24/11/2010: Mainland Penang (Part 2)

As I made my way towards my next destination which is the paddyfields at Bandar PERDA, there was only one thing on my mind – to see my first Aquila eagles for this season. Anyway, sighting reports of these magnificent eagles have been pouring in from this locality recently. True enough, I was greeted by two juvenile Greater Spotted Eagles foraging on a recently planted patch upon my arrival at the locality.

I guess they didn’t quite fancy my intrusion and took flight shortly after.

I also came across a pylon where a quite few Black Kites were resting on in the mid-day heat. At one time, I counted 9 kites altogether.

I stationed my car there and took quite a number of images of the kites flying to and fro the pylon.

This Great Egret was surprisingly tame and I managed to capture a few decent images of this graceful waterbird despite the apparent heat wave.

This Purple Heron, on the other hand, was being its usual wary self.

A full frame portrait of a White-throated Kingfisher - courtesy of this extremely tame individual.

The Yellow Wagtails were in their usual high numbers.

The last leg of today’s birding excursion was to check on the Indian Roller at the scrublands of Juru. It was still there in the same vicinity and seems to be doing pretty well from the looks of things.

This foraging Zebra Dove came rather close to my stationery car while I was observing the roller.

Back in December 1994, I came across 47 Grey-headed Lapwings in this particular locality and it was quite a significant discovery at the time. Since then, greater numbers have been recorded and this species has become a regular migrant – to Penang anyway. When I counted 64 of them here today, it brought back memories of a young birder extremely exhilarated by the whole experience.

However, the harsh lighting conditions prevented me from obtaining better images.

Keeping the lapwings company were 242 Pacific Golden Plovers...

And what is a buffalo pasture without the buffalos and those individuals with the massive horns certainly cut an imposing figure.