TERN - Bridled Tern (Sept 2026 Pelagic Lifer 598/600)

This tropical tern has gray back, black cap, and white forehead. Non-breeding and immatures have a messy dark nape. Most similar to Sooty Tern but paler gray above with more extensive white tail edges, paler undersides of flight feathers, as well as longer and more slender eyebrow. Also compare with the paler Gray-backed Tern. Bridled Tern is found in warm tropical waters worldwide. It breeds on islands, usually concealed by a large rock or bush. Otherwise, usually stays far offshore, often seen perching on floating wood or debris. Rarely seen near land except when blown off course by a hurricane.
 

Bridled Terns are uncommon resident bird of Malaysia. Uncommon because it reside more at high seas than coastal beaches. They are medium sized tern of a footer 34cm. Breeding in April-August and commonly at Redang and Seribuat archipelagos (Tokong Burung-Tioman) .

NODDY - Brown Noddy (Lifer 597/688) September 2026

There is a colony of this bird in Pulau Perak. I would count as about 50-60 pairs. They like the other resident there the Brown Booby like the rocky surface of the island There are already record nesting and breeding there. So the long 5-7 hours boat ride to Tekun Perak is sort of  worth it. 

The brown noddy is 38–45 cm (15–18 in) in length with a wingspan of 75–86 cm (30–34 in). The plumage is a dark chocolate-brown with a pale-grey or white crown and forehead. It has a narrow incomplete white eye-ring. The tail is long and wedge-shaped, and the feet and legs are dark.

The brown noddy is a colonial bird, usually nesting on cliffs, trees, or bushes. It occasionally lays its eggs on the bare ground. The nest itself is usually a platform, made of sticks and twigs.

In their nuptial displays, the female and male bow and nod to each other. Courtship feeding and flights accompany this, in addition to the transfer of a small, freshly caught fish from the male to the female. This bird lays a clutch of one pink cream egg with lilac and chestnut maculation. The egg usually measures around 52 by 35 millimetres (2.0 by 1.4 in). This egg is incubated by both sexes for 33 to 36 days, with each parent incubating for one or two days while their mate is feeding at sea. After the chick hatches, it grows quickly; usually reaching the weight of the parents in three weeks. When it fledges, about six to seven weeks after hatching, it can sometimes weigh more than the parents, although this weight is lost quickly once it starts to fly. At this point, the fledgling is starting to rely on its parents less and less as it learns how to provide for itself.

The brown noddy forages by swooping over the water and dipping down to catch small squid, other molluscs, aquatic insects and fish (such as sardine, anchovies, etc.). It will also feed on fruit, mostly the Screw pine fruit. (Wiki)

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. 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 of 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, 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 

Wader - Broad-billed Sandpiper (Lifer 596/688) September 2026

 To chalk more lifers I am spending more effort to go "wadering" in the early migratory period of September 2026 but the birds are still  not aplenty but in hundreds which is good enough still.

I was very sure to have this bird in photo but checking thru my wader list I must  have  left out this lifer posting. My buddy ML also manage to shoot it on the mudflat of Morib southern side of Klang whilst I got in Kapar-Jeram side.

Broad-billed sandpipers are small waders, 16–18 cm long, slightly smaller than the dunlin which reaches 22cm or taller curlew sandpiper 23cm see picture background bird, but larger than the little stint; it has a long, straighter bill with the tip distinctly kinked down, and shorter legs than dunlin. See my picture above you can compare the size of the broad-billed against the curlew sandpiper.

The breeding adult has dark brown upperparts patterned with narrow, pale feather fringes, and white underparts with blackish markings on the breast. It has a pale crown stripe, and a distinctive double (split) supercilium. The bill is slightly broader than in most other Calidris species, with a tip kinked beak. The two subspecies differ in the summer plumage feather fringing, narrow and white in C. f. falcinellus, brighter and rufous-toned in C. f. sibirica. (wiki)

The winter plumage is much paler and greyer above and white below, like a winter dunlin, but retains the distinct head pattern. Juveniles have backs similar to a young dunlin or little stint with pale "tramlines" down the mantle, but the white flanks and belly and brown-streaked breast are distinctive.

The contact call is a dry, whistling dree-it, dree-it and a clicking dik dik, similar to the little stint.

Sighting by ML in Morib September 2026

Avian Sighting July 2026 - Brown-chested Jungle flycatcher

In the late morning a very sedated Brown-chested was sighted perched  in the open was a surprise sighting in Panti in the Y junction off trail. We spend a good ten minutes with the bird shooting from a distance of 30-4o ft away, After shooting enough we tried to move closer but alas it flew away.

It supposedly a rare winter migrant I guess some may stayed on here. Usually they are alone on its own. The Grey-chested on the other hand is a resident bird.

 

Wader- Tibetan Sand Plover (Lifer 2026 595/688) August 2026

In August went to Jeram Kapar side   to hunt for wader lifers. We checked the High tide time but  when we reach the bund the tide has already in at its highest. Instead of  low tide to rush in we in steady have to wait for 2 hours for the water line to subside for part of the mudflats to be exposed. Luckily the birds flew in maybe just a hundred or 2 but mostly Redshanks. My gang manage to get flight shots of the Grey Plover  which I missed. Paiseh my BIF shooting is hopeless but still hoping to improve with practice.

 

In the month of late August - September there already early migrants to our peninsula shores There are great finds here for rarity but can be quite an eye-opening scanning every wader for lifers. There are good chance of seeing  breeding plummage bird  for easy id.

 

I will definately return in September to add more lifers to may target 600 lifers for the year 2026. My target lifer birds  are :-

Sanderling (sighted)

Grey Plover (sighted by AT)

Tibetan Sand Plower (sighted)

Great Knot

Gull-billed Tern ( there are plenty of vertical stumps placed here so terns can perch)

Kentish Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Malaysian Plover

Oriental Plover

Black-tailed Godwit 

Clam and Crab Beachcomber in their flat sampan are common sight here which do not really disturb the birds as they blend well.

Avian sighting July 2026 - Temminck's Sunbird

This is a much sort after sunbird in low land swampy forest like Panti KotaTinggi or at hill plains forest commonly Relau-Poring. It can be enticed to come out by calling of rowdy bird call. It is less common than the Crimson sunbird 

Wanting to get the Van Hasselt's Sunbird of  coastal Endau Rompin side. That is another story to tell .......