Bird Wave in Perdik - Jan 2014

Year 2014 started on a disappointing note for me but life goes on. Once normalcy resumed i headed to the nearest birding spot which i could think off - Sungai Perdik ! For the initial track, the jungle was rather quiet.

Changeable Hawk Eagle - Dark Morph

Saw this eagle on my way into the track.

White-Throated Kingfisher

Besides this kingfisher, other common birds seen in the initial part were Red-Eyed Bulbuls and Spiderhunters. Also in this trip there were a few "tricky" birds. Here is what i meant as "tricky":

At a glance this could have been mistakenly id as a "Common Tailor" bird.

Dark -Necked Tailor Bird - juvenile

Until you managed to see its vent that you will know it should be a "Dark-Necked Tailor Bird". Learnt this trick from the veterans.

Here is another tricky situation.

It would be rather difficult to positively identify this female minivet from this position.

Fiery Minivet - Female

Not until you could see the color on her rump.

After some quiet moments then came the big bird wave. One thing i have noticed from this bird wave was that most of the birds were too engrossed in their hunt for insects. Hence they were not too bothered about human presence at that time. Here are some of the birds seen:

Yellow-Breasted Flowerpecker

It came in silently and was foraging quite low among the bushes.

I believe this is a male Lesser Cuckooshrike

This cuckooshrike was silent through out the bird wave. I believed most of the calls in the bird wave probably came from warblers, blue-winged leafbirds, Iora, a grey-throated babbler etc.

Purple-Naped Sunbird

This was the same bird viewed from the back. Most likely a female Purple-Naped as the purple patch was not presence on its nape.

Black-Winged Flycatcher Shrike

I think not many photos in the field guides have shown the small hook-liked feature at the tip of its bill except perhaps Craig Robson's field guide.

Asian Paradise Flycatcher

Green Iora

Rufous Piculet

This piculet came in with the bird wave and flew quite low to some bushes which was just beside the trail.

In this bird wave  i have also the opportunity to see two most commonly seen wintering warblers i.e Arctic Warbler and Great Eastern Warbler quite close to each other. From the various discussion groups and forums including Facebook, i have gathered here some of the most commonly described comparison features of these two warblers.

     ARCTIC WARBLER (P. borealis)

• dark tip at lower mandible (a feature most likely to be seen)
• white vent (a feature most likely to be seen)
• slender body shape (possible provided that the Eastern Crown is nearby)
• no mid crown stripe (possible to see if you are sitting on top of a tualang tree)
• sharp bill (not so prominent and difficult to distinguish)
• single wing bar (not a prominent feature)

     EASTERN CROWNED WARBLER (P. Coronatus)

• yellow color on wings ( a feature most likely to be seen)
• yellow vent (a feature most likely to be seen)
• greyish head (really ?)
• pale median crown stripe (possible but probably a difficult feature to distinguish)

Arctic Warbler

Eastern Crowned Warbler

Chestnut-Breasted Malkoha - female

Saw two of them in the bird wave but could not spot the gender of the other bird.

Dark-Throated Oriole - female

Dark-Throated Oriole - male

Both came in with the bird wave but only the male uttered some soft calls.

Checker-throated Woodpecker

That was the only woodpecker seen in the bird wave.

Whiskered Treeswift

There were also lots of swifts in the vicinity which somehow coincide with the bird wave. After having been informed by Yang Chong, most of the swifts seen were most likely Grey-Rumped and only a handful were whiskered.

Asian Brown Flycatcher

 Not sure whether this flycatcher was in the same party but it was seen near to the bird wave site. Other birds in the bird wave which was also seen were a verditer flycatcher and two greater racket-tailed drongos.

Yellow-Eared Spiderhunter

This spiderhunter was seen before and during bird wave.

These were the flowers which the sunbirds and spiderhunter were foraging.

After the bird wave which lasted probably between 10-15 minutes, i ventured out from the trail and saw this Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo. I believe it was not part of the foraging troop.

Greater Racket-Tailed Drongo

I was also lucky to see a pair of Raffles's Malkoha foraging together.

Raffles's Malkoha - female

And here is its male counter part.

Raffles's Malkoha - male

There were also lots of butterflies at that time but only one or two which stayed long enough for me to get a clear shot of them.

Malay Yeoman

Horsfield's Baron

Atlas Moth

Attacus atlas

A rather huge moth which is reported to be quite common in South East Asia. Can be found in gardens and parks so it is not surprising that i saw this moth in the concrete jungle of Kuala Lumpur. Some people were also reported to have kept this moth as a pet. 

Birding on X'Mas Day (Ulu Kali) - 2013

Year 2013 has been both an exciting as well as a challenging year! It was challenging in the sense that the events prelude to the 13th GE as well as its aftermath has make life difficult for some common people. Nevertheless the good and exciting thing about year 2013 is that there were many new country records been established or almost confirmed. In addition more lifers were recorded by many birders alike. Thank God the birds do not wear any political hats. I have my fair bit of lifers this year namely the "Bar-Bellied Cuckooshrike", "Bridled Tern", "Schrenck's Bittern", "Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler", "Lesser-Crested Tern with a ring band" and "Aleutian Tern" to name a few. 

I spent sometime on X'mas day to do some birding with my dad and i think he was quite happy to see the familiar telekom station up on the hill. Here are some of the common birds seen.

Mountain Leaf Warbler

Have not seen many of this wabler nowadays.

Adult Male - Black-Throated Sunbird

Most of these mountain birds were quite friendly and you do not need to use worms to lure them out to photograph them except perhaps for some like the wren babblers.

