Festival of Lights

Rain has been a constant feature for the past week here in northern Peninsular Malaysia. Each evening, just like clockwork, the heavens will open up and drench the lands below. Without rain, there will be no life and I really should not be complaining. However for a bird guide hosting birders from overseas, rain is one of the things I dread the most. My weekend birding for this time started off close to home. One seldom sees mist here in Penang Island and to be engulfed by thick mist is certainly new to me. The slopes of Bukit Penara were exceptionally misty due to the rainfall of late and as I walked along the access road, it momentarily deceived me into feeling that I was at some far, exotic hill resort in search of birds.

I rarely get swept away by the landscape I wander into when birding. However, things were off to a slow start and the rays of the sun piercing through one spot of the secondary forest captured my immediate attention. Deepavali happened to fall on the next day and this year in conjunction with the Festival of Lights, Mother Nature decided to provide an exclusive show of her own.

The soft but persistent calls of the Grey-throated Babbler finally got the ball rolling and I took the effort to locate and observe a flock that was foraging along the forest understorey. It is better known as a bird of the montane forest but up here in the north, the Grey-throated Babbler occurs even at sea level. It is also one of the few babblers to be able to endure the rate of development here in the Pearl of the Orient.

Typical of babblers, it is not often seen well. It takes perseverance and luck. The former is a compulsory trait for all birders and today, I had just enough of the latter to capture some unobstructed images of this plain but interesting resident of the forest.

A male Orange-bellied Flowerpecker was particularly obliging today. The winds occasionally blew in rain clouds and blocked out the sun during the encounter. A certain degree of colour intensity was lost due to the lighting but he was still a striking and remarkable bird.

Here in Penang Island where birders are not blessed with a whole lot of spectacular birds, the Orange-bellied Flowerpecker is up there among the best any birder can hope to encounter in the field.

The wind and rain caused some havoc along the access road leading up to Gunung Bintang in Kedah state but it will take a lot more than some minor landslides to keep birders away from their objectives. Birding was not exceptional this time and there were hardly any good photographic opportunities. Luckily my Australian guests are old school birders and there was just enough bird activities to keep them reasonably happy.

It was hot and sunny when we entered the mangroves of Sungai Batu. Sometimes too much of a good thing may not be good anymore and I struggled with shadows and harsh lighting when trying to obtain some images from this visit. It was good to see the return of the wintering Forest Wagtails to this locality but their constant movements added more woe to my photographic efforts.

The ever-present Abbott’s Babbler may not stir much excitement in me but for my guests, this common species did its part to help improve the quality of the trip.

A mass of wings and feathers greeted us above the swamp forest of Air Hitam Dalam in mainland Penang. Even without any optical aid, there can be no mistaking the Asian Openbills at this locality. After all this time, I still marvel at these peculiar storks. Not only because of the sheer number often present but for their beauty as well.

Luck or perhaps divine intervention diverted part of the flock towards our direction and some descended upon the nearby paddy fields either to rest or to feed. And the better views did not go unappreciated.

The sky was providing more action than the forest proper this time and the migratory Black Kites again graced the vicinity with their presence for another season. With whatever thermals available, they soared with such ease that it was a truly captivating sight indeed.

As we made our way to the nearby paddy fields, the weather turned for the worse drastically. Thunder rumbled at a distance and the approaching storm transformed the sky into a surprisingly mesmerizing sight. There was no point fighting the inevitable and we decided to turn back and head for home. The storm lashed the earth with such fury that it even made driving difficult. It may be the worst possible condition for birding but a flock of Grey-headed Lapwings desperately trying to evade the downpour provided one last highlight for the trip.