which you have wished to look for.

Coppersmith Barbet at Nest - Feb 2013

I decided to re-visit the old durian tree where i saw a coppersmith barbet trying to carve a hole into it last month. Initially i did not see any birds but lo and behold a head suddenly poped out from another hole just below the initial trunk.

Then i saw a magical moment.....there were two of them fetching food into the hole.

From then on i decided to spent more time to observe them. The differences between a male and a female Coppersmith Barbet are documented here.

The bird on your right is a male (in both photos) while the female is on the left. In the birds' kingdom  the male birds seem to be more colorful than the female. In these pictures (above & below) you could see that the male has a brighter red and yellow bands on its chest as compared to its female counterpart. The streaks on its body are also bolder and refine than the female. Another thing which differentiate them is their calls - male calls are louder while the female calls are softer. Another interesting fact i have observed is that the flight pattern of the coppersmith is like riding on a wave - up and down (undulated flight) and seldom on a straight path.

Female Coppersmith Barbet

Male Coppersmith Barbet

Female Coppersmith Barbet.

Both the parents were seen carrying food (mainly fruits - esp figs) into the nest. Food delivery was more frequent in the morning (about 5 - 10 minutes interval) while there were fewer deliveries towards the evening. The nesting hole could only acommodate one parent at any one time and there were no faeces throwing done by the parents. For three continous days i could not see or hear the hatchling(s) but the frequency of the food delivered may suggest that it could still be very young. Here are some of the fruits brought in by the parents:

A male Coppersmith Barbet

A female Coppersmith Barbet with a mouthful of fruits.

male

female

Through out the three observation days i did not see them bringing any insects or any source of proteins into the nest. This may suggest that the hatchling is fully on a "vegetarian" diet. Both parents are nevertheless dedicated and fearless as depicted by the pictures below:

On the first day of observation i saw this garden snake sliding slowly up to the tree trunk in the afternoon where the nest is located. Immediately the parent birds undertook their mission to save their nest - diving down and pecking the snake one at the time. What an auspicious way to start the new year with this encounter. Finally the snake gave up and slid away from the nest.

Female Coppersmith Barbet guarding her nest

 Both parents stayed close to the nest hole through out the afternoon while normal feeding activities only resumed in the second day after this close encounter. It was such joy and pleasure to observe this small but lovely birds.



A Day at the Rice Field - Feb 2013

While the big guys headed to Malim Nawar and Melaka to tick their lifers, i went up north to survey a small patch of rice field which was not too far away from the Bedong Raptor Watch site.

Rice Field at Dawn

There were less birds seen in the morning as compared to in the afternoon. Most of the birds seen (i.e Egrets, Herons, raptors and Pigeons) came from the coastal front which was just behind me when i took this photo. Except for the raptors and pigeons which zoomed past like rockets, others flew in and landed on this rice field and remained through out the day.

This was the first raptor seen at this rice field in the morning. This majestic Aquila is thought to be an Imperial Eagle or perhaps a Greater Spotted Eagle though its positive id is hard to ascertain due to its distance. It was seen at around 8.20am and circled a few times before heading eastward - most likely will pass through the Bedong raptor watch site.

Black Headed Munia

Pond Heron

Great Egret touching down

There were only pockets of Little Egrets and Great Egrets seen here.

Cattle Egret in Flight

Pond Heron in flight

Most of the birds were made up of Pond Herons and Cattle Egrets.

Other birds seen and heard in the morning was a Black Drongo (1), Yellow-Bellied Prinia (2), Z. Cisticola (heard calls only), Spotted Dove (4), Brown Shrike (1) and Common Iora (2).

A view of the rice field in the afternoon from a different angle. I only had a small tree for shade.

While scanning the rice field, i saw this Cinnamon Bittern.

Red Collared Dove

They were everywhere at this place.

Most of them were males i believed except for the bird above. The bird above should be a female Red-Collared Dove and not an Eurasian Collared Dove - id'd from a tinge of red color on its plumage as verified by an experienced birder, John Steed.

A tractor came in and started to work. Suddenly there were birds everywhere.

I believed these are Striated Swallows.

Allen J & Pearson's (2012) field guide however suggested that the best way to determine these swallow's genre is thru a DNA test. Until the test results are determined, together with Barn Swallows they were the only swallows sighted at this place.

Black Baza

A beautiful and distinctive underwings and body pattern which Nature has created for us.

Initially thought as a Chinese Goshawk from its undertail 3 bands but raptor expert KC Lim reckoned that it could just be a Crested Goshawk due to its more whitish underbelly.

These raptors were probably the few remaining ones in the tail-end of their migrating session. Most of them headed eastwards like the earlier Aquila. I left this baking hot place at around 6pm.