Mugimaki Flycatcher

This male Mugimaki Flycatcher was probably the highlight of this trip. Shot its photos in low light due to thick mist and a cloudy sky.

Chestnut-Tailed Minla

This ever-friendly bird wrap up the trip for this year. Hope next year i.e 2014 will bring more good tidings and more lifers for all people. Adious Amigos !

Little Tern (Sterna albifrons)

Last but not least in my series of terns' photos is the Little Tern (Sterna albifrons). At 22cm - 25cm it is the smallest tern as compared to other terns such as White-Winged and Whiskered Tern. There are probably three (3) common ways which you could use to identify this little tern:

i)  From its long and very sharp pointed bill.

ii) From its rapid wing beats (like a Black-Winged Kite) in mid air.

iii) From its smaller size.

At times they do also rest on mudflats/shore but seldom seen them "floating" on debris in the sea.

If you could enlarge this photo you could see its fifth rectrices (p5) which is just like a thin filament. I don't see such feature in other terns so far (see photo below).

Little Tern in breeding colors (below)

HAPPY BIRDING !

Lesser Crested Tern (Sterna bengalensis)

From my recent pelagic trip off the coast of Kuala Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia on 16 November 2013, i have the opportunity to observed and photographed the Lesser Crested Tern (Sterna bengalensis) which were reported to be frequently seen here but lesser in numbers as compared to the Greater Crested Terns (Sterna bergii). 

It was reported that there were three main subspecies for this tern:  i) S.b bengalensis (medium-dark grey above), ii) S.b torresii (dark grey above) and iii) S.b emigrata: (pale grey above). S.b bengalensis were reported to breed in abundance in the red sea and have been ringed in large flocks under the Mediterranean Seabirds Action Plan in Libya and Bahrain. Here are some of the photos of the Lesser Crested Tern seen at this coastline:

Adult winter birds were reported to spot all grey on its upper wings as depicted from the above two photos while the top most photo could possibly shown a juvenile or a 1st winter bird.

They (the Lesser Crested Terns) have occupied almost all the poles located in the sea.

While looking at their images back home, i have noticed a metal ring on its right tarsus. Location coordinates: 3°14'42.6"N 101°16'38.1"E

It was unfortunate that we were not able to read the info/inscriptions on the ring as our equipment was beyond the reach of a clear image at that point of time. Nevertheless the above bird could have been possibly ringed in Bahrain as explained by Professor Dr. Brendan Kavanagh:

"Hi Ronnie

Thanks for the photo and information re the Lesser-crested Tern with a ring. There is a very strong possibility that this bird was ringed in the Persian Gulf in the Bahrain waters. We have ringed chicks on an island at Al Jarrim for about 6 years and have had recoveries (of bridged and lesser-crested terns from the west coast of India, the east Coast of Sri Lanka and as far south as the Maldives. So I am not surprised that they might have made their way as far as Peninsular Malaysia. We ring our birds with a British Trust for Ornithology ring on the right leg so if you even got a few numbers of a piece of an address we might be able to confirm the ring source.

Thanks once again for this exciting report.

Regards

Brendan Kavanagh"

Its wing span is reported to be between 94-105cm and its flight is also quite similar to a Common Tern (S.longipennis). Its bill as you can see was also slightly drooped. 

This one here has a peculiar way of tugging its feet - instead of facing the back it has decided to place its feet in front.

Lesser Crested Terns were also reported to do "plunge diving" for fish.

They would certainly look better in their breeding colors.

HAPPY TERN WATCHING !

White-Winged Tern (Chlidonias Leucopterus)

It has been well written that the identification between Whiskered Terns (Ch. hybridus) and White-Winged Terns (Ch. Leucopterus) during winter/outside its breeding season has been a major headache to the recreational birders / lay people. In fact some articles to some extent has declared that the differences between the two terns species are almost inseparable in the field during winter. Numerous research/articles have thus been written seeking reliable markers/identification patterns/plumages of juvenile, first winter and adult winter birds but the conclusions have always been somewhat inconsistent. For example it was reported that Whiskered Terns have longer bill as compared to White-Winged terns but that was only true for males as females Whiskered Terns were reported to have similar shorter and stockier bill as White Winged Terns. Similarly White-Winged Terns are also reported to retain some black patches/feathers on its body side while molting from breeding to winter plumages. Then the body length of a Whiskered Tern was reportedly to be just about 2cm longer than a White-Winged Tern!

So then how does a lay-person able to differentiate or at least identify them in the field? There are two possible easy identification areas which you could use to identify between Whiskered terns and White-Winged Terns. The two field marks which you can look out for are i) its head patterns and ii) the feather colors near its body areas. The previous post has shown the photos of the Whiskered Terns so this time it will be the White-Winged Tern (Ch. Leucopterus).

In the head pattern of a White-Winged tern, the black patch behind it eyes should be round, the rounder the patch the more conclusive it would be. The black patch would then link to its black crown (with some white flecks in juvenile) forming like a pair of head phones. The second thing is that the body side of a Whiskered Tern has more black smudges than a White-Winged tern. Here are some of the possible photos of White-Winged Terns.

A flock of incoming White-Winged terns.

Here are more recent photos (Feb 2015) below:

Here are some of the photos of terns which i think could also possibly be a White-Winged Tern or is it really? Have a look and you can decide for yourself.

Note: Juvenile Whiskered Terns apparently also "wears" a headphone !

Whatever stuff which have been mentioned here only provided you with some basic pointers as reference. To be thorough there are other jizz which you can compare and observe - for example its wing colors, rump, tail, flight patterns etc. An expert once told me that to learn and obtain a better understanding of the jizz of these terns, one just need to go out to the field and study them thoroughly. 

HAVE FUN !