No Ruddy ! No Problem ! - Birding in June 2016

The jungles in Peninsular Malaysia have so much to offer that i believe Sir David F. Attenborough would have felt like a young man again if he ever foraged into one over here. While the migrant birds have left the shores of Peninsular Malaysia, the local birds are having a ball of a time. I tried to catch a glimpse of Ms Ruddy the Kingfisher but she was already long gone when i reached the place. The other residents nevertheless took over the show.

Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela malayensis)

Ever wonder how did this CSE got into those maze of twisted vines and twigs? Actually it first perched on a bare trunk slightly to his right. As he noticed that i was watching him, he had slowly tip-toed into those vines and twigs so that he could be 'hidden' from my view.  Ha ! you could never hide from this ol' man. After awhile he got fed-up and flew away to another tree. 

Not long after he departed, i saw him again ! This time just look at what has he got? (see photo below)

Crested Serpent Eagle with Prey

A Stamp of Authority !

Once awhile you will get this sort of stunning and priceless photo. It had already beheaded the snake when i saw him. This is a photo showing a hunter living fullest to its namesake. Due to its headless state, experts have had some difficulty in identifying the snake but they reckoned that the snake could either be a Ptyas carinata (Keeled Rat Snake) or a Xenochrophis flavipunctatus (Yellow-Spotted Keelback Water Snake). As the saying goes: "whatever you do, just don't lose your cool and head" !

Malacocincla abbotti abbotti

May i introduce you to "Sergeant Abbot".  He is well trained in jungle terrain, very illusive and always keeping himself very low in thick undergrowth.

His only weakness is that he likes to sing and at times he is loud which often reveals its position. 

Ini burung hijrah ke?
Ya ! ini burung hijrah. Mereka hijrah dari Seberang Jaya ke Kepala Batas setiap hari !

I wish i have those mesmerising eyes !

A type of leaf monkey

A new resident primate at this place.

Pink-Necked Green Pigeon (Male)

I have noted that this place has recorded "Tinkle Bell's" Flycatcher before so could this be it?

This one is certainly a Mangrove Blue Flycatcher !

How about this one? Could this be a Slaty-Backed Flycatcher?

Maybe but whatever your guesses are, i believe this flycatcher was just a Mangrove Blue Flycatcher as well ! (note: its longer bill and body size)

Wonder what was it looking at?

Could it be this gigantic Purple Heron?


Nope! its even bigger than the above bird (see photo below)

It flew so low that you can see its markings and serial numbers.

Perhaps it was sending lots of "kimchi" to Penang island people !


HAPPY BIRDING !

Common Birds of Cape Rachado - March 2016

You will probably realised by now that there are some things in this world which you can't really control - for example nature. Some even say it includes your mother-in law or perhaps your bosses too. But the most unpredictable of them all should be the weather. I decided to make a late trip on March 27 to this famous cape hoping to watch a bounty of migrant raptors flying across the Straits of Malacca. Unfortunately the wind was blowing towards the sea at that time. No birds would attempt to fly across the Straits in such conditions as it would be like driving against the traffic !

Nevertheless the resident birds did show up well and here are just some of them.

Purple-Throated Sunbird (Nectarinia sperata)

Finally i was able to see its iridescent purple color throat.

Now you see it and now you don't !

From its scientific name you could probably guess that its main source of food are nectar.

Despite so many bees flying around, they did not stop this colorful sunbird taking nectar from the flowers.

Even its rump has some iridescent metallic blue color.

Purple-Throated Sunbird - female

The females are equally stunning.

The color of its rump is basically olive green as compared to the male.

At about 10.30am, came this White-Bellied Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster). It is one of the many huge raptors which you can find in Malaysia. You can also see its wedge shaped tail here. Apparently scientist are still debating whether the shape of a tail has any aerodynamic significance.

There were three (3) of them circling around the light house.

One of them decided to go after some squirrels at the tree tops.

Brahminy Kite (Haliastur indus)

A moment later came this kite. It is much smaller but many times more aggressive. Saw it trying to catch a flying swift.

Germani Swiflet

There were quite a lot of them at that time.

This is a male Orange-Bellied Flowerpecker. Another stunning resident bird.

Didn't realise that this place has Olive-Winged Bulbul as well.


When things get a bit boring, nature has its own way of entertaining its guest.

So came this Green Turtle from the deep bluish emerald colored sea. I used to see three of them but only one appeared this time.

Painted Jezebel (Delias hyparete)

The butterflies down here are equally stunning.

Striped Albatross (Appias libythea)

This Dollar Bird with an insect on its beak greeted me on my way back.

If you have been birding with some senior birders before, you will probably noticed that there are some birding etiquette which you would need to follow. If you are still not sure what they are, here are some of the dos and don'ts which you will need to observe when you go out with them.

Rule # 1:  do not talk anything else to them except birds. 

Rule # 2:  do not say such things as "i ate two hornbills when i went camping last week". You will be a roasted swine in no time !

Rule # 3:  do not ask silly questions such as "whether we can find California Condors in Fraser's Hill"?  They are highly intelligent and successful people who spent half of their lives in the jungle and mudflats. Not forgetting paddy fields as well. 

Rule # 4:  Do not show them a photo of a caged bird even though the photo can launch a zillion ships.

Rule # 5: do shock them with some bombastic terminology such as "lore", "lateral crown stripe", "mantle", "primary fingers" etc although you may not necessarily know the real meaning of those words.

