Pulau Ubin 01-02Jan17

Con, Danny and JS were back on Pulau Ubin on both days.

1-Jan

From Con

Got the female Black Hornbill!

From JS

Got the Mountain Imperial Pigeon.

From Danny

Got the Imperial Eagle perched on the botak coconut tree as yesterday.

2-Jan

From Con

Male Cinnamon-headed Green-pigeon. There were up to 12 birds!

From Danny

Black Hornbill at Pekan Quarry.

Pulau Ubin 31Dec16

From KH

Knowing that the Imperial eagle has been hanging around Pulau Sekudu (aka Frog Island), Con, Danny and I went to Pulau Ubin. JS was still in Korea, so he'll have to make another trip. We waited for a couple of hours at the jetty overlooking Pulau Sekudu, but the eagle didn't show... This bird had first been found on Frog Island by LKS on the 19 Dec 2016 and was since sighted at Changi too.

Nevertheless, it was good to see Grey Plovers, Whimbrels, Common Sandpipers, Great Crested Terns and Grey Herons roosting on the rocks of Pulau Sekudu. Brahminy Kites and White-bellied Sea-eagles also visited the rocks.

Mixed flock of Grey Plovers and Whimbrels

Con left for the female Black Hornbill. After a while, Danny and I left for the mangrove boardwalk, but there were nothing much here.

Soon it was lunchtime and we headed for the main jetty to meet up with Con. When we were reaching, Con informed us that LKS had spotted a Mountain Imperial Pigeon and the female Black Hornbill on the fruiting tree at the HSBC Hub at about 11 am!

Seeing that there were only Pink-necked Green-pigeons, Oriental Pied Hornbills and Asian Glossy Starlings around, we decided to fill our stomach first.

After lunch, I spotted the Mountain Imperial-pigeon and Danny and I quickly spread the news. Fortunately, Con and friend hadn't left the island. See Toh and friend weren't so fortunate as they were already back on the mainland by now, so they quickly took the boat back to Ubin.

After Con left, the female Black Hornbill showed up!

We also solve the mystery of the "Ubin squirrels". There were indeed squirrels on Ubin. Here's a Plantain Squirrel near the HSBC Hub.

Soon it was going to be low tide and time to head back for the imperial eagle. We reached the jetty overlooking Pulau Sekudu at about 4-something. As there were nothing much going on, I spent some time counting the number of Great crested terns. There were about 100 of them.

Then a Great-billed Heron flew past and landed on Pulau Sekudu.

The Eurasian Wild Pigs were also out for dinner.

At about 5:30 pm, the Imperial Eagle flew out from the Ubin mangrove! It has been hiding in the mangrove forest on the Ubin side all this while. After some time, it flew to Pulau Sekudu and that was the closest it got to us before flying back into the mangrove forest at about 6:30 pm. Game over and time to head back.

It's been awhile since I last wrote a list, so here it is:

1. Red junglefowl 5
2. Great egret 42
3. Grey heron 12
4. Great-billed heron 1
5. Imperial eagle 1 juvenile
6. Brahminy kite ~5
7. White-bellied sea-eagle ~5
8. Grey plover ~20
9. Whimbrel ~40
10. Common sandpiper ~5
11. Great crested tern 100
12. Mountain imperial-pigeon 1
13. Pink-necked green-pigeon ~10
14. Oriental pied hornbill ~10
15. Black hornbill 1 female
16. Large-billed crow 2
17. Straw-headed bulbul 5 heard
18. Olive-winged bulbul 2
19. White-rumped shama 5 heard
20. Asian glossy starling ~20
21. Crimson sunbird 2

Fraser's Hill 15-18Apr10

From KH

Once again, it's time for our annual migration to Fraser's Hill. 93 species were seen/heard this time, with a number of lifers. Sighting highlights are:

1) Streaked and Pygmy Wren-babblers, and Lesser Shortwings: didn't know they are roadside birds!
2) Male Hill Blue FC at Old Gap while leaving for home!
3) Grey-capped Woodpecker at Old Gap
4) Striated Swallows at Silver Park.
5) Dark Hawk-cuckoo at Silver Park and Hodgson's Hawk-cuckoo at Old Gap
6) Raptors: Black Eagle, BHE, CHE and a Japanese Sparrowhawk.
7) Malayan Whistling Thrush heard behind guardhouse. Didn't know they call late in the afternoon too! Waited in the morning, heard but no show.
8) White-hooded Babbler, female Red-throated FC and Chestnut-backed Scimitar-babbler only seen by JS.
9) Juvenile Crake, possible Slaty-legged as the legs were not red.
10) An Otter jumped out of the undergrowth while we were engrossing with the Pygmy Wren-babbler. There was a stream in the undergrowth.

Male Red-headed Trogon

Black Eagle under harsh lighting, resulting in a "Rainbow Eagle"!

