RAPTOR &ACCIPITER 15/35 - Black Baza

Just 2 of them sighted in the sky of Tanjung Karang catching the 10am morning thermal and moving south. These are passage migrant to Indonesia. The great migration starts as early as September annually.

  

 

 

RAPTOR & ACCIPITER 13/35 - Crested Goshawk

 Crested Goshawk

Okay it is confirmed a male Crested Goshawk by my acclaimed guru an expert in accipiter and raptors. If you have any doubt of your bird you can email Mike Chong at mikechn@pc.jaring.my for a second opinion.

Crested Goshawk is a medium size accipiter of 40cm In the picture the crest is quite at the back so cannot see. A resident that can be found at lowland forest of Peninsula Malaysia. Prefer coniferous trees and mix broadleaved forest. My sighting was in Kiara suburban......maybe in Sg Buloh a coniferous forest ground is another possible site to see it.

 

RAPTOR & ACCIPITER 14/35 -Common Buzzard

Common Buzzard
 The Common Buzzard measures between 40 and 58 cm (16 and 23 in) in length with a 109–136 cm (43–54 in) wingspan and  making it a medium-sized raptor.

It is a migrant to Malaysia during the winter period.

RAPTOR & ACCIPITER 23/35 - White-bellied Sea Eagle

It is a common raptor that can be seen at coastal line of Peninsula Malaysia and Islands. The White-bellied Sea Eagle is the  largest resident raptor  with a wingspan of 50cm and body length of 70cm.

It is also called White-bellied Fish Eagles are more commonly seen on warm early mornings riding the coastal thermals, holding their wings in a V-shape (other raptors hold them horizontally). White-bellied Fish Eagles primary hunt prey that are found near the water surface mainly sea snakes, and fish. They do  prey onbirds, turtles, swimming crabs and even bats when staple prey is less.

Like other raptors, they have excellent eyesight. To forage, they circle on a thermal to gain height, then glide over water usually low and within 1 km from the shore.They catch their prey by skimming the water surface then snagging the prey in their talons with a backward slash. They don't plunge into the water like Osprey do. White-bellied Fish Eagles don't appear to be highly territorial towards others of their kind. But they make loud harsh cries near important spots like a perch or nest. These can be heard up to 1 km away, perhaps helping to space out the birds and avoid confrontations.

 

HORNBILL 9/10 - White-crowned Hornbill

White-Crowned Hornbill

Got to shoot my last hornbill subspecies at Tiger Temple in  Bangkok Thailand. It was place in a  large aviary amongst several other hornbill and ground birds. 

WCH looks  monotonous unlike the other brightly coloured hornbills. It is the rarer bird to see amongst 9 species of hornbills of Malaysia. This species is found in the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. This bird inhabits rainforests of low and medium altitudes, usually at an elevation below 900 meters. It may also be found into fruit, oil-palm and rubber plantations when food is scarce.

It  is a large hornbill, reaching a length of 83–102 centimetres (33–40 in). Females are smaller than males. The plumage is black and white. The head, neck, breast and tail are white, while the rest of the feathers is black. It has a white crown feathers erected in a crest (hence the common name). Between the eye and the bill and on the throat there is bare dark blue skin. The bill is mainly black, with a yellowish base. Similarly to most of hornbills it has a kind of blackish casque on the top if its bill. Female have black neck and underparts. These birds are territorial and feed on various fruits, lizard, antropods and larvae.

^{Photos shot from Fuji X-2}


New sighting at Nuang Perdik in November 2016. A pair was sighted for a duration of 2-4 weeks here.  This shots taken with Fuji XT-2 This is the first time I sighted them in the wild.