10/10/2009: Sungai Burung (Penang)

The weather was about the same as my last outing which was to Juru - gloomy and wet. But life has to go on even if it means hunting in the rain like this Stork-billed Kingfisher.

This particular individual is extremely confiding and will allow close approach. Here are two almost similar shots of same bird (I presume) taken in the same vicinity but the second shot was taken back in February (when the weather was much more accommodating). Talking about de javu...

The Common Kingfishers are back from their breeding grounds up north. And as always, they are shy and very wary of human presence.

The migratory Blue-tailed Bee-eaters are also back in full force...

I came across this Spotted Dove that was drying itself up on an electrical cable when the rain started to subside.

Another species that took advantage of the cables to dry itself was this female Pied Triller...

My search for birds around the mangroves only produced this Striated Heron hunting from a low perch.

The adjacent paddy fields was more productive as quite a number of birds were foraging on the flooded patches. However, most of them were out of my camera's reach. I managed to capture a few shots of a nearby White-breasted Waterhen before it had enough of my intrusion and flew further away to continue foraging.

There was a surprisingly good variety of waders foraging at the paddy fields including a pair of Grey-headed Lapwings but the duo was a little too far away. There was even a flock of about 20 Curlew Sandpipers in the vicinity.

The Common Redshanks gave away their presence with their distinctive alarm calls. They were the last birds I managed to photograph before the rain started to pour down again.