Oct 31, 2010

Awana-Old Pump House Road, (Genting Highlands) revisited

Genting Highlands is now included as an official IBA or Important Bird Area. It has received the joint endorsement of Bird Life International and Malaysian Nature Society (MNS). This birding cum recreation spot have also received good reviews for being the home of  many interesting avian life species, both residents and migratory. My personal birding experience in this sub-montane site is that it never fails to surprise on every trip. There are always new specie/s to add to the list of birds I have 'digitally captured' from earlier trips. A recent revisit resulted in the following birds captured. I am happy to share them with all visitors to my blog. Enjoy!


An Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Female) - migratory

  
Silver-eared Mesia 

 

Grey-chinned Minivet (Female)

                                                       
                                          Grey-chinned Minivet (Male)


                                                Mountain Fulvetta
 

                                            Striped Tit Babbler
                       

                                              Asian Brown Flycatcher


                                            Spectacled Monkey


                                       Golden-throated Barbet


                                         Orhcraceous Bul Bul


Thanks for dropping by. Hope you like what you see. Cheers!

Oct 29, 2010

The Blue-throated Bee Eaters ( Merops viridis - 23 cm ; prongs < 9 cm or more ) are also back!

The Blue-throated Bee-eater and it's cousin the Blue-tailed Bee-eater migrate and return during the same months each year. As with the Blue-tailed which I have featured in an earlier posting the Blue-throated Bee-eater are also back in large numbers. Their favorite habitat are open forest and mangrove swarms where they perch on bare branches waiting to catch their meal of bees, insects and flies as they fly past. The Bee-eaters eye sight is uncanny.
Below are some recent photos:

                                        A Juvenile 




















                                                 An Adult






















Thank you for dropping by. Cheers!

Oct 27, 2010

It's the season of migrating waders

Each year Malaysian shores have the distinct privilege of being temporary home to migratory waders leaving their winter home in the northern hemisphere to warmer climate. One such location are the swarms surrounding the Kuala Selangor Nature Park and Jeram Mangrove Forest nearby. In the recently concluded Festival of Wings organized by the Malaysian Nature Society visitors were taken on a boat ride along the Sg Buloh river and the Kapar Power Station.
   
I am please to share some photos taken along the Sg Buloh river.




A Lesser Adjutant taking a leisurely stroll along the muddy river during low tide. And taking to the air spreading it's vast wings in-flight. 
 











_MG_0015 
A White-bellied Sea Eagle was also seen hovering over the area













A Braminy Kite flew overhead checking out it's territory


A Grey Heron stood on a boat's boom observing the horizon  

             

Whilst another Grey Heron flew gracefully past the boat

   A solitary Eastern Curlew foraging on the river bed



And a whole flock of Common Sandpipers forage nearby

_MG_0068 

 To cap the eventful cruise the Black-naped Terns flew in acrobatic motion, 
at times flying parallel to the boat!

  _MG_0127


Hope you like what you see. All comments are welcome. Cheers!

















Oct 21, 2010

A Banded Bay Cuckoo came a-calling ( Cacomantis sonneratti ) 23 - 24 cm

Each birding trip presents some unexpected and at times unusual surprises. When I first sighted this bird in-between some leaves I thought it was a Pied Thriller. The partially hidden chest revealed a scaly plumage. Only upon closer examination of the photos that the distinct features of a Banded Bay Cuckoo became apparent. It was alone and could have strayed away from other birds and got lost. After about 5 minutes it flew over a stream and into denser forest and has not been seen since. 

Here are a couple of photos for sharing.






Thanks for dropping by. Cheers!

Oct 20, 2010

Migrating Raptors flew over KL city



The trans-migration season of avian life from the winter in the Northern Hemisphere to the warmer climate of the South began in ernest about 1 month ago. The yearly ritual is expected to continue till end year to early next year.

It was sharp at 6 pm when the tranquility of the cool evening was broken by the loud ringing of the temple's bell of a nearby Indian Temple signaling the daily evening prayer session has begun. The sound of the bell had somehow directed my attention skyward. And low and behold what a wonderful sight it was! High up in the sky were 17 raptors ( yes I counted ) making a circling motion as if to check-out the new location. They continued to fly in the circling motion for about 3-4 minutes. And having found the bearing of they wanted to proceed they followed the evening thermal in the south-westerly direction. Who knows where these majestic birds-of-prey would roost for the night before starting on their journey to an eventual location to stay out the winter, most likely in Indonesia.

All the big birds were flying at great height. This made identifying the species in the flock difficult. In the photos below you could see the shapes silhouetted against the fast darkening sky.

A super duper bonus to wrap up the birding day was the sudden appearance of a Crested Goshawk. Can't be sure if it is part of the flock of Raptors. It perched on a high branch and scanned all angles of the strange place before flying off  to a destination unknown. I went away hopeful to make another encounter with this great bird again sometime soon.

Here are the photos.













 






Thanks for dropping by. Cheers!



















Oct 19, 2010

An encounter with the Red-whiskered Bul Bul - ( Pycnonotus Jocosus ) 18 - 20.5 cm.

It was intended to be a routine birding outing without any special expectations or target species in my mind. As  usual I scan all potential angles in the park on a look-out for birds, either perched or in-flight. As I gazed skyward in the direction of some dried-out tree branches - a favorite perch for birds; I saw a silhouette of a smallish bird hanging-on to a very thin branch right at the top of the tree. I couldn't immediately make out it's ID due in part to the rather bright evening sun which caused a blinding reflection on the bird's plumage. I was pretty sure it is not a specie commonly seen in this area and neither have I encountered this specie during my other trips. My instinct tells me to quickly take some photos, well at least for the record before it flies away. Upon comparing the photos and the field guide the bird's ID matched that of the Red-whiskered Bul Bul! The pleasant and unexpected encounter made my day! Not to mention a Lifer!

Here are 3 photos for sharing.




    Thank you for dropping by. Cheers!

Oct 18, 2010

Up Close and Personal with the Trogons

The Trogons featured in this posting are simply amazing!!! I was 'floored' by their 'friendliness' as they were unperturbed by the presence of a human aka ME! I have yet to get over my 'good fortune' for having this marvelous opportunity to photograph these usually shy birds up-close. It's as if the Trogons were posing for the camera!!! :-)))

I have great pleasure to share the photos and you judge them for yourself  vis-a-vis what I have described above.

Orange-breasted Trogons


 


















  Male




















                                              Female

















Hope you like what you see. Your comments are most welcomed and valued. Cheers!

Oct 12, 2010

Black-thighed Falconet ( Microbierax fringillarius) 15 - 17 cm

The Black-thighed Falconet is the smallest bird of prey or raptor in it's class. Due to it's small size it's main food comprise of insects and small reptiles eg lizards.

It was a timely ocassion to get both male and female birds. I observed them for over an hour flying-in and out of a hole in a tall tree they have chosen as their nest. Besides photos I also video-taped them at close range.

Here are 3 photos I have selected to share.








Oct 11, 2010

White-throated Kingfisher (Juvenile) swallowing a fish

I photographed this Juvenile just over 2 months ago. At that time it still depended on it's parents for it's daily meals of fish, insects, small lizards, frogs etc etc. It has now acquired the hunting skills as demonstrated by the following combo pics. It swooped into a pond and caught a fairly large fish and systematically 'whacked' the fish against the branch of a tree before swallowing it whole. From the series of pics you could see it was no easy task. After a good 10 minutes or so later the young novice prevailed! Burp.....!!!!









Thanks for dropping by. Cheers!