A jolly good tick (18/01/2014)

When news broke out of a Northern Shoveler wintering at the one of the former mining ponds of Malim Nawar in Perak, it was just a matter of when I had the time to make the 4-hour round trip to the locality. I had to endure 2 weeks of agony before I suddenly found myself with a free Saturday and together with Choo Eng and James, we arrive at the pond slightly after dawn. 

This is the second consecutive season that this locality has produced rare wintering ducks. Last year, it was the fourth confirmed record of a Tufted Duck in Peninsular Malaysia. However this year's Northern Shoveler, the third confirmed record in Peninsular Malaysia, makes it even rarer than the former. Like the Tufted Duck last year, it did not take us long to locate the celebrity duck.

The Northern Shoveler is considerably bigger than the other ducks that I have encountered before. But despite its size, it is quite shy and wary of human presence. Most shots were taken from a distance and I was lucky to manage a couple of closer ones after some stalking efforts. All in all, the Shoveler was an impressive species and a memorable mega tick that is up there among the best for me.

We had to keep our enthusiasm for better shots in check because of the presence of feral water buffalos. Although not as aggressive as the African Cape Buffalos, they can pose quite a threat to a wandering birder and even more so when there are young ones around.

The Northern Shoveler was in the company with a pair of Garganeys. The latter is a scarce migrant to our shores as well. The Garganeys were, surprising, even shyer than the Shoveler and good shots were certainly not possible. A couple of years back, a pair of Garganeys turned up at my local patch in Pulau Burung and they were certainly not as shy as this pair. But then, Pulau Burung always had a way of "taming" the birds that seek refuge there. 

Some of the other waterbirds that we managed to capture while waiting for the Shoveler to put on a better performance were this Yellow Bittern - looking for some breakfast.

And there were quite a number of Long-toed Stints present in the vicinity as well.

Snipes were also a common sight this trip and this is a Common Snipe resting at the water’s edge.

Purple Swamphens are one of the most distinct waterbirds that occur here in Malaysia with their enormous size and bright colouration. Unfortunately, none of them came close enough for any really good shots this time round. 

The majority of the terns here today were White-winged Terns and their number was in the hundreds.

With the breeding season in full swing, territorial calls are on overdrive and one of the most distinct ones today is the persistent and piercing notes of the Plaintive Cuckoo. Both the male and female put on quite a show for the visiting birders from Penang.

A handsome Common Iora striking a pose for some visiting birders…

The Greater Coucal was also more accommodating than usual and I took full advantage of its gracious mood today.

In fact, they seemed to be everywhere today. Here’s one enjoying a good tan…

The only way you can ever get close to Red Junglefowls on foot is to be able to make yourself invisible. And since I am no magician, I have to be content with shots like this.

The third notable sighting of the day was a flock of 6 Temminck's Stint foraging on some expose mud at the edge of one the ponds. In fact, this is the highest number I have ever recorded of this species. The Temminck’s Stint turned out to be a lifer for both of my companions and we took the time to appreciate this plain-looking but scarce wader.

To everyone celebrating the coming Chinese New Year, I wish you Gong Xi Fa Chai!

Finally, some Christmas cheer (21/12/2013)

This migratory season has thus far produced some truly outstanding records which included two first records for Malaysia. When Dave recorded one of these “firsts” again in one my regular birding spots in mainland Penang, the paddy fields at Permatang Pauh, I took advantage of a free morning to search for this distinguished guest. I thought I was up to a great start when I spotted a medium-sized raptor resting on a low wooden stake. But the possibilities of it being the Himalayan Buzzard recorded by Dave earlier evaporated into thin air when I got close enough to it. I took a record shot of it anyways maybe just as a reminder that I let a juvenile Brahminy Kite got the better of me.

The mighty Aquila eagles are back from their breeding grounds up north. Here, the Eastern Imperial Eagle looks over its winter domain.

It is always good to see Grey-headed Lapwings. But fortunately, the numbers seen today are nothing compared to the high numbers recorded on previous seasons.

With the marshlands at Pulau Burung still recovering from all the “beautification” works, I will just have to live with shy Common Moorhens like this one for the time being and hope the former will once again be able to provide sanctuary to the water birds there.

On the other hand, some water birds like the Pond-heron is usually quite confiding most of the time.

Now, the reason for my visit here is to look for a little brown job called the Manchurian Reed-warbler. I am truly grateful for Dave’s comprehensive account of his encounter with this rarity in his blog and on how to differentiate this species from the commoner Black-browed Reed-warbler (thanks, Dave!). Typical of all Reed-warblers, it was a nightmare to observe and look for the field ids on the bird as it was foraging among the dense reeds. And I am not even going to elaborate how I spend almost an hour shooting at reeds – just reeds. In the end, it was still a great lifer. In fact, a much-needed lifer.

