Coppersmith@work

I was under an old durian tree when  i heard a soft knocking sound. Looking up and thinking it should be a woodpecker, i was surprised to see a coppersmith barbet excavating a hole in the durian tree.

Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala)

Looks like the males are the ones making the nest while the females lay the eggs. This bird was not calling but was actually panting - probably exhausted or lack of oxygen in the hole.

After returning to the durian tree two hours later the bird was still seen busy with his 'work' but it was no longer around the tree the following morning. The inner tree trunk was probably too hard and thick to excavate.



Red-Whiskered Bulbul (Pycnonotus jocosus)

I was observing some yellow-vented bulbuls in my hometown recently when i heard a familiar call. When i look up i saw a bird which is more often seen in the cage rather than outside on a coconut tree.

Red-Whiskered Bulbul



 Despite been skittish and wary of my presence, the bird could still been an escaped caged bird.

It was nevertheless an enjoyfull sight to see the bird singing from outside a cage.



Kuala Muda Mudflats - Nov 2012

I went to the same mudflats again to see whether there are different birds in November. I started in the afternoon and here are some of the birds seen:

Collared Kingfisher - with a meal

A Great Egret, an Intermediate Egret and a Little Egret foraging together on the mudflats.

A juve Brahminy Kite (left) chasing away a juve Osprey (right)

Tired been chased around, the juve Osprey landed not too far away.

  

The juve Brahminy continued to patrol his territory.

Common Sandpiper

Not satisfied with the photo qualities and curious about more birds led me to return to this mudflat in the following morning.

 Some of the birds were still far away. These are Little Egrets foraging on the opposite bank. Its feets are black due to the mud.

A Great Egret swallowing a big fish

Hard to tell whether this fellow is a little egret or an intermediate. A good topic for a prolong debate.

A mean-full stare from a Little Heron.

On the way back, we stopped at a small patch of paddy field.

A Pond Heron (unidentified)

Another unidentified Pond Heron

This fellow is most likely a Little Egret - it has a slight pinkish color at its lower mandible.

So the conclusion is that morning is still the best time for birding.

Bagan Belat Air Tawar Mudflats - Nov 2012

I arrived at the mudflats at about 16.30hrs.. The weather was very hot and harsh on the body and photography. As the tide was still high i decided to look for other birds in the surrounding area.

Asian Dollar Bird





 The first egret which came in and waited for the tide to recede.

Great Egret

 This is probably the only bird which could "wade" in knee deep water.

Brahminy Kite

Black-Capped Kingfisher

The first batch of waders came in when the water started to recede at around 17.15hrs. They were mainly Common Redshanks.

Whiskered Tern i believe

It was fun to see them skimming over the water surface. Here you can see a white winged tern has managed to grab something from the water.

Probably a Common Tern.

Could this be a Gull-billed Tern or a Whiskered Tern?

Whiskered Tern

Verified by a MNS Bird Group Co-ordinator.

Common Redshank

Common Sandpiper

Besides the redshanks, common sandpipers are some of the birds which would dare to come close to humans.

From the horizon, i saw a silhouette of a big bird flying in.

It circled around the waders looking for a suitable place to land.

Brown-Headed Gull

Some of them are still in their first winter clothing as you can see from the bird in the middle of this picture (the black band on its tail).

As you can see there were 9 Brown Headed Gulls in this picture alone - probably more as i saw one or two with other group of waders.

 More birds flew in when the sea water receded further away.

Whimbrel

Un-identified wader? Finally this bird is

confirmed as a Great Knot by Dave B.

Little Egret

The photo above shows a little egret with a complete breeding plumage. I do not know whether this bird was here for breeding or came here just after its breeding season.

Redshanks taking off.



So did myself. I bade farewell to this mudflats at about 18.30hrs.