Rule # 6: do show and discuss with them the sketching you have made on the birds you have seen. Never mind if the sketches may look like a mongoose than a bird but i am sure the senior birders will be keen to listen to your explanations.

HAPPY BIRDING !

The Migrant Birds of Chuping Grassland Feb'16 - PART 2

There are many things in the universe which science has yet to find an answer - like why some people do not like to put on the indicator light when changing lanes? or why it appears that Singapore has more rare birds visiting them frequently? or perhaps why all planets are round and not square or triangle in shape? When science can't find an answer to a phenomenon then the spiritual perspective will usually fill the void. 

Unlike some migrants birds which may have took off as early as February, some of them have preferred to stay a little bit longer - either due to the reason that they have arrived later during the autumn migration or perhaps they are filling their fats and strengthening their flight muscle before embarking their arduous journey home. Here are some of the migrant birds which are still around in mid February:

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) - female

What a beauty ! Basking herself in the glory of the early morning sun rays. 

Eastern Marsh Harrier (male)

This is what happens when you have forgotten to change the aperture in your camera otherwise it would have been a splendid photo.

The same bird as it flew further away.

Pied Harrier (female)

She is scheming the weeds below for her first morning meal.

Common Stonechat / Siberian Stonechat (male)

Presently there are 24 known subspecies of stonechats (HBW alive). Most of them i believe were based on geographical variation. Out of the 24 subspecies, only two are said to occur in Peninsular Malaysia i.e Saxicola stejnegeri and S. przewalskii. No worries as long as you call them either a Common Stonechat or a Siberian Stonechat nobody will laugh at you.

Did you just said i am from Siberia?

Here is another male common stonechat which was seen not too far from the first one. This one appears like having some new and fresh feathers sprouting out near its rump.

How do you differentiate between a male Oriental Pipit and a female Oriental Pipit? Well just look at their legs. This one i think is most likely a female.

This one appears to have a longer snout and beak but since i have not mastered the features of a Richard's Pipit, i will just named it as an Oriental Pipit as well.

Brown Shrike

This shrike has also yet to depart for home.


Here are some of the resident birds which are equally stunning.

Purple Heron

It stayed motionless like this for close to 10 minutes but eventually it still missed catching the prey.

Little Grebe

They are a pair i believe.

Female Pink-Necked Green Pigeon

Its not easy to  photograph them in flight. This one was just one lucky shot.


Here is one which i have not seen before - a leucistic Yellow-Vented Bulbul !

Despite its condition, it still retains its yellow vent. There have been  a few reported cases of leucistic Yellow Vented Bulbul in this region and i believe Wong Tsu Shi has also photographed one in Sabah. Why is this bulbul species are so prone to deficiency of melanin ? You might just need to ask the bird scientist.


HAPPY BIRDING !

The Migrant Birds of Chuping Grassland - Feb'16 - PART 1

Spring is in the air and it marked the start of an epic avian migration ever witnessed in this part of the hemisphere. By the time you read this post, the raptors of Pulau Rupat have already started their journey en-masse just like some of the wildebeest of Tanzania albeit in a slightly smaller scale. What triggers them (the birds) to start this epic journey? Do they follow the same route back to their breeding grounds? Are they all migrating at the same time? These are some of the intriguing questions which are often posed to the scientific community. 

As a self-trained birdwatcher, i have always tried to find an answer to those questions. Perhaps i could find some of them in this vast grassland.

Oriental Honey Buzzard (OHB)

From its features (greyish head and dark brown eyes), this OHB is certainly an adult male orientalis. (common morph). There were two of them and they were flying just above the tree tops and heading towards east. Question: could they have been heading for 'home' or are they just some resident OHBs? To answer those questions, there are two information leads which you could look for. Firstly the migratory form of orientalis are reported to be generally paler while the resident bird has darker underside. Secondly migratory raptors usually fly higher. However i could be wrong as some migratory raptors are known to "overnight" in their staging areas while waiting for the right time to continue their journey.

Unlike the above OHB, this forked-tailed swift (Apus pacificus) was heading north (towards Thailand) instead of eastwards. 

Apus pacificus

There were 5 of them but this one flew closes to me. Some reports have indicated that A.cooki is more common in open areas and in northern Peninsular Malaysia but i have identified the above swift as an A. pacificus based on its broader white rump band.

The same bird with a visibly large white band on its rump. Looks a bit like a tomahawk cruise missile.

Just like the above fork-tailed swift, these Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum) were also heading northwards.

Oriental Pratincole

Although there have been breeding cases reported in Selangor, Kelantan and Kuantan in the past (Allen J & Pearson 2012), it will be quite difficult to determine whether these birds are actually resident birds or migrants. Perhaps a satellite transmitter can be placed on one of them to track their movements. If they were indeed migrant birds then they could have flown from as far as Indonesia and Australia.

I saw a total of 15 birds in a span of 10 - 15 minutes. They did not appear all at once but mostly in a single file, sometimes two and at the most 3.

I believe its much easier to differentiate "pratincole" while they are in flight rather than when they are aground. The absence of the white trailing edge to the wing should eliminate them from a "Collared Pratincole" (Glareola pratincola). 

Note: they were once included in the "wader" category but now they are more or less a distinct species.

Most of them are already in their breeding colors - red-bill base.

From this anecdotal observation you can see that the above three species of birds (if they are indeed migrants) have chosen different routes in their spring migration. Does that also meant that some of them uses the land route while some would prefer the sea route?

More answers can perhaps emerged from the next few posts.

to be continued in Part 2......