Fraser's Hill 23-25Jan09

From Con

A lot of changes at Fraser's Hill. Town centre is still under construction, probably take another six months, and then maybe it'll be open again. New Road is still be repaired, this will take at least another year, if not two years.

Durai says he's going to retire in June, but will still be a bird guide. He said the Whistling-thrush hasn't been seen recently, but we heard it in a couple of places, so I think it's still around. We only went owling once, didn't see the owl, but though we heard it deep inside the army camp.

The dump is gone, they have covered it over and are building a plant nursery!!

Much upgrading work on the trails, Durai said they are spending $300K ringgit. Bishop Trail now has ropes in all the steep places and is safer to walk. We covered the Bishop Trail three times.

Didn't see the partridge, but thought we heard it's unusual loud call that Danny and I heard last June.

The morning bird wave at Jelai Resort is getting worse, and there are several cats that are being keep by Jelai Resort. Durai said there will be a new owner of Jelai Resort.

The trip was mostly a twitch, my Australian friend wanted to see as many species as possible, so not much photography. We got about 60+ species seen. Some of the better birds:-

1 x Pygmy Wren-babbler seen well, photo attached
1 x Streaked Wren-babbler seen well, no camera on Bishop Trail :-(
1 x Red-headed Trogon (female) on the Old Road
2 x Orange-headed Thrush on Bishop Trail
3 x Siberian Thrush (all females)
1 x Speckled Piculet (I missed this one, but the Aussie saw it)
2 x Blyth's Hawk-eagle seen well and close
1 x Black Eagle thermaling
1 x Black-browed Barbet building a nest on Bishop Trail
1 x Hill Blue Flycatcher (male) seen well on Bishop Trail

Only the Wren-babblers were lifers for me.

Notable dips were we didn't see any Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush, still couldn't see the Lesser Shortwing although they were calling everywhere, and no broadbills.

The weather was remarkably good, except some fog in the morning.

Pygmy Wren-babbler