Counting raptors?

October is always an exciting time of the year as the migratory season comes into full swing. It is also time to catch raptors on autumn migration. Bedong is small town in Kedah state where migrating raptors passed through each year. There is a particular hillock in the middle of a palm oil estate where these migrating raptors can be observed and counted. It is definitely not in the same league as some of the other renowned raptor count sites in this region but it is the nearest one to home and that accounts for a lot. However for a rewarding raptor count, hot and sunny weather is an absolute requirement. The Bedong site has changed considerably since my last visit and the ever-growing palm trees now threaten to block our view of the migrating raptors. But the trees were the least of Hor Kee and my worries. The looming thunder clouds were…

It was almost mid morning and yet, no sign of the life-giving rays of the sun. Our raptor count on this overcast Saturday morning was turning be a lost cause. Then the characteristic calls of the Blue -tailed Bee-eater echoed through the vicinity and that is always a good sign. Both of us immediately stare into the heavens above. Migrating bee-eaters are good indicators of approaching raptors and true enough, a lone dark morph Oriental Honey Buzzard leisurely glided into view. And it was surprisingly low.

Oriental Honey Buzzards usually form part of the majority seen during raptor counts here but today, we counted only two. I hope that they are a little late this year or have taken another route south. Got be positive in life sometimes...

Small groups of Japanese and Chinese Sparrowhawks periodically passed through but they were way too far for any photographic attempts. The biggest flock of raptors recorded today was a flock of 30 Black Bazas. My pathetic attempt to capture these striking raptors does them no justice. The poor lighting and distance was just too much for my gear to cope.

By lunch time, things came to a complete stop. Raindrops started to trickle down. It was fortunate that we heeded Mother Nature’s warning and made out way out there and then. Not long after we got into our vehicle, the heavens opened up. The torrential rain washed my SUV clean as we needed to go off-road to get to the count site. But it could not wash away my disappointment as my first raptor count of the season ended with less than 100 raptors. After lunch, we head towards the paddy fields of mainland Penang hoping for some waders to lift our spirits. It has stopped raining by then and the gloomy sky could work to our advantage as we need not deal with the harsh lighting of midday.

The newly ploughed patches were ideal for waders and it did not take long for us to find one teeming with waders. The Long-toed Stint is a small bird and its intricate upperwing patterns blend in well with the environment. A stationery bird can sometimes be overlooked and I am sure we did today. Those that we did managed to pick out numbered up to a staggering 150 birds.

A small number of Little Ringed Plovers were also present and these little guys usually try to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Talking about being inconspicuous, snipes are also back at their wintering ground here. Being masters of camouflage, they are often overlooked. And when that fails, they will fly off to the next cover when threatened. However, this individual did neither although its cover was blown. Another thing that struck us was its plumage. Snipes are a nightmare to identify and we pretty much agreed that this one was a Common Snipe but there is just something about its plumage that did not appear quite right. I suspect the reason it was so confiding was to allow us to obtain good images and torment us later when it came to confirming its identity.

Egrets were aplenty at the paddy fields today. Among all the freshwater egrets, the Intermediate Egret is the one that usually gets the most attention especially from my foreign guests. Although I was not hosting any guests today, it does not mean I do not give the egret any attention at all.

Other than the egrets, there was a big number of Purple Herons present as well. I cannot recall the last time I recorded this many here. Two adult birds standing next to each in the open is certainly not something you see often.

Flocks of Daurian Starlings will usually receive my undivided attention as I do not want to overlook the almost similar but much rarer Chestnut-cheeked Starling which has a tendency to hang out with its commoner cousins. But the only other starling species in this flock are a few Asian Glossy Starlings.

To wrap things up for the day was this flock of Grey-headed Lapwings exhibiting its usual suspicion of approaching humans – birders in particular. 

Close, but no cigar...(18/10/2014)

Birding at a new location is always an exciting affair and the latest one to enter my now relatively stagnant list of birding spots is the Sungkop Forest Reserve. Located just next to the Bedong Raptor Watch Site, it was discovered by Choo Eng and Kanda while they were conducting this season's count. Together with Choo Eng and Hor Kee, we decided to explore more of this forest reserve before we conducted our raptor count on this warm and cloudy Saturday morning. It is only accessible by foot or 4-wheel vehicle, in which we did a little bit of both, through the network of logging trails. 