Impressed Tortoise. There's a crack in its shell, but it's well and alive.

From JS

Here's the list of birds seen/heard at Fraser's Hill (including Highway 55) from 15-18/4/10.

1. Hairy-backed Bulbul (2)
2. Red-eyed Bulbul (2)
3. Mountain Bulbul
4. Yellow-vented Bulbul (>5)
5. Ochraceous Bulbul (3)
6. Black-crested Bulbul
7. Malaysian Hawk-cuckoo (h)
8. Dark Hawk-cuckoo (1)
9. Drongo Cuckoo (1)
10. Indian Cuckoo (h)
11. Collared Owlet (h)
12. Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo (1 nest located)
13. Bronzed Drongo (1 nest located)
14. Orange-bellied Leafbird
15. Blyth's Hawk-eagle (4)
16. Crested Serpent-eagle (2)
17. Black Eagle (2)
18. Japanese Sparrowhawk (1)
19. Large-billed Crow
20. Common Myna (1)
21. Javan Myna
22. House Swift
23. Glossy Swiftlet
24. Swiftlet
25. Silver-rumped Spinetail (2)
26. Pacific Swallow
27. Striated Swallow, badia (>15 seen at Silverpark Resort)
28. White-bellied Yuhina
29. Yellow-bellied Warbler
30. Rufous-crowned Babbler (h)
31. Grey-throated Babbler
32. White-hooded Babbler (1)
33. Golden Babbler
34. Buff-breasted Babbler (>5)
35. Black-browed Barbet (>5)
36. Streaked Wren-babbler (>7, 1 juvenile confirmed)
37. Pygmy Wren-babbler (2)
38. Eye-browed Wren-babbler (h)
39. Fire-tufted Barbet
40. Red-throated Barbet (1)
41. Brown Shrike (>3 Breeding)
42. Fire-breasted Flowerpecker
43. Black-eared Shrike-babbler
44. White-browed Shrike-babbler (>5)
45. White-throated Fantail
46. Large Scimitar-babbler (h)
47. Chestnut-backed Scimitar-babbler (1)
48. Mountain Tailorbird
49. Dark-necked Tailorbird (2)
50. Mountain Fulvetta
51. Black-throated Sunbird
52. Lesser Yellownape
53. Greater Yellownape
54. Lesser Shortwing (5, 2 wrayi male)
55. Long-tailed Sibia, wrayi
56. Little Cuckoo-dove, malayana
57. Emerald Dove (1)
58. Mountain Imperial-pigeon (>2)
59. Rufous-browed Flycatcher, malayana
60. Pale Blue Flycatcher, harterti? (1)
61. Verditer Flycatcher, thallasoides? (>3)
62. Red-throated Flycatcher (1 non-breeding/female)
63. Little Pied Flycatcher (>3)
64. Hill Blue Flycatcher (1 male)
65. Asian Paradise-flycatcher (3, 1 white morph  male)
66. Speckled Piculet (>4)
67. Spectacled Laughingthrush
68. Malayan Laughingthrush (>3)
69. Grey-breasted Spiderhunter (1)
70. Little Spiderhunter (1)
71. Streaked Spiderhunter
72. Magpie Robin
73. Javan Cuckooshrike (>9)
74. Lesser Cuckooshrike (1 male)
75. Black-and-crimson Oriole (>5)
76. Silver-eared Mesia
77. Crake (1), possibly Slaty-legged
78. Red-bearded Bee-eater (h)
79. Blue-throated Bee-eater (>25)
80. Grey-chinned Minivet
81. Blue Nuthatch (>7)
82. Large Niltava (4, 1 juvenile male seen)
83. Rusty-naped Pitta (h/s?)
84. Common Green Magpie (>3)
85. Red-headed Trogon (>4)
86. Long-tailed Broadbill (>3)
87. Sultan Tit (>6)
88. Everett White-eye (>10)
89. Blue-winged Minla (>3)
90. Ferruginous Partridge (h)
91. Slaty-backed Forktail (2)
92. Malayan Whistling-thrush (h)
93. White-tailed Robin (h)

Adult Streaked Wren-babblers. During this trip, we first encountered these birds along the road outside Bishop Trail and there was a family of 4-6 of them. We saw another few along Jalan Lady Guillemard. And then another two birds at Telecom Loop, again along the roadside.

Juvenile Streaked Wren-babbler - one of the family members outside Bishop Trail.

Another Wren-babbler, a Pygmy Wren-babbler. When KH first sighted it, he thought an egg was rolling on the road!

Male Lesser Shortwing. It makes a very musical tune and responds well to playback. However, it always remain in the undergrowth, making clear shots tough.

A family of three Speckled Piculets were found at the Old Gap. The juvenile is shown on the left, while the right shows an adult feeding the youngster.

