Rufous-winged Scimitar Babbler
Finally got my first lifer with my new gear.
This Chestnut backed Scimitar Babbler (White-browed to others) is one of the two Scimitars of Malaysia
which I loooong to get. Shooting out from a distance of 50 ft into the ravine
of the trogon vallley, Ole Pumphouse Trail; so the pictures were not so good
but a lifer nevertheless. This bird can be seen in lowland forest like Panti in
Johor and more often in submontane forest of Bukit Tinggi, Maxwell & Fraser
Hill. March & April see them in a pair and soon will be nesting again in
June. The other nesting time is in Nov-Dec months which they build their nest
on dense low shrubs way inside the forest or crevices of ravine. So who will
take the challenge to go down ..............The other subspecies is the Large Scimitar Babbler (about a footer compared to the former which is 8 inches
Rufous-winged Scimitar babblers are rangy, medium-sized,
floppy-tailed land birds with soft fluffy plumage. They have strong legs and
are quite terrestrial. They are not strongly migratory, and most species have
short rounded wings, and a weak flight.Scimitar-babblers have long down curved bills, used to work through the leaf litter, which give the group its name. They are typically long tailed, dark brown above, and white or orange-brown below. Many have striking head patterns, with a broad black band through the eye, bordered with white above and below.
Most scimitar-babblers are jungle species, difficult to observe in the dense vegetation as they prefer, but like other babblers, these are noisy birds, and the characteristic bubbling calls are often the best indication that these birds are present. In Malaysia , they do occur in the mixed feeding flocks typical of tropical Asian jungle. In Thailand they can easily be watched in the open from tents and camo hide ;visiting man made salt licks and water shed.
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