Our exploration came to a halt when we came across the loud bell-like calls of the Black Magpies filling the vicinity. Although they are large and vocal, it took a while before they finally revealed themselves as they foraged among the distant canopy level of the forest. After an insane amount of pleading and persuasion, one of them finally glided across the valley towards us and alighted on one of the trees along the edge of the logging trail. 

We only had a couple of hours to spare here before it got hot enough for the raptors to start migrating pass. But Sungkop had one last welcoming gift before we parted for the raptor count - Great Slaty Woodpeckers. It is one of the largest woodpeckers in the world and usually occurs in flocks. This time we are most fortunate to have a flock of five in our midst. 

The ruckus that usually accompanies any foraging flock makes the Black Magpies sound like church mice. This flock was not so much foraging but displaying. I really struggled to obtain at least a few images that were sharp and unobstructed. The unforgiving shooting conditions and the constant movement of the woodpeckers are not exactly helping the situation. 

It was a good one at the raptor watch site as well in terms of numbers and species. Unfortunately, the raptors were passing through very high up and well beyond the comfort zone of my photography gear. Here is a big flock of Chinese Goshawks circling in the sky above. This species made up the majority of the raptors passing through today.

The highlight of the count this time was a pale morph Booted Eagle - the first for the season. This species used to a rare migrant but in recent years, sightings of this small eagle have increased. It was fortunate that in this morph, the eagle can be easily identified. At that distance, we will be in a whole lot of trouble if it was a rufous or dark morph individual. 

An exceptionally pale harrier riding the hot air thermals at the far distance got our undivided attention. The harrier is front of us had all the field markings of a male Hen Harrier - that is until we seek confirmation from Dave and Chaiyan (thank you, guys!) when we got home. The pale areas at the base of the black primaries were all that stood in the way between us and our would-be lifer. It turned out to be a rather pale male Eastern March Harrier. Close, but no cigar...

 

And to wrap things up for this trip, a lone male Oriental Honey-buzzard that we came across first thing in the morning on the way to the raptor watch site. He was probably waiting for the sun to make the conditions optimum for him to carry on with his amazing journey down south to his wintering ground.

Here are the results of our three and a half hour raptor count:

1) Oriental Honey-buzzard - 222

2) Black Kite - 2

3) Rufous-bellied Eagle - 1

4) Booted Eagle - 1

5) Eastern Marsh Harrier - 3

6) Chinese Goshawk - 345

7) Japanese Sparrowhawk - 44

Bedong - A new raptor count site for Malaysia

 Bedong is a small laid-back down in Kedah,  north of Sungai Petani and south of Gurun and is located in the central Kedah plains, to the west is Gunung Jerai, and the east is the Bukit Selambau "Hills". Generally, the east of Kedah is covered by hills and mountain ranges. Therefore every autumn, raptors migrating from the northern hemisphere will pass through this not so narrow choke point, compared to the Isthmus of Kra in southern Thailand. Yet it still present good opportunities for raptor viewing from a hillock at Bedong, near Kongsi 6. Last year volunteers from MNS counted about 60,000 raptors over a 45-day period. We decide to name the hillock Aun Tiah Hill to honour the grand not so old man of Malaysian raptors, Mr Lim Aun Tiah.

Now to the birds, or rather raptors, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Japanese Sparrowhawk, Chinese Goshawk, Grey-faced Buzzard and the Black Baza are all easily seen here. Generally peaking towards mid and end October. What makes Bedong so special is the number of the not so common migratory raptors. Booted Eagles, Ospreys and Aquilas were seen. Black Kites and Harriers (both Pied and Eastern Marsh) were occasionally seen and they tend to migrate lower. The rarest for last year's count should be the Common Buzzard but for me the raptor of the count should be the Rufous Bellied Eagle, a 1st occurance for this location.

MNS will be doing the count again this year, we are looking for volunteers, especially from now till 10th October, although the numbers of raptors going through are low, and will be building up, it is easier to spot rarities. A big thank you to last year's volunteers, and those had already indicated to me they are interested in this year's count.

