Back to Birding with the Cuckoos of Air Itam Dalam

Whenever i see a cuckoo i would try to take lots of their images as possible. They are after all one of those 'difficult' birds to be identified. You do not need to have great photos of the bird but as long as the subtle/prominent features can be seen you should be able to identify them or perhaps with some help from an experience birder.  I went again to Air Itam Dalam instead of Sungai Sedim forest recently in view of the weather and its shorter distance from my home. There are always some aura of mystery at this place i.e you will always expect to see something different each time you step into the area. This time three types of cuckoos were seen, however only two species were photographed. The first been an Indian Cuckoo.

Indian Cuckoo (Cuculus micropterus)

According to Craig Robson's (2005) and Allen J's (2012) field guide, a female Indian Cuckoo has rufescent wash / rufous tinge across breast. Here you can see the feature and therefore the image suggests that it could be an adult female Indian Cuckoo.

According to Medway and Wells (1976), this cuckoo species is most active from January to August but since this cuckoo was seen in December so it might just be an early visitor here.

In flight i have noticed that it has quite sharp arched wings, something which you will also see in 'Nightjars', 'Frigate birds' etc. This bird was silent through out which would normally be expected of passage migrants/winter visitors.

It was also quite aggressive - chasing a 'Common Flameback Woodpecker' (Dinopium javanense) straight down to the water. I believe it may be trying to prevent the woodpecker from getting near to the 'Pin-Stripped Tit-Babblers" (M. gularis) which a few have been observed near the Indian Cuckoo and may be presumed looking for a suitable nesting site.


The second cuckoo bird seen here was even more interesting and it was presumably an Oriental Cuckoo !   Ever since King (2005) described the oriental cuckoo (Cuculus optatus) as two separate species i.e Himalayan Cuckoo (C.saturatus) and Lesser Sunda Cuckoo (C. lepidus), the taxanomy of this cuckoo species has yet to be confirmed until todate. A quick check on Birdlife International site reveals that the oriental cuckoo (C. optatus) taxon is no longer recognised. However most of the checklist available todate and at the point of typing recognised C.saturatus (Himalayan Cuckoo) and Sunda Cuckoo (C.lepidus) in their database. Here are the latest checklist which you can refer to:

i)   Avibase database - version May 2014

ii)  Birdlife International - version 06.1 (Feb 2014)

iii) Clements - 6th ed., (6.9), 2014

iv) eBird - version 1.55

v) Howard & Moore - 4th ed.

vi) IOC World Birdlist - version 4.04

Note: apparently the above checklists also have "C.optatus' in their listing ! Aduh ! PENING KEPALA !!

Could this be a Himalayan Cuckoo (Cuculus saturatus)?

Just like the Indian Cuckoo it had remained silent but it perched quite high up on an exposed trunk. Due to the weather condition, i had to increased the ISO metering to see its features otherwise it would just appear as a black dot on the screen! According to Wells & Becking (1975) and Payne (2005) as cited in {Lindholm and Linden (2007), Forktail 23: 12 -16}, the Sunda Cuckoo occurs as a resident on the Malayan Peninsula and Indonesian islands. In more recent times, Allen J (2012) described that migratory population tend to frequent low elevations. So this cuckoo at Air Itam Dalam area may had been from the northern migratory populations (i.e from Central Asia, the Himalayan mountains, Japan and China) because the resident population in Peninsular Malaysia usually occurs above 900 m (Allen J & Pearson, 2012). (Note: it was reported that Seberang Perai area which consists of Air Dalam Forest is only 541 meters above sea level)

If this was indeed C. saturatus or a C. optatus then it should be the first reported sigting at Air Dalam Forest and probably just one of a few been spotted outside its hill or mountain playgrounds (as per B.i.W record). Although DNA analysis has been recommended to scientifically identify this species but how i wish that this cuckoo bird can be described as how some Malaysian birders described Swinhoe's snipe (G. megala) and Pintail snipe (G.stenura) as "Swintail Snipe" !! Malaysia Boleh ! I am sure you can too ! 

Herping with MNS Herpetology Group - Nov 2014

In your younger days you might have done some crazy stuff like climbing up Bukit Tabur in the middle of the night, scuba diving in the sea full of sharks, going camping alone in a remote place or perhaps going out at night to look for frogs and snakes in the jungle! Fast forward 30 years later, i kinda rekindled my childhood adventures by joining the MNS Herpetology Group in one of their outings recently. The rain came just before the trip but it did not deter 21 enthusiastic adventures including a few children to gather around for some good outing.

Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina)

Oriental Whip Snake (Ahaetulla prasina)

Even before we set for the trek, our group leader Steven Wong has found this common whip snake. The children got really excited seeing their first wild snake. 

It looks menacing but it is totally harmless to humans.

The kampung name for this snake as i can recall was 'ular lidi' while some book also named it as 'oriental vine snake'. After a few photograph sessions, the snake was released back to its habitat. The good news was that we also saw another whip snake of the same genus not too far away.

Parents and mums getting their children all prep up for the excursion. Fortunately the rain stopped at 9.20pm.

Herpetologist in action and watched closely by future herpetologists !  Whether is for fun or to eliminate the fear of snakes (ophidiophobia), it was heart warming to see that parents are encouraging their children to join such trips. 

And here is what the group leader has got for them - a handful of frogies. The enthusiasm and tenacity shown by the group leader in explaining and getting the subjects in hand was really appreciated by the group.  

Common Grass Frog (Fejervarya limnocharis)

This frog was indeed found among the weeds and was said to be the favourite food for ikan haruan (snake head fish). 

