Tanjung Tuan Raptor Watch 10-11Mar07

From Con

Some pictures from Raptor Watch 2007. Kok Hui, Harry, Kim and I arrive about 10am on Saturday 10th, went up to the lighthouse. Weather was not so clear on Saturday, saw plenty of OHB but they were mostly far away in the direction of Port Dickson, none flew right over the lighthouse. The other disappointment was they were being very strict about entry to the lighthouse grounds, and we couldn't get in.

Went down the hill and continued watch from 9 storey tower at Ilham Resort. Finally at 3PM many raptors started coming in the direction of the beach and we got somewhat better views, although still far away.

On Sunday we got up the hill again. I picked a spot on the West side of the lighthouse and stayed from 8:30 to 12:15, when the sun finally came around the lighthouse and made the heat unbearable. Sunday was clear, bright and hot. The counters said it was the best day of the entire past week. The first OHB came at about 11AM. Then there were many, some of the bigger thermals probably had over 100 birds, maybe 200 birds.

Dusky (or Spectacled) Leaf Monkey 

From KH

Interestingly, orientalis is the only OHB known for long distance migration, the others only exhibit local movements. As such the OHBs we saw at Tanjung Tuan are mainly orientalis as they are moving up north back to Siberia/China/Japan.

OHB subsp and distribution as follows:
- orientalis: S Siberia to Manchuria and Japan; winters to Greater Sundas
- torquatus: Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo
- The rest do not occur here, they reside in the Philippines (philippensis, palawanensis), Java (ptilorhynchus), and India-China region (ruficollis)

At Tanjung Tuan, They recorded a few grey-faced buzzards and some fork-tailed swifts, but we never did positively see any of these. The only other interesting birds were black-winged flycatcher-shrikes (1 male, 1 female) and a black-bellied malkoha. Other than the birds, there were some rare S'pore birders - James Heng, Geoffrey Davidson, Willie Foo & family, Gloria Seow's gang of 12.

1 Oriental Honey-Buzzard - >1000
2 Black-winged Kite - 1
3 Brahminy Kite - 1
4 Changeable Hawk-Eagle - 1
5 White-bellied Fish-Eagle - 1
6 Zebra Dove
7 Rock Pigeon
8 Little Bronze-Cuckoo - 1
9 Asian Koel heard
10 Black-bellied Malkoha - 1
11 Large-tailed Nightjar - 2
12 House Swift
13 Nest Swiftlet
14 Blue-tailed Bee-Eater
15 Dollarbird
16 Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
17 Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike - 1M, 1F
18 Black-naped Oriole
19 Asian Glossy Starling
20 Javan Myna
21 Common Myna
22 Barn Swallow
23 Yellow-vented Bulbul
24 Olive-winged Bulbul
25 Dark-necked Tailorbird - heard
26 Common Tailorbird - heard
27 Abbott's Babbler - heard
28 Striped Tit-Babbler
29 Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker
30 Plain-throated Sunbird
31 Olive-backed Sunbird
32 Purple-throated Sunbird
33 Eurasian Tree Sparrow