TERN - Sooty Tern (Sept 2026 - Lifer Pelagic 604/688)

First spotted by brother XianLim feeding amongst white-winged and whiskered. The Sooty silhouette points to a juvenile/ first winter plummage with dark body and a white vent. This is a vagrant 

The sooty tern (Onychoprion fuscatus) is a tern in the family Laridae. It is a seabird of the tropical oceans and can fly for years at a time, skimming the sea surface for food, and returning to land only to breed, on islands throughout the equatorial zone.

It is a medium-large tern,  in the size of 36–45 cm (14–17.5 in) long with an 82–94 cm (32.5–37 in) wingspan, It is more larger than the bridled by 10cm/4 inches. The wings and tail are long, and it has black to dark blackish-brown upperparts and white underparts, and a white forehead. The tail is moderately wide/deeply forked 

A black tern was also found perch on the cliff of Pulau Perak which was a good record when the boat was circumventing the island. A record shot was taken by the sharp eye of XianLim. Hope to see it when we plan to do our  second  trip again in November 2026 which is peak season for migrants.

Bottom bird .....not sure what tern or jaeger?

 

SHEARWATER 3/4- Wedged-tailed Shearwater (lifer 601/688 Pelagic 3/30) September 2026

Wedge-tailed shearwaters feed pelagically  on fish, squid and crustaceans. Their diet is 66% fish, of which the most commonly taken is goatfish. The species was thought to mostly take food from surface feeding, but observations of feeding wedge-tails suggested that contact-dipping, where birds flying close to the surface snatch prey from the water was the most commonly used hunting technique. However, a 2001 study which deployed maximum depth recorders found that 83% of wedge-tails dived during foraging trips with a mean maximum depth of 14 m (46 ft) and that they could achieve a depth of 66 m.

This is my third Shearwater of Malaysia .....other than the Short-tailed which is a Pacific ocean bird but still frequently sighted in northern west coast seas of peninsula Malaysia. If you see that the legs are longer than its tail it most likely the bird. In future there may be even a Sooty sighting in the water of Malaysia been blown to our seas in extreme weather..

They are open sea dwellers and are sea  duck (web footed). In Malacca straits, they are visitors in July - November. We were fortunate to see many small feeding groups of a few to 10 birds. You can see them along the way to Pulau Perak a distance of 180 odd km. Feeding amongst terns. 

They are medium size pelagic of upto 1.5 feet /46cm. Overall its dark brown body in entirety.  There is pale morph which looks like Streaked but the beak is still black unlike the pale beak of the Streaked. Of course the wedged-tail shape when maneuvering & shearing the surface of waves; feet are red and when flying its tail is wedged as per se.

They breeds in Indian and Pacific Islands and many records in the coast of Australia Islands. They are monogamous for good unless failed nesting may split the pair.... 

A pair of Streaked Shearwater feeding amongst the many Wedged-tail

Tail is wedged

 

Pelagic Birding - Pulau Perak Kedah September 2026

This my inaugural pelagic birding excursion in the month of September 2026. This I hope I will be abled to chalk up my photographed lifers to 600s ....  Yahoo! Pulau Perak here we come. The trip was organised by Lili and XianLim and my gang of 4 signed up immediately. Sadly one of my team member have family issue in the last days and cannot make it. The seat was taken immediately by fellow member.

Photo extract from fellow Blogspot blogger@ JL CyberCapt

Perak Island (Malay: Pulau Perak, Jawi ڤولاو ڤيراق) is a small rocky island which constitutes the western most of Peninsula Malaysia. Its diameter is around 200 meters. The island is a sandstone rock that rises from the Strait of Melaka. It has a steep cliff with a height of more than 100m. This is now the new reference viewing hill point for Islamic Calendar calculation, replacing Tanjung Chinchin in Langkawi. The rock outcrop is protected as an army radar station. Unmanned apparently but remotely monitored from Langkawi. 

Perak Island is part of the Malaysian state of Kedah, administered under Yan district. It is expected to be designated as a marine protected sanctuary. The island is 158 km northwest of Penang, the nearest metropolitan area. From the Jetty Nosh, Sg Petani to Pulau Perak may take 5-8 hours depending on your speedboat detour looking for birds. Apparently it is also good diving & fishing spot.

Now the target  lifer list are many as listed here:-

1.Species of migrant Storm-petrel (Swinhoe's & Wilson's) A pair of this tiny pelagic were sighted by Xianlim & confirmed by WaiLoon but no photo record.

2.Species of  migrant Shearwater (Wedge-tailed, Streaked,Short-tailed, Tropical Sighted Sept 2026 )

3. Brown Booby (resident)

4. Red-footed Booby (vagrant migrant sighted Sept 2026)

5. Terns & Gulls (Bridled & Sooty lifer)

6. Frigatebirds

Nosh cater to overnight group excursion for a fees of about RM 3000-8000.00 for overnight depending size of boat and  how you bargain or return customer rate. Our  boat seats 10 pax maximum. More than that is too crowded. We booked the 50 feet long Battuta boat which is quite new and properly maintained. The boat is fast 35-40knots per hour; powered by twin   250hp Yamaha rotor. It must be able to chase the pelagic if a rare one if found. For high sea birding it is better to have a bigger size boat. If not it will too rocky to shoot the flying birds.

Everyone is smiling gayfully as everyone got at least a lifer 

Seawaves condition in September-October should be calmer unless thunderstorm  is forecast then we will be in choppy water. Sometime it is good to hunt for Storm-petrels along the edge of the storm.

Our birding modus operandi on the high sea was to approach fishing boats which can  attracts many birds especially terns but alas no gulls. These pelagics hunt for fishes on the surface of the sea unlike the shearwater noody and booby which dive into the water to chase fishes. We are grateful to have 2 good spotter WaiL and XianL to  seach for lifer birds in the vast waters as we move eastward to Pulau Perak. 

Pulau Perak is not in the birding map but of recent news. We hope that more birders will do more  pelagic birding  here to record new vagrants and rare visitors like the Red-footed Booby, Sooty tern and first record of Tropical Shearwater.

Tropical Shearwater

Brown Noddy

Brown Booby

Bridled Tern

Red-footed Booby

Streaked Shearwater

We managed to find a few ikan bilis trawlers harvesting their catch but sadly no frigatebirds nor gulls