Kemensah - 2 Nov 2013

What would you do if you have just 2 hours of birding time? Well i was a bit lucky that my home is near to a secondary forest which was just about 30 minutes drive. Knowing that the day will be full of people due to the festive holiday (Deepavali), i parked my car further down the road and birded along the road. True enough there were lots of "Valentino Rossi" and "Sebastian Vettel" going to & fro the area but the birds can still be seen.

Stripped-Throated Bulbul

Grey-rumped Treeswift

House Swift

A common White-throated Kingfisher on an unusual perch.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker

Drongo Cuckoo

Until today i have not seen the white patch on the nape of this species as described by some field guides.

As the day was quite sunny, the butterflies also did appeared on the trail.

Chocolate Albatross

Yamfly

This was the first time i was able to take a decent photo of a butterfly in flight.

Mapwings - C.nivalis

Here is what a butterfly expert (Mr LiewNL) has to say about this butterfly: "Mapwings are usually found at a certain elevation in the hills in Malaysia and are decidedly insects of the forests - meaning it is unlikely to be seen in a town park or wooded area in a housing estate. That having said, it should be considered a common butterfly and they are most common throughout the months of April - July"

Despite the crowded area, i believe i have heard the calls of a trogon. It has just called twice and then went quiet. This certainly gave me more reasons to visit this place in the near future.

Birding at Tanjung Karang Mudflats

This was the first time i have done birding at this place. It has huge mudflats which are spread out as far as your eyes can see. I thought i have reached the place early i.e. about 8.45am but the tide has already started to go down rapidly. So most of the waders were wading quite a distance away. The birds spotted were common though.

Common Sandpiper

I was contemplating to id this bird as a spotted sandpiper

Until i saw its wing bars.

Juvenile - Striated Heron

Adult - Striated Heron

Grey Heron

Interestingly only two was seen here as compared to Bagan Sungai Buloh which  has more.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

A sub-adult i believe.

Eurasian Curlew

Whimbrel

They were the only ones which does not bother about my nearby presence.

A mixture flock of common redshanks and sand plovers flying out to the sea.

Terek Sandpiper

Barn Swallow

Most of the field guides over here recorded this bird as the nominated "Hirundo rustica". Unlike its close relative i.e. the Pacific Swallow (H.tahitica),  this swallow is a winter visitor in this region right down to Australia (Ref: Allen J & Pearson Field Guide, 2012). They are reported to breed in North America and Europe and this certainly makes them a strong migratory passerine. Saw loads of them here. Could the above bird be moulting into its non-breeding feathers?

Thinking that there may be something wrong with my camera when shooting waders as the colors of the above photos were quite pale, so i tried to shoot other common birds near by and it turns out that it was still functioning quite well.

Plain Throated / Brown Throated Sunbird

White-Throated Kingfisher

Zebra / Peaceful Dove

Blue-Tailed Bee Eater

Purple Heron

Its numbers here are fewer than the Grey Herons.

I have not seen so many Javan Mynah congregating at one place in such large numbers. Also having EGM kah?

Large-Billed or Slender-Billed?

Although not uncommon the two species can be seen in mangrove areas.

Didn't pay much attention to butterflies in the mudflats until this one came along.
Note: This butterfly was a "Tawny Coster"(Acraea terpsicore). Said to be common in India and Sri Lanka and this fella is a male.

There were lots of them here and if they have ever started to move en mass  they would have make the x'mas island crabs a run for their money.

Overall this place was not too bad. There were ample places to watch waders. Just need to reach there before the receding or during rising of the tide and you will certainly able to get a closer look at the waders.

Lesser Adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus)

Lesser Adjutant is actually a stork from the stork family named Ciconiidae and currently its range was said to be wide spread, ranging from India, South East Asia countries right to Vietnam, Cambodia and Java. IUCN has however listed it as "Vulnerable" and according to Birdlife International the world wide population of this bird is reported to be only between 6,5000 - 8,000 birds (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php). 

To me this bird looks almost like the marabou stork which can be found in Africa except that the latter has a long pink gular sac. In this region particularly Peninsular Malaysia, Lesser Adjutant can be found mainly near mangroves/mudflats although it was also seen near paddy fields before. Back in the days when i love to go fishing along the coast of Selangor i used to see one or two along the mudflats and i told myself "What a weird looking bird?". 5 years after that the figure has now risen to at least 11 or 12 of them. That was based on my recent trip along the coast of Selangor on 21 September 2013.  I have also managed to spent about 10 minutes watching them "wade" along the mudflats and took a few photos along the way. Here are some the photos taken.

Most of the time they are reported to be in single.

However during mating season they are reported to be seen in a group. In this trip i did saw 6 birds in a group. Here you can see three of them.

The bird on the right is said to be a juvenile.

I believe part of their diet would include baby crabs.

Being a big bird (about 130cm) i have observed that it would need to run a few feet before it could take-off.

Once airborne, it can be as smooth and gentle like a glider.

Although i have not seen its nest before but field reports have indicated that they would nest high up on trees and its nest are formed from twigs and sticks just like grey herons.

