Avian sighting June 2024 - Barred Eagle Owl

Barred Eagle Owl is a common sighting in suburb  parkland and pocket garden in cities in Malaysia. This juvenile bird was seen in my housing estate garden park in the early evening near my house in Ayer Panas.  At that time while I was in my porch I notice there were rowdy  bird harrassing calls in neighbor fruit trees. I suspected there must be bird of prey around so I venture out to look for it. Then I saw a bird bird flew across my house to a huge Raintree with smaller birds chasing it. Later managed to sight it perch on a horizontal branch.  

Juvenile birds are more approachable and this bird is the same and it came down to a lower branch about 25 feet from us. Luckily my curious neighbor was there to help me to hold the torch light to flash from offset position so as not to get "red eyes" photos. After shooting for 10- 15 minutes we left it there ...................

 

GROUND BIRD - Great Argus (Lifer 576/688)

 

Most of the time you can only hear them calling in a distance, deep in the jungle. If you do want to spend much money to see this rarity bird in the wild, you can visit the Penang Bird Park which they may have one in captivity now. 

Here in Telupid Hide, we encounter the birds in the late morning 10.30am and late afternoon after 3pm. They are marauders in search of fruiting trees; and some says they will follow primates or other mammals, canopy birds  which feed on fruits in the canopy and they will eat the fruits that are discarded by them. 

In October we cannot expect to  see the mating ritual of large male  pheasant. They are monogamous and paired for life unless one of the mate die. If you want to see their mating dance you have to go in April-August. The male clears an open spot in the forest and prepares a dancing ground. He announces himself with loud calls to attract females, then he dances before her with his wings spread into two enormous fans, revealing hundreds of "eyes" while his real eyes are hidden behind it, staring while the hundreds eyes hypnotizing her.

There are two subspecies recognized: Nominate argus of the Malay peninsula and Sumatra, and A. a. grayi of Borneo. William Beebe considered the two races to be distinct species, but they have since been lumped.

The great argus is a brown-plumaged pheasant with a blue head and neck, rufous red upper breast, black hair-like feathers on the crown and nape, and red legs, Unusual among Galliformes, the great argus has no uropygial gland. 

The male is one of the largest of all pheasants, measuring 160–200 cm (63–79 in) in total length, including a tail of 105–143 cm (41–56 in), and weighing 2.04–2.72 kg (4.5–6.0 lb).  Males have very long tail feathers and huge, broad and greatly elongated secondary wing feathers decorated with large eyespots. Young males develop their adult plumage in their third year. Our photo of the male is missing its extension speckled  long tail.

Females are smaller and duller than males, with shorter tails and fewer eyespots. They measure 72–76 cm (28–30 in) in total length, including a tail of 30–36 cm (12–14 in), and weighs 1.59–1.7 kg (3.5–3.7 lb).

You may like to know there is another Argus you can see in Peninsula - the Crested Argus which is even longer at 190- 239 cm compared to the Great Argus which is 160-200 cm in length. Maybe because of the longer tail. The Crested was once sighted in Kuala Tahan  in June 2020 ie it is a submontane bird  whilst Great Argus is at lowland upto 900m.

FULVETTA - Brown Fulvetta (3/3) Lifer 577/688

 This is my inaugural birding trip for the year 2024 as  I was tied down for the past 10 months taking care of my incontinent mummy who is now 89 years old. I recently l managed to employ a caretaker in August. So when my fellow birders wanted to go to Talang Ipoh-Langkap I was eager to join them as my target bird is the Brown Fulvetta. This was my first time there and my impression of the Talang's lowland  bird life  is impressive and somewhat surpass Bukit Rengit in quality birds. We encounter plenty of babbler species which include Moustached, Rufous fronted, Rufous crowned, Buff chested and  Fluffy-backed.

The Brown Fulvetta is a very plain bird of grey and brown wings. They are gregarious and feed on grubs that they catch on branches in the low to medium storey 15 ft. They are also friendly and response to your bird call. It is usual to see them in birdwave but our encounter; they were feeding on their own and there was a juvenile tagging along.