Adult Dark Hawk-cuckoo. The photos below were taken on our first day right outside SilverPark. It made this distinctive ascending call that made it easy to identify. However, it still took some sharp eyes to locate it.

Now we have photographic confirmation of the existence of these hypothetical birds. This juvenile Hodgson's Hawk-cuckoo was seen at the Old Gap. While the photo shows the front view, we had a good view of the back, showing the prominent white tertials.

The Japanese Sparrowhawk was seen at SilverPark, while we were shooting the Striated Swallows. It was flying very high up. Only sharp-eyed JS could've spotted it!

This bird is not even on the hypothetical list! It's a immature/female Red-throated Flycatcher. JS saw it flicking its tail.

This Black Eagle was sighted close to the Jeriau Waterfall carpark.

A House Swift in flight.

A female White-browed Shrike-babbler.

From Danny

Refer to the Striated Swallow below, notice the streaked throat, rufous rump and deep folk tail - only found at SilverPark ?

Mountain Imperial Pigeon at Telecom Loop. It perched there all the time until we lost interest.

Regarding the Crake:

After checking out on the possible crakes from Internet, I have ruled out the 1st winter banded-bellied, as the underpart bars are confined to the belly behind the legs, the bird we saw had extensive thick black bars. I tested out yellow lights (like my car headlights) on different color surfaces in the dark, red came out clearly but grey/blue/black tended to appear yellowish. The crake we seen had plain headsides and wings, no red on legs, ruling out red-legged crake. I am for 1st winter slaty-legged crake.

Fraser's Hill 09-13Mar09

From Con

Not as exciting as the Cutia, but there is a White-rumped Munia nest after the 2nd bridge and just before the 3rd bridge.

There is also a Mountain Imperial-pigeon nest on Hemmant Trail. Enter Hemmant from Jalan Lady Maxwell side. Cross the very small concrete "bridge" with the rope guides. Walk ahead just 50 feet and look left. This should be before the trail makes a sharp right hand turn. The nest is hard to see but the pigeons should be changing guard duty so you should see movement.

Buff-breasted Babbler, quite a small bird, photographed at 7:30am on Telecom Loop on March 12th.

Ayer Keroh, Bt Rengit, Bt Tinggi, Genting 12-13May07

99 species for this Malaysia trip. The highlites are the 2 trogons (red-naped, orange-breasted), 3 broadbills (banded, black-and-red, silver-breasted), and the grand finale at Telecom of Genting (golden-throated barbet, white-browed shrike-babbler, chestnut-tailed minla). The dips are the barred eagle owls and banded kingfisher at Ayer Keroh, the cinnamon-rumped trogon at Bt Rengit and red-billed malkoha at Bt Tinggi. However, we did meet many birders and photographers. At Ayer Keroh, we met Ang, who is none other than the keeper of the Ayer Keroh birdlist. At Bt Rengit, we met Tee Lian Huat, one of the Malaysian pioneers of digiscoping, as well as Korinpoh & Sree's gang of photographers at Bt Rengit.

Ayer Keroh (120507 0730-1100)
1 Common flameback 2
2 Banded woodpecker 1
3 Orange-backed woodpecker 1
4 White-throated kingfisher 1 pair
5 Asian koel heard
6 Chestnut-bellied malkoha 1
7 Long-tailed parakeet common
8 Blue-crowned hanging parrot 1
9 Grey-rumped treeswift common
10 Spotted dove common
11 Zebra dove 1
12 Pink-necked green-pigeon common
13 Banded broadbill 1 male
14 Black-and-red broadbill 1 nesting
15 Greater racket-tailed drongo >5
16 Black-naped oriole 1 heard
17 Common iora 1
18 Pied triller 1
19 Black-winged flycatcher-shrike >5
20 White-rumped shama 1
21 Oriental magpie robin common
22 Asian glossy starling common
23 Javan myna common
24 Pacific swallow common
25 Black-headed bulbul 4
26 Red-eyed bulbul 5
27 Yellow-vented bulbul common
28 Cream-vented bulbul 1 pair nesting
29 Olive-winged bulbul 1
30 Stripe-throated bulbul 1
31 Common tailorbird heard
32 Abbott's babbler heard
33 Striped tit-babbler heard
34 Orange-bellied flowerpecker common
35 Scarlet-backed flowerpecker common
36 Scaly-breasted munia 1

