Half-day birding in Gunung Ulu Kali, Genting Highlands

The morning started in what was a 'given'; cloudless blue sky and bright sunshine. An ideal setting for great bird-watching and photography. It was still good almost to the top of Genting Highlands only to see the highest point engulfed with thick clouds and mist! Feeling a little concerned about the cloudy situation we however decided to proceed to the birding location atop Gunung (Mountain)  Kali. There we were resigned to waiting for the thick clouds to clear. The strong easterly wind bouyed our enthusiasm somewhat. Well it took about an hour and a half before the clouds lifted and made the mountainous surroundings visible. 


Gunung Ulu Kali is 1800 meters above sea level and is approximately 58 kms from the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A journey by road takes about 1 hour.

We were greeted by a pair of local residents, the Javan Cuckoo Shrike. This time around they were 'friendlier' and stayed longer. 

Next up were 6 Long-tailed Sibias, comprising of adults and juveniles in tow. Again they stayed longer than usual. The extended stay presented opportunities to capture 'moments' shots like the one below. A family cuddling together.

 

The Lesser Shortwing is the 'icing on the cake', so to speak, for this trip. On an earlier trip I did get a couple of shots of this very skittish fella. I was hoping to get improved shots this trip. Just waiting for it to show itself took a collective total of about 3 hours! The eventual reward was just a handful of shots which required some serious post editing to mask the 'unnatutral' background. :-) Here are 2 of the pix.