Avian Field Report September 2019 - Malim Nawar

During Malaysia Day weekend I dropped by MN for an hour or so excursion to see whether any wader or rarity duck has descended at this popular stop-over.

At one of the dried-up pond; a colony of a dozen Open-billed Storks were feeding on the abundant molluscs aka moon snails whilst the scavenging cattle egrets and little egrets wait for the remnant flesh of the emptied shell.

They separate the shell from the body of the snail using the tip of the beak. The tip of the lower mandible of the beak is often twisted to the right. This tip is inserted into the opening of the snail and the body is extracted with the bill.  The exact action being difficult to see, but it is concluded their bill gap was used like a nutcracker. He held the rough edges of the bill as being the result of wear and tear from such actions. Subsequent studies have dismissed this idea and the rough edge of the bill has been suggested as being an adaptation to help handle hard and slippery shells.

A single First-winter Yellow Wagtail was sighted at the 4 fish ponds section which are dried out. Surprising no other waders around.


At the main pond a paddyfield pipit is settling down; but it was a bit skittish even when I was shooting from the car. It will hide beside nearby scrub whenever I bring out my camera.

The Little Commorant is now a regular sighting at Kampar- MalimNawar bypass. Shot using my Nikon P1000. 

Avian Site Report in September 2019 - Bukit Tinggi (Yellow morph Pin-tailed)

With the promising find at Awana I was enthusiastic to go to Lancang on Sunday but because of a car issue I decided to go to the  nearer destination in Bukit Tinggi instead. On the way up the winding road I heard  the barking call of a pair Great hornbill which were roosting on a tree  near the roadside. Dare not move out from the car  so as not to spook them As it was still dark before 7.00am;  I have to boost up ISO of my Fuji to 3200 and shooting at 1/8s I can only manage a few shots before they flew away.

The security is now even more stringent to pass  the boomgate after paying up the entry fees of RM16.00 at Colmar. By time the guard confirm my car no and open up it was already passed 7.35am. On the way up  to the Japanese Garden  I saw some tiny birds  in the distance. It was a beautiful encounter with a colony of parrotfinch (of about a dozen or so)!!!! they were feasting on the many bamboo outcrops  below the ravine. Alas I did not bring my P1000 as the birds is about 150-200 ft away I cannot get any good resolution photos as the tiniest subject are just too out.

This is my first for me seeing a parrotfinch with a yellow tail and yellow bellied but with a blue face. It supposedly a yellow morph male specimen. It is a rarity 5-8 % of its population.

 The above bird look unfamiliar; perch on a dead tree for quite sometime............. cropped  far out in the ravine.

At the chicken port, I met Bubu and his gang of three who are there for the third time to catch the Ferruginous Partridge for the past two months. He is Burmese working in Subang. They failed again today. The resident Mountain Peacock Pheasant were in attendance though. Both were male with 3 spiked legs and turquoise spotted tail. Wish to report there are no migrant birds so far. Hope you guys have better luck..........

The famous ficus tree is again fruiting so its is a good time to plan a trip  in middle October to BT again. BTW I manage to sight a Chestnut-winged Scimitarbabbler there. No good photo but a blur one.

Avian Sighting in September 2019 - Zappey's Flycatcher

After 6 weeks of non-birding,  I was up late at 7.00am on last Saturday; and then reluctantly I decided to drop by Genting Highland which is just 30 minutes from Gombak toll. I was hoping to catch any early arrival of migratory passerine birds. Met En Ashraf a young birder from PJ there. He already saw an Artic Warbler at the end of the trail.  Bird activity was as expected ...quiet except for the usual resident birds. My happy catch of the day in the late morning was this visiting flycatcher. Wish it was the White-tailed fc but it has no white gorget ie necklaced band.

The female bird cannot be really differentiated much between the Zappey's Flycatcher and its other subspecies Blue & White Flycatcher.

It was making a distress call - "kluk-kluk-kluk". unfortunately it was not singing. The bird would usually cock its tail in alertness. The throat right down to its belly has a uniform brownish coat which do not match my bible of the Blue and White Fc female.  I will tentatively consider it a Zappey's. The bird is large at about 18-19cm in length.

The bird is most probably in passage down south maybe ending up in Singapore.

December 2020, I was in Taman TAR Ampang to capture this male Zappey's Flycatcher. The place is happening with many of the ficus tree fruiting attracting a myriad of fruitivorous birds. The bird is staying for good I hope until it return home to China in March.