19/02/2010: Kinta Nature Park (Perak)

With 2 more free days left in my long break from work, I decided to take a rather long drive south to this locality for the day.

The heronry was bustling with nesting activities as the breeding season has commenced. There was no way of getting close to this “island” heronry and my camera setup can only obtain shots like these.

This locality is certainly one of the best places to observe and photograph 2 of the largest herons found in Malaysia – the Purple and the Grey Heron. The herons here are quite accustomed to human presence and are not as wary when compared to most other localities. It is not easy to approach a Purple Herons but over here, it is a slightly different story. They will usually tolerate human approach as long as you don’t cross over into their comfort zone.

Collecting of nesting materials is a normal sight during the breeding season.

I also came across an immature bird foraging at the water’s edge.

The Grey Heron is the other conspicuous species at this locality. As with the Purple Herons, this species is also much friendlier here.

It is always a delight to capture this heron in flight...

I did not realize that this individual had a deformed leg until I started to look through my images back home. I felt sorry for the fellow but then, life is never fair. Nor is it easy. Apart from the missing foot, it looks pretty healthy to me. I guess the only thing it will be missing out on is finding a mate to breed.

Photographic opportunities of the Black-crowned Night-heron is not as numerous as the larger herons and I had to work extra hard to obtain their images.

Being smaller and slightly more wary of human presence were significant factors as well...

Once you finally unblock a bird from your life list, they start popping up all so often as in the case of the Pheasant-tailed Jacana. How did I not come across this species all these years? I guess that’s the mystery and wonder of birding.

However, the highlight of the trip was surprisingly not a water bird but a raptor – a handsome raptor as a matter of fact. Of late, my encounters with the Black Baza were always from a distance – which produced shots like this individual soaring in a distance.

I struck the jackpot when I came across a rather confiding individual resting on a tall tree. Although the distance was still a little too far for my liking, the good lighting enable me to capture quite some decent shots in the end.

A flock of resting Purple-backed Starlings stopped me in my tracks but my presence did go well with them. I only managed to shoot a few shots before the whole flock decided to take flight.

And I thought photographing a flock in flight instead of one would be easy…

This would have been a great shot of a striking male Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker if the light was behind me…

I have been paying extra attention to Paddyfield Pipits ever since Dave discovered Malaysia’s first ever Blyth’s Pipit in Perlis recently. I feel that I have a better chance of spotting a Blyth’s Pipit rather than the almost identical Richard’s Pipit from the ever-abundant Paddyfield Pipit. Anyway, this is a Paddyfield Pipit posing elegantly for my camera.

This Garden Fence Lizard wandered quite close to where I was having my lunch but I don’t think it was interested in my sandwich…

I did make a detour to the adjacent Malim Nawar ex-mining pools but only the commoner species were around like this flock of Black-winged Stilts.