Oriental Pied Hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris)

Fancy having a hornbill around your garden or park? In Kuala Terengganu, Oriental Pied Hornbills are quite common in public parks and residential areas.

I have observed a couple of OPH in KT recently which never fails to appear around a residential park between 7.15am - 7.30am for three consecutive days.

Here is the couple with the female on your left and the male bird to your right. 

Oriental Pied Hornbill - Female

Oriental Pied Hornbill - Male

I have to move cautiously in order not to spook the birds which were enjoying their morning feast with the berry like fruits (ficus). You can see some of the fruits from the above photo. 

This is an eclipse male (above) which has also joined his parents to feast on the same fruits.

Once they have feasted on the fruits for about 30 minutes, all three of them would fly away together to other areas - presumably to feast on other fruits.

If you really want to find a friendly hornbill, i supposed OPH should be the ones. 

Birding Kemensah - May 2013

This place can be considered as one of my local patches for birding. Most birds seen were common though.

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

The clear demarcation of its orange-rufous chest from its white belly separates the bird from "Hill Blue Flycatcher". 

Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker - Female

Grey-and-Buff Woodpecker - Male

There are a few species of woodies at this place and i have seen quite a number of them so far.

Whiskered Treeswift - Male

Little Spiderhunter

Rufescent Prinia

Yellow-Bellied Prinia

Spectacle Bulbul

Buff-Vented Bulbul

Stripped Throated Bulbul

Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird - Male

Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird - Female

Purple-Naped Sunbird - Female

Green Iora

Grey Wagtail

Not sure why he has not gone home yet or perhaps he may has just dropped by en route to his breeding grounds.

Black-and-Red Broadbill

One of the most common broadbill which you can find here. Overall this place can be considered as an average birding spot but nevertheless it could produce some surprises at times. Will go back again to try my luck on the Black-Backed Kingfisher which was seen by some village folks recently.

Purple-Throated Sunbird (Nectarinia sperata)

"In Chinese mythology, the sun is sometimes symbolized as a three-legged bird, called a Sun-Bird. There were ten of these Sun-birds, all of whom are the offspring of Dijun, God of the Eastern Heaven. The ten Sun-birds resided in a mulberry tree in the eastern sea; each day one of the Sun-Birds would travel around the world on a carriage, driven by Xihe, the Mother of the Suns" - source: Wikipedia

Today there are over 100 + species of sunbirds through out this earth probably more as some may have yet to be known/recorded by science. Purple-Throated sunbird is amongst them and like most sunbirds it is just as beautiful esp the male ones. Here are the males:

And these are the females:

Its habitat and distribution areas are believed to be along coastal shores, offshore islands, mangroves and sometimes gardens. 

Birding in Redang - Mar 2013

Had a rare opportunity to visit one of the most popular island in Peninsular Malaysia. I was expecting to see a flock of pelagic birds swarming on the rocky crops just like those flying around some of Britain's Isles but to my disappointment there were more humans than birds in this island. The scenery was however simply magnifique.

Redang at dawn

Purple-Throated Sunbird - Male

Most sunbirds are beautiful birds so as this one.

Malaysian Hawk Cuckoo

I have been seeing a lot of cuckoo birds lately. This bird was much browner and smaller than the Hodgson's Hawk Cuckoo which i saw at KSNP recently.

Little Heron/Striated Heron

Based on the color of its back feathers this pond-heron could have been a Chinese Pond-Heron or a Javan Pond-heron but i would just call it an unidentified pond heron.

White-Bellied Sea Eagle

A Pacific Reef Egret flying out to sea at dawn

There were also mammals and reptiles spotted in this island.

Took its photo because of its beautiful scales.

I believe this could be a Plantain Squirrel despite not having the black strip alongside its belly and it has a more creamy color.

Low's Squirrel

A restraining gesture 

Could this be a "Red-Legged Golden Orb-Web Spider (Nephila i. inaurata)?

There were many theories explaining the existence of these mammals, reptiles and insects on this island. One theory says that they could have drifted along with some woods to the island. Well since the nearest landmass is about 2 hours of speed boat ride it would probably take them a few months or so to reach the island that is provided that the log has sailed in the right direction all the time. The other theory which was postulated was that these creatures could have been brought in by humans or boats when they anchored at this island.  The third theory which may sound most likely is that they were here thousands of years ago when the island was part of the main land.

Here are some other activities which you may find at this island:

Canoeing

Snorkeling

There are also boats to take you around the island.

The entire place was scenic and clean despite all the human activities around the island.