08-09/02/2010: Cameron Highlands (Pahang)

I visited this hill resort for a sightseeing-cum-birding trip with my godfather and his nephew. My “god-cousin” is from America and the sights and sounds of Cameron Highlands really intrigued him. We stayed at the Lutheron Bungalow as it is quite a good birding area from what I heard from the MNS outing here last year.

On the first day, we visited the mossy forest of Gunung Brinchang which is the highest elevation that one can drive to in Malaysia. A striking Blyth’s Hawk-eagle greeted us as we traveled up along the access road. This species is by far one of the most attractive raptors around and I have been trying to add it into my photographic database since the first day I took up photography. This fellow answered my prayers, finally…

The vegetation here emits a unique charm of its own and I always have the feel of being in a foreign country whenever I visit this area.

An extremely tame juvenile White-tailed Robin alighted just next to the access road and we had terrific views from our car. Unfortunately, the area was quite dim and my shots were greatly hampered.

Bad lighting was not a factor with this Grey Wagtail but its shyness was...

The male Little Pied Flycather is an adorable and beautiful montane species – even if he is partly hidden by the vegetation.

We also took a nice stroll on a boardwalk that cuts through the forest and the view was quite breathtaking. As this is not a hardcore birding trip, I actually took the time to soak in the wonderful sights of the environment – something that I will usually push aside.

Anyway, a magnificent Black Eagle glided just above the canopy of the forest as we were making our way along the boardwalk. Now, this is what I call soaking in the sight. Luckily, I just managed to capture a few shots before it disappeared from view.

My companions for this trip who had to put up with my restlessness whenever we were not out birding…

The next day we decided to do some birding along the access road that leads to the bungalow. It is indeed quite a wild and isolated area - much to my delight.

I came across a male White-tailed Robin foraging within the bungalow’s compound. However, I was faced with the same dilemma of the juvenile we saw yesterday. The lighting was simply too dim for any great shots but I am quite happy with how the shots turned out.

I was given another chance to photograph the Little Pied Flycatcher when a male was seen foraging in the compound as well.

In the end, I managed to capture an unblocked image but the angle was a little too steep for my liking….

A soaring Grey-faced Buzzard caught our immediate attention. I was rather excited as this a photo-lifer for me. It was later joined by 2 other compatriots and they were seen circling the vicinity for quite a while. It was a bit puzzling as it is still too early for these raptors to undergo their spring migration.

The last area we visited before heading back to Penang was naturally, the stunning tea estates. The various shades of green spread over the rolling hills really made an impression on my cousin.

The Boh Tea sales gallery at Sungai Palas is quite an architectural wonder – projecting out from a hill slope. With such a picturesque landscape, it is no wonder the guys spent quite some time on the viewing platform.

I did managed to capture some of the birdlife that occurs in this habitat including this head-on shot of a flying juvenile Rufous-bellied Eagle.

Large-billed Crows are a common sight but they were rather wary of human presence.

But their wariness is nothing compared to this extremely shy Long-tailed Shrike. Looks like my hunt for my first clear image of this resident shrike goes on…

This female Oriental Magpie-robin wrapped things up for a rather enjoyable casual birding trip.

03/02/2010: Kampung Permatang Nibong (Penang)

I swung by this locality again after work to check on the Asian Openbill and hopefully, to capture more of its images. While making my way along the paddy field access road, I came across a Common Stonechat perched on one of the paddy stalks. It has been about 5 years since I last saw a Stonechat in Penang and this sighting was much appreciated. The lack of any black colouration on the face region strongly suggests that it is a she.

I was entertained by a couple of hunting juvenile Eastern Marsh-harriers during my last visit and this time, it was a juvenile Pied Harrier's turn.

As I was passing one of the electrical cables that cuts across these fields, I managed to pick out a striking Red-rumped Swallow among the usual Barn Swallows. It was rather confiding and continued to preen as I slowly drove my way closer. As the cable was quite low, I was able to capture these images from my "car-hide".

This shot shows the beautiful forked tail...

However, the main reason for my visit here did not make an appearance. It could be roosting in another section and this is a very big area of paddy fields - even for a large bird like the Asian Openbill. While waiting for the stork, I took a few shots of the egrets that were foraging quite close to my stationery vehicle like this Cattle Egret...

And Intermediate Egret...

A huge flock of Baya Weavers were put into flight by marauding House Crows and it was quite a sight. So despite the disappointment with the Asian Openbill, it turned out to be quite an enjoyable short excursion.

01/02/2010: Kampung Permatang Nibong (Penang)

Another rarity was discovered a few days back and this time, it was an Asian Openbill. This vagrant was first recorded in Malaysia about 3 years back in the northern state of Perlis. Unfortunately, I was still held back from birding at that time but the recent sighting in mainland Penang was a golden opportunity not to be missed. I was at the locality just after dawn and despite scouting around the area quite carefully, the stork was no where to be seen.

As I had to rush back to work, I did not stop for most of the commoner birds and concentrated on finding the rare visitor. The only shot I took was of this Black-winged Kite looking for breakfast from a vantage point.

Later in the day, I got more precise locations of the stork and I decided to try my luck again after work. As I was making my way to the exact location where it was last seen, I came across a House Crow giving a Brahminy Kite a hard time.