Bt Rengit (1400-1830)
1 Red junglefowl 1
2 Brown barbet 1 pair
3 Black hornbill 1 pair
4 Oriental pied hornbill 1 pair
5 Red-naped trogon 2
6 Scarlet-rumped trogon 1 heard
7 Rufous-backed kingfisher 1 pair
8 Indian cuckoo 1 seen, 1 heard
9 Drongo cuckoo 1 heard
10 Chestnut-breasted malkoha 1
11 Raffles' malkoha 1 pair
12 Lesser coucal 2
13 Dollarbird 1 nesting
14 Long-tailed parakeet common
15 Blue-rumped parrot 2
16 House swift 1
17 Emerald dove 1
18 Black-thighed falconet 3
19 Black-and-yellow broadbill heard
20 Greater racket-tailed drongo common
21 Bronzed drongo 1
22 Large-billed crow common in town
23 Black-naped monarch 1 female
24 White-rumped shama 1
25 Oriental magpie robin common
26 Asian glossy starling common
27 Javan myna common
28 Pacific swallow common
29 Yellow-vented bulbul 1
30 Spectacled bulbul 1
31 Hairy-backed bulbul 1
32 Yellow-bellied bulbul 1
33 Grey-cheeked bulbul 1
34 Abbott's babbler heard
35 Purple-naped sunbird 1

Bt Tinggi (130507 0630-0930)
1 Red-throated barbet 1 female
2 Black-browed barbet 1
3 Orange-breasted trogon 1
4 Red-bearded bee-eater 1
5 Indian cuckoo 1 heard
6 Drongo cuckoo 1 heard
7 Blue-rumped parrot 1 male
8 Glossy swiftlet common
9 Grey-rumped treeswift common
10 Large-tailed nightjar 1 heard
11 Silver-breasted broadbill 3
12 Black-and-yellow broadbill heard
13 Blue-winged leafbird 2
14 Greater green leafbird 1 male, 1 female
15 Lesser racket-tailed drongo 1
16 Grey-headed canary-flycatcher 1
17 Rufous-browed flycatcher 2
18 Oriental magpie robin common
19 White-tailed robin 2
20 Black-crested bulbul 4
21 Stripe-throated bulbul common
22 Yellow-vented bulbul 1 at hotel
23 Ochraceous bulbul 2
24 Grey-cheeked bulbul 1
25 Rufous-tailed tailorbird 1
26 Grey-throated babbler common
27 Golden babbler 1
28 Purple-naped sunbird 1 male
29 Streaked spiderhunter common
30 Eurasian tree sparrow common at hotel

Genting (1130-1430)
Awana (1130-1230)
1 Black-browed barbet 1
2 Brown barbet 1
3 Orange-bellied leafbird 2
4 Brown shrike 1
5 Olive-winged bulbul 1
6 Grey-cheeked bulbul 2
7 Long-tailed sibia 3

en-route to Telecom
8 Grey-chinned minivet 2

Telecom (1300-1430)
9 Golden-throated barbet 1
10 Glossy swiftlet common
11 Mountain imperial pigeon 3
12 Crested serpent eagle 2
13 Rusty-naped pitta 2 heard
14 Large niltava 1 male, 1 female
15 Mountain bulbul 2
16 Mountain tailorbird 2
17 Mountain leaf warbler 5
18 Chestnut-capped laughingthrush 1
19 Chestnut-crowned laughingthrush 2
20 White-browed shrike-babbler 1 male, 1 female
21 Chestnut-tailed minla 5
22 Black-throated sunbird 1 male, 1 female

Photos from Gim Cheong

The bird does not have 1) black brow 2) black malar stripe 3) yellow throat, which are diagnostic for Black-browed Barbet. Instead it has 1) blue face, 2) greenish throat with yellow tinge, 3) thickset bill, which are diagnostic for female Red-throated Barbet! Robson say it occurs up to 760m but Jeyarajasingam say it occurs up to 1000m.

Cutie of Ayer Keroh.

Ayer Keroh - a male.

Ayer Keroh bird.

Common at both Ayer Keroh and Bukit Tinggi.

Shy fella from Ayer Keroh.

This one was also nesting at Ayer Keroh, bringing food to the chicks which were silent.

Bukit Tinggi bird - Caught in mid air!!

Bukit Tinggi bird - high up, but observing us.

Another Bukit Tinggi bird

A star bird for me @ Bukit Tinggi.

@ Genting Telecom Road

@ Genting Telecom Road.

@ Genting Telecom Road, not recorded at Fraser's Hill due to altitude.

Tiny fella @ Genting Telecom Road, but very nice song, makes you wanna sit down, have a cup of tea and enjoy the song.....

Left: Juvenile at Ayer Keroh. Right: Adult at Ayer Keroh

This bird was very co-operative and kept calling. So co-operative that Danny figured it is somebody's pet!! And Kok Hui wondered whether it needs to go and feed! But I left the camera at ISO 800 cos I was shooting the Black-and-Red Broadbill using daylight and forgot about it. So gotta go back one of these days to get better shots of the Trogon!

Seen at Bukit Tinggi - 2 views. Once again, gotta go back and get shots with less blockage!

Photos from Danny

Banded broadbill at Ayer Keroh

Black-and-red broadbill at Ayer Keroh

Grey-cheeked bulbul at Bt Rengit