Northern Peninsular Malaysia 13-17Jan18

From Con

I met Gim Cheong in Penang and had 5 days birding in Kedah.

Juvenile Pied Harrier at Chuping

13 Jan

Chestnut necklaced Partridge at Penang

14 Jan

Long day not so many ticks. Streak breasted Woodpeckers no photo. Wallace’s Hawk-eagle. No photos. Completely dipped on Dusky Eagle-owl at Bukit Wang. Then onto Chuping for rarities. Just got two birds not possible in the south. Asian Pied Starling and Streak-eared Bulbul. Plus a small handful on Malaysia country ticks but no lifers.

Drizzling rain most of the day. But I can see that Chuping is essential for boosting your Malaysia ticks. The area is huge. We visited the Manchurian Reed Warbler spot but no Manchurian reported this year.

Chuping is changing fast. 6 years ago these 2000 hectares were all sugar cane. Now all being converted to rubber plantations. Once the rubber trees are high enough I can imagine all the harriers and grassland birds may be gone.

15 Jan

Just got Dusky Eagle-owl!!

16 Jan

A pair of mating Brown Fish-owls. Quite rare for Malaysia. About 15 years ago in mainland Penang for the last record. This pair is in Alor Star.

Summary

Final tally. 13 new Malaysia ticks including 2 global lifers. However of these 13 ticks only 6 are true Northern birds.

• Chestnut necklaced Partridge
• Indian Roller
• Streak eared Bulbul
• Asian Pied Starling
• Dusky Eagle Owl
• Brown Fish Owl