What is the best way to get rid off pesky crows? Just fly low above a birder…

Things were looking much brighter than the morning’s excursion when I came across a pair of juvenile Eastern Marsh-harriers on the hunt at the stork’s locality.

Gradually, one of them flew quite close to my stationery vehicle. These graceful raptors are certainly a sight for sore eyes. I always like to use floating instead of flying when describing the flight pattern of harriers because they really do float.

Once the harriers floated out of sight, I waited patiently in the vicinity for the celebrity bird to make an appearance. The thought of dipping for the second time in a day has started to creep up into my mind. A rather confiding Pond-heron posing beautifully against a green backdrop of paddy stalks could not prevent me feeling more and more disappointed.

Just then, a motorcyclist stopped next to my stationery car and he turned out to be Hakim – the guy that discovered the stork last week. He told me to follow him to the other end of the access road and pointed out to me the area where the stork has been roosting for the past few days. And then, just like a dream come true, a large bird flying in the vicinity turned out to be the Asian Openbill. Thanks, Hakim!

The coloration of the bill and legs suggests that it is still a juvenile bird. It was rather wary of our presence and after circling around for a few times, it alighted on a distance clump of Palm Oil trees. Large water birds are one of my favourite groups of birds and a rare one makes the encounter even more memorable. I have to admit that I did not expect to see this species in my home state of Penang but that’s the beauty of birding. Anything can turn up anywhere.

23/01/2010: Perlis

Choo Eng and I decided to make a road trip up north to the tiny state of Perlis where there are quite a number of exciting species seen of late. Our first destination was the vast sugarcane plantation in Chuping and it is my first real birding excursion at this northern birding hotspot. It is quite an unfamiliar sight for me with rows sugarcane plants as far as the eye can see.

The distinct silhouette of a hovering kestrel caught our immediate attention. With a little patience and some rally-like driving, we managed to obtain better views of 2 female Common Kestrels that were hunting in the vicinity.

Some of the reasons why we visited this area was to try and confirm the Long-legged Buzzard that was seen here last week by Choo Eng but it was no where to be seen. Our search for the Blyth’s Pipit (a first record for Malaysia) recorded by Dave a few weeks back did not materialized either. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack. We did come across quite a number of pipits but they turned out to be the much commoner Paddyfield Pipits. So close and yet, so far…

Our next destination was the nearby Bukit Jernih Forest Reserve. The spectacular limestone hills are an awesome sight.

However, we did not travel all the way here for the view. Despite Dave’s useful and precise information, we dipped out on the Dusky Craig-martin and the Racket-tailed Treepie. All was not lost when we were rewarded with a resident race of the Peregrine Falcon gliding alongside the face of the cliff.

At the entrance to the reserve, we dipped out again on the Pale-legged Warbler that was seen by Dave last week. A rather confiding Streak-eared Bulbul did its part to cheer us up. This species is only common in the northern Malaysia and the southern most limit of its range is near the northern border in my home state of Penang.

A Garden Fence Lizard soaking in the warm rays of the sun provided quite a catch.

From the rocky outcrops of Bukit Jernih, we traveled to the tranquil blue waters at the edge of Timah-Tasoh Lake.

On the northern shores, we searched intensely for the Thick-billed Warbler, another rarity to our shores, with the help of Dave’s direction again. We did find the bush that Dave described but not the bird…

A rather confiding Bronzed Drongo help prevented us from leaving the vicinity empty-handed. Thanks, buddy…

We then decided to try out another section of the lake and all the disappointments so far almost disappeared all together. Not one but two Bronze-winged Jacanas were seen foraging along the lake side vegetation. It was just a month ago that I finally unblocked the Pheasant-tailed Jacana from my life list and now, I got the other only jacana that occurs here in Malaysia. Although the birds were quite a distance away, there is no doubt in its identification. All the images I took were grainy but a lifer will be a lifer.

We decided to settle down at the edge of the lake and took all steps to blend into the environment hopping to get better images of the jacanas. However, they had other thoughts on their minds and maintained the distance.

In birding, there is a theory that when you finally see a lifer that has been eluding you for years and years, you are bound to come across that particular species more often from that faithful day onwards. I have personally experienced this quite a few times throughout my birding years and this time, the presence of 2 Pheasant-tailed Jacanas in the vicinity was the latest one to support this theory.

A juvenile White-bellied Sea-eagle graced the vicinity with its presence...

So did this Intermediate Egret…

The Cattle Egrets live up to their name sakes…

With dusk fast approaching, we went back to the sugarcane plantation to catch the harriers returning to their recently discovered roost. However, our journey was interrupted when a striking male Common Stonechat in almost full breeding plumage alighted invitingly next to the access road of the plantation.

The roost is actually a fenced up cattle pasture which basically prevented any chances of obtaining clear, good shots of the harriers coming in.

Like clock-work, the first few harriers floated in about the same time when Choo Eng was here the last time.

We recorded about 100 harriers in total and they consist of Eastern Marsh-harriers like this juvenile…

And the smaller Pied Harriers which I was lucky enough to capture more images. This female slowly made its way to roost in the middle of the pasture…

The male Pied Harrier is always a sight to behold…

With the light fast disappearing, accurate identification was greatly hampered but I’m pretty sure this is a juvenile Pied Harrier. In the end, the experience was quite a memorable one and the high congregation of these graceful raptors swooping in from all four corners of the plantation was simply breathtaking.