Pulau Tekong 8-12Mar10

From JS

I have just completed my field camp and got some interesting sightings and calls heard.

At about 7 am, I saw a blue flycatcher from my shell scrap, which is inside the forest. It has a faint orangey belly, blue throat and blue upperparts. Its call was a 5-6 note melodious tune without tics and tacs. Checking OBI, I am sure that the bird is a male blue Malaysian flycatcher.

Another bird of note is a nocturnal owl that calls like an elephant except that the call is drawn-out and is high pitched. Additionally, it has a screechy call. Checking Birds of Tropical Asia, it sounded exactly like the call of the spot-bellied eagle-owl. there was a pair at my shell scrap site that called throughout the night and more frequently when it was around 6 am.

More details:

I am highly certain that the blue flycatcher I saw was a male Malaysian blue flycatcher. Honestly, I wasn't looking at the bird through a bino, so there may be a possible mistake in the id. However, after referring to both OBI, Craig Robson and for the soundtracks, Birds of Tropical Asia and Xeno-Canto, I am convinced that the bird is a male Malaysian blue flycatcher. Here's my reasoning: Possible identity: Blue-Throated Flycatcher (BTF), Mangrove Blue Flycatcher (MBF), Malaysian Blue Flycatcher (MalBF), Tickell's Flycatcher (TF) 1) Habitat: I saw the bird singing at the under storey of a broadleaved forest, which was far from the coast. This seems to favour BTF, MalBF and TF. Seeing a MBF in the broadleaved forest would be rather unusual, if not rare. 2) Call: The bird had a melodious whistle (more like a song than a high-pitch whistle) that sounded like a combination of notes from the shama's and magpie's songs, excluding the hard "chack" of the shama's. TF, BTF and MBF have similar calls, differing only by the difference in tempo/pace. However, MalBF has a much lower pitched whistle, similar to a shama's and like what I heard. 3) Features: "faint orangey belly, blue throat and blue upperparts" TF: Lacks blue throat (eliminated) BTF: presence of black wing coverts but the bird I saw had an all blue upperparts. (eliminated) Possibilities left: MalBF and MBF a) MalBF has a fainter orangey belly/breast than MBF. The bird that I saw has a rather not obvious orangey breast/belly, more like pale breast than orange breast. Verdict: MalBF b) Blue Throat. Male MalBF has a very obvious blue throat, visible even from 3m away. On the other hand, MBf has a blue chin and a triangular orange throat. Verdict: MalBF c) Confusion: As the bird was seen in a typical shama's posture, raised tail and tilted body, looking from below, at 70 deg from my prone position in the shell scrap, the "orangey breast" (quoted from my previous email) looks like the belly while the belly looks like the vent, without a view of the vent. This may suggest a more extensive orange, favouring MBF. Judging from the other features/details, MalBF is overall a more convincing choice.