Bekok 15Apr17

From JS

On 15th Apr, we went to check out the birding site at Bekok. This is the site where photographers had taken images of the Black-and-Red Broadbill nesting, the Rufous Piculet nesting, the friendly Horsfield's Babblers, the impressive Brown Wood Owl and the charismatic Crested Jays and shared extensively on FB. There was favorable feedback from birdwatchers as well. Although we have seen these birds previously, they are still a sight to behold.

After navigating through the towns and oil palm estates at pre-dawn, we arrived at the entrance to Bekok at dawn. We were late, considering that the photographers were already waiting in position with their gears. Since our focus was to check out the site, we decided to start from inside and bird to the entrance.

Unfortunately, we didn't follow the plan. Instead, we stopped where the stream crossed under the tarmac. The first bird that we saw was a flock of Cinerous Bulbuls. It has been a while since our last sighting of them when the species had a mass migration southwards one season ago.

Next, we stopped at a spot where we heard a calling Striped Wren-Babbler. It did not show. Nevertheless, at the same spot, we saw the reunion of a pair of calling Black-Capped Babblers. They were calling persistently before one individual (maybe the female) made the frantic flight across the tarmac road to reach the other. Wow!

As we made our way to the waterfall, we heard a familiar high-pitch whistle. It was from a Rufous-Chested Flycatcher. However, it took a while to show.

During which time, we were entertained by a pair of the charismatic Crested Jays.

Thereafter, we spotted the gorgeous male Rufous-Chested Flycatcher flicking its tail and singing its high-pitch whistle. What a sight!

Since we had such great encounters with some scarce forest denizens, we decided to check out the activities of the photographers. Gathering below the nest, the photographers were waiting for the nearby adult Black-and-Red Broadbills to return to the nest. Yet, on a tree facing the nest, one of the birds watched nervously with twigs in its bill. Honestly, this was not a good sign.

Losing interest on the activities of the photographers, we returned to our plan and bird all the way to the entrance. The distance of 2km was too short in our opinion to have sufficient bird activities to last the whole morning. Nevertheless, we enjoyed sightings of our first Grey-Throated Babbler (a species more commonly associated with mountain slopes) in Johor. The bird was seen at the same spot as where we heard the Striped Wren-Babbler earlier. It gave a call that we could not recognise initially. Thankfully, we managed to mimic a bit of the call and the bird came forward. The white moustachial spot, white brow, streaky crown and grey throat was diagnostic and instantly, we knew what it was - the Grey-Throated Babbler. Very interesting!

Having already seen some good forest birds and a new bird for our Johor list, it seems like our visit was meaningful even if we had more than two hours to noon. We tried to find more birds but the efforts did not reward. I had flushed a big, dark brown, short-tailed bird at the swamp by the entrance. However, the lack of access into the forest meant that we could not spend more time with this unknown bird.

Definitely, the site has some potential given its connectivity to Endau Rompin but with only 2km of tarmac road to bird, it feels like there are more limitations than potential. Regardless, we did see some scarce forest denizens and if they are worthwhile to see, a trip to Bekok would do no harm to the chance of seeing them.

1. Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) h
2. Crested Serpent-Eagle (Spilornis cheela) 1
3. Raffles's Malkoha (Rhinortha chlorophaea) h
4. Violet Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus) h
5. Banded Bay Cuckoo (Cacomantis sonneratii) h
6. Square-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo (Surniculus lugubris) 1
7. Malaysian Hawk-Cuckoo (Hierococcyx fugax) h
8. Brown-backed Needletail (Hirundapus giganteus) 10
9. swiftlet sp. (Collocalia/Aerodramus sp.) 30
10. Grey-rumped Treeswift (Hemiprocne longipennis) 5
11. Rufous-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher (Ceyx rufidorsa) h
12. Banded Kingfisher (Lacedo pulchella) h
13. Blue-throated Bee-eater (Merops viridis) 1
14. Crimson-winged Woodpecker (Picus puniceus) 1
15. Maroon Woodpecker (Blythipicus rubiginosus) h
16. Blue-crowned Hanging-Parrot (Loriculus galgulus) 1
17. Black-and-red Broadbill (Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos) 2
18. Banded Broadbill (Eurylaimus javanicus) h
19. Blue-winged Pitta (Pitta moluccensis) h
20. Black-winged Flycatcher-shrike (Hemipus hirundinaceus) 2
21. minivet sp. (Pericrocotus sp.) 5
22. Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus) 1
23. White-bellied Erpornis (Erpornis zantholeuca) 5
24. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus) 2
25. Crested Jay (Platylophus galericulatus) 2
26. Black Magpie (Platysmurus leucopterus) h
27. Slender-billed Crow (Corvus enca) h
28. Cream-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus simplex) 1
29. Red-eyed Bulbul (Pycnonotus brunneus) 2
30. Grey-cheeked Bulbul (Alophoixus bres) 3
31. Ashy Bulbul (Hemixos flavala) 5
32. Arctic Warbler (Phylloscopus borealis) 1
33. Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius) h
34. Dark-necked Tailorbird (Orthotomus atrogularis) 2
35. Rufous-tailed Tailorbird (Orthotomus sericeus) h
36. Pin-striped Tit-Babbler (Mixornis gularis) h
37. Fluffy-backed Tit-Babbler (Macronus ptilosus) h
38. Rufous-fronted Babbler (Cyanoderma rufifrons) h
39. Chestnut-rumped Babbler (Stachyris maculata) h
40. Grey-throated Babbler (Stachyris nigriceps) 1
41. Sooty-capped Babbler (Malacopteron affine) 3
42. Scaly-crowned Babbler (Malacopteron cinereum) h
43. Rufous-crowned Babbler (Malacopteron magnum) 1
44. Black-capped Babbler (Pellorneum capistratum) 2
45. Short-tailed Babbler (Pellorneum malaccense) h
46. Striped Wren-Babbler (Kenopia striata) h
47. Brown Fulvetta (Alcippe brunneicauda) 2
48. Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis) 2
49. White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus) h
50. Pale Blue-Flycatcher (Cyornis unicolor) 2
51. Rufous-chested Flycatcher (Ficedula dumetoria) 2
52. Common Hill Myna (Gracula religiosa) h
53. Greater Green Leafbird (Chloropsis sonnerati) 2
54. Blue-winged Leafbird (Chloropsis cochinchinensis) 8
55. Grey-breasted Spiderhunter (Arachnothera modesta) 1
56. spiderhunter sp. (Arachnothera sp.) 4