Wednesday 24 February 2010

18/02/2010: Penanti & Permatang Nibong (Penang)

After a great outing at Pulau Burung, I decided to visit the scrub lands at Penanti later in the morning.

The resident Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters have started breeding and honestly, I am still puzzled why these birds choose to make a motor-cross track their breeding ground. Although the lighting was a little harsh by now, I still managed to capture some great shots.

These birds are in their element when they hawk for insects in mid-air but on the ground, they lose some of their of their grace and all of their agility.

There were a few Red-wattled Lapwings in the vicinity also showing signs of breeding as well.

With nothing much else about, I made my way to the nearby Oriental Pratincole breeding ground.

The Oriental Pratincoles were almost absent from the locality except for a handful flying in the sky above. However, the Red-wattled Lapwings' breeding season was in full swing and they did not appreciate my intrusion one bit. So, I didn't linger there for too long.

A few Paddyfield Pipits were foraging in the vicinity as well...

As I was making my way out, I noticed a small raptor soaring in a distance. I quickly reduce the distance and when I was close, I could tell by the dark subterminal tail band that it was a kestrel. I managed to take a few record shots before this rather scarce migrant disappeared from sight. A female Common Kestrel is a real good find for my home state of Penang. However, the distance and the lighting conditions prevented me from capturing better images.

Before calling it a day, I decided to make a short visit to the paddy fields at Permatang Nibong. I was elated to find the celebrity bird, the Asian Openbill, resting on a tree quite close to the access road. Using my car as mobile hide, I slowly inch my way to as close as I could get to the stork. The stork did not pay much attention to my presence and was more than happy to pose my camera. After several failed attempts in the past weeks, I finally managed to capture good shots of this stork at rest.

Once I had obtained more than enough images of the stork, I left the fellow to enjoy its afternoon rest. Suddenly, a pair of immature Eastern Marsh-harriers swooped into view and started to quarter the fields for an afternoon snack. What a way to end a terrific time out in the field...

5 comments:

wondersf said...

Your colours turn out brilliant, giving more depths.

Choy Wai Mun said...

Thanks, Khong

JRandSue said...

Excellent Photography,every image looks fab.
John.

Terence Ang said...

Great Shot Mun!!! Love the Kestrel. Lots of Kestrel this year.

许启文 said...

may i know the direction to the penanti birding place? Thank you