A rather confiding Oriental Reed-warbler nearby kind of lifted my spirits as I managed to obtain my best images of this species to date. Compared to the smaller Manchurian, photographing this fellow was a walk in the park!

Merry Christmas to you too…

Despite missing out on photographing the Manchurian Reed-warbler, this morning’s birding was quite a good one. I guess this flock of low-flying Black Bazas had something to do with it as well.

To everyone who is celebrating Christmas, may your and your family have a wonderful and blessed Christmas!

A trip to the heart of Asia (9-16/11/2013)

My maiden trip to the beautiful island of Taiwan has left quite an impact on me – both emotionally and physically. This trip was not a pure birding trip but a promise that I made to my better half that we would go for a long vacation just to get away from it all. And away we went - an 8-day guided tour of the entire island of Taiwan. We had quite a memorable experience but it was also rather taxing. The itinerary, as with most tours of this nature, is all about quantity and not quality. We were taken to as many tourist locations as possible within the 8 days and with very little time to rest and truly soak in the sights and sounds of this amazing country.

Taichung City

Taipei 101 Tower

Love River (Kaohsiung City)

Hualien Town

Chiufen Old Town

Wen Wu Temple (Sun Moon Lake)

European Court Garden (Sun Moon Lake)

Countryside (Taitung District)

Taroko National Park

Yehliu Geo Park

The renowned Taiwanese night markets were one of the things my wife was looking forward to in the trip and at the end, she was certainly not disappointed. In fact, it is safe to say she had a very enjoyable and memorable trip. My only qualm about the night markets were they can sometimes be quite crowded.

As for me, I am a simple man with simple needs. Give me a chance to do a little birding in a foreign land and I will be a very happy man. Although I did not have much opportunity to bird, I am quite satisfied with the results in the end.

The very first bird that I managed to photograph in Taiwan simply blew me away. I did not imagine I would be able to see Black-billed Magpies at the outskirts of Taipei City. But I did and the magpies were just foraging on the compound of a popular tourist destination – the C.K.S. Memorial Hall. They seemed to be accustomed to human presence and that in turn provided me with some good photographic opportunities. And my birding excursion in Taiwan was off to a very good start.  

The Japanese White-eye is another species that was regularly encountered within townships throughout the trip. As usual, these active little birds were a nightmare to photograph.

The Styan's Bulbul, an endemic to Taiwan, was regularly encountered along forested areas. It looks quite similar to the commoner Light-vented Bulbul and thanks to Dave for correcting my such earlier error and giving me another lifer for the trip!

I managed to see a few species that reminded me of home like these Eurasian Tree Sparrows behaving very much like how they would behave.

Egrets were also regularly seen during the trip and because I have had plenty of egret time back home, I only stopped once to shoot an egret – a lone Great Egret foraging at the edge of the Love River.

The birding highlight of the trip took place in the least expected locality – a Buddha Memorial Center in Kaohsiung. I do not consider myself a religious person but when of all places I came across a fruiting tree here, I guess it is high time I start to renew my faith in religion.

As expected, the fruiting tree was a center of bird activity and I was a simply overwhelmed – just like a kid in a candy store. I did not do much home work before my trip here and without the aid of a printed field guide, I was struggling to identify some of the bird species that were present. A little woodpecker foraging on the tree trunk turned out to be a Grey-capped Woodpecker. I was a little disappointed as I was hoping for it to be a new species for me.

The Collared Finchbill was a lifer and I took quite a number of shots of this interesting species. Unfortunately, it preferred to stay slightly concealed by the vegetation and I was not able to obtain a single clean shot.

The Black Bulbul with its striking colouration and unmistakeable character was quite easy to identify.

The Light-vented Bulbuls are the equivalent of the ever-common Yellow-vented Bulbul back home. Not surprisingly there were quite a number of them present at the fruiting tree. In fact, I think the majority of the birds were of this species and they are ones who usually come the closest to where I was standing.

The presence of a brownish thrush got me all excited but after much scrutiny, it turned out to be an Eye-browed Thrush – a species that I have recorded before back in Malaysia.

The star bird of this fruiting tree was the Grey Treepie. It arrived at the feast half way through my observation and basically stole the limelight from everyone else. It is a beautiful bird indeed and I fell for its charms immediately.

At another tourist destination, the Sun Moon Lake, I almost mistook this Oriental Turtle-dove for a Spotted Dove and I was lucky to be able to obtain this record shot without the aid of my telephoto lens.

This was the closest I came to seeing an owl in Taiwan…

There is a small bird aviary at Sun Moon Lake and here, a number of Blue Peafowls are kept. However, captive birds are not quite my cup of tea. It also took some effort for me to explain to my tour guide the difference between shooting captive birds and wild birds.

The star bird of Taiwan is undoubtedly the Taiwan Blue Magpie. It is a good enough reason to plan for a pure birding trip here in future if given the chance and hopefully, capture one of these stunning birds in their natural habitat.