 

TQ TimATML for the "value for money" trip which cost us only RM35per pax with simple breakfast of RotiCanai Sambal Petai/ Nasi Lemak and Hokkien Char and Kampung eggs for lunch.

Rufous-fronted Babbler

Dark-throated

Yellow-bellied

SWIFTLET (6/9)- Black-nest Swiftlet (Lifer 575/688)

Shooting from the Canopy walk you can see this Swiftlet year round. I was never good in BIF shots. Even at 1/4000 or 8000 I still get soft shoot like above. Nevertheless a lifer .Narrated as a small dark Aerodramus swiftlet that is nearly impossible to distinguish from closely-related species such as Mossy-nest and White-nest Swiftlets. Dark above and paler gray below; rump varies from dirty white to dark depending on subspecies. Tail averages more squared-off and less prominently forked than White-nest and Germain’s swiftlets, but best identified when on feather-and-saliva nests, which are dark, as the name suggests. Nests in large colonies in caves, often with other species of swiftlet. Chitters at nest, but usually fairly quiet. Need to find their roosting cave to get better pictures lol.

Avian sighting Oct 2023 - Changeable Hawk Eagle- Black morph and White morph Copulation

We sighted a pair of Changeable Hawk Eagle copulating near an incomplete nest in middle of October 2023 at RDC Sepilok (Pitta Trail). It was a distance viewing of about 1000m away. As it will not disturb them I don't mind posting the encounter so that other birders can see and report  the progress of the birds. ID by my sifu Tou.

                                   Photo taken with Fuji X-T5 with 100-400mm XF telephoto lens

 

MAGPIE 4/4 - Bornean Black Magpie (Borneo endemic / Lifer 574)

The Bornean Black Magpie is a Treepie in the family Corvidae.

The Bornean (Platysmurus aterrimus)  is split  from our peninsula Malaysia cousin and can be  differentiated  by having a patchy crest like (parrotlike) and no white barring to its wings. Size wise It is slightly larger at about 43 cm or 1.5ft. Vocal wise they are quite different so if you manage to have its call, chances it will response to it. 

It is almost a sure see in RDC Sepilok  especially at the Pitta Trail. In fact, it is a common bird to see. My MO to get it to come to you is by playing the- call of the other bird which often feed together with it. 

The magpie is a garrulous (always calling) and sociable bird feeding amongst others, often seen in family parties. But my encounter was only a single bird at RDC that 2 days. It has a variety of whistling and chattering calls and is also a vocal mimic. It flies with shallow wing beats that produce a distinctive low throbbing whoo or boobooboo sound.

The magpie is an insectivore and frugivore. It can take to the air catch insects or finding crawlies on foliage and also opportunistically taking small mammals and reptiles.

The magpie is found in the lowlands of Borneo, ranging in altitude up to about 300 m above sea level. It inhabits primary forest, including dipterocarp, kerangas and peat swamp forest, and is also found in secondary forest, overgrown tree plantations and scrub. (Wiki)

As a comparison Racquet-tailed Drongo 

DUCK 12/15 - Sunda Teal (Lifer 573/688)

 This is a medium size duck of upto 43cm; I always thought teal is small in size like grebe. The Sunda teal (Anas gibberifrons), also known as the Bebek cokelat or Itik benjut, is a dabbling duck found in open wetlands in Indonesia. The species formerly included the Andaman teal Anas albogularis and the grey teal, Anas gracilis as subspecies, but is currently considered monotypic. 

Subki mentioned that they are breeding now in Tawau port; but he is afraid soon the abandoned fish ponds will reactivated and the manmade habitat may be disturbed. In the evening I only got to shoot a single duck. The following morning the duck was missing from the pond

By the way the Sunda Teal was not mentioned in my bird bible (CraigRobson) as a Malaysia bird.....

It is a dull, brown duck with ruby-red eyes. Also note rounded forehead with noticeable bulge and bright green-and-white wing patches. Found in freshwater, brackish, and occasionally marine habitats, forages primarily by dabbling. Typically moves in pairs or small groups.