Common Wolf Snake (Lycodon capucinus)

This was the second snake found in this trip. 

One thing i have learnt from this trip was that not all poisonous snakes have triangle shaped head - cobras (naja naja) and coral snakes (Calliophis) do not have triangle shaped heads. Fortunately this wolf snake is not poisonous but it will not hesitate to bite if annoyed as i was briefed.

There were more frogs than snakes in this trip and here are some of them:

Lesser Stream Toad (Ingerophrynus parvus)

This was the only lone toad found in this trip.

Tanah Rata Frog (Limnonectes nitidius)  

This frog was initially thought to be found only in Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands, 

Malaysia but subsequently it was reported that it can also be found in quite a number of places.

Rhinocerous Frog (Limnonectes plicatellus)

You can see a small bulge on its head (between its eyes) where it got its name from.

White-lipped Frog (Hydrophylax labialis)

Another common Grass Frog i believe. Look how well it blended with its surrounding.

Besides frogs and snakes we have also seen other creatures of the night like these ones:

Common Orb Weaver Spider

Giant centipede 

Note: the above centipede is called: "Malaysian Cherry Red Centipede" (Scolopendra spp)

Marbled Bent-Toed Gecko (Cyrtodactylus quaddrivirgatus)

Green Crested Lizard (Bronchocella cristatella)

I think this cicak is half asleep.

Being a birder i did look out for roosting birds, owls etc but unfortunately did not see any. I did however heard a nightjar calling (most likely a large tailed nightjar) (caprimulgus macrurus) as well as a call which sounded like coming from an OMR (Oriental Magpie Robin). Oh yes you can hear lots of other insects' calls in the night and some of which may be quite intriguing. 

Overall  i think everyone was very happy in this trip especially the children.

Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans) in Flight

Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans) as i was made to understand, comes from a larger group of stork family named "Ciconiidae".  It was reportedly a resident bird in India, Mynmar and Thailand* and rarely reported in Malaysia until year 2008 when a lone bird was spotted in Perlis by Kim Chye, his wife and Mr OoiBY. (* info taken from Bird Life International).

Based on the records in B.i.W, there were reported sightings of Asian Openbill almost every year in Peninsular Malaysia except in year 2009 and 2012. There were no sightings being recorded in Borneo so far. Here is a summary of the statistics compiled from B.i.W as at September 16, 2014:

Year         Jan   Feb   Mar   Apr   May   Jun   Jul   Aug   Sept   Oct   Nov   Dec   Total

/Month

2008         -         -        2       -         -        -       -        -         -        -        -        -          2

2009         -         -        -       -          -       -        -        -        -        -         -        -          0

2010         -         -        -      27        -       -        -      20      15       25     11     10       108

2011        10      17       -      -          -       -         -       8        -        10       -        -         45

2012         -        -         -      -          -       -         -       -        -         -         -         -          0

2013  3177   1737   452  3280  5113    1   3847   150    292     155   200      1   18405

2014  1592  1228   171      80    350    6         3      -     700        0         0       0    4130

Total: 4779  2982   625   3387   5463   7   3850  178  1007     190    211    11    22690

The above table shows that year 2013 has recorded the most sightings of Asian Openbill (18,405) while January (4779), April (3387), May (5463) and July (3,850) were the months which have the most Asian Openbills sighted and June (7) been the least. However like all statistics the above numbers only provided a rough estimates of the birds seen as their numbers can be fewer than the overall total of 22690. This could be due to the same flock flying from one state to another while looking for their favourite food which were mainly snails. For example in the month of April 2013, the birds were seen in Penang, Perak, Selangor and right down to Melaka.

Recently i had an opportunity to witnessed a huge flock of Asian Openbills at Air Itam Dalam Forest Reserve, Penang. Usually i could only managed to see about 2 or 3 birds at any one time but on 16 September 2014 alone the numbers were close to about 1000. Have a look here:

From below, it may look like another stork with its long bill

At about 11.15am, a few birds came by and were circling around, probably waiting for the thermal to build up

Some can be seen panting here. Could they have flown in from a distance?

Then out of nowhere came a huge flock 

Wave after wave of them came from all directions

As i was observing the initial group, then i realised that there was another bigger group circling higher then the initial group. Holly Molly! there were actually two groups which have appeared.

Some flew so high that they almost reach the moon :-)

From the above photo, you can see that Asian Openbills do not have a systematic way of thermaling. They can be seen circling in different directions - some can be seen moving towards the camera, some were heading to the right while some were moving to the opposite direction. This uncoordinated flying has resulted in some near misses as can be seen from the photos below:

Fortunately they are excellent flyers and any fatal mid air collisions have thus been avoided.

Can you spot the odd one out?

Yup! it was a  juvenile White-Bellied Sea Eagle which had also appeared.

The raptor did not join the main group and at times it was seen circling alone.

It was also seen circling quite close to this juvenile Asian Openbill on numerous occasions but i did not see it attempting to size the young bird. I have only seen photos of White-Bellied Sea Eagles eating fishes and snakes but not of them devouring other birds. For its size it can be a formidable predator but this time i guess it had just wanted to enjoy the company.

A closer look at the juvenile / sub adult. You can see the difference in the color of its primaries.

At about 12 noon, the lower group departed towards Bukit Mertajam - southwards while the higher group flew towards east - i.e. towards Kubang Semang/Lunas.

Surprisingly the eagle also followed the initial group - southwards.

All i can say that this was indeed a spectacular phenomenon of aerial display which i have never seen before !