Sime Forest 11Feb06

From KH

Today's event was our first evening walk and it was a nature walk rather than a birding trip. The leader was Subaraj and there were more than 20 participants. Among our own bird group were Danny and JS, Yamane, Kong, Peck Chan, Sree and I. We met at the junction of Rifle Range Road and Dunearn Road at 3.45 pm. By 4 pm we were all at the end of Rifle Range Road, which was the starting point of our walk. The first animals we saw were the usual long-tailed macaques by the road. Then a brahminy kite flew overhead. Further down the trail, a forest wagtail flew across and many of us managed to catch a glimpse of it in the bush. Then high up on the bare branch were Asian glossy starlings and blue-tailed bee-eater. As we proceeded, we came across some moths, butterflies and grasshoppers. In the stream beside the trail were some fish. Nick Baker mentioned that there were two-spot rasboras and guppies, as well as some other fish that I can't remember. Then a metallic blue dragonfly caught our attention. Later on, Yeo Suay Hwee emailed us saying that it was Cratilla metallica, which is common and widespread in tropical Asia.

Dragonfly with a metallic blue body, Cratilla metallica

As we went along, we saw orange-bellied flowerpeckers. Then a slender squirrel showed us the various stunts it was capable of, jumping around the branches. Soon we reached the only turning point of this trail. Once everyone has safely tackled the slight down slope, we moved on. Nothing really interesting happened until we reached a stream. There was a large damselfly here. Then someone spotted a frog in a puddle. Nick mentioned it was a Malesian frog.

Malesian frog with characteristic "W" on the head

Moving on, we reached a clearing. There was much activity here. Striped tit-babblers, olive-winged bulbuls, cream-vented bulbuls, a red-crowned barbet, greater racket-tailed drongos, jambu fruit-doves, a chestnut-bellied malkoha, orange-bellied flowerpeckers were congregating here. The melodious white-rumped shama and the Siberian blue robin with its single metallic note were heard here.

Jambu Fruit-dove ©Yamane Yoshio

Today, the mystery of the 'invisible bird' was solved. The last time we were in the Sime Forest, we heard this call (which we thought was from a bird initially) and went searching for it. Every time we came close to it, we know it was right there in the bush on the ground in front of us, but we just couldn't see it. And when we beat the bush, it stopped calling and there was no movement at all. This happened a few times until finally we concluded that it must be an insect. Today, Subaraj told us that it was from the four-ridged toad. Dah... Not a bird, not an insect, but a toad!

Finally, we reached Jelutong Tower. We got a great view of the dusk activities around Sime Forest. With so many pairs of eyes, probably nothing escaped our group - a fairy bluebird flying at a distance, a changeable hawk eagle calling from afar, flocks of long-tailed parakeets flying in the (north-east?) direction, etc. Danny put his scope on a purple-throated sunbird perched high up on a bare branch, giving us fantastic view of its beautiful coloration. This is our truly forest sunbird. Another sunbird, the crimson sunbird, came close to the tower offering us front seat view of it. Also present was a plain-throated sunbird. A dollarbird perched afar high up on a bare branch for a long time.

Peck Chan told us that the copper-cheeked frog was croaking at a distance. Subabraj taught us how to distinguish between the various swiftlets but at the end of the day we still don't know how... However, the Asian palm swift is obvious with its more slender build. Pacific and barn swallows were both present. Again on a bare branch high up, we saw a crow-billed drongo. Just before we left, a hill myna flew to a perch right in front of us and a small flock of thick-billed green-pigeons were also right in front of us. This flock of 7 pigeons were so well concealed in the tree that we didn't know there were so many present. Everyone got a good view of this uncommon forest pigeon.

Male Thick-billed Green-pigeon ©Yamane Yoshio

Male Thick-billed Green-pigeon ©Danny Lau

On the way back, we again stopped at the clearing. Greater racket-tailed drongos were hawking for insects; a stork-billed kingfisher was flying across. Black-eyed litter frogs were calling everywhere. This frog has short legs and so does not leap, but make small hops in the leaf litter. Then to our surprise, a large bird flew overhead. Subaraj said it was a Malaysian eared nightjar. Another surprise came shortly - a changeable hawk eagle flew overhead. Leaving the clearing, we reached the turning point. Here, Subabraj heard the brown hawk owl. He imitated the bird and soon an owl flew in and perched in full view! We were all delighted. Further down the trail, he did the same trick and drew the collared scops owl out. Fascinating, a double for tonight! The last animals to fascinate us were the forest fireflies and the noisy mole cricket. We saw a few fireflies, but only heard the mole cricket and saw its tunnel.

Forest firefly is different from mangrove firefly in having a bluish glow that doesn't blink and is solitary

Our veteran NSS member, KC Yap educated us that the plant with the heart-shaped leaves hanging below the drongo (see right) is Hoya latifolia. We were fortunate to have many experts in this trip to not only educate us on birds but also other vertebrates like amphibians, mammals, fish; as well as invertebrates, like insects, spiders; and plants too. We ended our trip around 8.30 pm. Our Not-So-Secret gang adjourned to Turf City for a cold drink or two and ended up talking till 10 pm!

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo ©Yamane Yoshio

From Danny

A little snippet from that evening which I missed & subsequently picked up from JS. During the search for the Brown Hawk Owl, the first few simulated calls from Subaraj were loud and full of bass, but when the secretive owls' calls were reciprocated, he started to vary & tone down his simulated calls creating an imagery illusionary effect of moving away, luring the owl to come fwd from its deep hideout and before long, lo & behold it was perched right in front of us.

Birding lesson: Hollering unlikely to work, vary your tones and bass will catch your worm.

01 Banded woodpecker
02 Red-crowned barbet
03 Dollarbird
04 Stork-billed kingfisher
05 Collared kingfisher
06 Blue-tailed bee-eater
07 Chestnut-bellied malkoha
08 Long-tailed parakeet
09 Swiftlet spp.
10 Asian palm swift
11 Whiskered treeswift?
12 Collared scops owl
13 Brown hawk owl
14 Malaysian eared nightjar?
15 Pink-necked green-pigeon
16 Thick-billed green-pigeon
17 Jambu fruit-dove
18 Brahminy kite
19 Changeable hawk eagle
20 Asian fairy bluebird
21 Greater racket-tailed drongo
22 Crow-billed drongo
23 Asian glossy starling
24 Hill myna
25 Barn swallow
26 Pacific swallow
27 Olive-winged bulbul
28 Cream-vented bulbul
29 Yellow-vented bulbul
30 Dark-necked tailorbird
31 Arctic warbler
32 Striped tit-babbler
33 Orange-bellied flowerpecker
34 Scarlet-backed flowerpecker
35 Crimson sunbird
36 Plain-throated sunbird
37 Purple-throated sunbird
38 Forest wagtail