Tan Choo Eng

Malaysia Nature Society, Penang

Note: Choo Eng and I did a count on 28/09/2013 from 0930 - 1230 hrs and here are the results

1) Japanese Sparrwohawk - 104

2) Oriental Honey-buzzard - 9

3) Chinese Goshawk - 1

4) Accipiter spp. - 71

1,2,3,4,5...(20/10/2012)

The Asian Raptor Research and Conservation Network organizes a yearly Collaborative Research Project of Migratory Raptors and this year, the two sites in Malaysia that was selected to join the research was Pulau Tioman (Pahang) and Bedong (Kedah). At the Bedong site, which is still ongoing, it is a 35-day survey and volunteers are coming in from as far as Selangor. Choo Eng is the coordinator as this site was discovered by him a few years back. The site is basically a small hillock overlooking palm oil and rubber estates. Here, the price birders have to pay for the unobstructed view is the scorching heat of the sun and sometimes, the conditions can come close to being unbearable. Due to my workload these days, I could not commit myself to help out until I found myself a free Saturday. So, here I was, counting raptors, under the hot tropical sun with three other birders – Choo Eng, Phang and Tan.

A flock of forty Oriental Honey-buzzards started things off for the day…

While we were observing the flock, a handsome male Chinese Goshawk came into view and put on a really good show. It has been a long while since the last time I managed to observe this raptor from close range and I guess I must have forgotten how beautiful this species truly is because I was momentarily spell-bounded by this male bird. And to top it all off, this time I finally managed to capture a few reasonable shots.

The majority of raptors passing through today were Oriental Honey-buzzards. However, most of them did not come enough for my camera’s sweet spot except for this pale morph individual. We were also keeping an eye out for the four satellite-tracked Oriental Honey-buzzards that are part of the Hachikuma Project. The main purpose for this project by Keio University is to make available the real time status of these raptors’ migration online not only for scientific researchers but the general public as well. Anyway at the time of writing, one of the buzzards has reached the northern tip of Peninsular Malaysia.

The sighting of a migrating Osprey caused much excitement among the group. This fish-loving raptor is not a rare winter visitor to Malaysia but it is a new record for the site. I did miss out on a migrating falcon as it was simply too far and fast for me to confirm its identity. I can only hope that it was only a Peregrine Falcon (as seen by other counters a few days back) and not something rare - like a Eurasian Hobby.

White-bellied Sea-eagles do not migrate, right? Well, try telling that to this big fellow that decided to join the migrating flocks. The far-fetched thought of an Egyptian Vulture did cross our minds but as soon as the distinctive honking of the Sea-eagle filled the vicinity, we fell back to Earth with a loud thump.

The resident raptors, like this Crested Serpent-eagle, must have felt slightly neglected and decided to try and divert our attention from the passing migrants. Passing low overhead was certainly one fail safe way of doing it.

The resident Changeable Hawk-eagle also made its presence felt when it scouted around the vicinity a few times hunting for food.

There were times when we were staring at empty blue skies for long periods because the migrating raptors do not passed through non stop – not here in Malaysia anyway. So, what better way to help pass the time than to observe and try to photograph whatever migrants that are passing through like this Blue-tailed Bee-eater. I personally look forward to passing Bee-eaters during a raptor count. Bee-eaters are extremely vocal when migrating and I take their distinctive calls as a sign that the raptors are coming because on most occasions, this is all so true.

Swiftlets are notoriously difficult to photograph in flight but this time I had plenty of time and opportunity to try. At the end of the day, after numerous attempts, this is the only reasonable image I have to show. Photographing a Swiftlet is only half the battle. Positive identification is the other half. Who am I kidding – positive identification is a whole new battle and one that I rarely experience the sweet taste of victory. Apart from the Glossy Swiftlet with its distinctive whitish belly, all Swiftlets look remarkably alike and to make matters worse, have varied plumages. Anyway, I'm putting my money on Germain's Swiftlet in this case.

The Brown-backed Needletail is not only the largest of the Swifts found in Malaysia but they are also one of the fastest bird in the world - in direct flight that is. Naturally, their images are far and few for me and this one, despite the poor quality, is certainly a keeper.

Below is the result of our count for the day. Click here for past results and as well as results from other participating sites.

Oriental Honey-buzzard 150

Chinese Goshawk 16

Japanese Sparrowhawk 15

Black Kite 3

Grey-faced Buzzard 2

Osprey 1

Unidentified Accipiters 227

Unidentified Falcon 1

Unidentified Raptors 35

Total 450