Panti 01Apr17

From JS

After more than a year, it is nice to be back birding at what used to be our weekend haunt. Panti has definitely changed since we last went birding together. There is a new super-wide road cutting through the forest. There are a lot of truck traffic. There are less bird activities.

Due to a jam at the checkpoint, we reached Panti after dawn. The first stop as a brief tour of the entrance to Elephant trail. We wanted to count the number of birds crossing the super-wide road. There was none. Easy.

Next, we drove to the small swamp with a couple of tiup-tiup trees. No rare flowerpeckers. But the male Blyth's paradise flycatcher was singing readily with its probable mate hanging around in the vicinity. There is a high chance that nesting is taking place at that spot. The only question is where is the nest. For the record, the Silver-rumped Needletails and Grey-rumped Treeswifts were seen at this spot.

At a spot 5m beyond the 5km stream, we found a pair of Spectacled Bulbuls and a feeding Spectacled Spiderhunter. The spiderhunter was an interesting fellow because it could have the whole tree of red flowers to itself but it still wanted to advertise the buffet.

With few birds showing, we decided to check out the trails and the Woodpecker trail came to mind. Upon entering, we flushed a flock of feeding Pink-necked Green Pigeon. True to the name of the trail, we saw woodpeckers. A pair of Olive-backed Woodpeckers kept us entertained until the swarm of leeches became unbearable.

Moving on, we went to check out the deciduous straggling fig near the second stream. Unfortunately, it was not figging. We did see one Black and Oriental Pied Hornbills. Today was beginning to feel like a day out for the Ruby-cheeked Sunbird. There was a male hanging around the last few leaves of the deciduous straggling fig. The best bird so far was the booming call of the Short-toed Coucal, heard in the vicinity.

On our return journey, we stopped at Temple trail. The temple had expanded and so did the population of the bats. The trail was really quiet. Only when we were about to leave did we see a pair of Buff-rumped Woodpecker.

With a bit of time left before noon, we decided to take a look at the Dip Trail. Less than fifty meters into the trail, we had a mini-birdwave consisting of one Spectacled Bulbul, one Chestnut-winged Babbler, one Sooty-capped Babbler, one Buff-rumped Woodpecker and one Arctic Warbler. Apart from a pair of Fluffy-backed Tit-babblers and a small party of Pin-Striped Tit-Babblers, the babblers were not showing and not calling until now. Back at the entrance of the trail, we found our rarest bird of the trip in another mini-birdwave, a blue morph Rufous-winged Philentoma. It was together with a family of Chestnut-winged Babblers, another philentoma with the typical plumage, a Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker, an immature Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker (spotting a small orange crown patch with little yellow on the breast) and Hairy-backed Bulbuls. What a farewell!

Blue morph Rufous-winged Philentoma ©Con Foley

Although we have been birding for more than a decade at Panti over hundreds of trips, we were still able to find something new... Amazing!

1. Crested Serpent-Eagle 1
2. Changeable Hawk-Eagle 2
3. Asian Emerald Dove 2
4. Little Green-Pigeon 3
5. Pink-necked Pigeon 5
6. Short-toed Coucal (H) 1 Heard
7. Chestnut-bellied Malkoha 3
8. Violet Cuckoo (H)
9. Plaintive Cuckoo (H)
10. Fork-tailed/Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo (H)
11. Malaysian Hawk-Cuckoo (H)
12. Indian Cuckoo (H)
13. Silver-rumped Needletail 2
14. Brown-backed Needletail 1
15. Germain's Swiftlet 20
16. House Swift 1
17. Gray-rumped Treeswift 2
18. Whiskered Treeswift 2
19. Red-naped Trogon (H)
20. Diard's Trogon (H)
21. Black Hornbill 1
22. Oriental Pied-Hornbill 1
23. Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher (H)
24. Banded Kingfisher (H)
25. Red-bearded Bee-eater (H)
26. Blue-throated Bee-eater 1
27. Blue-eared Barbet (H)
28. White-bellied Woodpecker (H)
29. Banded Woodpecker (H)
30. Crimson-winged Woodpecker (H)
31. Olive-backed Woodpecker 2
32. Buff-rumped Woodpecker 3
33. Buff-necked Woodpecker 1
34. Gray-and-buff Woodpecker 1
35. Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot 1
36. Banded Broadbill (H)
37. Black-and-yellow Broadbill (H)
38. Golden-bellied Gerygone (H)
39. Large Woodshrike (H)
40. Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike 1
41. Rufous-winged Philentoma 4
42. Green Iora 3
43. Lesser Cuckooshrike (H)
44. White-bellied Erpornis 7
45. Dark-throated Oriole (H)
46. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo 1
47. Amur Paradise-Flycatcher 2
48. Blyth's Paradise-Flycatcher 2
49. Malaysian Rail-babbler (H)
50. Gray-bellied Bulbul 3
51. Olive-winged Bulbul 1
52. Cream-vented Bulbul 1
53. Spectacled Bulbul 3
54. Hairy-backed Bulbul 16
55. Yellow-bellied Bulbul 2
56. Buff-vented Bulbul 2
57. Arctic/Kamchatka Leaf/Japanese Leaf Warbler 1
58. Common Tailorbird (H)
59. Rufous-tailed Tailorbird 1
60. Yellow-bellied Prinia (H)
61. Pin-striped Tit-Babbler 2
62. Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler 2
63. Chestnut-winged Babbler 3
64. Moustached Babbler (H)
65. Sooty-capped Babbler 1
66. Black-capped Babbler (H)
67. White-chested Babbler (H)
68. Dark-sided Flycatcher 1
69. White-rumped Shama (H)
70. Pale Blue-Flycatcher (H)
71. White-crowned Forktail (H)
72. Lesser Green Leafbird 1
73. Blue-winged Leafbird 7
74. Yellow-breasted Flowerpecker 1
75. Crimson-breasted Flowerpecker 1
76. Orange-bellied Flowerpecker (H)
77. Ruby-cheeked Sunbird 5
78. Spectacled Spiderhunter 1
79. spiderhunter sp. 2