Every
trip to this birding hotspot in Taiping, Perak begins and ends with the “adventurous”
half-hour jeep ride up and the down this hill resort. It is certainly not for
the faint-hearted as there are numerous hairpin corners that the drivers’ have
to masterfully maneuver past. Anyway, our group of six made it to our
destination in one piece.
I am
pretty excited about this trip because it will be my first overnight stay at
the Methodist Bungalow (I prefer the old name which is The Nest) and it is
located just above Speedy Resthouse – my regular accommodation at this
locality. But the latter is nothing but an empty bungalow on most days now.
That’s a real shame as it holds many fond and exciting birding memories for me.
However, there are plans to convert it into some kind of a biological centre. I
am not against such plans as long as it will be fully utilized and well
maintained once it is completed.
Like
most great birding spots, the accommodation at The Nest is rather basic but it
serves its purpose well enough.
Nevertheless,
it does possess a certain charm and ambience of its own and you even have to
trek through a short jungle trail to actually reach the bungalow.
The
compound itself is frequently visited by birds and that pretty much kept us
occupied during meal and supposedly, rest times.
And
to top it all off, the caretaker Mr. Lee prepares glorious home-cooked food for
all our meals and that is something we do not usually get to enjoy on birding
trips.
Being
the wettest part of Peninsula Malaysia,
rain is a constant threat to birders here but the sky managed to hold back the
rain for most parts of our stay. All we had to worry about was getting the
perfect lifer or photograph as our group was made up of old-school birders and
bird photographers.
Although
we saw very little rain, the engulfing mist occasionally made us lose sight of
our targets.
And
now, to the important stuff – the birds. This was one of the best trips I’ve
had at this locality for a long time. Black-throated Sunbirds can be seen
throughout the day as they indulge themselves on the flowering plants just next
to the dining area of the bungalow. Really good photographic opportunities were
hard to come by as the Sunbirds are hyperactive and usually, there will be
branches or vegetation in the way. This is my best effort but the lighting
condition was just good enough to bring out some of the resplendent of this
common montane resident.
Just
beyond the compound of the bungalow, the level of bird activity usually holds
us back temporary before we wander further away. Mountain Bulbuls are another
species that is very common around here. My best image of this species is still
rather embarrassing taking into account the abundance of this species. Well,
maybe I didn’t put enough effort into it. But you can’t really blame me because
there were so many distractions around.
Distractions
like this stunning male White-browed Shrike-babbler gorging on a succulent
caterpillar…
A
family of Hill Blue Flycatchers residing just outside the boundaries of the
bungalow is rather tolerant of human presence. They performed admirably in
front of both birders and photographers alike during our stay. Only thing was
that the capabilities of my gear prevented me from obtaining sharper images as
the Flycatchers tend to keep to dimmer parts of the forest.
Further
away from The Nest, this lone Chestnut-backed Scimitar-babbler came agonizingly
close to making my day when it alighted on a nearby bare branch. Unfortunately,
I waited in vain for it to change position and provide me with a better pose
because it just scurried further up the branch and into the dense canopy.
I
paid more attention to flocks of Ashy Minivets nowadays in light of the recent
discovery of the almost similar-looking
Swinhoe’s Minivets wintering in Malaysia.
After much scrutiny there was nothing out of the ordinary with this flock.
Birdwaves
may be a birder’s dream come true but it can be a photographer’s nightmare. So
many different species traveling together as a giant flock combing through the
forest vegetation at a rapid pace overwhelms my decision-making ability on what
to shoot at first. And when one is busy focusing on a single bird, there is
always a risk of something rare slipping past one’s “radar”. I use my binoculars
more often than my camera when it comes to birdwaves. Unless, an individual
becomes exceptional bold in the feeding frenzy and comes exceptional close and
low like this Ashy Bulbul.
Thanks
to the keen sense of sight of Choo Eng and James, I managed to capture a few
records shots of this foraging Silver-breasted Broadbill – undoubtedly one of
the most adorable of all Malaysian birds.
Everyone
is quite accustomed to the term fighting cocks but fighting Fulvettas, that is
something new. Watching two Mountain Fulvettas having a rather aggressive
dispute with beaks and feet locked in battle was something rather unexpected –
to me anyway. And to make the encounter even more interesting was a couple of
Golden Babblers that came very close to the jostling pair. Were they just being busybodies,
trying to be peace-makers or adding fuel into the flame? Although this was a
serious affair, we can’t help but to smile at the antics of the latter.
The
Pygmy Wren-babbler looks like a small ball of feathers that forages along the
montane forest undergrowth. With its distinct and piercing call, it is more
often heard than seen. Well, this cute little fellow was the highlight of the
trip. On the first day, it caught us all by surprise when it suddenly alighted
on a rock next to where we were taking a breather. I managed to take a few
hasty shots before it dived into the cover of the undergrowth. That, however,
was only the appetizer.
The
next day, I came across another Pygmy Wren-babbler doing a territorial display.
It was a commendable performance indeed and one that I shall remember for a
long time to come. The routine was quite simple but visually appealing. Turning
from side to side while calling its heart out and every once in a while, it will
flap its wings once. I was well aware at the time that my gear could not cope
with all those fast action shots at such dim lighting. However, I was rather
delighted when a few images did turn out better than expected. Bukit Larut
delivers yet another outstanding moment in my birding life and all courtesy of
a very tiny bird.
The
biggest disappointment of the trip was failing to photograph a
White-throated Rock Thrush – again. It was only back in December of last year that I managed
to record this scarce winter visitor for the first time in my life at Sungai
Sedim but she evaded my camera then. And this time it was a striking male bird
and he simply did not keep still long enough for me to even press the shutter
once. The funny thing about birding is that sometimes when you finally get a
lifer that you have been trying for all these years, that species starts to
cross your path more often. To add to my misery, I gave owling a pass on that
night and my companions came back with a photo of most probably the same bird
roosting on a boulder. I have a funny feeling I am destined to only see but not
photograph this species. Anyway, Harvey
was kind enough to share his image for my post.
Besides
the birds, this tiny Reed Snake was just another one of the alluring wildlife
that can still be found along the slopes of this hill that I managed to
photograph and that wraps things up for my birding adventure this time.
