Avian Bird Site October 2025 - Sungei Lembing Forest.

The clean inside of the hide with ventilation fan to boot!

In October 2025 I was invited by Alan to check out the Sg Lembing bird hide.  This port is run by Ricky who also operate Pollock Sg Lembing View Resort. They charge RM100 pax with a minimum 3 persons. So if you are alone they still charge you RM300. Ricky will ferry you from Sg Lembing town to the port by 4x4 in about 1/2 hr ride. Lunch is not provided but include bottled water. No toilets is available for now so ladies please take note.

The bird port  has been running for many years now but with the recent sighting of the Giant Pitta  there the port got its  limelight  and attention. 

The best time to bird here is during the dry season of  March-May. Though August- September are also good; however it can be wetter weather but the canvas hide is sturdy enough to  hold  light rain . During the monsoon months of  Nov - Jan has the risk of flooding as Sg Lembing may overspill to sink the town. The last happened in Jan 2024 and the water level was as high as 4.5 ft.

My gang of 4 Tony Low Alan & Mike

 Our day excursion starts at 5.30am reaching the Pollock resort before 9.30 am. We have our breakfast in Gambang  at Kong Ah Rest. I had the Wantan Mee RM8.00) and it was good. The hainanese coffee is also recommended. For lunch I tapau CheeCheongFun (RM4) from the other stall. 

Wantan Mee is good

Ricky and his feeding port

Tense moment waiting for Pitta

From the hide to the log setup is about 30 feet. The hide can cater for 6 person only. So big group is not recommended, In the morning sun the background is a bit annoyingly bright thus not very condusive for proper auto light metering. Later in the afternoon the lighting is much better. Perhilitan do patrol the place and a permit is required to enter the forest. You may act ignorant but you can be asked to leave the forest under escort.

Red poly chairs  are provided so no need to bring anything except lunch. Must learn to travel light with one sling bag like LKH with his fateful P950. 

Overcast sky would be better. We ended our shoot at 5.00pm after a short drizzle and we return to Sg Lembing town to have our dinner at YeeTai. For 4 dishes cost us only RM103. Total spend for the day birding was just RM180 pax.

The Sg Lembing  birds in pictures is displayed at Pollock resort. 

We have no luck. The banded pitta was heard but did not show up

The Giant Pitta will always steal the show here. Unfortunately it is not a regular appearance. If its call is heard then very good chance it will drop by the port. They have a big territory to cover and sometime returning in 100 days they may come around to the same spot unless nesting nearby that would be wonderful. 

Besides that they are gems like  Cinnamon Trogon,  Spotted Fantail, Rufous-tailed Sharma Crested Jay, Banded Pitta Garnet Pitta that you can  encounter here in Sg Lembing forest but not at the hide.

Though I did not get any lifer the reacquaintance of the Grey-headed babbler was nice as well as the Rufous-chested Flycatcher. Here are  my take from the trip as shown below:-

Black-capped

Striped Squirrel

Rufous-chested FC (Juv)

Garnets

Grey-cheeked

Ricky & my Gang

playful Low 

Yellow-bellied

Grey-headed

Yellow-chested Fp

Avian Sighting October 2025 - Garnet Pitta post nesting & feeding

We were treated to a spectacle photo shoot by a Garnet Pitta family -feeding in its  post nesting 2-3 weeks. We travelled 3.5 hours to Sg Lembing Pahang to Ricky port. in the port the lighting was on a low side as I was shooting at 1/30s -1/60s ISO1600 with my Fuji XT5. So no point going in before 9.00 AM. 

The details of the scarlet crown of the birds is a tough job for my Fuji camera as the contrast of its dark body keep burning-out the bright head. 

I did not manage to shoot the male pitta which have a stronger whitish blue barring to its wing compared to the female. It did showed up behind the logs which was perturbed  by a Rufous Collared Kingfisher and a persistence wood shrew. 

 

Can you see the nesting of the Garnet Pitta on the tree stump

Avian Birding Site Sept 2025 - Endau Rompin Forest Reserve Johor

 This is the one of the virgin tropical rainforest in peninsula. You can stay in the Rompin State Park when you are there.  It is fortunate that it was gazetted as a permanent Forest Reserve in 2000 covering an area of 31,800 hectares managed by Perhilitan It is about 3.5-4.5 hours journey from Kuala Lumpur depending on the driving speed vie Senawang NSE or thru the Ulu Langat trunk road to winding  Ulu Klawang passing Telapa Buruk "Hornbill valley" reaching  Keratong then detour thru Bandar Muadzam to reach Kuala Rompin.  We just follow Waze or Google map for guidance to avoid traffic. In our case  otw back we followed the trunk road as the Seremban NSE was expected to be jammed up during the weekend. Pity the people sitting behind the car though; with speed my driver was taking on the winding hilly stretches I have to bear with it.  

I wish to thank AT for the wonderful 3day/2nite itinerary. The total trip cost only about RM700 per pax for a group of 3. I enjoyed the good food there too.

We stayed in for a day  but you still have to pay entrance fees of RM 30 for adult whilst Senior resident  pays half. Birding here is wild; encountering elephant and black panther happened before. So don't be surprise if you encounter elephant dungs or cat growl when you are in the trails. It  is compulsory to hire a bird guide at RM250 per group to go birding in the various trail. The guide are trained with parang and air horn on standby just in case we do encounter wild animals. Compared to  Merapoh this is cheap. However there is no bird hide for now which I hope they will create one or two to attract birds for armchair birders. Currently the bird list is about 270  species which will climb to 300 as more is recorded. 

Our target bird in the trip  was the Cinnamon Headed Pigeon which is a sure sighting here. Any other rarity like Rufous-tailed Sharma, Hooded Oriole,  Cinnamon rumped Trogon and Large Wrenbabbler; Rufous bellied Eagle, Japanese Sparrow hawk and Van Hasselt's Sunbird or even Short-toed Coucal will be a bonus. 

Food wise you must try out :-
Udang Galah Simpang Tiga Chondong 

UdangGalah in a bowl RM35

Udang Galah meal is a must when in Rompin. These big head are caught from river tributaries nearby. The prawn is graded in size; the A size can cost a whooping RM35 a piece; we picked the RM35 a bowl of 6 pieces of grade B/C prawns in tomato chilli sauce and kunyit curry. There is also set meal of 1 kg of prawns for 4-5 persons costing only RM145. 

The shark fish skin was good till the last sauce

Another Chinese Restaurant in Rompin that we  highly recommend is Rest FuManLou Seafood. Though a bit pricey their dishes are unique. Its serving is small but fulfilling till we add rice to go with its sauce.

Stayin in RSP is quite pleasant and serene during off peak and weekdays. They cater to groups of family in chalets  2-5 pax and bigger group in hostel like dorm. Costing as low as RM350 for 2 with full 3 meals.

The meals is quite sumptuous and generous with self-served coffee and tea. If there is more than 10 patrons they will serve  buffet style meals. On our check-in they serve set  lunch as shown in picture. I would rate it highly @ 3/5 stars in term of variety of 10 dishes and quantity. In the evening we were lucky that another group came and we have enuf quorum for buffet dinner setting. 

There are several trail for birding chalet trail, waterfall trail and along the main entrance road. Here are some photos we managed to shoot. Many of the encounter are at high storey top canopy except the babblers. We also manage to do owling in the night and the collared scoped was responsive and friendly.

Rufous-tailed Sharma

Japanese SH

 

Yuhina

Cinnamon?

Lesser Racquet-tailed

Orange bellied

Hairy-backed

Crested Goshawk

Common KF

Changeable White morph

Stripe tit

Grey-headed canary

Treeswift