In Malaysia, Lesser Adjutant or locally named burung "Botak Kecil" is a fully protected bird. It was clearly stated in Schedule 2 of the Malaysian "Wildlife Conservation Act 2010" (Akta 716). Interestingly Milky Stork (Mycteria cinerea) is named "Botak Upeh" in the Act. And more interestingly the family "Ciconiidae" was label only as "botak". I guess all bald men can also be called "Ciconiidae" ka! ka! ka ! I wish that the authorities could come up with a better word/name then just "botak". Anyway joke aside i really hope that one day i could see more lesser adjutants in and around the entire Malaysian coast line/mudflats.

The photos below were taken from my subsequent trips to the mudflats.

Offshore Birding Off Kuala Selangor Coast - Sept'2013

I have always wished that one day i could do some offshore or pelagic birding somewhere in Malaysia. That wish did came true on 21 Sept 2013. I was glad to have AngTH on board as he is currently one of Malaysia very own expert in waders and shore birds - well at least he is more experience than me. Also on board was a lady who is also a MNS member. She was one tough lady who is not afraid of the high seas and sun. She was also kind enough to bring along yam cakes for us. So if you do not want to starve to death in a trip it is always good to bring along a lady. We started at about 8.30am when the tide was quite high.

Some of the shore birds have to seek shelter inside the mangroves while waiting for the tide to recede.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Little Egret

Once we have reached the high seas, we headed straight to Pulau Ketam and along the way this tern followed our boat for about an hour. Just like you would experienced dolphins swimming along side your boat this bird flew non-stop behind us all the way.  Thanks for the escort mate.

Common or Whiskered Tern?

Although some birders have also described it as a Common Tern but this fella has stronger bill and a shorter forked tail like a whiskered tern. It has been confirmed. This tern is a "Common Tern" - here are some pointers to note: "too long-winged and bodied to be a 'marsh tern' (btw - whiskered and white-winged terns are sometimes called marsh terns). Note also the extensive black head markings and the black sides to the tail - this latter mark is a useful diagnostic pointer to common tern" - Dave

Common Tern

This tern has all the features pointing to a common tern. I have actually spent a few days just to id these birds here. Sometimes i find it easier to id a rare bird than a common one.

While in the open seas, Ang told me to look out for storm-petrals. Instead it was the Bridled Terns which flew in from the Malacca Straits. 

The Bridled Terns came in fast and furious. This one flew in just above the waves. You can see the swells in the open sea which at times was about 1 meter high. 

Bridled Tern

Bridled Tern

This one flew in just above us and later joined other terns to savaged fishes from a nearby fishing boat. These terns (2 of them) were the only truly pelagic bird seen on this trip and it was amazing how they knew where to find fishes from an open sea. Probably from a distance it has seen the flocks of terns circling the fishing boat.

Common Terns

As we near Pulau Ketam, we could see lots of these terns "floating" in the sea. This one was on threesome. 

Common Terns

ID: white forehead and black carpal bar

Common Tern

ID: white forehead, long bill and black covers rear portion of the crown.

Gull-Billed? , Whiskered Tern? or Common?

ID: Stronger billed and long legged.

What about this fella? I believe it was also a Common Tern".

Observation:  this trip found that Common Terns were more abundant in the open seas and closer to the islands where else whiskered, little terns and white-winged terns were more confined to the coastal waters.

Brahminy Kite

Lesser Adjutants

As the tide did not recede as fast as we have expected we did not see many waders here. Instead we have good views of 6 Lesser Adjutants which is currently under the "vulnerable" status.

Lesser Adjutant

Locally it is called "burung botak" (bald bird). Probably it has used the wrong shampoo. This fella here is in the breeding mode as the "white circle" feature on its feathers indicates that.

Since it is a large bird, it would need to run a few steps before it could take off.

Eurasian Curlews in Flight

Eurasian Curlew

Seen nearby was this curlew. Its bill was certainly long and downward curved like an eastern curlew but unfortunately its belly colors was not so brownish as the former. 

For comparison purposes here is an Eurasian Curlew and a Lesser Adjutant.

We also saw a flock of sand plovers flying out from Kapar towards one of the nearby islands.

On the way back we saw lots of flying fishes jumping out from the water. Can you see one here? Wish i have brought my shimano and abu garcia kits but then this trip was for a different mission with different objectives.

Not sure why was this heli flying so low? Recon duty?

It was past noon when we headed back and i believe my camera had some heat stroke as the photos didn't turn up as well as it should be. Perhaps there was some white balance issue here.

Little Tern

Little Terns taking a break

Whiskered Tern

Lesser Sand Plover

Red-Necked Stint or Little Stint?

Too bad - Dave has confirmed that it was just a red-necked stint.

Common Redshanks

Note: Based on the recent write-up by Dave titled: Asian Redshanks in his blog dated 2 Oct 2013, could this pair belong to a subspecies called "Ussuriensis" which was said to breed in Mongolia and Russia Far East?

With this trip i think i have almost completed my birding profile except that i have not been to bird watching in the Antarctica. Watching waders and shore birds i must say was the hardest part of bird watching. Some birders would disagree with me as it could also be one of the most interesting aspect of bird watching as you can spent days and weeks just to id a bird. Plenty of intriguing features/feathers to see and discuss indeed. Nevertheless this is one part which every birders need to go through or otherwise you will be just like Mick Jagger without his lips or Dolly Parton without her assets.   

 Cheers!