Avian Field Report 2/June 2013 - Lanchang Pahang

Hoping to confirm a nesting,  I was again back in Bukit Rengit but alas it was not to be.  Later met Kamal and Zul at the Bridge and they were telling me they heard the Hooded Pitta.....surprise in the month of June?

It was a very eventful trip. Firstly in  the wee morning when everything was still in "slow motion" I got a glimpse of this male Crested fireback struting across the trail 100m away. Usually it is the last to cross in its flock so I missed the entire procession. This is the second time I have seen them in Bukit Rengit.

The Emerald pigeon  is common to see - scuttering  on the deserted road picking up pebbles and seeds droppings  also in the wee morning. Later my price capture of this barbet a juvenile pale featured......which I cannot match its looks with the 11 listed Barbets but more  like a Blue throated though. Now searching the internet it was recorded in http://www.malaysianbirds.com/bird-family/barbet.htm by my sifu that the Blue-throated Barbet is a verified  sighting here particularly Bukit Rengit and Bukit Tinggi....... way south of Thailand. Anybody wish to argue about that. This would make it 12 subspecies for Malaysia.

I have yet to see my last Barbet - the  Red-crowned. Please give me a howler if you guys see one.

An odd couple of the Ochraceous Bulbul and Checker-throated Woodie were seen flying together. There was also a pair of  Rufous Piculet which stopped for awhile for me to snap a few shots .

The Broadbills are quite approachable today and came out to see what the commotion of the giant squirrel feeding on berries again. In fact everybody is waiting for the squirrel to move along to feast.

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The Lesser Cuckoo-shrike was chased out  by bulbuls from the fruiting tree. Earlier I  got my lifer of the Bar-bellied Cuckoo-shrike abate a 30m  shot from a hillside. Enough to id it after close scrutiny of  my photos back home.

 

 

 

A pair of  resident Red-bearded Bee-eater was obliging to my playback. So overall not bad an outing. The ever obliging Sooty-capped Babbler and Buff-vented Bulbul  are always there.

Bluebird or Maroon-breasted........

CUCKOO-SHRIKE 3/3 - Bar-bellied Cuckoo-shrike

 

Bar-bellied Cuckoo-shrike
This is the last of the Cuckoo-shrike that you can see in Malaysia.  The give away  feature is the whitish / yellowish white eye. The Lesser was also sighted see my field report 2/June. There was a pair of them chasing Drongos and the likes high in the canopy. If you compare the size it is about the size of the Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo almost a foot  shown in the picture.

Gregarious noisy and conspicuous in nature. Usually travelling in small groups or in mixed flocks with other cuckoo-shrikes or Pied Trillers. It is a tree feeder looking for grub and insects on tree branches and leave. It tends to keep to the higher canopy. That is why we seldom see it. Supposedly fairly common. 

 It is found in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and swampland and mangrove forests. I got mine in Bukit Rengit.

Avian field report 1/June2013 - Lancang Pahang ( Javan Frogmouth)

I obliged Alex and Micheal wanting to visit Lancang for the first time after a successful visit to Bukit Tinggi the day before. They missed the  nesting of the ..........oops forgot.  It was found abandoned by the birds..... most probably by too much attention by fellow bird photogs. Later they  say the nest was found destroyed by macaques. The treeswift nestling  and silver-eared are still around though.

The early month of June still have evening drizzle in Lancang. The trees are fruiting and the common species of bulbuls are having a feast even a family of  giant squirrels. This is a full frame shot from my EF400mm mind you. We can expect dry weather in Krau in the coming weeks of June -July 2013. Some of the broadbills  have been busy building nest like the Black & Red. No sighting of any of the 4 Trogon subspecies this time. Babblers are also active. I am still hoping to see the Grey-breasted one of this days......sigh

The Large Wren was not in the mood to come out to play but just duet with our playback. There was plenty of Racquet-tailed Drongos activity along the stretch we were walking. Black hornbill and Red-billed Malkoha did showed up but no photos too high in the canopy. The resident Rufous KF  was also seen rocketing across the trail.

The highlight of the trip is definitely the Javan Frogmouth off a beaten track. It was alert at times as it give us the "angry bird" look. Most of the time this nocturnal bird just slumber to sleep in the mid day heat. If you are lucky to stumble upon it ; you can shoot it until you are out of memory card as it seldom budge from its perch unless physically disturbed. We left it to itself  as not to stress the bird.

Plain Sunbird was too hyper to get a sharp picture

Black-throated Babbler

 

This one still a mystery just to far away



SHRIKE 2/3 - Brown Shrike

Brown Shrike

This is the most common Shrike you can see in Peninsula Malaysia during the months of Sept-April as they are adapted to the urban environment.  They are earliest arrival of the migrant birds during the wintering season up north.

Sound like a white breasted kingfisher but the "kekkekek" call is uniform and loud. Its their territorial call usually upon arrival in a new area. At times they are in perch in a group but most frequent they are loner. They are seasonal at my area in Mindef KL. It has a distinct black mask and rufous brown crown.

WOOD-SHRIKE 1/1 - Large Wood-shrike

 Large Wood-shrike

This bird is adaptive to temperate forest to subtropical lowland and highland forest of Asia  of the continent (upto China/Bhutan) and India side.

In peninsula Malaysia it is common to sight it  at our many highland resort.

 

As you can see it is quite a plain looking bird with a black nape It has a plum body though length wise coming in at  8 inches ie short tailed.  It is gregarious and do feed in bird waves with other species. Forages & feed on grubs and insects they find on leaves and branches

TROGON 6/6 - Cinnamon Trogon

Cinnamon Trogon

Arh yes! can this be my elusive one......... the last of the Trogon subspecies of Malaysia. If so my target which I shot in Mulu Sarawak.  Along side the same forest patch but on higher perch is the Diard's. Surprise to see two subspecies of Trogons living side by side at close quarter.

So no need to go down to Panti Johor or Negeri Sembilan to see this elusive bird of Malaysia. Usually sit quitely like Broadbill or Honeyguide above your head.  A smaller size of almost 7-8 in or 25cm. Have similarity to the Scarlett-rumped but darker rufous head and distinct bluish eyelid........somehow matches Susan one at Bkt Rengit......I wonder

Update 2020 June I was in Lanchang and finally got the Male Cinnamon Trogon after so many years. This is a good place to get it but you must have the bird luck to see it. Most often you can hear it calling from the jungle fringe at low storey of about 5-7 ft .

SCIMITAR BABBLER 1/2 - Rufous-winged Scimitar Babbler

 
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.