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.



Air Itam Dalam Forest Reserve - Nov 2012

Since most of the paddy fields in Kedah and Penang were not ready to be harvested so we headed to a forest reserve area which has quite a similar setup like KSNP. Saw a number interesting and also familiar birds here:

Lineated Barbet

Buffy Fish Owl (Ketupa Ketupu)

At 47cm it can be considered quite a large owl. It has a white forehead which separates it from the uncommon brown fish owl. I needed to use flash here in order to determine that feature.

Streak-Breasted Woodpecker

Although it looks like a laced woodpecker but i believe they were streak-breasted woodpeckers.

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher - Juvenile

Mangrove Blue Flycatcher - Female

Black Kites

There were three of them up on this tree. Probably waiting for thermal to built up. Looks like juveniles from the streaks on their wings.

Saw at least 5 of them circling up above me.

Olive-Winged Bulbul

Probably one of the sharpest image i had of this bulbul so far.

Greater Coucal

Ashy Tailorbird

Beside the pied fantails, ashy tailorbirds also featured prominently at this place.

Pin-Stripped Tit Babbler

Although its body color is quite whitish but it will be difficult to determine whether this is a germain's swiftlet without seeing its rump band. So this swift may have just been an edible-nest swiftlet.

Arctic Warbler

Not an easy bird to photograph as it never stays still.

This place is certainly conducive for birding or simply just to chill out. If i have stayed a little longer i might just be able to see more birds at this location. Perhaps i will save it for another day. 



Semenyih & Perdik - Nov 2012



Finally i was able to show AT the spot where i saw the B&W Bulbul earlier. There were lots of bulbuls and green leaf birds as usual but the B&W Bulbul was missing. However we heard a Horsfield Babbler calling which added to the variety of birds seen at this spot. Here are some of the other birds which we saw:



Buff-vented Bulbul



Ashy Minivet 

Black-crested Bulbul 



After having waited for awhile we headed to Sungai Perdik. Showed AT a new spot which i believe he will be visiting it again. We saw a number of star birds as well as sub-montane birds.

Black-thighed Falconet

It was seen earlier munching on a large red beetle. It will loop down on its prey and goes up again on the branch - just like a "U" shape style of poaching. As it is light and small its flights were really fast.









Blyth's Hawk Eagle

This raptor is usually found at sub-montane regions rather than low lands like Perdik. It was rather silent and after awhile it was seen airborne much to our delight.

The torn feathers were probably as a result of hunting preys in the forest.

Here was what i meant. Despite its size it was able to maneuver swiftly amongst the forest trees albeit with torn feathers as a result.

Changeable Hawk Eagle - Dark Morph

From nowhere out came this raptor which was seen thermaling. It has the same features as the one which i saw in Bedong earlier - faint white patch on its wings, dark body and white (which is actually yellow) legs. Unfortunately this raptor did not spread its tail where you can see the thick black band.

Verditer Flycatcher



Pale Blue Flycatcher

Hairy-Backed Bulbul

This was probably the star bird of them all. Not only human being has the determination over adversity but birds as well. Certaintly admire its will to survive despite having a handicapped bill.